Secret Santa gift exchange! discussion

Say hello to your fellow participants and talk a little bit about what kind of books you like and what you might be interested in trying!

Hello!

This is my sixth year doing the gift exchange.

I love horror, YA, fiction, queer, bizzaro, and non-fiction (sexuality, gender). I am always down to try something new. That being said, I just REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don't like mystery or detective anything. I keep trying it and it really isn't for me.

I can't wait to see all the wonderful books and elf names!

Welcome back, Isaiah!! Xoxo

Hello done this a few years and have to think of a new elf name as I love gifting people when I can, and I believe I revealed my elf name last year. MM reader but also love fantasy of most types. Will have to update wish list as I believe I will find other book I haven't added and will have to remove ones I bought this year.

Roger - president of NBR United - wrote: "Hello done this a few years and have to think of a new elf name as I love gifting people when I can, and I believe I revealed my elf name last year. MM reader but also love fantasy of most types. W..."

Welcome back!

Hi, everyone! I've been running this exchange for six wonderful years, and it has really been a source of positivity for me. The amazing people in this group always lift me up!

I like romance of all kinds, especially M/M romance and queer romance, and I'm also I'm a HUGE historical romance fan. I just like reading! I have an updated wishlist on Elfster that is going to get VERY long during this exchange!

Love this!!! First year doing it. I love off-beat classics, horror, out-of-print oddities, and really anything. Not a fan of mega bestsellers (Patterson, Robb, Grisham, etc). Not that I don’t enjoy their writing, i just prefer unearthing neglected titles more than reading what’s trending now. Anything published by Valancourt Books gets me excited. :)

This is exciting! First year here. I like fiction, chick lit, thriller mystery, and open to more.

Oh boy! I can't wait to see who The All-Knowing Algorithm chooses for me this year. I edited my list...so many surprise gifties this year...so all is in order Elfsters. Please (re-)connect there so I'll be sure to find y'all.

Hi everyone I think this is my fifth year and I also enjoy this time of year.

Hi everyone! I’m a newbie to this and I am super excited to join finally! I have wanted to join for the last couple of years but never got around to it. I am a huge romance fan! As of recent I have been loving historical romance. I would love to check out some new authors. I also enjoy romantic suspense. I’ve read some MM and have loved those too. Looking forward to what’s to come!

Hi, I'm Sandra and this is my 6th year ( I think) participating. I'm so excited to do this awesome gift exchange - so much fun. Right now, I'm working on figuring out what my secret Elf name will be...

I read LGBTQ romance and my wishlist will be up to date. :)

Hi everyone, it's my SEVENTH year of participating and it still doesn't feel old. Thanks to Heather for organizing this event. I cannot wait to share the joy and merriment of gifting books.

I'm from Indonesia. I love reading romance, either MM, MF, or sometimes F/F. I also love urban fantasy, paranormal, and mystery genre.

I list books I want on Elfster wishlist because it's easier rather than checking my want-to Goodreads list, since I don't list every books I want there, only the upcoming ones ^^

hi everyone. This will be my 3rd year! So excited

Hello all 👋🏽, my name is Monica and this is my fifth year participating. I’m so excited! Thank you Heather for the invite again, I absolutely love it.

I love M/M, M/F, MMM, interracial romances and paranormal romances. I’ve had a rough year so I’ve stayed away from mysteries and suspense. Need love and HEA in my life..lol. I hope everyone has a good time this year! Happy gifting ;-)

Hey everyone! I have no idea how long I've been doing this exchange, but when I just looked at my member info in this group it says I joined in Nov 2013 so I'm going to guess and say that means I've participated every year since it started. Wow! Crazy! I love this exchange so much. It's such a fun time and Heather aways does such an amazing job!

I love to read anything really though my favorite genres are romance and fantasy. I read a lot of MM and paranormal as well. Frankly if it's a good book I'm in. Seeing this though does remind me I need to get around to updating my secret santa shelf. :D

Hello. I'm Mwanamali. Total noob at this lol. Thank you Heather for organizing this. Looking forward to it!

This is my third year @ this. I LOVE IT! Thank you Heather K for organizing this! It's as FUN as Xmas morn! Woohoo!

(Off to think up a cool name!)

ps: I like MM and Cozy Mysteries. My wishlist is linked! ))

Hi! I’m Kaycee and this is my 1st year doing this. I’m very excited and really need some positivity and fun right now! Thanks to Heather for organizing this.

I read mostly MM romance, but many sub genres and tropes. I have to have a HEA and prefer a full-length story.

But more than anything, I look forward to chatting and making new friends.


K

Yay! Welcome, everyone!!

Ami, you are right, this is the seventh year of the exchange!! How is that possible??? I think I used the wrong number of years in my invite email because I copy and paste and insert new links... oops!

Thank you all for joining me!

Hi everyone. So excited to be here. This is my first year in this forum. Thank you Heather, for the invite.

I am an avid romance reader, mainly M/M romances. I love stories with a slow burn featuring a HEA. I absolutely adore crime/mystery thrillers and paranormal fantasies.

Thank you. Looking forward to the secret exchange.

Hey All! What a great idea this is! How is it that I have been active on GR for over six years and have never done this!?! Anyway, my name is Jen and I am from Prince George, Canada! I am 45 years old and am a proud Gramma of an amazing 5 year old Grandson! I live for my family and reading! Lol! I also love the friends I have met on Goodreads! I love this site and the people on it! I read mainly romance and prefer to have lots of steam in my reads! I am a mood reader and will read anything from dark to historical romance! I love them all! I look forward to this gift exchange! Again I think this is a great idea! Thanks for the invite Heather!❤️

Hey everyone, noob here, but I love this kind of thing and am looking forward to it! My mane is Brian and I live in Ottawa, Canada. Thank you, Heather K, for organizing it! I am reading a lot of m/m and historical m/f romance these days. I love horror, weird fiction, fantasy, mysteries (especially classic ones). Obscure paperback genre fiction from the 70s and 80s always excites me--especially family sagas and historicals from that period. Looking forward to being an elf for someone too! :D

Hi Everyone, Newbie here, This is the first time I am doing something like this. Thank you, Heather, for organizing and inviting me.

I read Sci-fi, contemporary fiction, non-fiction, self help, Philosophical books, and any thing and everything (fun, weird, exciting, grossly enticing) that catches my eye and mood :D

I am looking forward to get to know you all and the gift exchange. :)

Hello all, this is my third (maybe fourth) year of the Elfster Exchange and each year I get more and more surprised at the amazing generosity of those who take part.

In the "real world" I'm Louise, a Yorkshire gal, disabled single mum of one, and I love to read anything within the LGBTQ+ community except for horror/thrillers (they keep me up at night!)

I'm also very fond of historical romance (MF) especially the Regency Period.

I will have an up-to-date Wishlist on Elfster which will probably focus mainly outside Amazon as gifting across international lines is now a right pain in the bottom!

But I'm pretty much happy with owt and am looking forward to seeing the crazy Elf names everyone comes up with this year.

Last year I revealed I was HollyGingerbread so I'm going to have to come up with a new alias this time round.

Hi! I've watched this exchange the past several years and finally decided to join in!

I'm Barb in real life, have 3 grown children, and live in the great state of Texas. :)

I mostly read MM and historical romance (MM and MF).

I'm working on my wish list right now and am very excited to finally be doing this.

see I have been here since 2015 so 4th year of gifting both receiving and giving. and to the new people a lot of people gift to others than their matched receiver but no need to do that if you can't afford to do it or don't feel like doing it.

Hello! I'm Grace, and this is my first year doing this exchange, which seems like so much fun!! I read ALL the things, with a particular focus on queer romance and fantasy, though a healthy dose of feminism, memoirs, YA, & sci-fi! Excited to start working on my wish list. :D

Hi everbody, my name is Lisa and this is my 5th year and one of my very favorite holiday events. I enjoy pretty much every genre except biographies and non-fiction (keep that damn truth out of my escapism, LOL) but what I most enjoy is how much the warmth, the giving and the holiday cheer this group gives me. It's just so much damn fun! :)

Oh, and the names. Y'all crack me up!

Hey guys, I'm Shin and I'm not a noob anymore. Yayyy!

Last year was my first and my cherry was definitely popped by Heather .. lol
This is my second year and I'm sooo excited to participate again. Last year gift exchange was EPIC! I love MMromance and Gay Romance books and I'm a huuuuuuge believer in love and HEAs. I shy away from tragedy and difficult books since I prefer to believe I live on rainbow clouds with unicorns and mermaids. :D

Anyhow, yea, I'll put all my wishlist on my elfster profile too so you can have a idea of the books I want. Thank you!

Hi, my name is Mariana and this will be my first year to participate. This is such a fun idea; I am looking forward to it! I love all kinds of romance.

Hi, I'm Maya in real life and a first time participant! Thanks Heather for the invite!

I read M/M romance of any genre but tend to stay away from the really dark stuff. Also not big on horror... although zombies are a guilty pleasure! :)

Hi, I'm Keira! I've never participated before, but this sounds really fun. :)

I read a lot of queer romance and YA. I adore historical romances now more than ever. Probably because the world feels like a very ugh place, and I love escaping into the past. I'm also really keen on unique or unusual settings, either historical or modern. Or futuristic!

Welcome, everyone!!! Be sure to sign up on the Elfster page as well and start making your wishlists! I love seeing all of the new faces and the familiar ones that made this exchange great every year <3

Hi - I'm Trio and this is my 5th year doing the gift exchange - thank you so much Heather for always organizing such a FUN event!

What a brilliant idea! This may even get me in the Christmas spirit this year :)

This is my first year on GR, and I'm currently reading almost exclusively MM romance of pretty much any genre. I try to avoid insta-love -- although insta-lust is fine :) -- and my favorite thing is watching the MCs build a relationship on a true friendship/connection and the small moments of being in tune with each other.

I'm in uber-procrastination mode today, so I've already had way too much fun building my wish list!

My First year! A little ashamed since I have been following Heather for a while now. Omg! Not like that! Keep your minds clean people. Anyway. I will read just about anything. 🙃

Hi everyone. So excited to do this. This is my first year doing this. Probably because I only became friends with Heather on here this year. I read a lot of genres but I must admit I have been primarily reading m/m romance this year. Still, I also enjoy mysteries/thrillers, YA, fiction, m/f romance, true crime and memoirs. I have never used Elfster but I will set up a profile on there.

Here we go again! (That's most definitely the sound of Mamma Mia you hear in the background.)

I did this last year and it was so much fun! Thanks Heather for putting this together, it's such a welcoming and festive experience. We don't know each other really (other than I'm one of the hundreds liking your reviews :)), but it's really amazing that you organize this group event every year. I can barely manage making dinner reservations when there are more than three people involved.

Anyway, I read anything not nailed down, but mostly m/m, Man Booker winners, fun celebrity essays and some non-fiction - mostly astronomy/physics/behavior related. And, also like stalking friends' of friends' of friends' lists to see what their favs are and finding random hidden gems.

Also, so excited to see Keira Andews on here, say what?! I LOVE her books and am reading one now!

It's that time a year again?? Yeah I love love this exchange. This brings me so much joy and it is super cool to gift items to others. This is my 4th year. Next year I expect a cake Heather! hahaha.

My name is SimplyNik, I have been on GR for ages it seems. I moderate three groups on here and I host one of these gift exchanges too. But I don't have this many people. I am so amazed at Heather's ability to manage this. Side note, I have never been claimed. But it doesn't really matter it is just nice to give and to receive. I am off to think of great elf names..(smile)

Hi, I'm iam and this is my first time doing the exchange! I'm super excited but also a lil nervous, I hope I got everything right!

I read a lot and I've been around GR for a while (it's a lifesaver, helped me discover so many good reads!) I mainly read romance, scifi, fantasy and any combinations of these along with mystery and paranormal. 99% of the time I read about queer characters - I spent way too much time in my youth only reading about heteronormativity and the like, but now I want to read about characters like myself, as well as other kinds of diversity!

Since I'm non-binary, aro & ace I love finding new books featuring characters who are also on the trans- or the a-spectrum and try to prioritize them, but I enjoy reading about any and all sorts of queer identities :)

Edit: Oh I just realized this might also be relevant: I'm from Germany, though I currently live in Sweden!

Hi,
I am Ezinwanyi and I have been around this block a time or two!
I am a huge romance reader and I don't like books that don't end in HEAs. I don't read mystery or thriller books unless I am forced two by real life book club and I do my best to wriggle out of them if I can.
I love HR, CR, M-M, IR, PNR, UF, Sci-Fi as long as there is a romance plot in the book. I am 75% audiobook but since i do travel a bit for work, I do take books and ebooks.

iam wrote: "Since I'm non-binary, aro & ace ..."

I am sorry for my ignorance but what does that mean? Educate me, if you don't mind.

iam wrote: "Hi, I'm iam and this is my first time doing the exchange! I'm super excited but also a lil nervous, I hope I got everything right!

I read a lot and I've been around GR for a while (it's a lifesave..."

I'm gonna have to stalk your shelves :) I love these stories, too. Just read a good one with a gender-fluid MC: The Impossible Boy by Anna Martin

Ezinwanyi wrote: "I am sorry for my ignorance but what does that mean? Educate me, if you don't mind."
I don't mind at all!
Ace = asexual, which means I do not experience sexual attraction.
Aro = aromantic, similar to asexual but it's about romantic attraction.
This is based on the split-attraction model that separates romantic from sexual attraction and identity - not everyone likes that model, arguing that sexual and romantic attraction is always tied together. I think that's true for some people, but not for others! I mostly see the model being used for a-spectrum identities, like people who are asexual but not aromantic, or the other way round.
Non-binary is about gender, it's an identity under the trans-umbrella. It's for people who's gender doesn't fit into the traditionally binary gender model of male and female, but is instead somewhere between or outside of it. For me personally that means I'm not entirely female, but not entirely male either, a bit of both but neither at the same time.

Pam wrote: "iam wrote: "I'm gonna have to stalk your shelves :) I love these stories, too. Just read a good one with a gender-fluid "
Ooh I have that one on my tbr!!! I'm excited to heard it's good, I've been eyeing it with interest every time I look at my lists ;) I just finished Mud & Lace, I had no idea that gender identity would be a topic going in (I was just binging the series) but it made me cry a little with how good it was!

Hello everyone! I've participated in this exchange for a few years now. I absolutely love it! It's one of the highlights of my year!

I read alot of YA, mystery, thrillers, and horror. I've updated my wishlists for this year and I'm very excited to be paired up, exchange gifts, and see all the awesome gifts given and received!

Hey all!
I'm Sheri. I've been around GR for ages it seems and I love that I'm always learning new things and meeting new friends.
My kindle travels with me everywhere and sleeps under my pillow. I *might* have separation anxiety issues! ;)
I gravitate towards m/m and contemporary romance but I'm partial to PNR and angst heavy stories. I love snark, wit and lots of feels.
Basically, make me laugh, turn up the heat and give me a swoon or two and I'm in reader heaven.
I adore the holiday season and big hugs to Doc Heather for running this show.

Hello everyone,

This is my first time participating in the gift exchange & I’m very excited & happy to know more about you all.

I am a curious person who loves to read a lot of thrillers mostly psychological thrillers & crime novels. I am passionate about astronomy & astrophysics.. I read lot for non-fiction too.

Welcome, everyone!

iam wrote: "I just finished Mud & Lace, I had no idea that gender identity would be a topic going in (I was just binging the series) but it made me cry a little with how good it was!"

Yes! I loved that one, too. Haven't read the rest of the series yet...