Blogmas 2023: The Winter Series {Joanne Demaio} Check In

Blogmas 2023: The Winter Series {Joanne Demaio} Check In

Michigan Avenue is STUNNING during this time of year!

**Video of me choosing the winner of the Sephora gift card is at the bottom of this post!**

One of my favorite holiday book series EVER is one that I have been slowly working (savouring?) my way through since December 2021. The Winter Series by Joanne Demaio is everything a holiday book series should be…light, endearing, adorable, and set in the most CHARMING small town. Basically Hallmark movies meets book series and I’m so here for it.

The Winter Series {Joanne Demaio}

HERE is the post explaining all about this book series and my thoughts after reading books 1-3 back in 2021.

Last December I read books #4 and #5 and loved them so much. It felt so wonderful to be back in the town of Addison! I have absolutely fallen in love with this adorable town and it’s adorable residents.

**I’m not including the synopsis from any of these books here because I would never spoil anything for you…just trust me, they are ADORABLE!**

Book #4
Getting my hair done during last holiday season while reading book #4
Book #5 came with me on an overnight staycation with my family on Christmas Eve 2022
Gorgeous view of a frozen lake from our hotel room on Christmas Eve 2022

As hard as it was, I somehow managed to save book #6 to read during THIS holiday season! I did this knowing that the next book in this series was to be published this fall so I knew that if I could hold off reading book #6, I would have 2 books to read during this holiday season.

I am so happy that I did! I have waited allllll year to read these 2 books!

Book #6:

While I think that all of the covers in this series are gorgeous, this one is my absolute favorite. How STUNNING is this book cover???

Book #7 (which might be the most special one because Joanne Demaio herself sent it to me when she heard how much I wanted to read it! You can read more about how that happened HERE).

I can’t wait to return to Addison :). I’ve got 1 more (unrelated) book to read first and then…Addison over Christmas!! Perfect!!

Have you read any of these books? If not, I HIGHLY recommend them during this time of year!

Sephora Gift Card Giveaway Winner

Thank you to everyone who entered my annual birthday giveaway! Here is a video of me randomly choosing the winner:

Blogmas 2023 Posts:

12/1 Blogmas 2023: Welcome to Blogmas {VIDEO}!

12/2 Blogmas 2023: Happy Birthday to ME {Sephora Gift Card Giveaway}!

12/3 Blogmas 2023: Book Review: All I Want for Christmas {Maggie Knox}

12/4 Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}

Click HERE to order book #1 in this adorable book series (Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes) through my Amazon affiliate link. When you order through this link, I receive a tiny commission. Thank you for your support, Xo

Xo,

Jenny

Thank you so much for reading Book Coffee Happy! I would be so thankful if you could do the following to support my favorite hobby…

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Click HERE for the 13 best books I read in 2022

Book Coffee Happy’s most viewed posts of 2022 can be found HERE

Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}

Blogmas 2023: Audiobook Review: The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}

Today is the last day to enter the Sephora gift card giveaway! Click HERE to enter if you haven’t yet done so!

Today I have another holiday book review for you! Unfortunately the thing I liked best about this book was it’s ADORABLE cover (which I didn’t even get to appreciate in person because I listened to this one as an audiobook, lol).

Look how cute:

Photo Credit: Goodreads

Goodreads Synopsis of The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}:

Rachel Meadows has her dream job, a new lease on life after beating cancer last year, and extensive plans to make this the most merry, bright, and wonderful time of the year for her six-year-old son since she missed so much of it last Christmas. But all her carefully crafted plans fly off faster than a reindeer-pulled sleigh when her coworkers challenge her to a bet—say yes to every holly jolly and not-so-holly jolly thing that comes her way. Except there’s one thing she never expected to say yes to—meeting Nick.

Nick Stewart just moved to the small town of Mountain Springs, Colorado, hoping for some stockings, snow, and faces all aglow—but mostly a fresh start for him and his six-year-old daughter after losing his wife the year before. His late wife didn’t want him to wait long before remarrying, but he loved her with all his heart and isn’t sure he’s ready to jingle all the way to the world of dating again.

When Rachel’s son begs for help with his school Christmas program and Nick’s daughter asks for the same, both parents say yes. Neither of the two little first-grade enemies ever guessed that their begging would lead to their parents meeting—or that their competitiveness would turn into cooperation for what has become Operation: Christmas Matchmaker. Six-year-old style, of course.

My Review of The Christmas Bet {Meg Easton}:

Oh lord I read this not knowing it was book #2 in the series! THERE. IS. NOTHING. MORE. ANNOYING. THAN. THAT.

Ok so as a standalone, I thought it was…rushed. Like, this book should have been 200 pages longer (which is so opposite of more common thoughts of books being too long??). Every single thing about this book just felt so RUSHED and therefore just too unrealistic. Falling so deeply in love in what felt like no time at all ESPECIALLY considering all of the other life factors these 2 had going on…not buying it. The lack of character development coupled with a pretty basic (boring) story just made this one not my favorite holiday book.

Was some of this a result of me reading this book before the 1st in the series? I really don’t think so! From reading the synopsis of the first book, it’s mostly about other characters! These other characters do make crossover appearances in this book so for that reason, I would probably suggest reading them in order. Maybe this book will feel more “complete” and not so rushed with a more solid foundation from reading the books in order? I really don’t think so but someone…prove me wrong!

This was the shortest audiobook ever…5 hours! Totally easy background for you while doing other things. The story moved so quickly (too quickly…my biggest complaint with this one).

Book Coffee Happy Epilogue:

Eh. MUCH better holiday books out there.

Have you read this book? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Blogmas 2023 Posts:

12/1 Blogmas 2023: Welcome to Blogmas {VIDEO}!

12/2 Blogmas 2023: Happy Birthday to ME {Sephora Gift Card Giveaway}!

12/3 Blogmas 2023: Book Review: All I Want for Christmas {Maggie Knox}

Xo,

Jenny

Thank you so much for reading Book Coffee Happy! I would be so thankful if you could do the following to support my favorite hobby…

*Follow me on Instagram* (I am VERY active on Instagram and usually update my Instastories daily)

*Please share this site with your book and blog loving friends!*

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Click HERE for the 13 best books I read in 2022

Book Coffee Happy’s most viewed posts of 2022 can be found HERE

The Most Perfect Book Mail

The Most Perfect Book Mail

Fall is magic.

One of my all time favorite book series is The Winter Series by Joanne Demaio. I look forward to reading them every year! HERE is a blog post I wrote 2 years ago all about the first 3 books in the series. I’ll write a post during Blogmas all about where I’m at in the series, my thoughts, etc.

She announced last year that a new Winter book was going to be released THIS FALL (Book #7 in the series)! I have been not so patiently waiting for it’s release and ran to Barnes and Noble a few days after it’s release.

From Instagram:

Spoiler: They didn’t have it.

Aaaaand just a few hours later, LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! Joanne Demaio saw my Instastory and offered to send me a copy of her newest book!

From Instagram:

The Most Perfect Book Mail

And then just 3 days later, look what came in the mail:

Perfection. That book cover, omg. STUNNING.

Ahhhh I can’t WAIT to read this one! I usually start reading holiday books at the beginning of November but I’m thinking I may need to start even a little earlier this year. I don’t want to write the synopsis here because while these ARE stand alone novels, it’s definitely best to read them in order (crossover characters, places, etc.)

Thank you so much for your kindness, Joanne. This book series is so special to me and you just made it even MORE special 🙂

My beautiful collection of all of the books in this series (in order!)

Seriously…how GORGEOUS are these covers?!

Have you read any of these adorable books? What did you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Xo,

Jenny

Thank you so much for reading Book Coffee Happy! I would be so thankful if you could do the following to support my favorite hobby…

*Follow me on Instagram* (I am VERY active on Instagram and usually update my Instastories daily)

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Click HERE for the 13 best books I read in 2022

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BLOGMAS: I Bought 5 New Books!

BLOGMAS: I Bought 5 New Books!

#mamabear

Do you remember from THIS POST when I said that I hadn’t bought myself a birthday present yet this year? Well, I now have and I think it’s a lovely present indeed. 5 new books!

I discussed this story before but I’ll quickly summarize the backstory in fragments: Last spring, Little Free Library, found book, took book, researched book, discovered it was #2 in a series, emailed author, was told although it’s a series each book can be read as a standalone novel, waited until holiday season to start reading, read book.

Ok now that you are all caught up, let’s move on.

So I read Snow Deer and Cocoa Cheer, absolutely LOVED it (review coming soon), and immediately decided I needed book #1. My library didn’t have it so I made a quick Amazon order and my new book arrived within 48 hours.

Halfway through reading Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes (book #1), I decided that I definitely wanted to read the rest of this series! I’m just loving it so much! At this point I was also in search of a birthday present for myself and suddenly I knew just what to do.

A few clicks later and the other 5 books had been ordered. I’m loving this adorable town in this series so much and I’m just not ready to leave the wonderful little town of Addison, Connecticut!

If you are looking for a super light, small town, Christmas, feel good, heartwarming, Hallmark movie type book series….this series is GREAT so far. I’m currently reading book #3 (Cardinal Cabin). I am absolutely loving this small town and it’s adorably lovable residents so much. This series is WONDERFUL and makes my heart so happy.

Side Note: These are some of the most beautiful book covers I’ve ever seen. How absolutely gorgeous are these books???

Thank you SO MUCH to whoever put Snow Deer and Cocoa Cheer in that Little Free Library last spring! Because of you, I’ve had the most lovely few weeks getting to know the residents of this adorable little town. Absolutely perfect books to read this time of year to fill my heart with holiday spirit!

It’s definitely taken a few years but I have FINALLY found another worthy holiday series to read during the holiday season after reading THIS SERIES (which I LOVED) years ago.

***NOTE***

While I agree that each of these books can be read as stand alone novels, I do recommend reading them in order. Some characters/storylines make appearances in each book and reading them in the proper order just adds to the overall storyline development.

Here is the order of the books in this series (The title of this series is The Winter Novels):

Book 1: Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes

Book 2: Snow Deer and Cocoa Cheer

Book 3: Cardinal Cabin

Book 4: First Flurries

Book 5: Eighteen Winters

Book 6: Winter House

I can’t wait to share my thoughts on each of these individual books with you soon!

Have any of you read any of these books? I’d love to hear your thoughts! I had never heard of them until I found book #2 in that Little Free Library! Hands down my most favorite Little Free Library find EVER.

Blogmas 2021 Posts:

12/1: Welcome to Blogmas 2021 {Video}!

12:2: BLOGMAS: Birthday Giveaway {Amazon Gift Card}!

12/3: BLOGMAS Book Review: One Day in December {Josie Silver}

12/4: BLOGMAS: My Birthday Visit to Barnes and Noble!

12/5: BLOGMAS: 3 Library Books I Recently Returned Without Reading

12/6: BLOGMAS Book Review: The Christmas Wedding {James Patterson}

12/7: BLOGMAS: (Non Holiday) Book Review: Other People’s Children {R.J. Hoffmann}

Xo,

Jenny

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