Books I got for Christmas and why I'm excited about them

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. The most exhausting. But my favourite. My friends and family celebrate hard, so there are a million and one gatherings with no breaks in between. Somehow, I thought I'd have time to read at least eight novels over the holidays. Hilarious.

Usually I turn into an angry goblin when I'm separated from books for longer than a day, but if there's one thing I love more than reading and writing, it's the friends and family I laugh with around the Christmas tree until 2 a.m. about pillow thrones and pegasus farts (don't ask).

But then, yes: BOOOOOOOOOKKKKSSSS!!!!!!! Besides the people, my favourite part about Christmas is... GETTING NEW BOOKS!!!!

Kyle, my mom, dad, sister, her partner, and I do a gift exchange every year. This year, my dad had my name and gave me three glorious new reads:

JUNIE by Erin Crosby Eckstine

BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall

A RESISTANCE OF WITCHES by Morgan Ryan

I'm thrilled to dive into these because they're:

1. debuts.

2. top selling.

3. given high reviews (average 4+ stars on Goodreads).

JUNIE and RESISTANCE OF WITCHES are the authors' first novels. From my aspiring author perspective, it's important to me to take notes on the writing of those who conquered the steps ahead of me. In December, I signed with a literary agent for the first time (YAY - stay tuned for a blog post about that), so my next step will be to edit my WIP to go on submission to editors. Those editors will want storytelling that's hot in today's publishing landscape. To grow my craft and polish my WIP that I hope becomes my own debut, I'm hungry to study the literary techniques these authors used in their first novels that exceeded in the current market. One of my favourite parts of writing is learning from others along the way.

Can't wait to share my thoughts on these books. I would also love to hear about any books you received for Christmas that you're excited to read. Let me know in the comments!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!