December Reads

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I had planned to read a lot of holiday reads for December but I became distracted by a site near my hometown in Upstate NY and by another book based near by in Rhode Island. Here goes the reviews of my December reads:


The Back Building [3/5]

This book takes place at Willard Asylum for the Insane which is based on Seneca Lake in Upstate NY. I grew up familiar about the stories at Willard. This read started out strong, but halfway through they lost the appeal. 


Yellow Sky, Green Emerald Sea [3.5/5]

Interesting read! It’s a combo of fiction and crime. I only picked up this book because it was Rhode Island based. It does not state the names of towns but sounds very similar to Narragansett/Watch Hill. The book was commemorating the anniversary of the Hurricane of 1938. I enjoyed this read. 


The Inmates of Willard [1/5]

Following up from the first book ‘The Back Building’, this is more of a resource book about the history of Willard Insane Asylum on Seneca Lake in upstate NY. It is good resource book if you like factual research. It just came across dry and boring for me. I guess I like history in story telling style! 


Winter Street [4/5]

The first of Elin Hilderbrand’s Winter series. This is an entertaining holiday read. This month was crazy with the holidays, this book was a light read which made it perfect. The characters were interesting and likable. I enjoyed the different family dynamics in this book, I’m already looking forward to continuing the series to find out what happens with the Quinns!


Matzah Ball [5/5]

I LOVED this book! Again, another fun and light holiday read but about Hanukkah! I realized halfway through the book that it was the first ‘happy Jewish’ book I’ve read (as most Jewish books I’ve read are Holocaust related). I enjoyed reading about the Jewish traditions and the romance made it a fun read. I enjoyed this book so much, it was one of my favorite reads for 2021.


Murder at an Irish Christmas [4/5]

A fast paced mystery book filled with twists. Of course, I picked up this book because of the Irish-ness. It is all about a family with some drama. I enjoyed this holiday read! The writing was so good that it kept me interested from the beginning. I didn’t realize this was Book 6 of a series, but they all can be stand-alone. I’m putting the rest of series on my to-read list! 




Last year I stated that I had a goal of 75 books to read for 2021. Well… I read 51. Life happened! 

Some of my favorites from 2021 included: 

  • The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

  • The Engineer’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood

  • Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

  • The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

  • The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

  • Daughter of the Reich by Louise Fein

  • We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

  • Northern Spy by Flynn Berry

  • Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonnig

  • Haben: The DeafBlind woman who conquered Harvard Law by Haben Girma

  • The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict

  • The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

  • The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

All images via Goodreads.