I am posting in the interest of 2025 TBR challenge completeness. This is not a celebratory post and I will touch briefly on distressing events. I will provide few details, no links and no images of the events included. However, if you need a pause from sad news, it is best to not read further.

Two weeks ago, I downloaded Teri Wilson’s Fa-la-la-la Faking It: A Fake Dating Christmas Romance. I had put it on my TBR list more than a year ago (2024 release) and it seemed a suitable title to match the challenge – a change for me as I usually just try to match the book I have on the go to the topic of the month. The title reveals all. There was no point reading the blurb to ascertain whether the plot points of this book aligned with my own reading interests. It was a Tick Tick Tick on all fronts. The cover was very pretty and on-point for a Northern Hemisphere Christmas vibe, full of sparkly winter vibes – definitely out of synch with the 40C temperatures I was trying to read in.

The book itself frustrated me, bored me. Unusual as Teri Wilson is an auto-read author who mostly delivers robust and satisfying romance reads. However, I will not leave this one at Wilson’s feet.

The foreground to my reading were two acts of violence that I couldn’t shake from my mind. Firstly, the devastating anti-semitic terrorist act killing 15 people and injuring many more in Bondi, Sydney. Sydney is a mulitcultural city with residents mostly working hard towards unity and living peacefully amongst each other. This (hopefully) isolated act has caused cracks where there were already fissures. Acts of hate can freeze us. A cousin in Greece wrote to me to say that she was sad that we Sydneysiders would now be too scared to go out. My answer was that cowering in my home would mean violence and hate had won. I continue to go to beaches and public places. We mustn’t live in fear.

Also at the forefront of my reading, and a few hours after the Sydney attack, the news emerged of the devastating murders of Rob and Michelle Reiner, allegedly killed by their son. They were in their home. The purportedly safe place where we are supposed to shelter from threat. Rob Reiner shaped so many of my storytelling expectations around love, humour and hope overcoming cynicism. There was a sense of trust and humanity to his stories, which for me there is a special focus upon The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally, which have buoyed me through life, guiding me to always somehow stay hopeful. Is it naive to continue to cling to this way of being?

After that day, in the week that followed, I felt agitated and distracted, as though cynicism and hate won. Even if I was actively trying to not think this way. Even though people showed courage in the face of it all.

Suffice to say, I could not focus nor could I read anything other than the news (I deliberately did not view any news – there is a semblance of controllable safety in text). As for my reading of Wilson’s Fa-la-la-la Faking It, it was surface level and I can’t really say that I have retained much from the book, let alone celebrate it. Sadly, I couldn’t engage in its fun.

All this said, though that layer of sadness persists, I did have a lovely Christmas, and lovelier end of year visiting with friends and family, and going for swims.

I leave you with a photograph of my favourite swim spot. Here is to 2026 being a strong and joyful year. I guess my hopefulness is on default. A good way to be. I hope you all have a calm and peaceful new year.