Tag Archives: Adult Fiction

Secret Santa Part 100: (Not So) Secret Santa’s Shelf Pick Delivery Service

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A pile of gifts that are vaguely book shaped.

There are only four1 of us, and I’m going last, so ‘surprise’ Sumayyah! I’m your HOTS Secret Santa. I hope I can live up to the standards you set when you kicked off this initiative, which our fellow writers have upheld for the past couple of weeks. So now I have three tough acts to follow, and poor Sumayyah has had to wait most of a month to get her Secret Santa shelf picks. This post is also going live on Christmas Day, so I’m too late for the rest of our readers to get physical copies of any of these books before we reopen on the 27th. To that end, if we have both a digital and physical copy of an item, the picture will be a link to the digital, while the text will be to the physical. A final note before we dive in: it will probably shock you to the core2 that I haven’t read every book I’ve ever recommended on the HOTS blog3. There are too many books and not enough time. I do read/watch/listen widely, though, so to give proper Secret Santa recs to Sumayyah, everything in this post is something I’ve gone through myself at one point or another. This has the added benefit of improving the recs for the rest of our readers, which is a lovely side effect. So read on for some reading recommendations tailored to Sumayyah, but hopefully relevant to your interests as well.

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Secret Santa Part III: Ho Ho Ho and a Pile of Books

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Image-of-three-small-presents-wrapped-in-shiny-red-paper-on-silver-background

Happy (almost) holidays, readers! There’s just about one week proper to go until family, feasting, and much-needed vacation time (or one of the three) and I, for one, can’t wait. Plus, there’s only one week left in our HOTS month of library-themed gifting and though we’re slowing down, there are still two more people on our team who made the Nice List this year.

I should preface this by saying I have a few different approaches when it comes to gift-giving. One: the thoughtful and thoroughly researched method. Two: the direct technique of “just ask”. And three (and sometimes my favorite): given because it’s just funny, in a very tongue-in-cheek way.    

With that little PSA out of the way, seeing as the number of yet to be revealed Secret Santas is dwindling, it might come as no surprise that as fate would have it the name I pulled out of our festive hat was Adam’s. I promise that there will be no weather-related arguments below. Instead, I’ve gone through my favorite Adam-authored posts and done some sneaky (or not so sneaky) conversational reconnaissance behind the scenes to gather a list of books, shows, and video games that he may enjoy.  So come with me as we get particularly niche and geeky as I share some recommendations that hopefully tickle his funny bone and/or fall in line with his specific brand of Nerd.  

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Secret Santa 2: 2 Secret 2 Santa

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Cover-image-for-Such-Sharp-Teeth-by-Rachel-Harrison

Continuing our new holiday tradition, next up we have my recommendations for fellow blog team member Maya. After conducting extensive research, including scouring Maya’s previously published posts, I’ve come up with some bespoke picks for her enjoyment. For those among you who may enjoy horror with a supernatural/paranormal tinge, graphic novels, Kate Beaton, and the like, these choices just might do double for you. I hope there’s something here that you haven’t already heard of and that interests you, Maya! Since Maya is an undisputed horror fan (with several blog posts in evidence), I had to include a horror novel in my gift of recommendations. This one was on Book Riot’s 2024 Summer Scares List, which is an annual tradition the website has in collaboration with the Horror Writers Association in the US and several other book and/or library-related organizations. What better way to play to Maya’s steadfast and unceasing love of summer and hatred of winter then to pull from this list. It aims to boost the popularity of the horror genre for readers at any age and for all seasons. Too often the spoopy and gothic are linked to Halloween, the colder months, and autumnal vibes. Check out the list linked above if you’re interested! There’s books for adults, young adults, and middle grade. Such Sharp Teeth is about Rory Morris. After a move back to the place she was born and an encounter with a man from her past, she gets in an accident with a wild animal, or so she thinks. Paranormal transformation ensues, along with romance.

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