This story had lots of great moments. Andi's pain is believable, and yet it has been long enough that she's ready to move on and experience love again. Even if she didn't know it. I loved how Colin wanted to help her enjoy Christmas again as well. However, like one of the last books I read, I wish he had decked the ex when he had the chance.

Note for cautious readers:

Although they never did the deed, clothes came off at one point. I only had to skip half a page to get pack to the story though. 

1-5 scale and what it means:

1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad

2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing

3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive

3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love

4: Solid mind candy / worth reading

4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read

5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

(Why is the 'terminator' face smiling?  Anyone who's ever watched any of the movies knows that the Terminator is practically incapable of smiling.  I'm feeling 'terminator' because this has been a month where I've wished I could terminate editing errors forever.)

This month has been pretty successful in numbers, not particularly successful in enjoyment.  I didn't even manage a single five this month and there was more than one DNF as well as a one star (it's even more depressing when I write it out like that).  I read 16 books this month, their titles and links to their reviews can be found below (the standouts, for one reason or another are pictured above).

1. Night Tide (Blake Sanders, #2) by Michael Sherer, you can read my review here.

2. Unexpected Gifts (Castle Mountain Lodge, #1) by Elena Aitken, you read my review here.

3. Winter Street (Winter, #1) by Elin Hildebrand, you can read my review here.

4. The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy, #1) by C.J. Archer, you can read my review here.

5. No Such Thing by Edward Lorn, you can read my review here.

6. Desperate Times (Desperate Times, #1) by Nicholas Antinozzi, you can read my review here.

7. Reckless Nights in Rome (Ludlow Hall, #1) by C.C. MacKenzie, you can read my review here.

8. Alice in Wonderland by Elle Lothlorien, you can read my review here.

9. Lip Service (Lone Star Sisters, #2) by Susan Mallery, you can read my review here.

10. In Your Dreams (In Your Dreams, #1) by Amy Martin, you can read my review here.

11. The Naughty Stuff by Ella Dominguez, you can read my review here.

12. My Wildest Fantasy (Older Man Younger Woman Erotica, #1) by Kelli Wolfe, you can read my review here.

13. The Interview (The Hotwife Coach, #1) by Ruby Harper, you can read my review here.

14. The Coyote by Michael McBride, you can read my review here.

15. The Governess Affair (Brothers Sinister, #0.5) by Courtney Milan, you can read my review here.

16. The Viscount's Christmas Temptation (The Dukes of War, #0.5) by Erica Ridley, you can read my review here.

(I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted this on Sunday and so I managed to forget to include the stats for the month that I've decided will be an interesting addition to these monthly posts, which have been getting a bit tired and repetitive over the last few months.)

My reading stats for January

• 16 books in 31 days, that's an average of 0.51 books per day.
• 3312 pages in 31 days, that's an average of 106.83 pages per day and 207 pages per book with a high of 136 pages in one day.
• 16 books with an average rating of 2.9 stars :(
• My fastest read was my first read, Unexpected Gifts.
• My best of the month is a toss up between four 4 star reads - three romance novellas and a YA novel.  I really can't choose a winner, I enjoyed them all but they also each had flaws that meant I couldn't give them five stars.
• My worst of the month was Alice in Wonderland.

See you all next month (or rather, later this month as it's no longer Jan 31st).

I know, I've gone a bit crazy with the plans, but now that I've got the bug I'm going to plan out as much of my year as I can before I need to get started on my final posts of 2015.  I've never planned before, I've always just read what ever caught my eye when it was time to start my next book.  But, if I'm going to plan, I'm going to PLAN.  If I don't make a regimented plan for myself I might fall back into old ways and find myself at the library with no memory of how I got there.  So, this is the full list of books I plan to read in January.  Books that fit in the POPSUGAR challenge, as well as others, all read on my Kindle or laptop (for the few remaining books that have that restriction that won't let Calibre change them to Kindle format).

POPSUGAR Challenge Books

1. A Book that's Under 150 Pages - Unexpected Gifts (Castle Mountain Lodge, #1) by Elena Aitken, 146 pages (read from Jan 1-2)

2. A Book Recommended by Someone you Just Met - The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy, #1) by C.J. Archer, 260 pages (read from Jan 2-3)

3. A Science Fiction Novel - Desperate Times (Desperate Times #1) by Nicholas Antinozzi, 395 pages (read from Jan 3-5)

4. A Book a Friend Recommended - No Such Thing by Edward Lorn, 30 pages (read on Jan 5)

Free choice for the rest of the month, as long as they're Kindle editions I already own

5. Alice in Wonderland by Elle Lothlorien, 325 pages (read from Jan 5-7)

6. Reckless Nights in Rome (Ludlow Hall, #1) by C.C. Mackenzie, 238 pages (read from Jan 7-8)

7. Lip Service by Susan Mallery, 419 pages (read from Jan 8-10)

8. In Your Dreams (In Your Dreams, #1) by Amy Martin, 255 pages (read from Jan 10-11)

9. The Coyote by Michael McBride, 271 pages (read from Jan 11-13)

10. Sunset Rising (Sunset Rising, #1) by S.M. McEachern, 330 pages (read from Jan 13-15)

11. The Governess Affair (Brothers Sinister, #0.5) by Courtney Milan, 110 pages (read from Jan 15-16)

12. A Shot in the Bark (Dog Park Mystery, #1) by C.A. Newsome, 203 pages (read from Jan 16-17)

13. Ticket for Terror by Christopher Parks, 327 pages (read from Jan 17-19)

14. Dare to Love (Dare to Love, #1) by Carly Phillips, 292 pages (read from Jan 19-20)

15. Against the Wall (Against the Wall, #1) by Julie Prestsater, 304 pages (read from Jan 20-22)

16. The Viscount's Christmas Temptation (Dukes of War, #1) by Erica Ridley, 180 pages (read from Jan 22-23)

17. Whisper My Secret by J.B. Rowley, 188 pages (read from Jan 23-24)

And if I manage to get all those finished before the end of January, a bonus book

18. The Drought by Steven Scaffardi, 298 pages (read from Jan 24-26ish)

1/1 - First book of the year and it was a success!! I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this. If it hadn't ended at 91% it might have even received a five, but thinking I still had 15 minutes of reading left, only to find I had no minutes left kind of annoyed me. The book was too short, but only because I was enjoying the story, not because anything was missing. For a Kindle freebie this was surprisingly well edited, I only picked up on one mistake - a missing space between two words (see authors who say they can't afford to have their books edited? It is possible!).

This is the kind of book that makes me yearn for a white Christmas - the romance of getting snowed in, crackling fires and hot chocolate, ice skating and snowball fights. I guess the grass is always greener - Australians want the beauty of snow and no worries about bushfires, Americans (and others in the Northern Hemisphere) want warmth and no worries about driving in a blizzard.

I will definitely read more from this series, in fact I'm going to see what Amazon has the subsequent books priced at now.

2016 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge - A Book that's Under 150 Pages

Unexpected Gifts -- Book 1 of Castle Mountain Lodge

Unexpected Endings -- Short story from Castle Mountain Lodge series (#2.5)

-- Elena Aitken

This was a short and sweet Christmas-y fluff piece that has a cute, even if predictable plot device:

Due to some tragic and heart-breaking events in her recent life, Andi Williams runs off to Castle Mountain Lodge to escape the holiday cheer all around her. But upon arrival, the lodge had some mix-ups and her room reservation is no longer available. To the rescue is an old friend, Colin Hartford, who offers up one of the rooms in the villa suite he's staying in with hopes that he'll be able to get to know Andi a little bit better and maybe even change her bitter outlook on Christmas.


Setting aside the fact that I personally, would probably NOT agree to stay in a villa suite with a stranger, once again, once the story got going it was rather cute. Sure, it tries to make Colin out to be a long time friend, but technically, he's a friend of Andi's ex and they've met all of one time. So he's still technically a stranger. Given my own personal paranoid self, I probably would have just taken up the hotel's offer of sleeping on a couch in the staff residency.

But that's me and that's probably why I'm still single after all these years.

And then there's that one last stretch for romantic angst at the end of the book that probably could have been avoided if everyone would have just stopped being sneaky or secretive or too bothered to talk to each other...

Nonetheless, setting ALL of that aside, I found the book serviceable as a holiday romance. And then I found out that there's a "Steamy" version of this book (and subsequent books in this particular series) and wondered if I might have enjoyed that one more given the lack of sexy times in this version (not that I'm a nympho or anything...).

As for Unexpected Endings, it just felt like an unnecessary short story addition.

I read it because it was included in the Kindle book version at the end of Unexpected Gifts, detailing some extra stuff about Andi and Colin. It could have probably just been added as an epilogue? Or something?