Happy Fourth Night of Hanukkah, and happy first of December!
Right about now is the time that I realize that for us, the holidays are mid-way through, but for many people, the shopping is just beginning. Good luck out there!
Ready for our fourth night of Hanukkah giveaway? Let me help you carry some things!
Today’s prize is:Â a Kate Spade Chelsea Satchel in Pomegranate!
I love satchels. They hold so much stuff and also stand up when I put them in the car.
Want some specs?
- The bag measures approximately 10.2″h x 14.2″w x 5.2″d
- The handle drop is 5.8″ and the strap drop is 22″
- It has a zip closure across the top
- It has interior front zip and slip pockets (perfect for phones)
- It has exterior front zip and two side pockets, too!
Want to enter? Yay!
Just leave a comment and tell us what book you read that brought you incredible joy this year?
Standard disclaimers apply: I am not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to carry exactly the right amount though the website said something about an avocado and I’m not sure you will need to carry one all the time. Not responsible for how many times you admire yourself with this bag (definitely admire yourself more!).
Comments will close 2 December 2021 at or near 12pm ET, and winner will be announced shortly afterward.
Good luck, Happy Hanukkah, and thank you for being part of Smart Bitches!
Thanks for celebrating with us this year!
Winner update: Congratulations to Katherine C! Be sure to check your inbox shortly.
Loved The Rose Code by Kate Quinn!
The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo! It’s been on my TBR list for a while thanks to the Guest Squee from 2018 and I finally got around to reading it this summer. I loved it and promptly read Somewhere Only We Know, too. Equally wonderful.
Heart Breaker by Claire Contreras.. I was in a reading slump this year and this book brought me out.
I’ve read so many good ones this year, but the three tied for my favorite so far are Seanan McGuire’s When Sorrows Come, Accidentally Engaged by Farah Herron and Alisha Rae’s First Comes Like.
The Soulmate Equation!
I did a lot of rereading old favourites this year and it was just so comforting. Particularly the Innkeeper series by Ilona Andrews and Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry.
Is it OK to have it be a series? Because Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling series was my big love this year.
UNDER THE WHISPERING DOOR, TJ Kline. Hard to believe one could say that about a book with so much melancholy in it, but it was the right book at the right time after so many difficult months.
Blood Heir and Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews & Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells.
A new read Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews and a reread The Sins of Lord Lockwood by Meredith Duran. I very much enjoy Mimi Matthews writing, I sure do miss Meredith Duran. Hope she starts writing again.
I enjoyed How Lucky by Will Leitch.
Just one?! A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik, Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert, The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren, Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews, The Roommate by Rosie Danan, Electric Idol by Katee Robert, Last Guard by Nalini Singh and probably a bunch others. It’s been a good year for books!
The Book of Firsts by Karan K Anders!
Definitely All the Feels by Olivia Dade. It earned a total Squee rating from me.
Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior. Like a big cozy hug.
I absolutely loved The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. And book 2, The Man Who Died Twice was enjoyable as well.
A Thorn in the Saddle by Rebekah Weatherspoon! I am a huge Beauty & The Beast fan and I love stories inspired by fairytales, so this was just a joy and a half to read.
I reread the entire Kate Daniela series this year, and it’s just as wonderful now on the third…maybe fourth time through as the first time! The audiobooks are just so fantastic, it’s like a warm hug for my ears 🙂
Wolfsong by TJ Klune was my happy place, and I kind of hate myself for waiting so long to read it.
I read and loved Son of a Trickster. Jared is a wonderful character and I love how magic was incorporated into the world-building. It and its sequels are heavy books, but totally recommended.
I also want to second all of the Ilona Andrews love. I discovered their books this year and have already gobbled through 2.5 of their series!
I read a lot this year, but I was re-reading a lot of happy-making books instead of new ones. Of 2021’s releases, I’d say that I enjoyed Courtney Milan’s The Devil Comes Courting, Kit Rocha’s The Devil You Know, and Tessa Bailey’s Window Shopping the most.
I had a very good reading year, so it’s hard to choose! When the Devil Comes Courting is at the top of the list and so is The House in the Cerulean Sea. But the most surprising joy came from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It was joy and community and family and belonging in a book.
Also, not a book, but the most joyful entertainment I consumed this year was Ted Lasso.
One of my favorite reads this year was One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston.
I loved Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson as well as Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard.
Neon Gods by Katee Robert. I have been looking forward to this book and the second one coming early next year.
The book that brought me the most joy was Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev… had a smile on my face at the end. Another one I completely loved was Write My Name Across the Sky by Barbara O’Neal.
The Shattered Court by M.J. Scott
I loved so many books this year, but a book that particularly gave me joy? The Soulmate Equation, by Christina Laurens.
Since my memory is so short, I’m just going mention the most recent book that brought me joy: The Brightest Star in Paris by Diana Biller.
Lucy Parker’s Battle Royal was pretty much perfection to me and I read it twice in a very short space of time. I am baffled that it’s not on pretty much every Best of the Year list for 2021.
Rainbow Rowell’s Any Way the Wind Blows was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I was so relieved that it lived up to my expectations and ended the trilogy in a satisfying way.
Most recently what brought me reading joy is Spoiler Alert and All the Feels by Olivia Dade. I never been one for reading fan fiction, but these books made me so happy, especially All the Feels. Big Harpy Energy for everyone!
T Kingfishers Paladins series!
I loved Lucy Parker’s Battle Royal so much
Stephan Pastis’s graphic novel TRUBBLE TOWN was an unexpected treat (even though I am a big fan of his PEARLS BEFORE SWINE comic)…it’s technically a children’s book (though I’m not exactly sure who the intended market is, and that’s kind of a compliment…it’s not really INappropriate for any age, but it does seem like it is for a very specific reader), but I was unprepared for how off-the-wall brilliant it is. Pearls fans will have an idea (there’s one Pearls character cameo that works very well), but Pastis’s snark doesn’t undercut the weird undercurrent of romanticism, and the jokes come thick and fast. It’s totally batty and original, and I love it. (There is a cute romantic subplot that ends up being weirdly touching, too.)
A Ghost in the Throat was the most beautiful book that I have read in a very long time.
Re-reading the Penric and Desdemona series by L.M. Bujold was even more of a delight than the first read.
‘A Psalm for the Wild Built’, ‘Extraordinaries’, ‘So We Meet Again’, ‘You Should See Me in a Crown’, ‘A Deadly Education’. Wow! lots of YA really worked for me this year.
The Big Bad Wolf series by Charlie Adhara. I can’t think of the last time I binged that many books in a row.
Anything by Kristen Ashley is my jam and is my ultimate comfy zone.
Since I couldn’t travel this year I really liked Embassy Wife by Katie Crouch. I’ve never been to Namibia, but I sure loved reading about it.
Rereading A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare–it always gives me joy!