Task 1:  Bibliomancy: Grab one of your larger books and flip to the indicated page and line number to answer the following questions - then post those answers for us:

This is the book I chose. Over 700 pages!

Will I read all the books on my TBR?
(page 378, line 29)
  

bower in the upper storey and changed her robes and enthroned her; then,

Yeah I am going to go with a no due to the whole enthroned thing. 

Will any of my 2019 reads be 5 stars? 
(page 227, line 31)
 

O King's son, and slay me not; but make me thy freedman, and I will bring

I am interpreting this as yes due to that whole slay me not phrase. 

Will I discover a new favorite book / author / series?
(page 309, line 23)

to the King, who despaired of sighting them again, so he rejoiced with

I am going to go with yes due to the word rejoiced.  

Will I discover that a major twist (hopefully, for the [even] better) has occurred in one of my favorite series? 
(page 459, line 16)

Ali Baba's wife would weigh, for she made sure that whatso it be some bit

hmm no. 

Will I finish all of my reading challenges in 2019? 
(page 69, line 7)

 
O thou tomb! O thou tomb! be his horrors set in blight?

 Um that's a no! LOL

Will I stay within my book budget in 2019? 
(page 98, line 5)
 

with the rest of the money, leaving nothing in the house. He passed the night.

That's a definite no. 

Task 2:  Tell us: What book did you read this year that felt like it was never going to end?

Oh man, that buddy read I did with Whiskey in the Jar, "Perfect" by Judith McNaught. That freaking book was 704 pages and it just went on and on. Fun buddy read though since we all were what the heck are we reading???

Here's the link to the review: Perfect by Judith McNaught

Task 3: Round up a herd of reindeer on book covers and in book illustrations.

Task 4: Treat yourself to a bûche de Noel (French Yule log cake) – if you want to try and make it yourself, see recipe here: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/buche-de-noel-recipe.

I am so hungry. Think today I will treat myself with a take out meal and include dessert. 

Book:  Any book that takes place in December or with ice or snow on the cover, revolving around the (summer or winter) equinox, or a collection of poetry by Hafez.

Okay, think this should be easy to do too!

As the blurb will tell you, this book is sort of a continuation of A Cop For Christmas, but focuses on Sam. It can be read as a standalone - I had no issues not having read the first one. The author did a fine job weaving in the important background information as to why Sam is terrified of snowstorms.

Sam still lives with his grandfather on their farm, but has taken a trip around the world with Aunt Jackie (I want one just like her, please), and their last stop is Iceland, where Jackie's good friend lives with her son, Arnar. Iceland. In the winter, a week before Christmas. Iceland. Apparently, Aunt Jackie didn't get the memo about Sam panicking in snow storms. 

Sam is looking forward to getting back home - he misses his Grampy, and he's worried, though he knows Mason and Steve are taking good care of him.

Arnar, who's about Sam's age, is initially not impressed upon meeting Sam, though attraction for them both is pretty much instant. But Arnar just got out of a relationship, he's still nursing a bit of a broken heart, and who would want to get involved with a tourist who's going to leave in a few short days, amirite?

So, Arnar is a bit grumpy and standoffish. 

I loved how descriptive the author was when talking about the scenery and the historical sites in Iceland as Sam and Arnar, thrown together by Aunt Jackie's scheming, make their way around the island. Vivid and rich descriptions of lava fields covered in snow, the rugged landscape - I felt as if I was right there with Sam and Arnar. We also get a bit of a culture lesson, which really made the people on this island come to life for me. 

This is a sweet, easy read, with just a bit of relationship angst - what with Sam going home to New Hampshire, and Arnar presumably staying in Iceland - so they both realize, reluctantly, that what they'll have will be nothing more than a holiday fling. Even if the emotions they both have for the other could and might have become so much more. Their occasional squabbles were relatable, and the two men felt real to me. I thought that the author did a really fine job developing both characters and give them distinct personalities with some obvious and some not so obvious traits. Arnar is not a morning person, not by a long shot, but Sam quickly figured out how to work that, and Arnar caught on how to anticipate and work around Sam's fear of snow storms. 

Hot-tubbing, hair-braiding, mud baths, sharing a double bed, language barriers, and ignorant tourists all play a role in their adventures. 

I would definitely recommend this book, even if you, like me, haven't read the first one. We get a big surprise at the end, and a lovely epilogue that leaves them both in a really good place. 


** I was given a free copy of this book by its author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. **

This inventive story was a fun read and the illustrations are fantastically creepy. The writing, however, is the clearest and most consistent example of “telling” instead of “showing” that I’ve ever read. The artwork was far more evocative. Altogether, I feel that this would have made a better graphic novel, with the story told through illustrations and dialogue.