The upcoming Winter’s Respite of reading is my ticket to paradise

With everything that’s going on everywhere seemingly all at once these days, any sort of vacation is a welcome relief indeed.

Fortunately for us readers, Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading will start our new year off right with the Winter’s Respite readathon next month. All of February will be reserved for either catching up on books old and new or just revisiting some comfort classics-your choice! 

You can get more details here about it and sign up to join in the fun. As for me, I have a trio of books set aside for this event and yes, one of them happens to be a Christmas romance that I didn’t get to sooner! In the meanwhile, let’s start off a somewhat summery selection:

Problematic Summer Romance:

This Ali Hazelwood novel takes us to a destination wedding in Sicily where 23 year old Maya has more on her mind than her brother’s impending nuptials.

For some time now, she’s been interested in Conor, the best friend of her brother , who feels that he’s much too old for Maya(he’s 38). When the two of them wind up sharing a villa together. Maya hopes to change his mind and he hopes to change hers but both of them might be surprised at what they learn about each other.

While this book is connected to an earlier Hazelwood novel(Not in Love), I believe it can be read as a standalone and I can always backtrack that one later. The age gap trope is tricky but when handled correctly, can be a very reasonable issue for any potential couple to work out and I’m willing to give Hazelwood some leeway here.

Hey, if Jane Austen makes it work for Emma Woodhouse(and her modern day equivalent Cher Horowitz), maybe this could be in that romantic vicinity there:

Witch You Would:

Set in a magic-is-real Miami, Lia Amador’s romcom has a meet cute on a reality show for spell casters that could be the best or worst experience of their lives.

Penelope hopes to change her life for the better by winning Cast Judgement but being paired with celebrity partner Leandro Presto, best known for his viral video prowess, has her in doubt of victory.

Leandro, on the other hand, is thrilled since his real name is Gil Contreras and has been Penelope’s secret pen pal for some time now. They’ve been planning to save his grandfather‘s charity but in order to do that, Gil is keeping up his Presto persona for the show and not telling Penelope who he really is becomes part of that game.

Can the two of the them win the contest and each other’s heart or must one be sacrificed for the ultimate win?

I do like a little witchcraft mixed into my romance and this seems as satisfyingly sweet as a certain peanut butter cup indeed:

Good Spirits:

And we get to the Christmas book and while I did mean to read this in December, my TBR grew unexpectedly during that month(wound up reading four holiday themed titles) and I figured, “Why not save it for February? After all, it is a romance and Valentine’s Day should be suitable enough for this.”

So I am planning to read  Good Spirits by B. K. Borison first, just to start things off with a good catching up. Our couple here is Harriet, who has recently inherited an antique shop and Nolan, a Ghost of Christmas Past who is assigned to help her out.

As they get to know each other better, it becomes clear that Harriet is not the one who needs to make peace with her past-rather, it’s Nolan whose emotional rescue is long overdue. Will they be able to make their season bright with love or be lost in a winter wonderland of the heart for good?

I did enjoy Borison’s First Time Caller last year(and hope that BOTM gets her new book, Back to You, soon!), plus a good hearted ghostly love story seems fitting for any time of year. Christmas does give it an extra boost of coziness though:

The Winter’s Respite readathon begins on February 1 and I do hope that if you’re looking for an opportunity to de-stress from the bone chilling weather, not to mention the equally bone chilling headlines, that you take this bookish retreat opportunity up.

As much as I am crossing my fingers that things will get better sooner rather than later, it’s truly hard to tell which way it is going to go. Let’s keep a good lookout for our friends, neighbors and loved ones and do what we can to help each other.

Part of that calls for giving ourselves a time out every now and then to revive our spirits before heading back into the fray. Curling up with a few good books is great for just that as we head into quite the hazy shade of winter going forward: