Hello book loverrrrrrr!! I rocked out my reading in the last month of 2024. I was determined to reach my Bookreads 2024 reading goal (which was 50 books). I capped off the year at 58 books! Go me!
I cranked through 10 books in December. A few were new to me authors that were on my TBR Goodreads list. A few were series books and 1 was a new release from one of my favorite authors, G K Parks. I didn’t DNR anything in December, so that was good. And I managed to read 2 non-fiction books just from pure curiosity on my part (When Women Ran 5th Avenue and The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore. Both were good reads.
Are you an avid reader? Do you have a Kindle Unlimited Membership?? If not, it’s definitely something I encourage!! (click here for a membership!). And if you have busy seasons like me, you might consider either an AudioBooks.com Membership (click here) or an Audible.com Membership (click here). Both are great platforms for book listening. And then also, don’t forget to sign up for a local library card and connect into the Libby app to access your library’s audio books too!
I always look for the books in Libby before I pop into AudioBooks.com to use one of my credits. I have a library card for my local library + I pay for an out of county library card for the Fort Worth Public Library. So I’ve got options….that’s basically what I’m saying. LOL
What books did you read in December? Pop them in the comments and tell me your thoughts! My star ratings listed below for each book I read!

NEW TO ME AUTHORS THIS MONTH
- Evan Friss
- Ashley Elston
- Julie Satow
- Phaedra Patrick
- Kelsey James
AUTHORS I RETURNED TO THIS MONTH
- Sue Grafton
- Jen Lancaster
- Ariel Lawhon
- Lisa Jewell
- G. K. Parks
BOOKS I READ
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
by Evan Friss
ABOUT THE BOOK:
An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations
Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop,we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost.
Evan Friss’s history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including the Strand, Chicago’s Marshall Field & Company, the Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over the course of more than two centuries—including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who signed books at Marshall Field’s in 1944.
The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life—and why we still need them.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...

G is for Gumshoe
by Sue Grafton
ABOUT THE BOOK…
G IS FOR GAME…
When Irene Gersh asks PI Kinsey Millhone to locate her elderly mother Agnes, whom she hasn’t heard from in six months, it’s not exactly the kind of case Kinsey jumps for. But a girl’s gotta pay her bills, and this should be easy money―or so she thinks. Kinsey finds Agnes in a hospital. Aside from her occasional memory lapses, the octogenarian seems fine. And frightened.
G IS FOR GUN…
Kinsey doesn’t know what to make of Agnes’s vague fears and bizarre ramblings, but she’s got her own worries. It seems Tyrone Patty, a criminal she helped put behind bars, is looking to make a hit. First, Kinsey’s car is run off the road, and then days later, she’s almost gunned down, setting in motion a harrowing cat and mouse game…
G IS FOR GUMSHOE
So Kinsey decides to hire a bodyguard. With PI Robert Dietz watching her 24/7, Kinsey is feeling on edge…especially with their growing sexual tension. Then, Agnes dies of an apparent homicide, Kinsey realizes the old lady wasn’t so senile after all―and maybe she was trying to tell her something? Now Kinsey’s determined to learn the truth…even if it kills her.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...

The Anti-Heroes
by Jen Lancaster
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Two best friends, stalled and dissatisfied, change the course of their lives in a wildly funny novel about facing your fears―to the extreme―by New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster.
Once upon a time, Dr. Emily Nichols―the academic kind, not the physician kind―was an eco-crusader who was shot with water cannons, hunted by poachers, and chased by a bulldozer. Now? Action Emily lives in a bland condo with gray walls and teaches disengaged students at a university alongside a risk-allergic boyfriend, asking herself every day: How did I get here?
Then one afternoon Emily and her best friend, people-pleasing real estate agent Liv Bennett, witness an attempted robbery at their local coffee shop that is foiled by a yoga mom wielding a baby stroller. Their hero attributes her bravery to a mysterious class called Fearless, Inc. Its enigmatic and dizzyingly muscular instructor, Zeus, is now fully committed to helping Emily and Liv overcome their fears, too―one thrilling self-help lesson at a time.
Along with a ragtag group of other wimps, Emily and Liv must embrace the passionately unconventional methods of the leader to harness their powers, gain a bracing new perspective on life, act on their impulses, and be the no-holds-barred anti-heroes of their dreams.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...

The Frozen River
by Ariel Lawhon
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.
Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.
Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...

First Lie Wins
by Ashley Elston
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.
The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.
Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.
Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...

Then She Was Gone
by Lisa Jewell
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Ellie Mack was the perfect daughter. She was fifteen, the youngest of three. Beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers, and half of a teenaged golden couple. Ellie was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her.
And then she was gone.
Now, her mother Laurel Mack is trying to put her life back together. It’s been ten years since her daughter disappeared, seven years since her marriage ended, and only months since the last clue in Ellie’s case was unearthed. So when she meets an unexpectedly charming man in a café, no one is more surprised than Laurel at how quickly their flirtation develops into something deeper. Before she knows it, she’s meeting Floyd’s daughters—and his youngest, Poppy, takes Laurel’s breath away.
Because looking at Poppy is like looking at Ellie. And now, the unanswered questions she’s tried so hard to put to rest begin to haunt Laurel anew. Where did Ellie go? Did she really run away from home, as the police have long suspected, or was there a more sinister reason for her disappearance? Who is Floyd, really? And why does his daughter remind Laurel so viscerally of her own missing girl?
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...

ABOUT THE BOOK…
The twentieth century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof – afternoon tea, a stroll through the latest fashions, a wedding (or funeral) planned. It was a place where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York or Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled.
In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband’s department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II–before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies–becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel re-invented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats.
In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.
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Hostage Situation
by G. K. Parks
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Book 26 in the Alexis Parker Series
Private investigator Alexis Parker has worked a lot of cases, but going undercover as an employee at a spa has to be at the top of her list of cushier assignments. Every room has a tray with cucumber water. The towels are organic Egyptian cotton, and everyone is calm and pleasant. Or is that all an act?
While Alex attempts to find the establishment’s dark underbelly, a group of armed men find themselves in desperate need of some R &R. Alex never expected an investigation into a wellness center to turn into one of the most harrowing experiences of her life. As usual, not everything goes as planned, and not everyone will remain breathing when all is said and done.
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The Little Italian Hotel
by Phaedra Patrick
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and advice expert, prides herself on knowing what’s best for others. So she’s sure her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift to Adrian, he surprises her with his own very different plan—a divorce.
Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively invites four heartbroken listeners to join her in Italy instead while live on air. From hiking the hills of Bologna to riding a gondola in Venice to sharing stories around the dining table of the little Italian hotel, Ginny and her newfound company embark on a vacation of healing.
However, when Adrian starts to rethink their relationship, Ginny must decide whether to commit to her marriage or start afresh, alone. And an unexpected stranger may hold the key to a very different future… Sunny, tender and brimming with charm, The Little Italian Hotel explores marriage, identity and reclaiming the present moment—even if it means leaving the past behind.
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Secrets of Rose Briar Hall
by Kelsey James
ABOUT THE BOOK…
1908, Long Island: For Millie Turner, the young and beautiful wife of a powerful New York stockbroker, Rose Briar Hall—a gleaming edifice of white marble on the North Shore—is more than a home. Every lavish detail speaks of Charles Turner’s status and wealth, and its stylish interior is testament to Millie’s sophistication. All that’s left is to prove her worthiness to be his bride. What better way than to throw a grand party for New York’s social elite?
After painstaking planning, the night of the event arrives and all is perfection—until Millie wakes to a cold, eerily quiet house, and a gray cloud where her memory should be. Can it be true that she has been in and out of consciousness for weeks, ever since the party took a terrifying turn? Millie recalls nothing. But her friends have shunned her, and it soon becomes clear that if she can’t find out what really happened that night, much more than her reputation will be at risk . . .
As the house that promised so much happiness begins to feel more like a prison, Millie wonders whether a woman alone, even a wealthy one, can ever be entirely safe. And if she succeeds in finding the truth, will it bring relief, or shake her marriage, and her life, to the core?
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