Megan Tennant’s (@_Megan_Tennant on Twitter) Indiecember is one of the best ideas floating out on the Internet for bibliophiles near and far. I found her Bingo Board-inspired game last year and entered my book Kingdom Come. I decided to join in the reading frenzy and despite December being one of the more hectic months of the year, I was able to read triple the amount of books I would’ve normally read that month.

While I didn’t win, I still felt like a victor because I read so many impressive books that it changed what I planned to read in 2019. At the time, my TBR list was mostly (75%) traditionally published books and a few (25%) independently published. This flipped after reading through Megan’s list on Amazon. After December ended, I decided to keep reading from the list and bought books from it throughout the year. I kept reading and reviewing. Click on the titles to read my reviews.

So in December, I started with the fantastic Merona Grant and the Lost Tomb of Golgotha by Brina Williamson and went on to read one of her cozy mysteries after that. I also read I’m Not Saying It by Eóin Brady, 30 Days Without Wings by Tabatha Shipley, and Super by Karen Diem. I didn’t get to a number of books but read them later in the year: The Last Dragon Princess by Cynthia Payne, A Darkness Found by T.K. White, Eros, Inc. by Matt Medlock (as well as a fantastic short story “Scare Me”), Stealing Huckleberry by Lucian, The Witch’s Rede: Alight by Jewel Leonard. And 30 Days Without Wings led me to Tabatha’s newest book Projection. And Super led me to Karen Diem’s second book, Human. I’m going to continue most of the series I started in Indiecember. (Brina, if you’re reading this, where is the Merona Grant sequel?!)

I recommend you go through the list and pick out what sounds the most interesting to you as well as try to win the game. Not everything you read will be home runs—there were a few I enjoyed but thought average—but I bet you’ll be surprised at the quality of most of these novels. I want to plug Megan’s Alethia (she didn’t ask me to do this but she deserves it) as well. Please check it out too.

Commercials will be begging you to “buy yourself something for the holidays.” Honestly, I don’t find that in the spirit, but if you purchase books on Megan’s list and review them, you will be giving a gift to the writer as well as to yourself, awesome reader. Now that’s in the spirit!