You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Reporting:

List your WoF name, link to the book you read and tell us which item Santa is bringing you, and how your book connects to that item. Also give us a small blurb of what you thought about the book.

WoF Marnie

I read How to Age Disgracefully (352 pages)
Santa is bringing me an Ice Blanket which is supposed to help with being too hot when you sleep ( thank you menopause)

The book was cute and not at all what I expected. A senior community center and a daycare work together to save their building. There is also a dog that I thought added a lot to this story.

WoF Name - Lanelle

The Randomizer picked books for me, and I decided to read a book that had double vowels in the title.

I read Murder and Misdeeds by Joan Smith. (220 pages)

It was a cozy mystery about a missing heiress, a highwayman, a suspicious neighbor, quarrelling lovers, and a small group of friends that band together to solve the mysteries. I gave it 3 stars.

WoF Janice

The randomizer picked Clothes out of my list, so I went with a book that had a woman wearing period clothing -
Murder at Queen's Landing


I wish I had read the print edition rather than listened to the audiobook. The narration was terrible.

This was book 4 in the Wexford Sloan series. It started with what appeared to be an incidental murder and blew into a complicated caper.

WoFSharonBiskit

The randomizer picked SLIPPERS for me. I listened to the Audible version (310 pp. K) of The Christmas Bookshop, Jenny Colgan.


Slippers are soft, comfy and cozy and keep my feet warm. I chose this book because the picture of a bookshop, bedecked in Christmas with glowing windows made ME feel warm, cozy and quite comfy.

I am glad that I listened to this one. It takes place in Edinburgh which is a cozy location. (I plan on visiting there next year.) The mood was set with the Scottish accents and made it more comfy all the way around. Although not my usual genre, it IS Christmastime and seemed a good pick. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

WoF Katrisa
My pick was BOOTS and I decided to read a book with a doubled vowel in the title.
I read Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
This book was interesting but not earth-shattering or anything. I gave it 3 stars.

WoF Jayme

The randomizer picked workout clothes, so I read The Weight of It All by N.R. Walker. It is about a guy whose partner leaves him after 8 years because he has gained 50 pounds, so he joins a gym (workout clothes connection) in the hope of losing weight and getting jerk boyfriend back. But then...

I really liked this story. It was laugh-out-loud funny in parts, relatable, and has a strong, positive message about body image and self-worth. I am currently reading the mini Christmas sequel to the book and it is delightful.

WoF Odette

The randomiser picked jewellery for me. As I love opals, chose to read Opal by Patricia Wolf.


This is the third book in the DS Walker series and is set in the opal fields of Australia. Lucas Walker, an Australian Federal Police Officer is on leave. He is travelling with his half-sister Grace from Boston (USA) to visit his hometown in the Queensland outback. The book is locked room type of thriller set in a small Australian mining town, cut off by floodwater, where two people have been murdered.

I enjoyed this book. I liked the well written descriptions of the setting in the outback, and also the personalities of characters. I am hoping there will be a 4th book in the series.

WofF TrudyAn

The randomizer chose "sweater". I read The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen. Connection: cover art includes a woman wearing a sweater.

The book is set in 1930s London. The protagonist is an innocent 16-year-old orphan who has come to live with her half-brother, whereupon she is taken advantage of by her sister-in-law and a man she forms a relationship with.

I didn't love this book. I couldn't warm to any of the characters, found the plot disjointed at times, and had difficulty finding the rhythm of the writing.

WoF: Kristie

The randomizer chose wedding band for me and I read An Inconvenient Wife. I went with the wedding band-wife connection.

I thought it was pretty good. You know basically what is what is going on part way through, but there were a lot of little pieces to figure out. I thought the cover made it look lighter than it was, maybe even a little humorous. That was not the tone of the book at all.

WOF Beth
Randomizer chose game.
I read Drop Shot which is about tennis.
I am not a huge fan of this series by Harlan Coben--I like some of his other books better.

WoF Almeta

first on the list was Winter Boots
chose Iced
ice for which I need winter boots!
read 14 Dec
This was a decent installment for the Regan Reilly Mystery series. Carol Higgins Clark learned well from her mother! (And I wonder if that author character in the book is a tribute?)

WoF: Silver

I read Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

The item I asked for was a pizza oven. In addition to having pizza as the title the book was about a girl who worked in a pizza shop.

There were many elements of this book that I enjoyed. It was not as quirky funny as I had thought it would be. But it does take a poignant honest approach to addressing various issues. The book revolves around a pregnant teenager who has no direction in her life when a chance encounter changes everything. I did like the fact that that the book was neither overly sentimental nor too heavy. It offers hope but in some idealistic way, it acknowledges we all have dark corridors and moments of doubt.

WoF Sandra from PA

The randomizer picked books for me, and I decided on La ciudad y los perros by Mario Vargas Llosa (The English edition has a complete different title: The Time of the Hero)

I wanted to pick a book that was especial in some way, and this one happens to be the last one I have in Spanish in my physical shelves (I will have to buy new ones soon).

This one is considered one of the most important novels in Spanish, something like One Hundred Years of Solitude, but for some reason is less known out of Latin America. The story is set in a military school, and follows the cadets in it, but this is anecdotal. It could be set in so many other places. The theme is basically the ethics of conviction, and there is so much food for thought.

WoF Lynn

Book read: Snowed In
Christmas List: Spend time with family
Connection: Both main characters were going back to the family home for Christmas

Great mix of romance, family relationships, and Christmas festivities. Loved it.