Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon 2022: Santa's Scavenger Hunt Mini Challenge

Welcome to Santa's Scavenger Hunt, which is part of the 10th annual Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon! This year, the readathon runs from November 18th - 30th; for complete readathon details, plus links to challenges, and the main readathon giveaway, visit Caffeinated Reviewer. If Kimberly’s main readathon post gets buried, you can always find it in her sidebar by clicking on the cute little kitty graphic like the one above. 

I’m excited to be one of Kimberly’s elves again this year and to be hosting Santa's Scavenger Hunt. Ready to play? Here's what you have to do: Find holiday book titles that fit Santa's clues and then fill out the Rafflecopter below with the titles. If you need any hints, you can find my holiday book list on Goodreads here.

🎄A book with Santa in the title or on the cover

🎄A book with 'mistletoe' in the title

🎄A book with snow on the cover

🎄A holiday book with a place in the title

🎄A holiday book with a pink cover

🎄A book with 'winter' in the title

🎄A book with a Christmas tree on the cover

🎄A holiday book with a number in the title

GIVEAWAY

You must be signed up to the Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon to be eligible for this giveaway. Enter your book titles in the Rafflecopter below and Santa will randomly select a winner who will receive their choice of either a $10 gift card from Amazon or a $10 gift card from SJWonderlandz - open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you had fun with this challenge! If you'd like to see what I'm reading during the readathon, I'll be sharing updates on bookstagram. If you're sharing updates, don't forget to use the hashtag #HoHoHoRAT.

Shameless Self-Promo Time:

If you're looking to add to your TBR for the readathon or into December, I have four Christmas books, all of which are available in Kindle Unlimited and paperback. I also have a novella called Silver Bells & Serendipity in the Wanted: Mistletoe anthology, which is available everywhere ebooks are sold.

🎄Escaping Christmas

🎄A Very Perry Christmas

🎄Mistletoe Kiss

🎄The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon 2021: Santa's Scavenger Hunt Mini Challenge

It’s been six months since I posted here at Ramblings of a Daydreamer (oops?) but it’s time for the annual Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon, which is definitely worth breaking my unintentional hiatus for!

This year the readathon runs from November 18th through November 30th. For complete readathon details, plus links to challenges, and the main readathon giveaway, visit Caffeinated Reviewer. If Kimberly’s main readathon post gets buried, you can always find it in her sidebar by clicking on the cute little snowman graphic like the one above. 

I’m excited to be one of Kimberly’s elves again this year and to be hosting a challenge called Santa's Scavenger Hunt. Ready to play? Here's what you have to do: Find holiday book titles that fit Santa's clues and then fill out the Rafflecopter below with the titles. If you need any hints, you can find my holiday book list on Goodreads here.

🎄A book with Santa in the title or on the cover

🎄A book with 'mistletoe' in the title

🎄A book with snow on the cover

🎄A book with a holiday other than Christmas (Hanukkah, Diwali, Kwanzaa, etc)

🎄A Christmas book with a blue cover

🎄A book with 'winter' in the title

🎄A book with a Christmas tree on the cover

🎄A book with the word 'cozy/cosy' in the title

GIVEAWAY

Santa's randomly selected winner from the Rafflecopter below will win their choice of a $10 gift card from Amazon US or Canada or from SJWonderlandz - open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you had fun with this challenge! If you'd like to see what I'm reading during the readathon, I'll be posting updates on bookstagram and Twitter. If you're sharing updates, don't forget to use the hashtag #HoHoHoRAT. Also, if you’re on Instagram, I’m hosting a challenge through November and December, which you can learn more about here - there’s a $20 book prize associated with this challenge and it has to do with holiday-themed books, which you must enjoy if you're participating in this readathon!

A bit of shameless self-promo here: if you're looking to add to your TBR for the readathon or into December, I have four Christmas books, including a brand new steamy small-town romance that releases on Monday, November 22nd.

🎄Escaping Christmas

🎄A Very Perry Christmas

🎄Mistletoe Kiss

🎄The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: The Forever Girl by Jill Shalvis

The Forever Girl (Wildstone #6) by Jill Shalvis

Published: January 12th, 2021

Publisher: William Morrow Books

Tropes: Found family, forced proximity, friends to lovers

Heat level: 🔥🔥

# of pages: 400

My rating: 4.5 stars

Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration

Add to Goodreads

Buy on Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo

When Maze returns to Wildstone for the wedding of her estranged bff and the sister of her heart, it’s also a reunion of a once ragtag team of teenagers who had only each other until a tragedy tore them apart and scattered them wide.

Now as adults together again in the lake house, there are secrets and resentments mixed up in all the amazing childhood memories. Unexpectedly, they instantly fall back into their roles: Maze their reckless leader, Cat the den mother, Heather the beloved baby sister, and Walker, a man of mystery. 

Life has changed all four of them in immeasurable ways. Maze and Cat must decide if they can rebuild their friendship, and Maze discovers her long-held attraction to Walker hasn’t faded with the years but has only grown stronger.

  

The Forever Girl is the third Wildstone book I’ve read; if I could describe this standalone series with one phrase it’d be “imperfect people finding their perfect match”. I love how Shalvis writes deeply flawed and often emotionally scarred characters who are completely relatable and three-dimensional, and she has them finding love - the love of family, the love of friends, and the love of a partner. The Forever Girl was no different and, as my first read of 2021, it set the bar high for the rest of the year.

Stories about strong bonds, deep friendships, and family - whether blood family or found family - are among my favourites, and Shalvis does those things so well. Maze, Caitlin, Walker, and Heather were brought together in their youth as foster children in Caitlin’s family. They each had their own emotional baggage and trauma to deal with, but they found love and stability with the Walshes until tragedy tore them apart and scattered them. Now as adults, they’re reuniting for Caitlin’s wedding and they have a lot to overcome - past hurts, mistakes, and misunderstandings, along with secrets, resentments, and guilt. Throw in the issues each of them is currently dealing with as adults who have grown and changed, and there’s a lot of tension and emotion bubbling in the lake house.

This story had so much heart. The bonds between these characters ran deep, and yet they had so many things to overcome. There were some heavy themes - grief, mental health, childhood trauma - but it was all handled so well and was balanced by humour and moments of levity and hope. I loved the family and friendship dynamics, as well as the romantic ones. I laughed and teared up while reading - sometimes both at once. I was completely emotionally invested from beginning to end.

Full of heart and humour, The Forever Girl is a beautiful story about chosen family, bonds that last forever, forgiveness, and following your heart. I can’t wait for more Wildstone books.

Read my review of Almost Just Friends

Read my review of The Summer Deal

The publisher has generously allowed me to offer a print copy of The Forever Girl to one lucky US winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures. Follow Jill on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Have you read The Forever Girl or any of the other books in the Wildstone series? What are some of your favourite books about family bonds? 

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Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon 2020: Santa's Scavenger Hunt Mini Challenge

Today is the kick-off of the HoHoHo Readathon hosted by Kimberly from Caffeinated Reader! I've been participating in this readathon on and off since the beginning and it's always so much fun. This year I'm pleased to be returning as an elf with a mini challenge for participants.

If you'd like to join the readathon, it's not too late! Visit this post on Kimberly's blog for the sign-up linky as well as a list of all the other mini-challenge hosts.

My mini challenge is Santa's Scavenger Hunt. Here's what you have to do: find holiday book titles that fit Santa's clues and then fill out the Rafflecopter below with the titles. If you need any hints, you can find my holiday book list on Goodreads here.

🎄A book with Santa in the title or on the cover

🎄A book with 'mistletoe' in the title

🎄A book with snow or snowflakes in the title or on the cover

🎄A holiday-themed book with food in the title or on the cover

🎄A holiday book with a place in the title (city, country, shop, street, etc)

🎄A book with 'winter' in the title

🎄A book with a Christmas tree on the cover

🎄A book with the word 'cozy/cosy' in the title

GIVEAWAY

Santa's randomly selected winner from the Rafflecopter below will win a personalized fabric bookmark in the colour of their choice with the name or saying of their choice up to 20 characters. Open internationally! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you had fun with this challenge! If you'd like to see what I'm reading this week, I'll be posting updates on bookstagram and Twitter. If you're sharing updates, don't forget to use the hashtag #HoHoHoRAT.

A bit of shameless self-promo here: if you're looking to add to your TBR for the readathon or into December, I have three Christmas novellas and one full-length contemporary romance with a sprinkling of Christmas magic.

🎄A Very Perry Christmas (just released on November 16th!)

🎄Only You

🎄Mistletoe Kiss

🎄The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!

The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis: I Officially Want to Move to Wildstone + Giveaway!

The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5) by Jill Shalvis
Published: June 2nd, 2020
Publisher: William Morrow/HarperCollins Canada
# of pages: 384
Tropes: Friends-to-lovers, roommates, second chance, small-town
Heat level: Steamy
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for honest consideration
Add to Goodreads
Buy: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo

Brynn Turner desperately wishes she had it together, but her personal life is like a ping-pong match that’s left her scared and hurt after so many attempts to get it right. In search of a place to lick her wounds and get a fresh start, she heads back home to Wildstone.

And then there’s Kinsey Davis, who after battling serious health issues her entire twenty-nine years of life, is tired of hoping for...well, anything. She's fierce, tough, and pretty much the opposite of Brynn except for one thing: they're half-sisters. Kinsey is keeping this bombshell, and a few others as well. Long time frenemies from summer camp, there’s no way she’s going to tell Brynn they’re related.

But then Brynn runs into Kinsey's lifelong best friend, Eli, renewing a childhood crush. He’s still easy-going and funny and sexy as hell. When he gets her to agree to a summer-time deal to trust him to do right by her, no matter what, she never dreams it’ll result in finding a piece of herself she didn’t even know was missing. She could have a sister, love, and a future―if she can only learn to let go of the past.

As the long days of summer wind down, the three of them must discover if forgiveness is enough to grasp the unconditional love that’s right in front of them.

I’m new to Jill Shalvis’s books, and this is my third of hers so far this year. My first - Almost Just Friends, the fourth book in the Wildstone series of standalones - was an excellent start both to her writing and to the year. I went to Shalvis’s Cedar Ridge next with Nobody But You, and now I’ve returned to Wildstone with The Summer Deal. It's safe to say I'm officially in love with Ms Shalvis’s books, particularly the Wildstone series.

The Summer Deal was about love in all its many messy forms. It was about friendship and family - the ones we’re born into and the ones we choose for ourselves.

I loved the characters in this book. Brynn was always different and was often alienated, but it didn’t stop her from having a big heart. Her moms helped with that; their unconditional love and support, while at times bordering on smothering, taught Brynn to have an open heart and mind. Kinsey masked her pain and fear with a prickly personality, and kept people at arm’s length for their own good since she knew it was only a matter of time before her kidney gave out. She’d been best friends with Eli forever, so she let him love her, along with Eli’s younger brother Max, but other than that, she kept her distance from people, thinking she was saving herself and others a lot of unnecessary pain. She had trouble keeping her distance from Deck, though. The big, sexy nurse and father of an adorable little boy started out as a ‘friend with benefits, minus the friends’, but quickly turned into much more. He was so kind and caring, and he saw beneath Kinsey's tough exterior and fell for her even though he knew she didn’t want any attachments. And finally, there was Eli; he was patient, understanding, easy-going, and incredibly sexy. These characters were perfectly imperfect, relatable, and so much fun to read about.

I wanted to move into the beach house with Eli, Max, Kinsey, Brynn, and their big goofy dog Mini. They were all misfits in a way, they’d all experienced hurt and trauma, but their shared history - even though it left a rift between the girls - created a connection that couldn’t be broken. Their dynamics made for an entertaining, frustrating, hilarious, heart wrenching, heartwarming read. I loved the sibling relationship between Eli and Max, the tentative, budding sibling relationship between Brynn and Kinsey, and I also really loved the platonic friendship between Eli and Kinsey. The book I read immediately before The Summer Deal (Always a Bridesmaid by Cindi Madsen) had a great male-female friendship, and it made me realize how those friendships are lacking in romance. Ms Shalvis did a fantastic job of showing Eli and Kinsey’s bond, their affection for each other, and the deep connection they shared.

The Summer Deal made me laugh out loud, tear up, and swoon. It was such a lovely story about unconditional love, healing and forgiving past hurts, and allowing yourself to love and be loved.

The publisher has generously allowed me to offer a print copy of The Summer Deal to one lucky Canadian or US reader. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures. Follow Jill on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Have you read The Summer Deal? Have you read any of Jill Shalvis's other books? What are some of your favourite books with sibling relationships and/or found families?

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*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!  

Almost Just Friends by Jill Shalvis: Is it Too Soon to Call 2020 Favourites? + Giveaway!

Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4) by Jill Shalvis
Published: January 21st, 2020
Publisher: William Morrow Books
Genre: Contemporary romance
Tropes: Fling to forever
Heat level: Steamy 
# of pages: 364
My rating: 5 stars
Acquired this book: From the publisher in exchange for honest consideration
Add to Goodreads
Buy now: Amazon Canada || Amazon US || Indigo 

Piper Manning’s about as tough as they come, she’s had to be. She raised her siblings and they’ve thankfully flown the coop. All she has to do is finish fixing up the lake house her grandparents left her, sell it, and then she’s free.

When a massive storm hits, she runs into a tall, dark and brooding stranger, Camden Reid. There’s a spark there, one that shocks her. Surprising her further, her sister and brother return, each of them holding their own secrets. The smart move would be for Piper to ignore them all but Cam unleashes emotions deep inside of her that she can’t deny, making her yearn for something she doesn’t understand. And her siblings…well, they need each other.

Only when the secrets come out, it changes everything Piper thinks she knows about her family, herself…and Cam. Can she find a way to outrun the demons? The answer is closer than she thinks—just as the new life she craves may have already begun.

I keep saying this is my first Jill Shalvis book, but that’s technically not true. My first was actually Her Sexiest Mistake, which I read about fourteen years ago (!!) when I was still new to romance. I remember loving it, but then I became obsessed with YA and never picked up any of her other books until now. And wow...not only was Almost Just Friends a fantastic way to kick off 2020, it also made me want to read Shalvis’s entire backlist. I know it’s pretty bold to say this so early in the year, but I already know this book is going to make it onto my list of 2020 favourites.

Piper is the list-making, journaling, planner-obsessed, “fixer” of the Manning family. She raised her younger brother and sister after their parents’ deaths, and with her siblings finally off living their own lives, she had just started to live life for herself. The sudden, unexpected reappearance of both of her siblings throws a major wrench in her plans...as does the appearance of her gorgeous new neighbour, Camden Hayes.

I absolutely loved these characters and all the different dynamics. I also loved that while the main focus of the story was on Piper and Cam, we got to see things from a variety of perspectives, including Piper’s brother, Gavin, who is gay. The stories wove together seamlessly, showcasing emotional, heartfelt journeys that touched on life and death, guilt and grief, second chances, and the duties we have to the people we love. It was a love story in every way - the love between siblings, between parents and children, and romantic love.

And speaking of romantic love...I adored Gavin and CJ’s second-chance romance storyline, and I loved watching Piper and Cam fall in love. It’s been awhile since I loved a hero enough to call him a book boyfriend, but I fell hard for Cam. I loved the way he treated Piper and how good he was to her siblings and his dad. He was trying to make up for lost time with his dad, and be around for the Manning siblings the way he couldn’t be for his brother. Piper and Cam had such great chemistry, and I loved that their interactions ranged from sweet to hilarious to steamy.

Expect to see me raving about and recommending this beautiful, heartfelt, relatable book a lot in the coming months. I may be new to Jill Shalvis’ books, but luckily she has a massive backlist and I’m looking forward to delving into it.

The publisher has generously allowed me to offer a print copy of Almost Just Friends to one lucky Canadian or US reader. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures. Follow Jill on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Have you read Almost Just Friends? Have you read any of Jill's other books? Do you have any recommendations for which of her books I should read next? Are you a planner, list-maker, or journaler like Piper?

{Bookstagram || Instagram || Facebook || Twitter || GoodReads || Pinterest}

*Please note I'm an Amazon affiliate, and some of the links in this review are affiliate links. All income made through affiliate sales goes directly back into maintaining Ramblings of a Daydreamer. Thank you for your support!