Dear Santa,

Shanah @bionicbookworm asked us to write our wish list and …

This year I have been very kind and wise and helpful and patient because:

I refrained from throwing my son out of the window when I had to coach him Dutch as he had failed his exam . Even when he was more stubborn than a mule and pretended to know better than I *why had he failed then right?* I still held on and kept singing “This is the last time. It is temporary. Keep silent and endure.”

 

I never beat my daughter even when aged sixteen she pushed all my buttons *and my hubs and son’s* repeatedly, relentlessly. I just unhinged a door but better than hurt her right?

 

I have cooked fresh meals instead of buying industrial food or ordering pizza. And who cares if I burnt one or two dishes it can’t be more toxic than filled with chemicals fresh out of the can veggies right?

 

I helped every elderly woman cross the road and kept smiling even when they insulted me because they were not old crones and did NOT want to cross the road *why were they idling by the crosswalk then? *

 

_ I spared my husband too much trouble never crashing my blog. I never had to call for his help as a IT guy. It increased my credit in his book. Not sure though if it will last long with WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg…

 

I never slapped the door in the face of salesmen only stopped the conversation abruptly on the phone *that’s true that we are at the phone marketing era and salesmen rarely come to my house but…detail.*

 

I had the patience of a saint with my boss even if I had to explain for the fifth time that you need to give a good shake to the coffee machine before it delivers any drop of coffee.

 

I walked my dog every day shine or rain even if I had to drag her out of the house when rain was pelting and soaking clothes and fur in 5 seconds top. Walking is healthy even if you get a cold and fever for five days after being drenched and frozen. You built your immunity for next time.

 

the house was clean and the clothes washed. Granted I had to bribe my daughter to do it in my stead but it was a mean to an end. Or all’s fair in war. Or is it love????

 

So you can see that I deserve many pretty books and not only five!

But if you have difficulties to make ends meet I can be magnanimous and limit my choices of the day.

 

Dear Santa, the books that I want most are:

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White;

Elizabeth Lavenza hasn’t had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her “caregiver,” and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything–except a friend.

Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable–and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable.

But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth’s survival depends on managing Victor’s dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness.

 

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne;

Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?

Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.

At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from – and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more.

In this, Boyne’s most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.

 

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang *make it published for Christmas or get an ARC*

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

 

One Day in December by Josie Silver;

Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.

Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.

What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

 

Becoming Michelle Obama

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms.

Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

 

Someone I used to Know by Patty Blount

From the award-winning author of Some Boys comes an unflinching examination of rape culture that delves into a family torn apart by sexual assault.

It’s been two years since the night that changed Ashley’s life. Two years since she was raped by her brother’s teammate. And a year since she sat in a court and watched as he was given a slap on the wrist sentence. But the years have done nothing to stop the pain.

It’s been two years of hell for Derek. His family is totally messed up and he and his sister are barely speaking. He knows he handled it all wrong. Now at college, he has to come to terms with what happened, and the rape culture that he was inadvertently a part of that destroyed his sister’s life.

When it all comes to a head at Thanksgiving, Derek and Ashley have to decide if their relationship is able to be saved. And if their family can ever be whole again.

 

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas *once again an ARC pretty please*

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.

 

A List of Cages by Robin Hoe

When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he’s got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn’t easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can’t complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian—the foster brother he hasn’t seen in five years.

Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He’s still kindhearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, and what’s really going on inside his house. Adam is determined to help him, but his involvement could cost both boys their lives…

 

That’s all. See I can be reasonable!

 

And you what would you like Santa would bring you?

 

Thanks for reading!

 

PS Commenting and liking like mad tomorrow to make up for my silence these last two days promise!

Sophie

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39 Comments

  1. *gasp* you had the perfect opportunity to use the word defenestrate and didn’t!! The fact that there is a word specifically for throwing someone out the window amuses me so much.

    I’m looking forward to reading Dark Descent.

    Ugh, I wanted to throw my tablet when Gutenberg first came out. I got a plug-in to give me my classic editor back.

    1. Bwahahahaha Julianna yes I should have used defenestrate you are so right!!! I am on WP.org so I haven’t updated to Gutenberg yet but I do know the classic editor can save our day! Now I am just waiting for my theme to get updated for Gutenberg and once it will be ready I will take the plunge 😉

  2. Oh, well done, you! You showed great restrain, and i hope Santa will bring you all these lovely books for christmas 🙂
    You cooking from scratch is truly admirable. I do it rarely, mostly just on weekends, when i have more time. With dubious results. BF seems happy with it tho, even when i think the food is actually inedible…

    1. Well Norrie as long as BF is OK with it no need to cook from scratch. Well maybe some cookies for Christmas presents? And fingers crossed for Santa!

  3. Ooh I relate! I’ve only been on a ban for almost two months but I already feel so well behaved that I can’t wait to have all the books for Christmas! Although I did limit how many I asked for. It sounds like you’ve been really good though and have totally earned these. Becoming Obama is one I am interested in too! Hope you get all of these x

  4. Hahahaha oh my, too many of this anecdotes are too hilarious! I actually avoid the crossing-grannies thing out of fear that they’d call the cops on me too. I help if they have that face that asks for it, or if they simply ask for it hahaha As for the books, I’m totally curious about Becoming Michelle Obama as well! It sounds powerful and wonderful!

  5. The stories about your family and dog had me cracking… You made my day Sophie. As usual, what a fun post to read. With your patience and love, I really wish Santa gave you everything you want and more. Because you freakin’ deserve it. i mean I remember my parents slapping me right and left because I’m not really the nicest teen.

    1. I am so happy that I made you laugh Lili! And don’t worry we all grow up and stop being brats at one point or another LOL

  6. Some of this was WAY too funny. Didn’t slap anyone, huh?

    I hope you get them all plus another 100 for your TBR.

    Happy Holidays!

  7. Well, if you throw your son out the window there’s one less person visiting you in the future and being needy AF. At least, that’s what my mom would say.

    And a few burnt meals is better than the house on fire, right? Or breaking the stove top. I hope you get all the books for Christmas!

  8. You definitely earned a ton of books. I hope you get to read One Day in December. OMG! I loved it so much. I also have grabby hands for Hoang’s new book. Can’t wait!!!

    1. I think it was your review that decided to add this one to my TBR Sam! We do have very similar tastes so when I saw how much you had loved it it was added!

  9. Looks like a good year hehe despite the frustrations of life right? And yeah I tried an hour of Guttenburg and I got the plugin to switch back to classic. Way too challenging for my simple brain hehe some great book you have here darling. Hope you enjoy them I am looking forward to The Bride Test.

    1. Lydia I still have to try WP 5.0 I am waiting for my theme to update before trying it. And I think I will try it on a test site …

  10. I so want to read Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming. I have it on my wish list for Christmas so, who knows, I might get given a copy, if not, I’ll hit the sales in January, right? 😀

    Here’s hoping Santa brings you all the books you wish for, and so much more.