Xmas Gift Ideas from My Family to Yours

I can tell you that my family’s reading interests are diverse. My husband eats up rock star biographies on Audible, my youngest loves poetry and fan-fiction, my oldest loves fan-fiction and manga, but also has a special place in her heart for some paranormal Nora Roberts trilogies. And me? What won’t I read would be a shorter list.

So, yes. All of my Xmas recs will be books. That’s a given. But I’m going to highlight a choice from me (how will I ever pick just one??), both of my daughters (my stepdaughter is busy gestating a second grandbaby and caring for the first so I’ll let her skip this challenge), and my badass, crazy awesome husband.

Me

So, I’ve spent a few minutes nail-biting and decided I’m going to go with my go-to romance rec. This is the book I use to introduce people to the perfection that contemporary single title romance can be.

When I searched for a quote about why this book is so amazing, I found this one about Ain’t She Sweet‘s heroine:

Sugar Beth Carey is the most appalling heroine ever. 

The Harlequin Junkie

And, I mean, yeah. She is. I’ve written before about how annoying it can be when someone reads a work-in-progress of mine and says, “Your heroine isn’t very likable.” But! This isn’t about me. This is about why you should gift this particular book. It’s everything (I feel) romance should be: funny, heart-achingly full of regret and sweet revenge, a deep history between the characters, and a pretty sweet love story. I can’t ever give it enough stars so I won’t bother trying to here. But, trust me–gift it.

Ain’t She Sweet on Amazon.com

Husband

When I suggested this, my husband said he didn’t read books. And he didn’t, for a long while. It was only when he was in the vehicle often for work and he mentioned audiobooks that I suggested Audible. He truly loves listening to audiobooks. And I enjoyed a few nonfiction books that way myself (Jenny Lawson aka The Bloggess, I’m looking hard at you). We even found some overlap (like when we both wanted to listen to Bruce Campbell’s book–although I’m the only one with impure thoughts).

Sorry–I’m getting way off track.

Delta Force: A Memoir by the Founder of the U.S. Military’s Most Secretive Special-Operations Unit on Amazon

Great book about the beginning of a branch of the special forces …. and the trials of getting it approved thru the government.

Mr. Sizemore

Older Sis

As mentioned, my kids read stories often in wholly different genres and forms than I do. All their lives, I made a promise to myself that I don’t recall ever breaking– if they asked for a book, I bought it. It truly wasn’t always easy even to afford the $5.99 book fair book, but I prioritized it because I so wanted them to love books. No, not just love books, but to find the pleasures in stories that I have.

They do, and I’m so grateful for that. All that to say, my older daughter recommended a manga story, one I’ve never personally read (although I’ve watched some of the anime with her).

Fullmetal Alchemist on Amazon (at least the first 3volumes to get you started.

It’s a story about loss and the consequences of your actions, no matter how good they may seem. It’s made me laugh and cry and smile. All the characters grow amazingly. The women are well written and powerful, many of them the most powerful in the universe. And it still manages to have a good ending, something many stories nowadays don’t. I love it’s written by a woman, one of the first to write its genre. There’s a ton of love put into it, and it’s long enough to really have an adventure but not so long you’ll never finish it.

My favorite mermaid queen.

Baby Sister

Y’all, she loves poetry and wants to become an English teacher slash writer of many forms and genres. And she feels things so very deeply. Her recommendation is a poetry book.

Milk and Honey on Amazon

I recommend this because it got me through some hard times; it definitely has a way of relating to your feelings and making you feel less alone.

My beautiful old soul

What about you?

I’d absolutely love to hear about a book you’ve gifted for been gifted that has meant a great deal to you.

After that? Let’s bid this terrible year goodbye. Let’s be kind to one another and responsible for the health and safety of others as well as ourselves. Let’s be better.

Much love and wishes for a happy holiday all your own,

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