Welcome to December’s Monthly Minutes at Midnight!
Here’s the deal: I’ll share the books I’ve obtained, posts of interest from others, giveaways I have happening, and just general random shenanigans. You know I love a shenanigan. Also, covers all link to Goodreads, because I am awesome. As always, I link up with the Wrap Up Round Up, too!
The Books
For Review/From Publishers:
Huge thanks to Bloomsbury for this unexpected yet happy surprise!
eARCs:
Huge thanks to the publishers/authors for these lovelies! And I was only mildly less ridiculous!
(Also, the cover for Devil in Profile is not final, and also I think it might have changed to September? But you know I love graphic representation, and I hated to forget to include it, because I am super excited for it, so. Here we are.)
Purchased:
This is not bad, especially for December!
This Cursed Light ♦ Fourth Wing
Won/Gifted/Traded:
Thanks to Amber (TBH & TIM) and Publishers- I won a lot of stuff, eh!!!
Cascade Failure ♦ Under the Surface ♦ There Is a Door In This Darkness ♦ The Brothers Hawthorne ♦ This Is Me ♦ Lunar New Year Love Story ♦ The Ministry of Time ♦ Granite Harbor
Shenanigans Since Last Time:
I read 9 books this month. Ooof. Ouch. Yikes. Listen, it is not my fault that Exordia took me a full week to read. It just isn’t. You put the blame where it belongs, on Seth Dickinson.
There is a lot of win here at least! In fairness too, I could have finished one more but… I wanted to wait for next year 😂
Giveaways: Click Here, or on Sidebar
Blogosphere Bulletin
Here are some of the loveliest/most entertaining/super helpful/just plain interesting posts I found this month!
- Sam @ We Live and Breathe Books discusses which adjectives make her add books immediately
- AJ @ Read All The Things! discusses when books talk to each other (hear her out, this is a VERY real thing!)
- Kit @ Metaphors and Moonlight asks what makes a book a “Christmas book”
- Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books reflects on nine years of book blogging
- Jessica @ A Great Read talks about long books
- Lisa @ Lisa Loves Literature discusses email overload
Fancy & New Since Last I Saw You!
I love looking at pretty covers! So here are some new ones that I have fallen in love with since our last update!
Pretty covers are pretty. 😍
Year-End Recap:
Get your own super cool one of these here! And buy the guy a coffee, this is so fun!
Yeah, not my best year. Also not my worst. Considering that I started (and nearly finished!) a special ed teaching certification program (that is sixty two credits for anyone keeping track- 56 of them in the last 8 months!), student teaching while also full-time teaching for the first time ever, the kids doing more activities than ever, went to Europe for a minute… yeah, it’s still a hell of an accomplishment. Actually, I was less than 10 off my last year’s total so… not bad at all! They can’t all be COVID reading years, right?
This year, Goodreads (and Random.org) is challenging me to read….
Eh. Not terrible. Fun fact, I did this with 149 books, but it gave me 124. That, and the unevenness of 149 pissed me off so I redid it. Sue me. 🤷
Bookish Bummers of 2023
Inspired by Vlora, and how much fun I used to have doing this, I decided to do a mini-version of my “Bookish Bummers” from years gone by. Look, I know we love celebrating the best of the best, and I shall during next week’s Top Ten Tuesday, but… you and I both know, you want the tea on which books to skip, right? Right. Luckily, there weren’t many!
Oop, my first (and only!) DNF of the year, this had a lot of potential but was just way too confusing for me.
This one had great commentary, but the actual story didn’t do it for me. Luckily, the author’s sophomore novel ended up being one of my happiest surprises of the year!
Sad to see this one on the list, too. The first book was fun, this one was just blah. It wasn’t bad-bad, or rage inducing, just kind of easy and very “meh”.
This was my highest rated on the list at three stars, but I also think I was being far too kind, so. Do with that information what you will.
To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t birds that ruined this one! It was the horrible, no good, very bad characters, and me having a complete lack of understanding of what the hell was happening.
This book might have had a plot, but I’ll be damned if I could find it. 🤷
Idk friends, I just didn’t like the characters or the plot or the message, so. What’s left, really?
This is the one, guys. The one that made me the saddest, and the stabbiest. This should have been my jam, but instead made me irate. I one-starred it, and you all know how rarely that happens.
Things we need to talk about at this juncture:
- This was hands down the most hectic year of ever. I mean.. did you guys see that part where I completed 56 credits, student taught while actually teaching full time, all while trying to raise two kids alone? Look, I am not one to toot my own horn but damn, y’all. It was a year! I have two classes left going into the New Year, so please cross your fingers that I pass the Praxis, get certified, and you know, find an actual job!
- I feel a wee bit melancholy heading into 2024. Maybe it is the state of the world and the impending Election Hell Redux. Maybe it is that I had a steady job for half a year and now that is over and everything is so damn uncertain. Maybe it is missing having health insurance in which prescriptions didn’t cost $900.03. The three cents would make me chuckle if it weren’t so infuriating. Legit, if it were life or death, I’d have to die, because that is more than my mortgage. I feel quite alone lately, which is almost humorous because I am not really ever alone in the literal sense. Idk guys, Idk.
- On a cheerier note, did you all have a nice holiday? We did! Nothing terribly exciting, but that is okay too sometimes! Have some pictures! Also, the last picture is Sam doing his presentation for his gifted class in which he and his classmate asked questions, then interviewed experts to find the answers! The rest are, as you can likely tell, Christmas-y stuff!
- Still time to get Conageddon 4 tickets, juuust saying. 😉
Have a great January, and a happy New Year, loves! Let me know how your month and/or year was! Looking forward to anything coming up?
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Wow hard to believe it’s New Years already. Happy new Year! As usual, you have some great looking books. Hey Zoey looks fun, and bummer that Emergent Properties was disappointing. I remember being interested in that book. Anyway here’s to hoping 2024 is a better year (although with an election that might be tough) and best of luck with the job front as well!! :):))
Yeah but you were never *actually* going to read it so now you don’t have to be curious anymore 😂I have all my favorites going up tomorrow, pick one of those instead heh. And thank you!
I know, right? We always say “I was interested in that book” which is blogger speak for I’m commenting and have to say SOMETHING. Although I was actually kind of interested in it, truthfully. I like the cover. why are covers such a thing for me? Anywho… on to your next post. 🙂
Oh no I believe you were interested in it! Just… knowing your current levels of reading, this one was never going to happen- especially without anyone strongly recommending it! In fairness, the cover makes it look like it will be some kind of awesome space adventure, so that is hardly your fault!
You should toot your own horn. You had a lot of plates in the air last year, and YOU DID IT! I have no doubts you will pass the PRAXIS, and I hope you find an amazing position to share your talents. I was happy I had no read any of your bummer books, and wow! So many book wins up there. I wish all the best for you and yours in 2024.
Aw thank you!! I really appreciate that! I hope so too- it was really hard putting so much into the last job just to be like “okay cool bye” you know? Thank you, I hope you have a wonderful year, too!
First, congrats on getting through 2023, you should be proud of yourself! And second, thanks for linking that “year in books” generator, I’ve been seeing it around but had no idea how to do it! I really enjoyed Lulabelle Rock, and I’m super curious about Exordia. I passed on it because the reviews were all over the place😁 Happy New Year, Shannon!
Thank you so much!! And yay, glad I could help! Honestly I have mixed feelings about Exordia! Like- I DID really like it, but did I like that I spent a full week of my life on it? Good question heh.
You are a complete badass. You accomplished so much this year! It’s awesome. I feel your pain with the medication prices. That’s why I gave up all my meds. I can’t afford to be healthy, so I’m just going to plow through life as a rolling disaster.
Thank you so much ♥♥ You are so sweet! And seriously- that is where I am at, like what even is the point!? I just do not understand how this country cares so little, you know? Ugh. I hope you are having a good month!
Congrats on all you’ve accomplished this year! All the best to you in 2024.
Thank you so much! Hope you have a wonderful 2024, too!
Toot away, because you were a rockstar this year! Sounds like is an end is sight. I got a chuckle from your reading vibe being “effervescent.” I mean, how cool is that? Prescription prices are downright criminal. 🙁 Happy new year to you!
Aw thank you!! Yes thankfully the end IS in sight- then begins the job search heh. RIGHT I will take “effervescent”, that is cool! And they truly are- and people simply do not give a crap if it doesn’t impact them directly ugh. Hope you have a wonderful year too!
You did have a hectic year…but a productive one! I hope the Praxis goes through and gives you great job opportunities – you did work your behind off to get there, so you deserve it!
“Maybe it is missing having health insurance in which prescriptions didn’t cost $900.03. The three cents would make me chuckle if it weren’t so infuriating.”
😮 🤬
Oh goodness…Election Hell Redux…he would come back with a vengeance, and not only the US, but the whole world would pay the price. Honestly, I’m scared…let’s hope the single states can do something to stem the tide…
Happy 2024, and here’s to many more spectacular books!
You definitely had a rough year! I can’t imagine student teaching while actually teaching! But wished I could have done my library internship that way, but oh well. Here’s hoping 2024 will be better for all of us! I like your Bookish Bummer idea, I could probably do one like that for some of my DNFs last year. Maybe I will!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/01/01/the-looooong-and-the-short-of-it-december-end-of-2023-wrap-up-post-and-looking-forward-to-2024/
The pub date for Devil in Profile is May 14th. It’s listed as September for weird publisher reasons that I don’t quite get but will be changed back soon. It’s a story. Thanks for including it!
GAH that is frustrating, because it one million percent would have been in my most-anticipated list for the first half, I am so sorry! And I tell you, I did my homework- I checked every single site to make *sure* that this “change” was legit. I should have just asked you, but I guess that would have been too easy 🤦♀️ 😂
Do not sweat it!!
Effervescent is a great vibe for your 2023 in books. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m FLOORED that you’ve done so much, stayed alive, AND continued to both read and blog throughout that insanity. I’m very happy to see so many great reads that you loved, and really only a few bummers (considering how many you read). Wahooo!
2024 is a bit melancholy for me, too. I’m trying to forgive myself for starting several books but not finishing any of them, suddenly losing all interest in reviewing books, and having tons of craft materials while being overwhelmed by the idea of crafting anything. Here’s hoping the year brings us both some much-needed dopamine (and serotonin), soon!