The Gift of Giving

I signed up for the reddit gift exchange for books and eagerly awaited my match. I like to think I'm above average in finding a good book for someone. Today I got my match and I was reminded that I'm not like the rest of the world.

I got a Nicholas Sparks fan. WHY??????

I hate Nicholas Sparks. He's arrogant, unoriginal, and smug. He reuses the same basic story line over and over again. Person (usually a woman) meets someone. For some reason, this is not the greatest idea. Dramatic tension as they fight it then fall in love anyway. Cue huge dramatic reason they can't be together. Something brings them back together and they decide to make a go of it. 9 times out of 10, it ends with one of them dead.

However, my match also likes Harry Potter and is slightly younger than I am. I may have to stretch myself a bit but there was stuff there for me to work with. She likes stories where people fall in love and you get swept away by the story. Move aside Sparks. It's time for writers with more than one idea to work some magic.

I hit up BookOutlet.com (tread carefully, those deals are addictive) and cross-checked their inventory against books I've enjoyed, personal favorites, and what the deals were. Since it's President's Day and I use ebates, I got some extra savings.

There's Cake in My Future by Kim Gruenenfelder
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
A Million Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton
My Big, Fat, Supernatural, Honeymoon edited by P. N. Elrod

Cake is smart, funny, and engaging chick lit. Elephants is a beautiful and captivating love story. Mistakes let's you play 'what-if' by choosing your own adventure with your lottery winnings. Honeymoon will give her the love story with some more exposure to genre fiction and what it has to offer.

She is also getting a mini-bookmark with young Hermione on it, Just Married MadLibs, and 4 gorgeous blank cards from society6: Cliffhanger, A Quiet Spot, Never a Quiet Year at Hogwarts, and The World Belongs to Those Who Read. Those cards come in sets of 3 so 1 of each for my first match, 1 for my rematch person, and 1 for me.

I could just shove a book in an envelope and call it a day but that's not nearly as much fun. My first reddit exchange I wasn't sure what to expect but my Santa went above and beyond what I anticipated. My second was a rematch and they were incredibly considerate of what I said I liked. They even printed me homemade stickers of Jane Austen and the deathly hallows symbol. The Nicholas Sparks fan got stiffed on her last gift exchange so I think my creativity will help make up for that Secret Krampus.

New 16 Books #1

January isn't even into double digits and I've bought the first of my new 16 books. Before you judge me, I was OK with this being one of my 16 from day 1.

It started when I was making an Amazon list for my birthday in a few months. A friend requested it. When I went to add the illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it wasn't available. I got a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas and I knew I'd seen it in stores so I added that to the day's errands. First store didn't have it. Second store had it and held it for me. I also got to take advantage of the fact that I'm a member and saved an additional 10% for what remains of my gift card. 

While it's pretty early for me to have already made a dent in my 16, the day of errands also included trips to 2 library branches. I've got a pretty respectable library haul to burn through before the 24th. I'll keep you posted.


New 16 for 2016

1) Illustrated Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone