Merry Christmas!

Item: One Sweet Christmas
Rating: 3
Author: Jana

Posted December 25, 2013 by Jana in Personal / 3 Comments

Merry Christmas, my wonderful friends! I hope you have an amazing day with your loved ones! I hope today is filled with yummy food, music, giving, receiving, relaxing, laughing, and love. I hope you got everything you wished for! I will be spending my day with my family, opening presents and making memories.

Thank you so much for celebrating this amazing season with me on the blog this month! Thank you to the publishers who provided Christmas books and giveaways. Thank you to my guest posters who talked all about Christmas in their countries! Thanks for all your comments, recommendations, and discussions. It has been so much fun! I hope you have a very merry bookish little Christmas. :) Things will be a bit sparse on the blog as I recover from this crazy month, but I’ll still be around!

How was your day? What did you get? What did you do? Tell me, tell me!

Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings Tonight!

Posted December 23, 2013 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 32 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted over at the other blog I write for, The Broke and the Bookish.

Merry Christmas Eve! Tonight is one of my very favorite nights of the entire Christmas season. I would like to pause my life and live in Christmas Eve for a few days. I love the magic and the anticipation. I have been blessed this year with so many books from friends and from publishers! How could I possibly want anything more? The thing about books, though, is that you can never run out and you can never have too many! Here are the top ten books I’m hoping Santa has in his bag for me. :)

Fragments by Dan Wells
The Princess in the Opal Mask by Jenny Lundquist
Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg
The Funny Thing Is by Ellen DeGeneres
Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace

Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris
The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner
Champion by Marie Lu

So, what’s on your list for Santa? I hope he brings you all the books!

Red ribbons created by freepik – www.freepik.com

One Sweet Christmas by Darlene Fredette | Mini Book Review

Posted December 23, 2013 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 4 Comments

One Sweet Christmas by Darlene Fredette
Published by Escape Publishing on December 1, 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Holiday - Christmas, Romance
Pages: 48
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Add to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon

It’s going to take more than a few pieces of chocolate to fill this Scrooge’s heart with Christmas cheer. Luckily Candice Cane has a whole shop full...

Candice Cane is not proud of the way she acted after her last encounter with Jackson Frost. Sure revenge was fun, but it’s left Jackson standing, angry and looking for answers, on the welcome mat in her chocolate shop. Now he’s after some revenge of his own.

Jackson returned to his small hometown for one reason and one reason only...so he’s not sure how he’s ended up in a Santa suit in the middle of a chocolate shop, at the behest of its beautiful owner, instead of high-tailing it back to the city as fast as he can.

Jackson wants nothing to do with his small town past, but Candice shows him what he didn’t even know he’d been missing. Can a bit of Christmas magic heal old wounds and offer up a future neither saw coming?

With characters named Candice Cane and Jackson Frost, how can you not expect One Sweet Christmas to be super cheesy and eye-roll worthy? Haha. Yes, this book was filled with cheesiness, but luckily I’m in the mood for that during Christmastime!

One Sweet Christmas is filled with yummy Christmas treats! I loved reading about all the food Candi baked. And I loved her little chocolate shop. She holds parties and Santa visits for her customers! How cute and small town does that sound? She also works at this cute little inn. Really, the setting was so much fun and so picturesque.

Jackson and Candi have kind of a crazy past, and when he shows up at her shop with a TON of questions for her she shoves him in a Santa suit and lets the children loose. She is super mad and the frosty Jackson Frost, but he is too cute with those kids for her to resist. Jackson is not too happy to be back in his small home town, but he is so smitten with Candi that he sticks around and ends up learning a lot about himself. Of course, there’s romance and mending hearts.

This is the kind of story you read for the smiles and the simple messages, not the characters or the little details. Candi and Jackson are not very noteworthy, and this story has been done before in some way. But that doesn’t matter! All bets are off at Christmas, and if you’re looking for a spoonful of sugar and some Christmas cheer, then definitely give this cute little book a shot!

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments

Posted December 22, 2013 by Jana in About Me / 29 Comments

I love, love, LOVE decorating my Christmas tree every year! It’s one of my favorite things to do to get ready for Christmas, and a huge part of that is because of the sentimental value of my Christmas ornaments! Some of them I get just because they are pretty, but most of them I get for a specific reason. I get them from the different places I travel to or for significant things that happen in my life. I thought I would show off some of my favorites today!

First off, let me show you my tree! It makes me happy.

Ok, now to my beloved Christmas ornaments!

My mom got me this ornament this year to commemorate
my move to a self-hosted domain. It is adorable!

This is my Venice ornament! I got it on my European trip
last spring. Because I had very little room in my suitcase, and
because Italy is not so into ornaments, I bought a keychain
and removed the split ring! You’d never know, would you?

This ornament commemorates the the year I
started Kindergarten!

This is my hand painted ball from Florence, Italy! I have
no idea how this thing survived the beating my suitcase
went through for three weeks. I’m so glad I didn’t break it!

My very first piano lesson!

I graduated from high school in 2005. This was
my senior picture!

Bellagio, Italy! I bought this ornament from a little shop
up the hill from my lakeside hotel. The lady who owned
this shop painted it herself! It’s beautiful.

This is a mini replica of the cruise ship I took
my transatlantic cruise on! Royal Caribbean’s Navigator
of the Seas.

My mom and I went to New York City right before
Christmas a few years ago, and braved the cold to go to
the top of the Empire State Building one night. It was freezing
and windy, but so clear and beautiful!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram have seen millions of pictures
of my sweet Cat, Misty. This ornament is from her first Christmas! Isn’t she tiny?

So you see, my Christmas tree is not just a pretty thing I sit in my living room. It holds 26 years of memories. Vacations, events, milestones, and happy times are remembered each time I decorate with my family, and each time I sit down to read next to it. :)

Do you have any ornaments that are special to you? Describe them for me, or tag me on Instagram or Twitter so I can see!

Books for Christmas!?!

Posted December 21, 2013 by Jana in Bookish Little Christmas / 16 Comments

I watched this probably three times, because it is hilarious! I was not always a book lover, so I understand how this kid feels. Books, after all, are not toys.

Unlike him, I hope I get LOTS of books for Christmas! Which ones are you hoping for?