Keeping warm with a cool book haul

Despite few truly bone chilling days this prior week, winter seems to be on vacation this year for the most part. The lack of snow in my neck of the woods is rather dire and while I am not hoping for a blizzard, a decent snowfall would be nice.

However, to make up for such meager weather, an abundance of books has been flowing my way.

To start, a lovely surprise in my mailbox was a giveaway prize from Between the Chapters, Alan Hlad’s  The Book Spy. Set in WWII Lisbon, Maria Alves uses her librarian skills to assist bookseller Tiago Soares with his work in creating documents to help refugees escape from Nazi occupied territory.

She also does spying for the OSS and when asked to be a double agent in order to mislead a prominent banker, Maria finds herself getting closer to the action than she’d like. Putting her life and love for Tiago on the line, Maria decides to take that risk for the good of all both then and now.

This sounds like an amazing adventure to behold and since it’s based on real librarians who took such chances during the Second World War , this is proof positive that not all superheroes wear capes:

Then, I made a trip to my local library where I picked up a few titles that I’ve been meaning to get into.

One of those was A Very Bromance Christmas and before you can say “Isn’t it a little late for a Christmas book?”, I must say that I have read every book in Lyssa Kay Adams Bromance Book Club series and this was definitely a must have on my TBR.

The Bromance Book Club is made up of a group of guys who read romance novels in order to be better partners in their relationships and for this book, the focus is on Colton Wheeler, a country music star whose fortunes are starting to fade.

After a mutually romantic night with Gretchen Winthrop, an attorney specializing in immigration issues, over a year ago, Colton hears from her when Gretchen’s whiskey rich family asks her to make him a business offer that could help his flagging career.

Colton is more interested in why Gretchen has been avoiding him since that night and agrees to listen to the proposal only if she presents it to him via a series of dates. While she is considered to be the rebel of the family whose values she despises, Gretchen is hoping to be placed on the company’s charity board in order to increase the aid for her clients and reluctantly goes along with Colton’s plan.

Over time, the two of them get to know more about each other and reevaluate what they feel about one another. Yet, can they ultimately agree on anything, including the joys of Christmas?

I do like this series a lot , due to not only the romantic comedy elements of each story but the thoughtful time given to character development by Adams. This blend of heartfelt humor and bittersweet emotions is definitely worthy of a great country music ballad indeed:

I paired that with Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman. 

When Laura Costello moves to LA, she’s hoping to make her life not worth but within a week, she is out on the street due to a fire that may or may not be her fault.

Lucky for her, one of the new friends she makes in town is a plucky bookseller named Nina who is more than willing to help Laura find a new place to stay. 

That place happens to be a welcoming boarding house (which might not have a proper license ) and when an ex-boyfriend comes along to give their past relationship a shot at renewal, Laura finds herself facing a fresh start at love with her too good looking to be true neighbor Bob. Can she finally be grownup enough to make such difficult choices on her own or is her meddling family right about her adulting abilities?

I did read one of Waxman’s earlier books, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill(who is the bookstore owner in this story), and enjoyed the quirky poignancy of that novel very much.  Just have a really good feeling about this one and pretty sure that my gut instinct will be well rewarded:

To round things out in this department, my Book of the Month Club box arrived with my main selection being an Emily Henry novel that I need to catch up with.

People We Meet on Vacation traces the long term friendship between Poppy, a perky travel writer living in New York, and Alex, a schoolteacher who still lives in their hometown in Ohio. 

Their polar opposite personalities are the glue that binds them together, despite the geographical distance between them and those bonds are renewed at least once a year when they share vacation time together.

This year, that vacation is more important than ever because it’s been two years since they went on one with each other, due to a fight that hasn’t been fully resolved.

In need of a revival in more ways than one, Polly proposes the trip to Alex, who is willing to take another chance at their friendship and perhaps maybe, find something more to this relationship there.

I did enjoy Henry’s Beach Read and have meant to dive into her other books but just haven’t found the right time. Well, clearly that time is now and I am looking forward to the When Harry Met Sally energy that this story and it’s many delighted readers have assured me is waiting for me with every page turn:

This won”t be the last stack of books on my literary plate to be sure and just savoring such tasty reading is a sweet sensation as it is.

Not only will these reads keep me company during whatever wintery weather comes my way, they will provide plenty of comfort as I await Oscar night on March 12. I am seriously pumped up for the Academy Awards this year since Everything Everywhere All At Once is a major contender with 11 nominations!!!

I saw this movie in theaters on my birthday last year and it was truly a gift worth getting. I must confess that I had my doubts about the Academy giving EEAAO any serious recognition but they did not skimp on the categories with four nominations in the acting competition alone!!!

I’m so rooting for EEAAO to make a major sweep , especially when it comes to Michelle Yeoh for Best Actress, The Daniels as Best Director and Best Picture. They even got a Best Original Song nomination and just seeing “This is a Life” performed on the show will certainly make up for such a lackluster winter, if you ask me: