Happy New Year, guys!
Am I too late to wish this? I guess not. In fact, some people are still in the wake-up mood after partying hard during New Year's Eve, isn't it?
May 2026 be exactly as you wish, but a little bit softer than 2025, as I think we can all agree that this world is more and more challenged by all kinds of economic and political interests, but also by wars, ugh!
For me, it's been a very chill day at home with my cats, as ever since I became a cat mamma, all my New Year's parties are at home, to make sure the babies are safe if some selfish neighbours decide to use fireworks for a few seconds of 'fun', although they are illegal. It was also a good chance to wrap up my latest book read before the year came to an end, which I can't wait to write about, especially since it's a fairly popular one.
But along with this, there have been some Christmas-themed books which kept me busy for a couple of days, so let's not waste any more time and begin this post, shall we?!
1. The Christmas Tree Farm
by Laurie Gilmore
★★★★★
When I was still at the beginning of the month, there was no way to read something except Christmas-related books, which I was looking forward to.
Hence, I am happy that I got the chance to begin another month with another book written by Lauren Gilmore, where I got a new perspective on two more protagonists of the Dream Harbor village, where most of her books are focusing on. Although at first everything seemed a bit too similar to the rest of the books, I was happy to see things getting new twists along the way and also approach a different story from what I've read before. Not to mention, this was one of the coziest books I ended up reading in December.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
2. My December Darling
by Lauren Asher
★★★★☆
It was my first read from Lauren Asher, which I quickly fell in love with and even though I had a blast reading this book, there are two aspects that, sadly, made me avoid offering 5 stars. First, the cover of the book and the title are catching a lot of attention around this time of the year, which is not a bad thing, but sadly, the story itself doesn't have much to do with Christmas other than having the main story happening around the end of the year, and I really hoped to see more Christmasy things within. Secondly, after a story shared at a decent pace without feeling like things are happening too quickly or too slowly, the ending felt cruelly abrupt, almost getting the impression that some pieces of the overall puzzle are missing.
Maybe if I had read something in between this book and the first one, I would have had a different opinion, but otherwise it was impossible not to compare the two and expect more from My December Darling.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3. A Cinnamon Falls Mystery
by R.L. Killmore
★★★★☆
As I already had enough Christmas Vibes with the first two books, I thought it was finally time to get back reading a crime/thriller book, which usually catches my attention the most. So my next pick was A Cinnamon Falls Mystery that I wanted to read for a while.
Reading this book came with a full baggage of emotions. From frustration to curiosity, from fear to mercy, from enthusiasm to anger and so on. But most importantly, it felt like a great mix between love and betrayal, between family and friends, but also between corruption and hidden stories. They all combined into an interesting story with both unexpected and easily anticipated twists, but a good read overall.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
4. Confidence: Eight Steps to Knowing Your Worth
by Roxie Nafousi
★★★★☆
The month continued with some confidence troubles which I often struggle with, so that was a great idea to focus on my next read.
While I usually tend to stay away from psychological and self-help books for various reasons, such as not believing too much in feeling a change take place, from time to time I like giving a try to a new book. Not only that might provide a different perspective you haven't really thought about, but it often ends up making you feel understood and like you are reading a long message from a friend you didn't realize you had by your side. Hence why reading Confidence didn't really bring lots of new advice one could properly apply in his/her life, but actually put in order thoughts we all had at one point but didn't pay enough attention to these and the power they all build if making the right steps. That's why, I'd like to say that it's been a very comforting and relaxing read that also came with exercises and challenges for those taking things more seriously, but even if you don't, at the end of the day, you will feel a bit more confident, which is amazing.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
5. The God of the Woods
by Liz Moore
★★★★★
The book that wrapped up 2025 for me was a book that I've seen all over the internet before, including a book review written by a different hiver on here a while ago, so I thought I might as well give it a chance.
This was a book that began quite seriously with a hand-drawn map of the place where the action takes place, because there are plenty of important mentions and characters. Happily, each character was described very well, hence why I had already projected in my head all the information once it was fully shared, but it felt nice to have a safe space to return to whenever I needed extra clarification. Once the introduction of the characters ended, just like Stephen King said, the real challenge started, where it felt impossible to put away the book from your hands. Unexpected twists, connections, relationships and past hidden stories built a fantastic rollercoaster of emotions that proved why the book was chosen as Goodreads Choice Winner in 2024. And I can't complain about it, it was totally worth it.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Check out my previous monthly recaps:
- August Recap: 9 Books That Kept Me Hooked
- September Recap: What I've Read Last Month?
- October Recap: My Best Reading Month Yet
- November Recap: The Good, The Cozy, and The Unexpected
- December Recap: The Books That Closed My Year
Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences.
At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe.
Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game and book reviews, lets plays, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 750+ blog posts.
Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, owning a YouTube channel for each of the two.
~ @GabrielaTravels ~