Hasn’t it been a quick month? It seems we were only putting up the Christmas decorations a day or two ago, and now we’re planning to take them down at the beginning of next week! If you are like me, December is one busy month with an ever-growing list of ‘things to do’. Somehow, we managed to get through it all but vowed that next year is going to be very different!

This year we not only decorated on our tree but also under it; our three year old grandson, Ben, is train mad so we couldn’t resist! Of course, once the train and track were installed, a village and other extras followed and many a fun hour has been spent ‘playing trains’. No doubt he’ll wonder where it’s gone once it’s all packed away!

Onto this month’s books; I planned on leaving this month free but, as always, one or three novels crept onto my list. Add to that the fact that I always have a book on the go, they soon added up and I’ve ended with fourteen books read and reviewed. Unusually for me, I haven’t had the opportunity to keep up with writing reviews as I go along so it’s been a bit of a rush to fit it all in before the year ends. It’s never easy to choose just one outstanding read, but with less books you would think it would be simpler. Hah! Looking through this month’s reviews, I really couldn’t look past a series which I found so very different. The mysteries were intricate, the characters enticing and overall it’s a lovely, refreshing change from the more serious crime reads which abound. My December Book of the Month is Tea & Sympathy, first novel in the Tea & Sympathy series by Jacquie New.

Looking forward to 2022, things are going to change a bit for me. My husband retired this month and we want to spend time doing more things together so I’m going to reduce my reading list, hopefully to twenty books per month. I have several hobbies I want to pursue so we’ll see how it goes.

I hope you have all had a wonderful festive season. Please keep healthy and happy and we can meet up again at the end of January, 2022. For now,