2018 Wrap-Up: Best 12 Books

Hello my dear friends! I hope you had an awesome holiday week! Mine was great, quiet and cozy. Just what I needed this year, honestly.

With 2018 almost done, I wanted to do a yearly Wrap-Up, and also share my favorite 12 reads of 2018. Without further ado, let's dive into it!

Book Review: 'Twas The Knife Before Christmas by Jacqueline Frost

Author: Jacqueline Frost
Series: A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #2
Audience: +18
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Release Date: November 13th 2018
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

A Christmas delight, ’Twas the Knife Before Christmas will charm the stockings off readers of Joanne Fluke and Leslie Meier.

It’s out of the cupcake tin, into the fire for Holly White’s best friend, Caroline. Can Holly clear Caroline’s name in time to go caroling?

When a body turns up in the dumpster behind Caroline’s Cupcakes, Holly White is horrified to learn her best friend Caroline is the main suspect. Everyone in town, including Mistletoe, Maine’s sheriff, saw Caroline fighting with the victim on the night of his death. Worse, Caroline’s fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, a custom-designed marble rolling pin.

Now, just ten days before Christmas, Holly’s up to her jingle bells in holiday shenanigans and in desperate need of a miracle. Juggling extra shifts at her family’s Christmas tree farm and making enough gingerbread jewelry to satisfy the crowd is already more than she can handle—and now she has to find time to clear her best friend of murder. Add in her budding relationship with the sheriff, and run-ins with an ex-fiancé looking to make amends, and Holly’s ready to fly south until springtime.

But her Sherpa-lined mittens come off when Caroline is taken into custody. Can Holly wrap up the case in time for Christmas…even after she gains the true killer’s attention? Find out in ‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas, Jacqueline Frost’s second pine-scented Christmas Tree Farm mystery.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

Blogmas Day 11: Goodreads - Your Year In Books Meme 2018

 

Esther from Bite Into Books tagged me to do the Goodreads: Your Year in Books Meme 2018 tag and I'm very excited to do this! 

I know the year isn't over yet, and I'm still hopeful I'll catch up on my reading challenge, but we'll see. Apparently, I only have 25 books left to read, in almost 13 days. We'll see. Let's start!

Blogmas Day 10: 2019 Reading Expectations

Welcome to another Blogmas post, book lovers! I'm playing catch up this weekend, because this week has been rather hectic and I couldn't find the time to write.

Although we're only halfway through December, I'm already starting to make plans for my reading in 2019, and let me tell you, I am aiming for the stars!

Blog Tour Book Review: The Darkest Captive by Gena Showalter

  

The demon possessed beast wants his beauty back, and he’ll do anything to win her. Even war with a god king.

From New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Gena Showalter, comes THE DARKEST CAPTIVE, a new novella in her addictive bestselling Lords of the Underworld Series, brought to you by 1,001 Dark Nights! Be sure to grab your copy today

Author: Gena Showalter
Series: Lords of the Underworld #14.5, 1001 Dark Nights #94
Audience: +18
Genre: Paranormal romance
Publisher: Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
Release Date: December 4th 2018
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: InkSlinger PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):
 

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gena Showalter comes a new story in her Lords of the Underworld series…

For centuries, Galen the Treacherous has been the most hated immortal in the Underworld. With good reason! This bad boy of bad boys has lied, stolen, cheated and killed with abandon. Possessed by the demons of Jealousy and False Hope, he has always lived for a single purpose: destroy everything. Then he met her.

Former demon turned human femme fatale — Legion Honey — sought to kill Galen, but ended up parting with her virginity instead. Afraid of their sizzling connection, she ran away…and ended up trapped in hell, tortured and abused in the worst of ways. Now she’s free, and a shell of herself, afraid of her own shadow.

Galen’s hunger for Legion has only grown. Now the warrior with nothing to lose must help her rekindle the fire that once burned inside her. But as desires blaze white-hot, will Legion run again? Or will the unlikely pair succumb to love at long last?

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only

Blogmas Day 9: 2019 Books I Want To Read - Debut Authors

 

Hello my dear book lovers! Sorry for missing a day, but I had a pretty crappy day yesterday. So a few days ago there was a prompt on Bookending Winter about 2019 releases we're excited to read, and since I had a similar idea for Blogmas, I decided to break my list of 2019 releases into two groups: debuts and releases by authors I already had read in the past. So if you want to check the second group, go check out the link above. Today I'm going to share some of the 2019 debuts I'm excited about. Let's start.

Blogmas Day 8: 2018 Best New Authors

Happy Sunday my dear readers and welcome to day 8 of Blogmas! We all know I love discovering new authors, and there's even a reading challenge that helps me keep track of how many new authors I've discovered in a year. There's no way for me to reach my goal of 100 new authors by the year's end (thank you, reading slump), but so far I've read 52 stories by new authors, which to me is very impressive. Of these, a few authors have impressed me enough to make me a fan, so here are some of my favorite authors I've discovered in 2018.

Blogmas Day 6: 2018 The End of the Year Book Tag

Welcome to Day 6 of Blogmas! I promised yesterday that I would make up for missing a day, so today I'm going to write Day 6, and tomorrow I'll have two posts for Blogmas.

I saw this tag over on Kal's blog and it sounded to much fun, that I decided to do it, even if no one tagged me :) .This tag was created by Ariel Bissett, so go check out her original video. Let's start

Bookending Winter Day 7: Written by Elves!

Welcome to day 7 of Bookending Winter guys! Today, Imogen's prompt is a little bit more creative. Here's her explanation for it:

Santa’s elves spend their year making the presents for all the good girls and boys. Describe your dream book that they would write for you if you were very very good this year.

Blogmas Day 7: Spinning The Yarn - Christmas Edition

 

Spinning The Yarn is a weekly feature here at Ruby's Books in which I share some of my favorite knitting and crochet patterns inspired by books, with the occasional movie and TV show fandoms. 

Hello my dear book lovers and welcome to day 7 of Blogmas. I know I missed a day yesterday, but I'll make it up to you tomorrow with a double post, I promise. Today's post is all about Christmas crafts. If you've been here for a while you're probably familiar with my Spinning The Yarn feature, where I share some of my favorite free knitting and crochet patterns.

All of these patterns today make awesome gifts, guys. If it were me, I'd love to get a handmade gift. It is very thoughtful, it will most likely be unique, and you can make it very personal and incorporate designs and themes that the person you're giving it to cares about.

Bookending Winter Day 6: 2019 Releases I'm Excited To Read

Welcome to another day of Bookending Winter. Today's Bookending Winter prompt from Imogen is all about the 2019 books that we're excited to read. I have a similar post for Blogmas scheduled for sometime next week, so I thought I'd divide my lists into two. this week, for Bookending Winter, I'm going to talk about the releases from authors I already am familiar with, while for next week, I'm going to make a list of 2019 Debuts I'm excited for. So without further ado, let me tell you about

2019 Releases I'm Excited To Read

Blog Tour Book Review: Outcast by Lexi Blake

 

Author: Lexi Blake
Series: Hunter #4, Thieves #9
Audience: +18
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: DLZ Entertainment LLC
Release Date: December 4th 2018
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: InkSklinger PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):

On the hunt for a vicious killer, Kelsey discovers that the true threat lies closer than she could have ever imagined.

It’s been months since Trent Wilcox was sentenced to exile, but Kelsey hasn’t given up on finding a way to bring him home. Grayson Sloane doesn’t share her enthusiasm. Loving two men is challenging enough without them being at each other’s throats, and she is unwilling to compromise on the future she knows is meant for them.

Kelsey’s only hope for bringing them all together comes in the form of the Hell lord who insisted on Trent’s exile – Gray’s father. Lord Sloane is willing to acquiesce on Trent’s punishment if Kelsey will do one little job for him. A stray wolf is on a killing spree in Wyoming and he’s killed a number of witches in Lord Sloane’s service. The situation is made all the more complicated by the presence of a sinister werewolf cult in the area. Lupus Solum is known for being cruel to their own kind, and even worse to outsiders.

Caught between a craven wolf cult, a brutal killer, a Hell lord, and a mounting pile of bodies, Kelsey is going to have her work cut out for her. But if she can solve the case, she might have a chance to earn her happily ever after.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only

***Disclaimer: This book is part of an ongoing series. Although I try to make my reviews as spoiler-free as possible, this review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series. 

Blogmas Day 5: Favorite Christmas Songs

It's day 5 of Blogmas here at Ruby's Books and I think it's my duty to talk about my favorite Christmas songs. A few things you need to know about me before I start listing my top 10 Christmas songs:

1. I love Christmas songs
2. I start to listen to my Spotify playlist in August, not every day, but once in a while, because it's good music
3. I'm mostly a fan of the classic tunes. So be prepared for Dean Martin, Elvis and others!

With that out of the way, let's start!

Bookending Winter Day 5: Audiobooks On My TBR

It's day 5 of Bookending Winter and we're talking audiobooks. Imogen's prompt is all about recommended audiobooks, but I need to tweak this prompt a little bit. As an audiobook newbie, I'm only familiar with very few audiobooks, most of them thanks to the Read Me Romance podcast. So I can't claim to be an audiobook expert. As such, I'm going to share my audiobook TBR instead.

Audiobooks On My TBR

Blog Tour Book Review: It's A Wonderful Night by Jaimie Admans

Author: Jaimie Admans
Series: N/A
Audience: +18
Genre: Chick Lit, Holiday, Contemporary
Publisher: HQ Digital
Release Date: October 5th 2018
My Rating: 5 Cups
Source: Neverland Blog Tours
Blurb (from Goodreads):

One night will change their lives forever…

Georgia Bailey is closing up her little charity shop in Oakbarrow when she gets a mysterious late night call from a stranger, threatening to jump off the town’s bridge. Something about the man’s voice is faintly familiar but all she can do is stay on the line and, after talking for hours and losing sense of time passing, coax him back from the edge. The next morning, Georgia walks to work, buys a festive latte from Leo (who she’s had a crush on for months!) at the local coffee shop, and is shocked when she suddenly recognizes the voice from last night…

A heartwarming festive love story that reminds us that even in the darkest of times, hope is always just around the corner!

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this boon from Neverland Blog Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.

**Disclaimer: Trigger warning: mental health, suicidal tendencies

Release Day Launch: The Darkest Captive by Gena Showalter

 

The demon possessed beast wants his beauty back, and he’ll do anything to win her. Even war with a god king.

From New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Gena Showalter, comes THE DARKEST CAPTIVE, a new novella in her addictive bestselling Lords of the Underworld Series, brought to you by 1,001 Dark Nights! Be sure to grab your copy today!

 

About THE DARKEST CAPTIVE:

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gena Showalter comes a new story in her Lords of the Underworld series…

For centuries, Galen the Treacherous has been the most hated immortal in the Underworld. With good reason! This bad boy of bad boys has lied, stolen, cheated and killed with abandon. Possessed by the demons of Jealousy and False Hope, he has always lived for a single purpose: destroy everything.

Then he met her.

Former demon turned human femme fatale — Legion Honey — sought to kill Galen, but ended up parting with her virginity instead. Afraid of their sizzling connection, she ran away…and ended up trapped in hell, tortured and abused in the worst of ways. Now she’s free, and a shell of herself, afraid of her own shadow.

Galen’s hunger for Legion has only grown. Now the warrior with nothing to lose must help her rekindle the fire that once burned inside her. But as desires blaze white-hot, will Legion run again? Or will the unlikely pair succumb to love at long last?

 

Grab your copy of THE DARKEST CAPTIVE today!

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Amazon AU

 

Download the Free Kindle App

 

  EXCERPT: 

Dear Legion,

First, thanks tons for going into hiding outside the mortal world. I got to hunt you down big, bad wolf style—my favorite kind of hunting. Even better, you shacked up in an ancient realm without Wi-Fi. Now I get to communicate with you via robo-pigeons. Yay for me. BTW, the birds are “priceless,” and weren’t built to help me “score” with my “adult-boyhood crush” blah, blah, blah, so please don’t destroy the mechanical flock in a fit of pique.

Decorating hack: repurpose the robo-pigeons as knickknacks to create a steampunk vibe. Not so I can watch you through the eye-cams. (Wink.)

Second, it’s sometimes impossible to judge someone’s tone in a letter. Since I’m anti-misunderstandings, I’d like to clear things up right from the start. TONE: dry as a desert mixed with a dash of frothing-at-the-mouth rage.

Clear as crystal? Or mud?

Third, I refuse to call you “Honey,” the name your friends are using. Babycakes, I’m not your friend, I’m your potential obsession. And, to be brutally honest about the matter, I’d rather call you Sugar Tits McGyna while having my wings ripped from my back (again) than refer to you as “Honey.” A name you like only because you hate the girl you used to be. News flash: I like the old Legion. (Leggie. Legs. <-- I’m trying out new nicknames for you. Did we just find a winner?) The old you gifted me with your virginity in a bar bathroom five minutes after meeting me. Or was it four? I always forget. What’s not to like about that?

Sure, you only slept with me so you could savagely murder me after I got you off, thereby protecting Aeron, the man you truly desired. And yeah, okay, I probably deserve a couple dozen more murder attempts because I later abducted your pregnant friend in an unethical-ish power play. But every couple has their issues, right?

I’m willing to attend a counseling sesh with you. Can you say the same? Please?

FYI, my crew is on stand-by, ready to kidnap abduct borrow a world-renowned shrink at a moment’s notice. All I need from you is a yes.

Lastly, I know you’ve been to hell and back—literally. I know you were hurt and abused in the worst ways. TONE: soft as a damn feather. I’m sorry for everything you’ve endured. If you really want to hurt the ones who hurt you, embrace happiness. Don’t let the past ruin your future.

Please, give me a chance to get to know the new you. A chance to help you heal, if I can. I think about you constantly, dream about you every night, and crave you every second of every day.

Yours forever,  

   

 

About Gena Showalter: Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the spellbinding Lords of the Underworld series, two young adult series–Everlife and the White Rabbit Chronicles–and the highly addictive Original Heartbreakers series. In addition to being a National Reader’s Choice and two time RITA nominee, her romance novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazine, she’s been mentioned in Orange is the New Black–if you ask her about it, she’ll talk for hours–and her books have been translated in multiple languages. She’s hard at work on her next novel, a tale featuring an alpha male with a dark side and the strong woman who brings him to his knees. You can learn more about Gena, her menagerie of rescue dogs, and all her upcoming books at genashowalter.com  

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

   

Blogmas Day 4: Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag

Welcome to another day of Blogmas! Today I wanted to do Jenn's Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag. I absolutely love it, and we can finally see if I'm a good blogger/reader or a bad one. I'm hoping to end up on the Nice list, but we'll see. Let's start, shall we?

Bookending Winter Day 4: Holiday Season TBR

It's the 4th day of Bookending Winter, which means we have Imogen from Imogen's Typewriter as a host for the next 4 days. I'm very excited for her prompts, guys! Today she wants us to share our holiday TBR and let me tell you, I have a lot to make up for.

Blogmas Day 3: Favorite Christmas Movies

If you ask me, no Christmas is complete without movies. I make it a personal mission to watch Christmas themed movies, because let's face it, they're heartwarming. And nice. And funny. And okay, sometimes they have some romance. So without further ado, here are my

Favorite Christmas Movies

Bookending Winter Day 3: It’s a Winter Wonderland!

It's the third day of Bookending Winter and it's such a beautiful prompt! Anthony wants to know what our plans are for a snowy day. Here's his prompt:

Walking in a Winter Wonderland….

One day, you wake up when your alarm goes off. You get out of bed and stretch while yawning. Then, you go to your window to look outside because you heard there was going to be a snowstorm during the night before. When you see the snow has completely covered everything, you realize the day has become a Winter Wonderland. You check with school/work and find that the day has been cancelled and you get to stay home! While in celebration, your mind is already going through plans for the day.

Now that the white scenery is in your mind, what were your plans? What are you going to do? Stay inside, or embrace the snow? Tell us what a day in your Winter Wonderland looks like!

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Author: Markus Zusak
Series: N/A
Audience: +16
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Release Date: March 14th 2006
My Rating: 3.5 Cups
Source: Own Copy
Blurb (from Goodreads):

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

2018 Bookending Winter Day 2: Dear Santa...

Welcome to day 2 of the Bookending Winter event!! Today Anthony's prompt is all about writing a letter to Santa. I think the last letter I wrote to Santa was when I was about 10, so 20 years ago *slow sigh* Yeah...With that being said, here's my attempt at a good letter to Santa.

Blogmas Day 2: Favorite Christmas Foods

Food has always been an important part of my life. I’ve always loved the seemingly complicated recipes my mom, grandmother and great-grandmother knew how to make, and when I was old enough to understand basic cooking rules I started making my own things. Small things at first, and then I grew more confident in my abilities in the kitchen and started trying out recipes no one in my family knew how to make.

The Christmas dinner is a huge event in my family. We’re not a big family, but we sure know how to make a Christmas dinner feel like a royal event. From the entrée, to soup, to main course and ending with dessert, it’s probably the most food I eat in a day, until New Year’s Eve that is. Because my family celebrates both events with huge enthusiasm, and we have two big dinners before the year ends. What can I say, we love food.

Since I moved in another country, we don’t make all of the dishes, but some of them are a must at the dinner table before the gift unwrapping starts. Out of all of the dishes, some are my absolute favorite.

Blogmas Day 1: 2018 Bookish Gift Guide

It's the most stressful time of the year. It doesn't matter what type of winter holiday you celebrate, having to come up with the perfect gift for someone is, for the most part, pretty stressful. Especially when it comes to people with specific interests, like books. If you are afraid of buying your favorite bookish person a book they already have, or something they might not be interested in, or if you just don't have time to look for something unique that might soothe your bookish person's soul, I've got you covered.

*Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. I have not been asked to include these shops on today's post, these are just the ones I found while I was searching for the respective items on the internet.

Bookending Winter Day 1: Christmas Characters Tag

It's the 1st of December guys, which means Sam and Clo have come together to make another fantastic event, this time called Bookending Winter. Just as Blogoween, there are daily prompts and weekly hosts, and I'm going to have sooo much fun.

Book Review: The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork

Author: Heather Dixon Wallwork
Series: N/A
Audience: +16
Genre: YA, Retelling
Publisher: The Wallworkshop
Release Date: October 23rd 2018
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!), and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes on Christmas Eve, when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker.

Whisked away to his world--an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince--Clara must face a magician who uses music as spells...and the future she thought she wanted.

"The Enchanted Sonata," a retelling of The Nutcracker Ballet with a dash of The Pied Piper, will captivate readers of all ages.

*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.