During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the four of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, and books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR.

*We linked this post to the December Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction*

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from December were:

✮ We hosted Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas Day for all of my family.  Our days were filled with a ton of games, we ate way too much food and relaxed.  I absolutely love how magical the holidays are to my two little boys.  It’s so much fun watching the joy they get from baking cookies, to building a gingerbread house and opening presents.  Speaking of presents, I took a picture of one of my doggies helping open a Christmas present that wasn’t his ha – click here.
✮ Two of my childhood friends stayed with us back to back, along with their husbands and kiddos.  We live right by Lake Tahoe, so it’s the perfect place to vacation. We spent a lot of time sledding in the mountains and it even snowed on us one of the days.  The rest of the time we were busy playing more games and even playing baseball outside in a high of 19 degrees.  Wheeeee!
✮ I made one resolution for 2019.  I just want to focus on happiness.  Spending time with those I love, reading great books and enjoying life.  It seems like a great resolution to try and work towards every day for the New Year.  So cheers to all of my bookish friends!  I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a happy New Year!

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What Arielle, Cassie, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake
✮ Bad Habit (Bad Love #1) by Charleigh Rose

4.5 Stars:
✮ Smiling Irish (The Summerhaven Trio #2) by Katy Regnery
✮ Evermore (Everless #2) by Sara Holland

4 Stars:
✮ The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi
✮ Fighting Irish (The Summerhaven Trio #1) by Katy Regnery
✮ A Curse So Dark and Lonely (A Curse So Dark and Lonely #1) by Brigid Kemmerer
✮ Loving Irish (The Summerhaven Trio #3) by Katy Regnery
✮ City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

 Bad Habit (Bad Love #1) by Charleigh Rose (Jen’s Choice)
A forbidden love story that was filled with angst and had a strong hate to love vibe.  The characters quickly reached deep into my heart and it was so easy to feel every single one of their emotions. This book was exactly what I was looking for!

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Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1) by Kendare Blake (Arielle’s Choice)
HIGHLY recommend this series.

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Evermore (Everless #2) by Sara Holland (Cassie’s Choice)
Evermore was an excellent bookend to its companion, Everless.  I absolutely loved this book!

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the four of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, and books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR.

*We linked this post to the November Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction*

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from November were –

✮ My youngest is in Kindergarten and I swear he brought home every germ last month.  First it was a cold, then it was the flu and then croup.  Thankfully we were all healthy by Thanksgiving, but it was a rough road to get there.  And hopefully that means we’re good for the rest of the year?!  Fingers crossed!
✮ I discovered a new favorite cookie while baking.  They are Soft Caramel Snickerdoodles from Sally’s Baking Addiction (Chelsea and I are both love with her recipes).  A snickerdoodle with caramel inside….oh my gosh, yum!  I highly recommend them if you adore baking and snickerdoodles.  You can find the recipe here.
✮ We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents house.  My parents, brother, aunt, uncle and my Grandma now live by my husband and I so we only have to drive 18 minutes to celebrate the holidays.  It was such a nice, relaxing day with family and my boys had so much fun!

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What Arielle, Cassie, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Dangerous Exes (Liars, Inc. #2) by Rachel Van Dyken
✮ Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J. Maas
✮ Not So Nice Guy by R. S. Grey
✮ Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners #3) by Libba Bray (Chelsea)
✮ The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
✮ A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
✮ Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners #3) by Libba Bray (Arielle)

4.5 Stars:
✮ The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray
✮ You Had Me at Cowboy (Cowboys of Creedence #2) by Jennie Marts

4 Stars:
✮ Shifters and Glyphs (Fairy Tales of the Magicorum #2) by Christina Bauer
✮ Arrogant Devil by R. S. Grey
✮ Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray
✮ The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
✮ #Murdertrending (Murdertrending #1) by Gretchen McNeil

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

 Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7) by Sarah J. Maas (Arielle’s Choice)
I swear to God I spent this entire book crying, laughing, heart racing, scared out of my wits, clutching my heart or throat because I was damn invested in what I might find on the next page. If some evil person were to tell me that I was only able to read one author’s books for the rest of my life, it would be hers.

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The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager  (Cassie’s Choice)
I was breathless up until the last page and I was left fully satisfied. I cannot wait for future books from Sager if his first two novels are an indication of what’s to come next.

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Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners #3) by Libba Bray  (Chelsea’s Choice)
When I love something, I love it with every fiber of my being…and this series deserves all the praise. I just hope I can last until that final book comes out…because Ms. Bray literally holds my heart in the palm in her hand.

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 Dangerous Exes (Liars, Inc. #2) by Rachel Van Dyken (Jen’s Choice)
I loved how they toyed with each.  I loved the games they played. But I loved the passion between them the most.  It was crazy addicting and created so many explosive scenes bursting with sexual tension.  

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the four of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, and books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR.

*We linked this post to the October Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction*

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from October were –

✮ We went to Disneyland for fall break!  It was the first time my two little boys had ever been to Disneyland and we also went with my Mom and Aunt.  It was the most amazing time ever and I’m already counting down until our next time.  We spent a full day at Disneyland.  Then the next day at Disneyland California Adventure Park and then the third day going back on all of our favorite rides at both parks.  It was the perfect amount of time and I still can’t believe how much we walked….close to 10 miles each day.  Here’s a hilarious picture of us on Splash Mountain here and here’s one of us after we ate at Flo’s Cafe (Cars Land) here.
✮ We saw the Blue Angels perform and they were breathtaking!  My two little boys even got to meet all of the pilots after the show and get their autographs.  I’m so beyond thankful for that day!
✮ Halloween!  I adore everything Halloween!  Usually we dress up as a family every year.  You can see our costumes from last year here.  But this year I was sick, so only my kiddos dressed up.  My boys dressed up as Mario from Mario Brothers.  Yes, they were both Mario, there was not a Luigi lol.  And my four legged kiddos dressed up as Superdog and Hotdog.  You can see my little doggies picture here.

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What Arielle, Cassie, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Dirty Exes (Liars, Inc. #1) by Rachel Van Dyken
✮ Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer #1) by Laini Taylor
✮ My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
✮ 99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
✮ Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J Maas
✮ Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J Maas
✮ Oblivion (Lux #1.5) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
✮The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray
✮ The Darkest Star (Origin #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray

4 Stars:
✮ Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
✮ If the Summer Lasted Forever by Shari L. Tapscott
✮ The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder by Cookie O’Gorman

3 Stars:
✮ Losing the Field (The Field Party #4) by Abbi Glines

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

 The Darkest Star (Origin #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Jen’s Choice)
You guys, Luc was the ultimate book boyfriend.  While I never ever thought I would say this, because Daemon has been my #1 bbf for the last four years, Luc not only challenged him but he has grabbed first place.  I feel so disloyal saying that, but Luc was beyond amazing. And I can see countless others falling for his charm too.

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Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J Maas (Arielle’s Choice)
Basically this book was just…soo good. All of the new things we learned too. You CAN’T skip this. No way. Like I got to the end and all I could think about was how much Maas has grown as a writer. There was nothing about this book that I didn’t like. And I loved what she added to the overall scheme of how the war will play out too, omg.

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99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne (Cassie’s Choice)
All hail Sally Thorne! She, along with Marianne Zapata, have made me come to appreciate well-written modern romances. For a girl that loves her dystopian and thrillers, this is a big switch in my normal reading habits. I was gifted “The Hating Game” by Chelsea for Valentine’s Day and I absolutely loved it. So much that I’ve read it a few times now. So when I found out Sally had another book coming out, I had to get my hands on it.

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 Lair of Dreams (The Diviners #2) by Libba Bray (Chelsea’s Choice)
Annnnnd the hype is officially real. It’s not often I love a book as much as I did the first, but, here, I was a goner. At the beginning I was like eh, okay, LET’S GET TO SAM AND EVIE AND JERICHO AND WHAT’S UP WITH THAT DRAMA AGHHH BRING IT ON. But then, as the story progressed, I just…I died a little. All of a sudden I didn’t want to rush through everything (well…maybe the scary-more on that later) and I cared so deeply about dear Henry and even Ling, that you couldn’t pay me to put it down.
**Runner Up** – The Diviners (The Diviners #1) by Libba Bray

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the four of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, and books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR.

*We linked this post to the September Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction*

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from September were –

✮ My bestie had her baby girl!  She is the sweetest little thing ever and I’m so grateful I get to be in her life. ♥  Here’s pictures of me meeting her here.
✮ It is pumpkin spice season!  While summer is technically my favorite season, fall is my favorite food season ha!  One of my friends gave me this cute little sign after I went and bought every single pumpkin spice item they had at Trader Joe’s and I had to share it here.  I also have a baking list a mile long of all the new and old favorite pumpkin recipes I have to make!
✮ I’m missing our days at the beach, so while I was reminiscing I posted a picture from our August vacation to Southern California here.

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What Arielle, Cassie, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Superhero High by T.H. Hernandez
✮ BOOK REVIEW: Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
✮ BOOK REVIEW: The Darkest Minds (The Darkest Minds #1) by Alexandra Bracken
✮ REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6) by Jill Shalvis
✮ BOOK REVIEW: In the Afterlight (The Darkest Minds #3) by Alexandra Bracken
✮BOOK REVIEW: You (You #1) by Caroline Kepnes

4 Stars:
✮ BLOG TOUR + AUTHOR INTERVIEW + REVIEW: Sadie by Courtney Summers
✮ REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Keeper of the Bees (Black Birds of the Gallows) by Meg Kassel
✮ BOOK REVIEW: Sadie by Courtney Summers
✮ BOOK REVIEW: 99 Days by Katie Cotugno

3.5 Stars:
✮ BOOK REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Jaclyn and the Beanstalk by Mary Ting

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

 Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren (Arielle’s Choice)
AHHHHHH I LOVED THIS SO MUCH. Seriously by now I have come to the conclusion that these two literally cannot write a book that I will not like. They just keep getting better and better and at this very moment I can’t decide which one is my favorite between this and Love and Other Words. Either way it doesn’t really matter. You really should go out and read every single one of their books because I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

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99 Days by Katie Cotugno (Cassie’s Choice)
Here’s the thing, I really liked this book. I liked Molly, the protagonist of the book. With that said, Molly makes a lot of dumb mistakes in the book. She is far from perfect. Even when she thinks she’s learned from a past mistake, she makes it again. This is frustrating from a reader’s perspective, but how many of us have done the same thing or have a friend who makes the same stupid mistake again and again?

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You (You #1) by Caroline Kepnes (Chelsea’s Choice)
But that’s also the beauty of this book: It shows how we are all morally gray people, and that even though we don’t think we’re into ourselves, above all else, we are. We put us first, and if we stomp on someone along the way, will we even notice? Who cares? It was just some dude I saw somewhere, what does it matter? Apparently a lot, to some. *shivers*

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Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6) by Jill Shalvis (Jen’s Choice)
Through it all I kept finding myself smiling, sighing, laughing and clutching my heart.  Not to mention there were a few scenes that had me screaming while giggling and others where I found myself with tears in my eyes.  This book put me through the emotional wringer.

During our Monthly Wrap-Up, we’ll take a look at what has happened around here in the last month. That’ll include what’s happened in my life, what the four of us have read, any other posts we may have had, giveaways still going on, our most popular Instagram posts, and books that I’ve added to my ever-growing TBR.

*We linked this post to the August Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction*

♥ Enjoy!

Jen’s Life:

Some of my highlights from August were –

✮ The smoke from all of the California fires has been suffocating us.  With the air quality reaching 400 out of 500, and spending weeks on and off being trapped in our home, we decided to escape to Southern California for 9 days.  We spent time with family at the beaches in Orange County and also visited my high school friend in Del Mar….a super cute little town north of San Diego.  Our days were filled with surfing, boogie boarding and playing in the sand at the ocean.  We even went to Lego Land for two days and had so much fun between the park, aquarium and water park.  It was exactly what we needed and we weren’t ready to head back home into the smoke.  You can check out some of my pictures from our vacation here – picture 1, picture 2.
✮ I threw my bestie a baby shower!  She’s the one I have to give weekly shots to so that way she can make it to 35 weeks for her pregnancy, which she did this last Monday.  Now it’s just a matter of days before I get to meet their baby girl.  Here’s two pictures from the shower.
✮ My kiddos started school this month, my oldest is now in 2nd grade and my youngest started Kindergarten.  I loved school as a child, but as an adult I’m definitely not a fan, although they don’t know that lol.  I miss my kiddos, I love our days together in the summer!  We spent our summer days at the beach, pool, park and in our backyard playing together.  I can’t wait until they get out of school and I’m always looking forward to the weekends!

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What Arielle, Cassie, Chelsea & Jen Read:

5 Stars:
✮ Wicked (A Wicked Trilogy #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black
✮ The Prince by Jennifer L. Armentrout
✮ The Darkest Legacy (The Darkest Minds #4) by Alexandra Bracken
✮ Seafire (Seafire #1) by Natalie C. Parker
✮ The Sweetest Oblivion (Made #1) by Danielle Lori

4.5 Stars:
✮ A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes #3)

4 Stars:
✮ Cradled (Beholder #4.5) by Christina Bauer
✮ The Chase (Briar U #1) by Elle Kennedy
✮ All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

3 Stars:
✮ War Storm (Red Queen #4) by Victoria Aveyard

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Our Favorite Books of the Month:

The Darkest Legacy (The Darkest Minds #4) by Alexandra Bracken  (Arielle’s Choice)
Once I started, I was COMPLETELY hooked. See, that’s the thing about these books and Bracken’s writing. I become so immersed that I have to drag my eyes away from the writing and when I do, it takes me a few seconds to come back to the real world. That’s when you know you’re reading something amazing. This book gave me the butterflies, it made me shake with rage, and it made me buzz with anticipation.

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A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes #3) (Cassie’s Choice)
I love them. I totally get why everyone loves this series. It’s so good. It’s dark, like really dark, but so good nonetheless.

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The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black (Chelsea’s Choice)
For me, a little peril, a forbidden romance, some cruelty and smexy I-hate-you-but-let’s-make-out is all I really need-BAHA! I mean, what more could I possibly ask for?

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The Prince by Jennifer L. Armentrout  (Jen’s Choice)
It was a page turner, had a sigh worthy male, a heroine I loved, an addicting storyline, and by just that second chapter I found myself bawling my eyes out.  Between the tears, smiles and laughter, my emotions were all over the place.