Happy Friday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you have planned. We’re planning on having a roast chicken dinner on Saturday followed by some board gaming. I got himself Star Wars Villanous for Christmas (which he’s already opened because neither of us have any self-control at all) so we might play that or one of the other many board games himself has picked up this year.
As for reading, I’m about halfway through Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid. It’s an enemies-to-lovers story with a childhood bully pining hero. I love a pining hero but a bully isn’t something I’ve read much of. In my mind bullies are always bad but kids are often stupid and being an adult can really change your perspective on things. I am absolutely loving the pairing in this book and all their shenanigans. It’s so sweet! Also, Reid included two versions of the couple’s first sex scene, one closed door and one open, which I have never encountered before. It’s a nice idea cause I know some people are uncomfortable (or just not interested) with sex scenes. I haven’t come across this in her books since so I guess it’s something she didn’t feel the need for after. Either way, I am loving this book and read both versions of the scene quite happily 😁
What are you reading this weekend?
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Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid
There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she’s unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.
Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello—her former nemesis—she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding a Nico charisma-electrocution or, worse, falling in love.
‘Friends Without Benefits’ is book #2 in the Knitting in the City series. Each book is a standalone, full length (110k words), contemporary romantic comedy novel, and follows the misadventures and exploits of seven friends in Chicago, all members of the same knitting group.
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Where to Find Me
Elaine Howlin 
I’ve been really struggling with reading lately so I’m hoping to read just one chapter of The Poppy War to get back into the swing of things!
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I’m straddling a few books but I’ll try to make progress in The 12 Doctors of Christmas and Hark! The Herald Angels Scream
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I’m almost done with an ARC so will most likely be getting to a library book that’s due soon, Lover Revealed. It’s the 4th book in J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Although, with all the Christmas cookies I have to bake this weekend I don’t know that I’ll get as much reading done as I would want.
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Oh lovely Christmas cookies!! I hope you enjoy your baking and get a little bit of reading in. Black Dagger Brotherhood is a great series but I’ve only made it as far as book 9 at the moment.
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I’ll be reading “Hell to Pay,” a non-fiction book that examines Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of Japan that was canceled after we dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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