Tag Archives: Christmas in July

Christmas in July – Library Book Review – The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

Library Book

Genre: Christmas Mystery

No of Pages: 400

📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS 📖
Follow the clues. Find the fortune. Solve the Mystery. This Christmas is to die for. Let the game begin…

‘Endgame has kept our secrets for half a century, now it’s time for it, and its secrets, to have a new owner.’

When Lily returns home to her aunt’s manor house, she discovers that in order to inherit, she and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt.

But as they are drawn deeper into the game, the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a twenty-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily’s mother?

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, it becomes apparent that the game has turned deadly and that Lily is fighting for more than just an inheritance: she is now fighting for her life. Does she have what it takes to survive?

12 clues, 12 keys and 12 days of Christmas for the heirs of Endgame House to find their inheritance, but how many will die before Twelfth Night?

💭THOUGHTS💭
I saw this and had to try and get it read in July. Who doesn’t want to read a Christmas Murder Mystery in the Summer?! Christmas stories are often romances and whilst there was a bit of romance in it, it focused on the mystery. I loved it!

The writing was from the main character’s point of view, but there was also outside narration mixed in which was quite interesting. I had my suspicions as to who it was, but I was still only partly right because the characters were so convincing! I loved how we were with the main character solving the clues and seeing her thought processes. It was an excellent writing style that made me just want to keep on reading!

The chapters were fairly long with the occassional shorter one in there to keep the story moving. I didn’t feel the length of the chapters though as I was so engrossed in the story.

I liked the way that there was a timeline running through together with mini games and bits for us as the reader to play. I also liked the riddles and letters that were in the story to give the format some interest, not that it needed it as the story itself was enough!

The characters were excellent and I loved how they were all suspicious at one point in the book. It was very cleverly written and kept my interest throughout wondering how it all fit together. There was a lot going on, but I never felt lost.

Lastly the settings. I loved the isolated estate covered in snow. The house itself was it’s own character and you were never quite sure whether it was good or bad. There were lots of memories and history running through it which made the story more interesting.

Overall I loved this book. The descriptions, the puzzles and the characters all made for a brilliant read. I highly recommend!

⭐Rated 5/5⭐

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Friday 56 – The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

*I am currently away on holiday so I will catch up on comments on my return*

Welcome to Friday 56! Hosted by Freda’s Voice, you turn to page 56 or 56% in any book or reading device and pick a sentence that grabs you.

My Book of the Week is The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (click for link to Goodreads)

“She wonders if Isabelle is right in saying that Lily always got to the heart of things. That feels as far away from who she is now as her little flat in London. ‘Do you mind if we don’t talk about it? About my mum, I mean. I know I brought it up, but…’ She doesn’t look at Isabelle but she can feel her pity, sticky as treacle.”

There wasn’t a lot on this page when compared to what I have read so far (I am currently 71% of the way through), but I thought that this showed the vulnerability of the main character. The main reason for her coming to the house was because her now deceased Aunt wanted to tell her something about her mother. She goes through phases of just wanting to forget it all and leave.

What do you think of this quote?

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My Book Of The Week – The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict

Welcome to my Book Of The Week post! Each week I will highlight one of the books that I am currently reading and use that book to participate in blog memes such as First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, Thursday Quotables and Friday 56. Feel free to read along with me!

This week I have chosen The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (click for link to Goodreads) published 30 September 2021.

Book Description From Goodreads:

“Follow the clues. Find the fortune. Solve the Mystery. This Christmas is to die for. Let the game begin…

‘Endgame has kept our secrets for half a century, now it’s time for it, and its secrets, to have a new owner.’

When Lily returns home to her aunt’s manor house, she discovers that in order to inherit, she and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt.

But as they are drawn deeper into the game, the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a twenty-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily’s mother?

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, it becomes apparent that the game has turned deadly and that Lily is fighting for more than just an inheritance: she is now fighting for her life. Does she have what it takes to survive?

12 clues, 12 keys and 12 days of Christmas for the heirs of Endgame House to find their inheritance, but how many will die before Twelfth Night?”

I have chosen this library book because it fits in with Christmas in July and is a mystery so it ticks 2 of my genre goals for this month. I am hoping to get it read before the end of July!

#bookstagram #bibliophile #igreads #instaread #lovetoread #booksarelife #readingisfundamental #whatimreading #bookreviewer #bookaddicts #bookpost #tbrpile #justread #bookishphotography #whattoreadnext #readallday #bookworms #booksofinstagram #bookwormproblems #bookaholic #bookpic #newreads #booknerd #bookoftheweek

“book blog”, “don’t miss out”, “entertaining”, “what books do you recommend”, “what book should I read next”

Christmas in July – Library Book Review – Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz

Library Book

Genre: Christmas Romance

Number of pages: 225

📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS📖

Darcy Fitzwilliam is 29, beautiful, successful, and brilliant. She dates hedge funders and basketball stars and is never without her three cellphones—one for work, one for play, and one to throw at her assistant (just kidding). Darcy’s never fallen in love, never has time for anyone else’s drama, and never goes home for Christmas if she can help it. But when her mother falls ill, she comes home to Pemberley, Ohio, to spend the season with her family.

Her parents throw their annual Christmas bash, where she meets one Luke Bennet, the smart, sardonic slacker son of their neighbor. Luke is 32-years-old and has never left home. He’s a carpenter and makes beautiful furniture, and is content with his simple life. He comes from a family of five brothers, each one less ambitious than the other. When Darcy and Luke fall into bed after too many eggnogs, Darcy thinks it’s just another one night stand. But why can’t she stop thinking of Luke? What is it about him? And can she fall in love, or will her pride and his prejudice against big-city girls stand in their way?

💭THOUGHTS💭 

I saw this and thought that it would be a good short story to read for Christmas in July. I love the story of Pride and Prejudice and generally enjoy a retelling of it. Nothing can beat the original of course, but they are fun to read. The same could be said for this interesting take on it.

The writing was light and I enjoyed the way that the main character, Darcy’s, thoughts were presented to us. We always knew what she was thinking and how she had arrived at her decision. Sometimes it drifted away from the story, but it was an interesting way of getting to know the character. 

Considering the length of the book as a whole (225 pages), the chapters were fairly long. Sometimes the chapters were split allowing more to happen in the chapter, with the next chapter moving the story on well. There was a good pace to the story, occasionally slowed down by reading about the main character’s thought process. 

The characters were interesting. Throughout the book I was trying to guess and compare the character’s counterparts in the original. I liked that the genders were played with and that the story fit in well with the modern age. Sometimes it can be difficult to replicate an Austen story purely because it is a story of it’s time, with things that just don’t happen these days. 

Lastly the settings. I am glad that there was still the big house and the community setting (although the community side of things wasn’t painted in the best light, which whilst it is quite unusual for most modern books that I have read it actually fits in well with the original story. Most modern books these days want to paint a picture of community support, not community scorn for making a success of your life). It was nice that it was set at Christmas time, although that was definitely secondary to the story as a whole. 

Overall it was a cute book and one to read if you enjoy an Austen retelling. 

⭐Rated 3.5/5⭐

#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhaul #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #weekendreads #bookrecs #booknerdproblems #bookpictures #bookstagram #amreading #booksbooksbooks #instablog #booknerds #bookphotos #bibliophile #christmasinjuly #christmasbook #romance

“book”, “read”, “book blog”, “easy read”, “don’t miss out”, “fiction”, “entertaining”, “Christmas in July”, “what should I read next”, ” what book do you recommend”, “romance”, “christmas romance”, “Austen retelling”

Christmas in July – Book Review – Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek 

Free Kindle Book (Free when I downloaded it)

Genre: Christmas Cosy Mystery

Number of Pages: 203

📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS 📖

If you’ve got a problem, Charlie Kingsley probably has a tea that’ll help make it right.

EXCEPT when it comes to love. She does NOT do love potions.

Not even for Courtney, her pregnant new client who showed up three weeks before Christmas seeking a love potion because her husband was cheating on her.

So, Courtney asked about poison, instead.

She said she was joking. That’s what happens between wives and husbands. They get angry and talk about killing each other. They don’t really mean it.

It seems to make sense … until Courtney’s husband turns up dead on Christmas Eve.

He was poisoned, of course.

And who is the number one suspect? Courtney. Of course.

But did she actually do it? Or is she being set up?

It’s up to Charlie to sort through all the twists and turns in a case that gets more complicated the deeper she digs.

Meet Charlie. Better known as “Aunt Charlie” from the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. She’s back, making teas and solving cases in this funny, twisty, cozy mystery series set in the 1990s in Redemption, Wisconsin.

💭THOUGHTS💭

As you know this month’s goals include Christmas and Cosy Mystery, and this free Kindle book (free when I purchased it) ticked both these boxes. Whilst there wasn’t a lot of Christmas mentioned, it was set over Christmas and there was talk of cold weather and decorations being up which was enough for me! 

The writing was light and entertaining. It was also full of twists and turns. So many times I thought I had the answer, then something else was thrown into the mix. It was very cleverly orchestrated in that it could have been a number of different people, but there was always something that let them off the hook. 

The book was mainly conversations between characters rather than being narrated, so you felt like you were actively there trying to work it out alongside the character rather than being specifically told what was going through the characters mind. It made for an interesting read. 

The chapters were fairly short so the story had a good pace to it. So many times I thought that the puzzle was solved until something else came to light. 

I loved the characters, especially the main character and how she was able to get all the information out of people. She seemed a very easy sort of character that you would end up telling everything. I enjoyed the way that everyone seemed suspicious and at one point I thought that the main character was going to be blamed! 

Lastly the settings. They were only very lightly described. There was a slight Christmas theme to it, but as I mentioned earlier the story was heavily conversation based. 

Overall I loved this story and highly recommend it for a short Christmas read that isn’t your usual romance. 

⭐Rated 4.5/5⭐

#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhaul #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #weekendreads #bookrecs #booknerdproblems #bookpictures #bookstagram #amreading #booksbooksbooks #instablog #booknerds #bookphotos #bibliophile #christmasinjuly #christmasbook #cosymystery

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🎄Happy Christmas In July!🎄

This is my first proper Christmas in July, which I am quite excited about. We will have family round for a Christmas BBQ and there will be Christmas themed bookish posts throughout the day!

Posts to look out for are:

🎄Christmas Goodreads Monday

🎄Book Reviews of Christmas themed books – The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek and Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz

🎄Christmas themed Book of the Week for next week’s book meme participation

Hope you all have a lovely day!

#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhaul #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #weekendreads #bookrecs #booknerdproblems #bookpictures #bookstagram #amreading #booksbooksbooks #instablog #booknerds #bookphotos #bibliophile #blogtour #bookreview #christmasinjuly

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Sunday Night Reading On The Eve Of Christmas In July

This year I have decided that I am going to celebrate Christmas In July and get the family round for BBQ with Christmas highlights (such as Christmas decorations, music, games and snacks). We shall see how it all pans out tomorrow!

Also in honour of Christmas In July I have read a couple of Christmas themed books this month and this evening I have been working my way through my last one, The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict. Whilst I have made good progress I probably won’t get it finished for a couple of days, but I am hopeful that I will get it read before the end of July (fingers crossed!). I am really enjoying it so far and am looking forward to reading more of it over the coming days.

I hope that you have all had a good weekend. Tomorrow on the Blog it’s my Christmas In July book reviews, Goodreads Monday and my Book of the Week that I will be using in the coming weeks book memes.

booklover #bookaddict #booklove #booklovers #readersofinstagram #tbr #bookworms #booksofig #alwaysreading #bookrecommendation #bookaesthetic #bookishlife #readstagram #girlswhoread #readersofinsta #bookishpost #bookrec #booksbooksandmorebooks #bookreviewers #bookblogger #booklover #riotgrams #booksbooksbooks #booksonbooks #currentlyreading #christmasinjuly #mystery

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Weekend Reading – What I am planning on reading this weekend – #weekendreading #whatshouldIreadnext

My main focus this weekend will be reading my last Christmas in July book The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (click for link to Goodreads) and starting on The Weekend Before the Wedding by Tracy Bloom (click for link to Goodreads). If I have time I might also think about starting my Blog Tour book Quarter to Midnight by Karen Rose.

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (click for link to Goodreads)

Book Description From Goodreads:

“Follow the clues. Find the fortune. Solve the Mystery. This Christmas is to die for. Let the game begin…

‘Endgame has kept our secrets for half a century, now it’s time for it, and its secrets, to have a new owner.’

When Lily returns home to her aunt’s manor house, she discovers that in order to inherit, she and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt.

But as they are drawn deeper into the game, the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a twenty-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily’s mother?

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, it becomes apparent that the game has turned deadly and that Lily is fighting for more than just an inheritance: she is now fighting for her life. Does she have what it takes to survive?

12 clues, 12 keys and 12 days of Christmas for the heirs of Endgame House to find their inheritance, but how many will die before Twelfth Night?”

The Weekend Before the Wedding by Tracy Bloom (click for link to Goodreads)

Book Description From Goodreads:

“Mamma Mia meets Bridesmaids in a laugh-out-loud, life affirming comedy

One weekend, one bride-to-be, what could possibly go wrong…

All Shelley wanted on her hen weekend was to enjoy three days of sun, sea and sangria. But instead of being surrounded by the A-team of her closest friends, she somehow ends up with a Golden Girls-meets-the-Spice Girls B-list that includes her mother, a rebellious teenager, and a best mate ‘on the verge’.

The squabbling starts at the airport, and on arrival in Spain, Shelley barely has time to unpack her suitcase before getting an unwanted text ̶ one that throws her wedding into doubt.

Shelley has got a BIG decision to make, but her unruly medley of nearest and dearest seem determined to confuse matters with their own problems.

Have they got what it takes to get her through the most important weekend of her life?”

What do you plan on reading this weekend?

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Stacking The Shelves/Library Loot

Welcome to my Stacking The Shelves/Library Loot post, hosted by Reading Reality (Stacking the Shelves) and The Captive Reader and Real Life Reading (Library Loot).

A quiet week this week with only a couple of books for me; a Blog Tour book and a library book:

Blog Tour Book:

Quarter to Midnight by Karen Rose

Book Description:

“Quarter to Midnight is the first thrilling novel in a brand new series by Sunday Times bestselling author Karen Rose, set in New Orleans.

Rocky Hebert walks into his death at quarter to midnight one New Orleans night.

His son Gabe cannot accept the official verdict of suicide and enlists the help of the Burke Broussard Private Investigation Agency to discover the real cause of death.

PI Molly Sutton knows what it’s like to lose a father in tragic circumstances and will go to any lengths to crack the investigation, as she tries to fight off her growing feelings for Gabe.

They soon realise Rocky was working on an investigation of his own; one that threatened to expose the deep corruption going all the way to the top of the police department. And that the key to the puzzle lies with a young witness to a murder that happened years earlier: Xavier Morrow.

Just what did Rocky know? And who might have shut him up?

As they get closer and closer to the truth, they realise that the killer is not going to stop at Rocky. And that Xavier is in very real danger. Someone will go to any lengths to protect what he witnessed that night coming out…”

I am on the Blog Tour for this book on 23 August so keep your eyes peeled for my review on here, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Library Book:

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict (click for link to Goodreads)

Book Description From Goodreads:

“Follow the clues. Find the fortune. Solve the Mystery. This Christmas is to die for. Let the game begin…

‘Endgame has kept our secrets for half a century, now it’s time for it, and its secrets, to have a new owner.’

When Lily returns home to her aunt’s manor house, she discovers that in order to inherit, she and her estranged cousins must stay together over the Christmas week and take part in a family tradition: the annual treasure hunt.

But as they are drawn deeper into the game, the clues seem to point not to the deeds to the manor house, but to the key to a twenty-year-old mystery: what really happened to Lily’s mother?

As a snowstorm cuts them off from the village, it becomes apparent that the game has turned deadly and that Lily is fighting for more than just an inheritance: she is now fighting for her life. Does she have what it takes to survive?

12 clues, 12 keys and 12 days of Christmas for the heirs of Endgame House to find their inheritance, but how many will die before Twelfth Night?”

I chose this book to read for Christmas in July. I haven’t started it yet, so I probably won’t get it read before 25 July, but I am still hoping to read it in the month of July!

What have you been stacking your shelves with this week?

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Friday Night Reading

Due to my son not going to sleep overly quickly I didn’t have a lot of reading time this evening and that which I did have I decided to focus on finishing Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa De La Cruz because we plan on going to the library tomorrow! I am pleased to report that I did manage to finish it and have also drafted a review. I have also managed to get a couple of chapters of Daisy and the Dazzling Dachshunds by Janey Clarke read. I had been hoping to finish reading it and drafting a review for that too, but I think I was being a bit over ambitious!

Overall I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe. There was nothing wow about it, but it was an acceptable retelling!

Even though I only read a couple of chapters of Daisy and the Dazzling Dachshunds that was enough for a ghost to appear and give a warning to the main character Daisy. I am intrigued to see where that goes!

I hope that you have had a good Friday. Tomorrow on the blog it’s Stacking the Shelves, All Over Instagram and what my weekend reading plans are!

#bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhaul #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #weekendreads #bookrecs #booknerdproblems #bookpictures #bookstagram #amreading #booksbooksbooks #instablog #booknerds #bookphotos #bibliophile #weekend #summerreading #austenretelling #christmasinjuly

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