December Wrap Up & 2018 My Year In Books

2018 Reading Challenge

Books read in December: 18

I managed to smash my goal out of the park, woo! I'm setting my goal for 2019 significantly lower (at 100 books) because I'm focusing on getting through a lot of thicker and slower reads (like the classics and some weightier epic fantasy novels that have been gathering dust on my shelves), rather than flitting through so many shorter reads (like manga and novellas...) 

#LetsDiscuss2018

hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight

Progress in December: 6

Total Progress: 32/31 

HEY I DID IT! 32 discussion posts just tips me over into the "Terrifically Talkative" Rank, huzzah!

#2018BeatTheBacklist

hosted by Novel Knight

Yeah, so I'm going to knuckle down on this one in 2019, so stay tuned for that... 

#2018AtoZChallenge

hosted by Ginger Mom & the Kindle Quest

Progress in December: 0 

Total Progress: 23/26

Final rank: 

I'M GOING! Kisscon Weekend Affair (and another Christmas with no books!)

Once again, another Christmas come and gone and nobody got me books. Any other booknerds out there whose families are all "You have too many books"? (Pro tip, family: You can never have too many books.) (...She says, while making plans to unhaul an unholy amount of books... But that is TOTALLY DIFFERENT.)

ANYHOO. Instead of getting us adult-kids (meaning myself, my spouse, and my brother and his spouse, all in our 30's) gifts this year, my parents opted to give us each an envelope with the money they would have spent on gifts to do with as we will. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with my $200 cash moneys. (Also, $100 bills are BLUE. That is so bizarre. But I digress.) The French Kiss Ticket for the Kisscon Weekend Affair just happens to cost $185 plus $12.37 fee, which totals $197.97 and HEY PRESTO, I'm goin' to KissCon Weekend Affair in April!

If almost $200 is too rich for your blood, there are 3 tiers of tickets - the French Kiss Ticket is basically the super delux VIP experience that gives you access to the panels on Friday and Saturday plus a Sunday breakfast with the authors.

Here's a breakdown of the registration types. I've called out in italics and underlined the add-ons each level gives over the previous one

Butterfly Kiss Ticket (Saturday Only) :: $75
-KissCon tote, filled with branded swag
+ 2 galleys compliments of the sponsors
- Commemorative "Butterfly Kiss" registration badge
- Access to all Saturday author panels
- General admittance to Saturday book signing
- Access to Saturday Sparkles with Babe Rosé Party

Smooch Ticket (Friday + Saturday) :: $150
- KissCon tote, filled with branded swag
+ 4 galleys compliments of the sponsors
- Commemorative "Smooch" registration badge
- Access to all Friday and Saturday author panels
- General admittance to Saturday book signing
- Access to Saturday Sparkles with Babe Rosé Party

French Kiss Ticket (Friday - Sunday) :: $175
- KissCon tote, filled with branded swag
+ 4 galleys compliments of the sponsors
- Commemorative "French Kiss" registration badge
- Access to all Friday and Saturday author panels
- Access to Friday night author mixer
- VIP early admittance to Saturday book signing
- Access to Saturday Sparkles with Babe Rosé Party
- Ticket to Sunday Breakfast + commemorative branded mug or similar swag item

The list of participating authors is LONG, click here to see for yourself. I am SUPER PUMPED because some of my faves will be there, including Sally Thorne making her US debut!! I'm also really excited about Cat Sebastian, Vivienne Lorret, Julia Quinn, Sarah MacLean, Mia Sosa, Eloisa James, and Alyssa Cole. I've got a of few Beverly Jenkins' books I'm going to definitely read before the event as well since she'll be there, and I think I'll raid my shelves to see who else will be there that I have books by on my TBR, so I know how hard to fangirl about them, haha. ♥ Basically the only way it could be any more perfect is if Lenora Bell, Jenny Holiday, Lynsay Sands and Lisa Kleypas were going to be there, as they're my other fave romance authors not on the participating author list. Still, it's a pretty dang amazing line-up!

They've also got all the programming listed on their website, so you can see if there's anything on Friday you're absolutely DYING to go to and thus need the Smooch or French Kiss ticket. The French Kiss ticket also says something about access to a Friday night author mixer, and I'm wondering if that's the Ice Cream Social or the Pajama Party?

Let me know if you're going to the KissCon Weekend Affair, and I'd love to meet up with some of my bookish blogger friends IRL! On those Myers-Briggs tests I tend to test at, like, 52% introvert and 48% extrovert, so it's always a coin-toss on if I'll be super out-there and putting myself forward or curling up into a little ball and being too scared to try to make friends. Maybe I'll wear my Hufflepuff-iest outfits so the Harry Potter booknerds will come for me and we can all be cozy. :)

Are you planning to go to KissCon Weekend Affair? Have you gone to any of the single day KissCon events? What about other book conventions? What did you think? Did you love it? Hate it? Would you go again? Why? (Bonus points if you can tell me about some of the romance ones!)

Discussion: 2019 Goals (because resolutions are garbage)

Because New Year's Resolutions are something I tend to stick to for maaaaaybe 2-3 weeks (if that...), I'm not making any this year. I am making a list of goals/things I want to accomplish in the coming year, though. (It is a totally different thing, I swear!) So without further ago, here are five things I plan to accomplish in 2019.

1. Attend a book convention

I've got big plans to go to KISSCON Weekend Affair on April 5-7 in Chicago with my bookish BFF's Ariel (whom you may also know as Peekaboo) and Annie. My amazing Mom got my the French Kiss ticket, which is basically the VIP Friday-Sunday ticket, and I'm SUPER excited. Three of my top five favorite historical romance authors are going to be there (if you were going to twist me arm and force me to limit myself and pick a top five, that is), and also SALLY THORNE WILL BE THERE, making her US author visit debut. The only thing that would make it *more* perfect is if Tessa Dare and Lenora Bell were there (the other two historical romance authors in my theoretical top five, along with Vivienne Lorret, Cat Sebastian, and Julia Quinn), but I guess you can't have everything.

2. Be more active on Instagram

OK, this one is sort of resolution-y, I'll admit it. I've gotten more regular with posting on my blog and Twitter, so I want to try to do more with Instagram. I'm going to start small and try to post once a week - that shouldn't be too hard, right? I even bought myself a cute little clip on light thinger for my cell phone to help with some of my lighting issues, because there just is no good natural light in my split level house where my book room is on the lower level. So all of those tips about finding natural light? Sorry, no. And besides, Minnesota in December/January? We get all of maybe 7-8 hours of daylight as it is, and it's not very bright most of the time anyway, haha. But I digress - Instagram more, aiming for once a week. Preferably featuring books, but it might also be pics of whatever craft project I'm working on, whatever latest recipe I'm trying out for dinner, or my kids doing something weird. The goal is simply to *post*.

3. Read the books on my shelves/Get caught up on ARCs

Right now I'm sitting at 73 unread ARCs, as well as 4 non-ARC books that I got review copies from publishers for. Then there are somewhere over 400 books on the physical TBR shelves in my bedroom - I repeat in my bedroom - that I haven't read yet. That's not including the books on the shelves in my library (which is what I'm going to call the room where the computers and elliptical live along with my many bookcases). I shouldn't probably set myself a book buying ban and stop requesting ARCs until I hit some sort of arbitrary milestone, but I already know I'd be no good at that so I'm not going to bother (ha!). I do want to get my ARCs down to 25 by the end of 2019, however that needs to happen (keeping up better, not requesting new ones until I'm there - that's a problem for future me). This also leads me into my next goal -

4. Organize my bookshelves/library

I have several cube shelves and two bookcases in my bedroom, and then in the library have several full bookcases as well as built-in shelving all along one wall. Right now it's a hot mess (and there are spider webs all over the built-in shelving - ew!!) My goal for 2019 is to go through ALL. OF. THE. BOOKS. and organize them. Weed out what to get rid of, trying to be realistic about what I will actually reread and what I won't, what I will actually read of the unread and what I probably won't make time for considering the literally HUNDREDS OF UNREAD BOOKS I OWN, and get rid of literally boxes of books. If I don't need to make at least two trips to Half Price Books, then I'll know I didn't do a very good job. (Oh God, that hurts so much just to write!! How am I going to *DO* it?!)

Then I plan to organize them by non-fiction vs fiction, genre, and author. (Hey, all those old textbooks from college should be easy to get rid of anyway. That'll fill a good part of one load, yessss.) Right now those cube shelves in my room are all unread TBR, and I'd like to make them more cute/decorative and conducive to bookstagram and fill them with more of my favorites as well as with cute accessories and funkos and things. I'm still not sure if the unread books will be shelved in with the read ones, or if I'll keep them on a separate unread/TBR bookcase (or two... maybe three... there are, like, 400 of them), so I have some decisions to make on how I'm going to do this. I'd also like to have some more space to fit some of my crafting stuff in storage bins on my cube shelf, for which I'll need to move some books off, so... we'll see. Plan to see posts around my reorg project under the tag/header "Re-Shelf Yourself" and about my attempts to unhaul an ungodly number of books under "Rehome Your Tomes"!

5. Read 10 nonfiction books

10! I'm not a really big nonfiction person, but I do have a couple nonfic books on that ARC backlog I was talking about (5 of them, actually) as well as on my physical bookshelves (at least another 5) so I've definitely got 10 of them to read as part of Goal #3. It's good to set yourself stretch goals, right? ;)

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? How about setting goals for the new year? What are your goals (or resolutions) for 2019? And do you have any great tips on how to accomplish mine? Because now that I've written it all out, I'm a little intimidated... haha!

Discussion: Holiday Romance ~ Movies

The other day I posted about Holiday Romance ~ Books and I promised that a post would be coming to talk about movies - this is that post! I sadly haven't been able to watch as many Christmas romances as I normally do since I've been working my normal day job as well working part time about 16 hours a week at Bath & Body Works in the evenings and weekends. Between two jobs and trying to keep up on reading and my blog, there just hasn't been much time for movies. I know, it kind of makes me want to go all Disney princess and throw myself on the nearest object and dramatically sob. However! There's no time for that! We've got a bunch of Christmas romance movies to talk about! In no particular order:

A Cinderella Christmas

2016 TV Movie. Angie works hard to run her uncle's events business while her cousin Candace takes the credit. When Angie takes a night off to have fun at the Christmasquerade Ball, the mask and gown allow her to let loose, and she quickly catches the eye of Nicholas, a wealthy local bachelor. But then Angie has to go before revealing her identity, leaving Nicholas searching for his mystery woman in this modern take on the classic fairytale.

 I just love this movie. Then again, I have a major lady-crush on Emma Rigby and will basically watch anything she's in. *swoon* This is a really cute Cinderella retelling (which I'm a sucker for) with a Christmas twist, and I just adore it. I watch it even when it's not Christmas time, but I especially make time to watch it at this time of year (and yes, even though I have no time, I've made the time to watch this one - twice.) (A note because the next two I talk about aren't anywhere - you can purchase or rent this movie on Amazon.)

A Christmas Kiss

2011 TV Movie. Wendy has left work with the local theatre to take a job as an assistant to Priscilla Hall. Ms. Hall works Wendy around the clock, which is how Wendy finds herself trapped in an elevator late one night with an incredibly handsome stranger. // After a spontaneous kiss, a struggling designer ends up falling in love with her demanding boss's boyfriend as she decorates his home for a Christmas party.

I love this movie so much, but sadly it looks like the only way to watch it right now is if you have a subscription to UP faith & family through Amazon - you can't even just outright buy the movie. That's such a bummer! Now I wish I'd just purchased it when I still had the chance. It used to be included in Amazon Prime, so I'm hoping it will come back sometime. The connection between Wendy and whatever-the-guy's-name-is is really cute, and I love all the beautiful decorations. There's also a follow-up/sequel about another couple getting caught in the temperamental elevator (and in which a much happier Ms. Hall makes a cameo as a side character) called Another Christmas Kiss that's also a really cute movie.

Holiday in Handcuffs

2007 TV Movie. A struggling artist working as waitress kidnaps one of her customers to bring home and meet her parents at Christmas.

So apparently you can't find any of these movies anywhere anymore, so I'll try to put movies that are actually findable for the rest of these... This one does still play on Freeform's 25 Day of Christmas, though (...once... at midnight... but still...) Anyway, what's not to love about Melissa Joan Hart clubbing Mario Lopez over the head, kidnapping him, and bringing him home to pose as her fake fiance? Then her family is so wacky that he tells them that she's kidnapped him and she's all "it's this game he likes to play, he thinks he's so funny," and they just go with it. ...Now that I think about it, this movie is actually probably really problematic on a lot of levels. It's been several years since I've seen it so now I wonder if it actually holds up... NOW I REALLY NEED TO REWATCH IT SO I KNOW! Anyway, a-few-year-ago-me really enjoyed it.

The Princess Switch

2018 Netflix Movie. A Chicago baker (V.Hudgens) is competing in a Christmas baking competition in Belgravia. There she bumps into the prince's fiancee. They look alike and switch for 2 days. "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." 

This is such a cute movie, even if the princess version of Vanessa Hudgens' character has TERRIBLE helmet hair. Also, I have a major crush on Sam Palladio from Nashville and it was super weird to watch him have this British (sorry, Belgravian) accent instead of a Southern one (so weird). I really like that you get a Christmas romance and a Princess and the Pauper sort of retelling with this one, and not one but *TWO* romances as well! HOORAY! Netflix continues to just smash them out of the park with their original content as well, because this movie was great. As promised, this one is actually available to watch right now on Netflix!

The Holiday Calendar

2018 Netflix Movie. A struggling but talented photographer inherits an antique holiday advent calendar, the contents of which seem to predict the future. Will this magical calendar lead her to love this holiday season?

This was another great original movie by Netflix, and I basically need to see Kat Graham star in all the movies now. I also really like that I was kept guessing in this one as to who the romantic lead actually was - if it was the friend character or the guy she met who it seemed like the calendar was leading her towards. And I watch enough Korean dramas where I get a major case of the Second Lead Syndrome (where you REALLY WANT the leading lady to end up with the second lead guy who she does *not* end up with) that I honestly thought she wasn't going to end up with the guy I wanted her to be with in the end. Emotional roller coaster for sure (but in the best way). Also, her gramps is basically the best character in this whole movie. ♥ Available on Netflix.

A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale

2015 When spoiled, 21-year old college student Luce Lockhart is forced to take a job over the holidays walking a rich developer's dog, she is thrilled to discover they are going to build a salon and spa over the quaint local dog park nearby. But when Luce meets Dean, an irritating yet handsome dogwalker actively trying to stop them, Luce is forced to question what the park means to her newfound friends, and whether she can put aside her selfish ways to help save the park before Christmas. Available on Netflix.

Jonathan Bennett *dreamy sigh* He's just so nerdy, I don't know why I like him so much, I just do. Plus, who doesn't love a Christmas movie full of cute doggos?! This one's got a bit of an A Christmas Carol vibe to it, as Luce realizes there's a lot more to life than the shallow and selfish existence she'd been living so far.

Christmas Crush

2012 TV Movie. When a woman learns of her high school reunion a week before Christmas, she's ecstatic to finally have her chance to win back the one "that got away". Available on Netflix.

There's that Jonathan Bennett again. I also just really like Rachel Boston. And poor Georgia, she goes back to her high school reunion feeling a bit like a failure and then kind of tries to relive her glory days... and sort of fails at it. Good thing her best friend Ben is still SUPER AWESOME. I just ADORE all the wacky hijinks in this movie, because Georgia gets herself into the craziest situations. Every year I'm like "Meh, I don't really need to watch this one again," but then I for some reason I do (probably I remember I'm a little in love with Jonathan Bennett) and then I'm always glad I did.

Merry Kissmas

2015 TV Movie. A woman engaged to marry a self-centered film and stage director/choreographer falls for a caterer whom she kisses, as does he for her. Available on Netflix.

Boy, some of these summaries from IMDB really suck... This is such a cute holiday romance, which (like A Christmas Kiss and Another Christmas Kiss) involves a kiss under the mistletoe on a malfunctioning elevator. Like I thought maybe it was part of the series/franchise when I first saw it - it has a similar feel. And then they have all these tiny connections and coincidences and connections. "It's the friendship that turns that happily ever after into the beginning of a love story and not the ending."

Here are a couple I haven't seen yet, but that I'm hoping to watch before Christmas this year. (I know, I'm running out of time!)

Mr. 365

2018 Passionflix Movie. When workaholic reality TV producer Sophie starts working on a holiday-season show about Will, a wildly sexy guy who celebrates Christmas every day of the year, she finds herself falling for her mysterious, unlikely new star, renewing her long-lost faith in Xmas in the process.

A Holiday Engagement

2011 TV Movie. Afraid to tell her family she's been dumped, Hillary hires an actor to play her fiancé during a four-day Thanksgiving weekend at her parents' house. Available on Amazon Prime

Naughty & Nice

2014 TV Movie. A cynical radio host is banished to Colorado, where he has an on-air spat with a hopeless romantic. Soon, their antagonistic relationship sparks the interest of the whole town. Available on Amazon Prime.

What are your favorite holiday romance movies? Have you seen any on this list? Are there any I'm missing that I MUST WATCH this year?

Guest Post: Peekaboo's Corner ~ Romantic Nonfiction

Peekaboo has written another amazing guest post for us today, this one about romantic nonfiction. When she pitched this idea to me, my literal response was "What? That's a thing?" PREPARE TO BE AMAZING, THIS IS A THING.

For hardcore fiction readers, especially readers of romance, nonfiction books can be hard to read. It’s an incredibly broad category of fiction, encompassing everything from serial killer stories to the microhistory of salt. Occasionally when you deep dive, you’ll find those books that read more like a college text book, and are heavy on the dry explanations. But don’t let this put you off non-fiction! Even if you are a romance reader who craves that Happily Ever After, there are still non-fiction books out there for you.

Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels - Sarah Wendell

That would be Sarah Wendell, founder of the amazing romance book blog Smart Bitches Trashy Books, who did her college thesis on homerotic subtext in the modern cowboy novel. Yes, that Sarah Wendell. She wrote this amazing book on life and love, and the lessons she learned from romance novels that apply to both. It’s a funny and fun read, and great for romance readers because it takes the things we read about every day and shows it in a new light.

The Vow By Kim and Krickett Carpenter

Remember that movie with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams about the couple who gets married, and then the woman is in a car crash and totally forgets her husband, and they have to fall in love all over again? Welp, it’s based on this couple's memoir. It’s not exactly like the movie, of course, but it’s still supposed to be a good read.

Sidenote: It is very Christian-themed, so if that’s not your jam, maybe skip this one.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

Comedian and actor Aziz Ansari (a.k.a Tom Haverford in Parks and Recreation) teams up with a social scientist to present an in-depth study of how romance and dating has evolved over the years, and become something new, strange, and wonderful.

Offbeat Bride  - Ariel Meadow-Stallings

Part of what we love about romance novels is that happily ever after, the pretty wedding, the exchanging of romantic vows. And the wedding industry is almost disgustingly huge these days, and overwhelming, and very monochromatic for the most part. (Which some people are into! Go with what you love.) This book was written by the creator of the blog/website Offbeat Bride (who, incidentally, is amazing on Instagram so go check her out at arielmstallings) and is a guide to having the wedding you want, even if what you want doesn’t conform to the mainstream. I’ve never been married, but I am obsessed with weddings, so reading this book was delightful for me. It's got antecdotes from non-traditional weddings (both hers and others), tips on planning your offbeat wedding on the cheap, and vendor suggestions/etc. A great read even if you are just into weddings.

How to Be Married by Jo Piazza

Piazza is a travel editor, and so has to navigate the first year of her marriage while traveling the globe. She also interviews 25 women from all around the world on their marriages, and how they make things work even when life gets tough and you want to turn into a praying mantis and bite your partner’s head off. She gives a framework that she and her husband used to get through incredibly tough times, and even the stupid little stuff. It’s a charming read!

How about you, folks? What are your favorite non-fiction reads? Doesn’t have to be romance related! My favorite is The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which is all about the ebola virus. Not exactly smooching material.

Discussion Posts & 2019 Discussion Challenge

I've loved participating in the 2018 Discussion Challenge hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight! I don't think I'd have stuck with blogging as long as I have (and I can't believe I've been doing this for over a year now!) if it hadn't been for this challenge leading me to post more than book reviews and blog tours. It's also the main way I've connected with other bloggers, as linking back to the blogs of people who comment on my discussion posts as well as checking out what other people post in the link-ups are mostly how I visit other blogs. So thanks a million, Nicole and Shannon - I wouldn't be the Book Otter I am today without you guys. ♥

Here are some of my favorite discussion posts I did this year, which you can go check out if you care to:

• Top 10 Disney Villains
• Mermaids, Dragons, or Unicorns?
• What to do with old ARCs
• Real life bookish friends
• Diversity in romance - this actually reminds me I want to do a post about diverse cover models!
• Favorite tropes in romance novels
• Reviewing ARCs and new releases vs. older backlist books

I'm really excited to sign up for the 2019 Discussion Challenge! My goal for next year is going to be 35 posts, which will put me smack dab in the middle of the Terrifically Talkative range (31-40). I thought about going for the max 41+ range, but want to set myself up for success, sooooo... 

Here are a couple of ideas I have for posts: 

• Diverse cover models
• Writing books/NaNoWriMo
• Fictional worlds you want to visit
• TV shows based on books
• Hogwarts houses as elements
• Least favorite romance tropes
• Goodreads groups
• Hobbies outside of reading
• Jane Austen adaptations
• Tropes: women disguised as men
• Plus sized heroines in romance
• Romance as a "guilty pleasure" (and why I'm not guilty at all)

Also, since July/August I've lost almost 40 lbs since implementing a series of lifestyle changes in response to finding out I have a neurological disorder called Pseudotumor Cerebri (PTC, also called IIH, which I basically found out I had because I started having intermittent blindness which is NOT great for reading, let me tell you!) I've switched to a diet that's low carb and very loosely paleo based (I eat way more dairy than I'm supposed to, I think, haha) as well as hitting the gym and that sort of thing. Would lifestyle type posts be welcome, or should I stick with posts that are at least bookish-adjacent? I feel like film and fandom are at least in the same wheelhouse, but for whatever reason talking about mixing my Atkins vanilla shake with 3 shots of espresso as a low carb latte doesn't really belong on a book blog? What do you think?

What do you think of these ideas? Do these sound like things you'd like to read/talk about? Are there other posts you'd like to see? 

If you blog, do you plan to do the 2019 Discussion Challenge?