Secret Santa gift exchange! discussion

Welcome to our 2022 gift exchange! Please introduce yourself here, and don't forget to register on Elfster! https://www.elfster.com/gift-exchange...

Hi everyone 😊

I'm Luke - I only started properly using Goodreads socially this year. I'm 29 and from the North East in England. I mostly enjoy M/M romance and fantasy books. T.J. Klune is an absolute favourite lately, but I've been trying to branch out more.

Excited to join this 😊

Luke wrote: "Hi everyone 😊

I'm Luke - I only started properly using Goodreads socially this year. I'm 29 and from the North East in England. I mostly enjoy M/M romance and fantasy books. T.J. Klune is an absol..."

Hi Luke! Welcome! This group is soooo fun.

I'm sorry I got a late start this year, guys! I usually start earlier in October but I've been extremely busy this year.

I'm Heather (*waves*). I read ALL romance, but my first love is M/M. I read a ton of historical romance across genres and I love audiobooks (but don't buy me any as I have more than I need and can get more any time!). I'm so happy to welcome you all to this exchange and this group!

Wooohooo! It's my favorite time of the year. I can't wait to share the holiday spirit with you all and for my tbr to grow way too much.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Gustaf. I'm 27 (but I want to say that I'm 28 for some reason) and I live in Sweden with my husband and our dog. I read 99.7% MM of all sub genres and tropes.

Luke wrote: "Hi everyone 😊

I'm Luke - I only started properly using Goodreads socially this year. I'm 29 and from the North East in England. I mostly enjoy M/M romance and fantasy books. T.J. Klune is an absol..."

Nice to see you here as well, Luke.

Hi Heather and Gustaf 😁 Thank you both for the lovely welcome and it's great to be a part of the group with you!

Hi all,

My name is Lily and I am a New Yorker studying in London for a year. I adore romance and fantasy novels. For romance, I prefer LGBTQ stories. After years of getting tired of the same tropes from what felt like the same few character archetypes, I can’t get invested in (most) straight romance anymore. And for fantasy, I used to read everything, but after Covid, I really began to reassess just how much gore I regularly took in with books like Game of Thrones. So I like my fantasy to be on the lighter/slice of life end of things (same with romance, actually).
I’m excited to be a part of such a fun concept. Thanks for the invite, Heather🤗 Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Welcome to our 2022 gift exchange! Please introduce yourself here, and don't forget to register on Elfster! https://www.elfster.com/gift-exchange..."

Woohoo! I’ve been impatiently waiting for this day to come! The past few months have been a bit rough so this is exactly what I need! Hi, I’m Daniel aka Dozer (I answer to both) and I like everything from urban fantasy to true crime to epic fantasy and mystery. My identity journey has made a shift towards asexual, but so far still call myself a proud gay man. Thus, my main romance interests are books with an Ace MC (ie. How to Be a Normal Person - it isn’t always about the spicy bits) and Paranormal M/M (ie. How to Vex a Vampire - I don’t mind the spicy parts if the plot and dialogue are interesting enough) I’m always open to suggestions and hope everybody has lots of fun!

Hi Everyone
I'm Relly from Australia. This is my 4th Year (I think) and one of my favourite things. I look forward to this exchange all year.
I read a little bit of everything mainly m/m but with the little bit if m/f thrown in.

OMG how is it this time already! I'm Louise, I'm a former journalist and sub-editor and I live in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales with my 14-year-old son.
I've been around for a fair few of these now and it's absolutely my favourite thing at this time of year.
Heather's an absolute star for organising as always and I'm looking forward to meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces.

ETA: Forgot to mention I read pretty much exclusively MM these days unless it's a historical biography or fantasy from my favourite authors.
Any sub-genre except for horror/thriller!

Yay! So excited for the exchange. I can't even remember when I started participating at this point, but it's always such a pure joy. Seeing Heather's msg in my inbox today just perked everything up. Heather you're a rockstar for putting this together every year!

Anyway, I'm an actor/producer out in Los Angeles with the most adorable little grey cat who makes everything better. He's quite the snuggler. As for reading...well frankly I'll read pretty much anything. I read a lot of MM as well as MF romance. My favorite sub-genres are probably fantasy/paranormal. But honestly I'm always just looking for my next great book. :)

So, um? Hi? I, that is, this was a lovely invitation and everything, but who is this "Heather" person?

*smooch*

See y'all around and about.

Richard wrote: "So, um? Hi? I, that is, this was a lovely invitation and everything, but who is this "Heather" person?

*smooch*

See y'all around and about."

LOLOL- you get a thousand winks for that (your favorite!)

Hi everyone!! 👋

Wow ... it's that time of the year again! Thanks for the invitation, Heather, this is an event that I won't miss.

My name is Ami, and this is my TENTH year of participating. Yes, I've been doing this for a DECADE. Wow. I'm 40+ woman (she/her) living in Indonesia. About 95% of the time, I read romance, but I also enjoy urban fantasy/paranormal (with a dose of romance) as well as good murder/mystery/thriller.

That's it for now... looking forward to more chatting and more squeeing 😃

Hi all! I invited myself to this shindig after seeing Gustaf's activity in my feed. Ha ha. So, call me a party crasher I guess? ;)

I'm Elizabeth, (she/her; bi) an Alaskan girl currently living in Utah. I'm excited to participate as holiday giving is one of my favorite hobbies, following reading and crocheting. Hee see. I love both reading and listening to books. Up until 2 years ago I was a bit of bratty snob and never read romance and now that's my primary choice, especially MM. I have enough reality in myjob as a therapist and I crave the escape of fiction. I also have broadened my horizons and am enjoying more fantasy and paranormal reads recently. I'm also an avid crocheter and work to keep up with my 5 kids ages 8-25.
Looking forward to sharing in the cheer with you all!

Back again who knows what elf name I will come up with this year. Live in Milwaukee and disability is my only source of income. Read mainly mm romance. 53 will be 54 a few days before Christmas.

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Richard wrote: "So, um? Hi? I, that is, this was a lovely invitation and everything, but who is this "Heather" person?

*smooch*

See y'all around and about."

LOLOL- you get a thousand winks for that (your favorite!)"

Hi everyone I can't believe its that time of the year again. I am Angie and I live in Highland CA with my husband and daughter. I am retired so I read a lot of different genres. I am looking forward to all the funny names people come up with.

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to be part of this Gift Exchange again!

*waves to friends, old and new*

Hello, my favorite people and friends I have not met yet.
I am Hemmel, and love to read pure romance, as long as it is MM. I have a hard time finding quality, that is where you come in.
I work for a local heritage foundation in The Netherlands and volunteer for a rabbit shelter.

Hello my fellow Elves,

I’m Ashley and I just moved to Washington, DC in September. I’m obsessed with MM romance and this exchange is my favorite part of the year!! This is my second year and last year, through your wishes, I picked up some of my favorite new series. So THANK YOU! I also love this group because you love reading as much as I do and get just as excited about receiving books as I do!

Let the gifting begin!!!

Lizzie wrote: "Hi all! I invited myself to this shindig after seeing Gustaf's activity in my feed. Ha ha. So, call me a party crasher I guess? ;)

I'm Elizabeth, (she/her; bi) an Alaskan girl currently living in..."

Hi Elizabeth :D

Hi guys! I'm Mehta (18 yrs old) and I'm an avid reader of adult / high fantasy and queer romance. So excited for this gift exchange! I'm really looking forward to getting to know you all :)

This is my favorite thing of the year, and I so look forward to it. I've participated every year since its inception, and I'm so happy to participate again this year.

Hello everyone!!

Hi! I'm Kristy. I live in a suburb of Houston and read a whole lot of everything, but MM romance is my favorite. I've been participating for about 4 years.

Hi everyone, I'm Trio and I live in NYC. I love mysteries, holiday romances, humor, historical... heck, I like most books. I love stories with LGBTQ+ characters, but I read MF romances too.

Thanks SO MUCH for organizing again Heather! I look forward to this gift exchange every year xoxo!

Hello! :)
I am from New York and spend all my free time on romance novels. I do occasionally switch to thrillers and YA, but I have this insatiable hunger for happy endings that are easy to come by in humourous romance novels. This is my first time participating in the gift exchange. So excited!!

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Luke wrote: "Hi everyone 😊

I'm Luke - I only started properly using Goodreads socially this year. I'm 29 and from the North East in England. I mostly enjoy M/M romance and fantasy books. T.J. Klun..."

Hi Heather. Thanks for setting this up again! So exciting.

I'm mwana. I'm 29, from Nairobi, Kenya.

I used to say I read everything except tragic fiction, horror and scifi but this has been the year of change so guess who's reading everything? Lmao.

Currently, my favourite genres are fantasy, mystery, literary fiction and whatever the hell it is that Donna Tartt writes.

Can't wait to meet all of you!

Hi! I’m Fran. Thanks Heather for setting this up again this year!
This exchange is such a welcome event :)
I’m not great at coming up with cute elf names, but I love seeing everyone else’s creativity!
I mostly read light-hearted, funny romances these days, with holiday and stranded/snowed in being favorite tropes.

Welcome, everyone!

Hello everyone, new friends and old!
Yayyyy, the time has come and I can't wait!!
I'm Sheri *waves*
I seem to find myself on GR less and less these past few years but as soon as this celebration starts, you can't keep me away!
I'm not too picky with what I read (except nothing too dark or scary since I'm a scaredy cat), but I have a solid group of auto buy authors with whom I spend most of my kindle time. I missed Doc H's message the other day but I noticed my email filling up with wishes. I love seeing all the activity here and look forward to a fun few weeks with you all. I need to pull out my elf shoes and get ready. 🥰

Hello Everybody!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to hop in here! I'm Ron-Michael, I live in Plano, Texas (just north of Dallas), and this is my second year in the Secret Santa world. Had so much fun last year, I couldn't resist! I'm a huge fan of m/m romance (duh) and also YA. Oh, and mystery, a little bit of fantasy, and pretty much all books with words.

Hey Everyone 👋


I'm Lena from Israel. This is my 3rd year doing the exchange and I love it 😍

I read mainly MM romance, pretty much any sub-genre. Some of my favorite MM authors are N.R. Walker, Gregory Ashe, Lily Morton, Briar Prescott, Alex Gabriel, Taylor Fitzpatrick, C.E. Ricci and more...

Thanks for the invite, Heather 💕 I'm looking forward to sharing the book love with you all 🌈💕

Hi everybody!

I'm Jenn Potter, not Lily, married to not James, mom to not Harry and not Beatrix. I've lived in MN for 4 years now, after 27 years in L.A., but I'm still a Michigoose in my heart. Like Ron-Michael, this is my second year in the exchange, and I loved last year! Fantasy, mystery, historical, YA, NA, BDSM, poly, contemporary, even a little bit of horror-ish (but not too horror-ish!) -- I like it all as long as there's two (or more!) guys/enbys finding their HEA. Happy holiday season to all!

Hello. I'm Jairo. This is my third year on the exchange. Is wonderful but receiving the invitation before Halloween gives me heart palpitations. Anyhow, I love science fiction and fantasy books, enemy to lovers is also my guilty pleasure. However, I'm pretty much open to anything coming my way.

Hi everyone!

I'm Iam, this is my.. third? fourth? time participating in this Secret Santa, though for the past few years I've been rather quiet with it (despite meeting one of my best friends here <3) This year I have more spoons, so I'm especially looking forward to it!
I'm from Germany so gifting can be a bit tricky, but I just didn't want to stay away from the fun.

I read a lot of queer stuff, including romance, though lately I'm especially into horror and SciFi, (and especially SciFi horror!) I love robots, aliens and weird creatures, and one of my favourite things is how fiction can be used to explore gender, and being transgender in particular (so there is an element of personal interest for sure.)
My current fav reads are All Systems Red, Gideon the Ninth and Dalí.

Hello 👋 everyone, new and old to our secret Santa exchange, my name is Chad. Last year was another success, I enjoyed giving and certainly loved watching so many people receive gifts 🎁 and as with last year , I was blown away by the overall thoughtfulness, gratitude and generousness of every participant and those super generous elves that come along as the exchange goes on, it always makes my heart soar and the holidays so much more brighter, cheerier and that much more special!

I have always loved reading books 📚 since I could learn to read and my mom took me and gave me the best gift ever, my library card and the rest is history, reading now has become more relaxing for me as I’ve now become my mother’s caregiver, my mom was diagnosed with dementia and she is still going strong, some days are better than others but thank goodness for books, eBooks and umm oh yeah audible audiobooks too 😂 I have been listening to a ton of those as they let me escape into uncharted stories by authors I’ve loved and many new ones that I’m always finding on goodreads.

I enjoy reading MM romance and gay romance, I do also enjoy all other genres except for true crime, I’m escaping reality not diving into it even deeper 😜


🎅🏻 Chad 🎄

Hello All! My name is Lois and I live in Washington State. This is my second year with Secret Santa and I had a great time, so I am back this year!

I mostly read MM, but sometimes read/listen to other genres to shake things up a bit. I love a good mystery, but am not a big fan of blood and gore.

Lois - Who Reads wrote: "Hello All! My name is Lois and I live in Washington State. This is my second year with Secret Santa and I had a great time, so I am back this year!

I mostly read MM, but sometimes read/listen to ..."

Hi Lois, fancy seeing you outside of our bingo thread.

I'm Malorie and it's my 3rd year I think now doing this, yay! I'm a mom and skeletal taxidermist and I love love love fantasy romance! I love quests and kingdoms and lovers fighting the world for each other or trying to kill each other and then falling in love, that works too lol.

I'm Tj, Female, from TX in the USA. I have been in this exchange many years now. I'm a mother of two, grandmother of 2 boys. Married 31 years. I love a variety of genres, mm romance, mf romance, (mostly fantasy or scifi with these), some history and biographies, mystery, and true crime. Right now I really am liking the antiheroes. I have always enjoyed the exchange and all the creative names and giving elves.

Hi y’all! I’m Chi but go by nic on here, 23 yo F from TX but currently live in PA! :) first time doing this, so excited to join this great group. Don’t have too many reader friends irl so I’ve really been loving getting more involved with Goodreads this year!

I’m a romance girlie first and foremost (mostly M/M but I’m not picky) and I also dabble in Nonfiction, SFF and some literary/historical fiction. Reading meant so much to me in middle school and then high school/most of college kinda killed my joy. The privilege of having more time at the beginning of the pandemic brought me back to reading but romance made me fall in love with it again, which I am so grateful for. Excited to be a part of this and share my love for books with others!!

Some recent and all time faves:
- Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
- literally anything by Talia Hibbert
- Reel by Kennedy Ryan
- His Cocky Cellist by Cole McCade (honestly, anything by Cole McCade)
- An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole
- Finding Me by Viola Davis
- Sword Of Kaigen by ML Wang
- That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly
Lemming

Hey! I'm Wulf, old two spirit/nonbinary human in Kansas. I'm a fan of dogs and have recently picked up crocheting (and now our house is full of yarn). i think this will be my 3rd year? Husband invited me and, well. Here i am.

Books wise, I like a lot of things, but specifically in romance I'm looking for queer stories preferably without being focused on queer trauma (if the whole plot is someone being beat up for being queer it's not for me). I don't have a particular trope that I look for, and my spice level varies. also down for asexual and aromantic rep, so please tell me if you have a reccomendation!

Hi, I'm Isaiah.

This is my 8th year doing the exchange. If you have been around you have no doubt seen the wild titles I ask for.

I HATE mystery or anything crime related. It is one of the few genres that is just an immediate no. Otherwise I like to try new things. I love horror, queer books, the newer sci-fi books, and bizarro (where the weird titles come from).

Hello all! I'm afraid Elfster doesn't like me much. I can not log in or make changes to my list or anything.

Should anyone be looking for me, my books have an "elfster" collection chock-full of stuff I want. My email addy is rrmdd at yahoo dot com, if you're so inclined.

Richard wrote: "Hello all! I'm afraid Elfster doesn't like me much. I can not log in or make changes to my list or anything.

Should anyone be looking for me, my books have an "elfster" collection chock-full of st..."

I hope it is solved soon. Maybe opening a new account is a solution in the end.

Hemmel wrote: "I hope it is solved soon. Maybe opening a new account is a solution in the end."

I can't even log in...how could I start another account?

Hey, my name is Alicja, I live in the UK. I did the exchange last year, I know there were some people who preferred physical books so hopefully I will be paired with the same type of person again this year. I enjoyed my Secret Santa very much last year so I hope that this year will be the same for me and I'm way more prepared this year then I was last year. I'm sooooo excited I could join again.

https://www.elfster.com/profile/f4905...

Richard wrote: "Hemmel wrote: "I hope it is solved soon. Maybe opening a new account is a solution in the end."

I can't even log in...how could I start another account?"

You need another e-mailaddress. Maybe you have one already. If not, gmail is your friend. Then use it to open an account at Elfter.com.

Ah, okay. I see what the aim is now!