Vērtigo: Of Love & Letting Go - Analog De Leon (Chris Purifoy)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is by far the best written poetry that I've ever read. It truly is a fantastic piece of art.

Most of the poetry I read, that I like, is something I can relate to on a direct level. Something about love and loss and the journey from love to loss and how you are stuck in this 'loss,' this book is not that. This book is open. By that I mean it gives you the option to interpret the meaning; My meaning was completely different than my mom's, hers was freedom, while mine was the love I have for myself. Drastically different meanings, but both were found within the words of this book.

I did already say that this is for sure different than the poetry I read and typically enjoy. This one felt more distant, not as direct and upfront and in your face. I mean this in a positive way. I like that these words are up to your interpretation, rather than telling you exactly what they mean. There are metaphors in here that speak brilliance into existence.

I cannot express enough that everyone should pick up this book.

Your takeaway from it will be different from mine, it will be different from my mom's, but it will be yours.

I'm going to have to come back to this book in the future and see if my interpretation of it has shifted.

All I Want For Christmas - Wendy Loggia

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

I loved this young adult christmas romance! After learning that it was a young adult novel, I was hesitant only because some young adult novels can be a little childish or dumbed down a bit. But this one wasn't at all! It had the perfect amount of young teenage essence.

I liked the main character a lot! Bailey works in a book store over Christmas time (and throughout the year) and is looking for her perfect, almost Hallmark Movie scripted, Christmas romance. She is all about Christmas in every way you can think; movies, cookies, decorations, tree decorating, traditions, mistletoe, gift wrapping, etc. She really made this book festive. While you can tell she is young, she isn't young and foolish, and I really admire and appreciate how the author wrote her character. The pop culture references were a plus, mostly because I'm still young enough to understand and enjoy them.

One random thing about this book that stuck with me was The Cookie Swap. Not anything that happened during it, but how good of an idea that it (pandemic permitting...)! I would love to know my neighbors well enough to do something like that, or maybe have it be a friend thing! Get together, everyone makes their favorite kind of unique Christmas cookie and bring a tin of their own to take home their favorites from other people! Like, I am definitely going to steal this idea in the future because it sounds like so much fun!

The best part of this book for me was the ending. It totally took me by surprise and added an element of Christmas spirit that I really enjoyed.

I would definitely recommend this teenage Christmas romance!

Received an arc from NetGalley for an honest review

Timepiece - Richard Paul Evans

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this story. I can't believe it was only earlier this year that I read the first book in the trilogy; that feels like more than an eternity ago.

While I also enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, there was something different about this installment that I enjoyed a bit more: the history and backstory. I've come to find lately that seeing and understanding the back story for a character, or a few different characters, really makes me enjoy the story more than just being told the backstory with no evidence. I loved getting to see the background between David and MaryAnne. Despite the time difference between the period in the book, to when the book was written, to now, you can tell that the love between them was true and real. It's very nice to see.

This series is nice to read around Christmas even though it isn't exactly Christmas related (the first book more than this one), it's just warm and cozy with a touch of emotion.