Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Well, here we are in November. I wanted to read more in October and I didn’t so here I am hoping that I can read more in November. I will have a whole week off later in the month because of Thanksgiving Break so I will hopefully have time to read and then just deal with it.

            The first book of the month only took me a few days to read, but has been on my Want to Read list for almost a year? If not about a year. I don’t remember at the moment. Mood reading is my whole life for the rest of that year and at this moment, I am totally cool with that. 

Defy the Night by Brigit Kemmerer (5/5)

            I blew right through this book. It was so good and it kept me engaged from about page one to page 443. I loved Tessa and Corrik and reading it from both of their perspectives made it so much more fun. The second one is already on my want to read list because I want more. I loved the whole story and it was so much the whole time. Like it kept me guessing as to what was going on and who was behind all the things. I want to see how they all grow as people in the second one and there were parts of this book that broke me apart a little. The reveal! I kind of called it, but I really liked all of the twists and turns that led from the beginning to the end. 

Til Death by Carol J. Perry (3.2/5)

            This was book 12 in the Witch City Mysteries and I love the series as a whole. This one though, it didn’t even hit the mystery part until halfway through the book. It was a lot of messy plot lines and maybe that will set up for later books, but it felt very disjointed and I wasn’t actually a huge fan of it. Like her uncle killing her parents? Like he orphaned a child and got away with it for 30 years? It just didn’t feel like the other Witch City books, there was just something about it that fell short for me. Maybe I am getting out of cozy mysteries, I don’t know. I just didn’t love this like I have loved the others. Like I said there was a lot of disjointed plotting and it felt like it took forever and a day to actually get to something interesting. Even then though, it didn’t feel like it was the quality and the caliber of the rest of the series before this one. Like there was this big build up to the wedding and then the wedding got like a chapter before moving on. Lee getting a Jeep had more coverage than the wedding which is really strange because the first half of the book was the prep and lead up to the wedding. A murder at the wedding would have been more fulfilling than this book was. 

A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore (4.3/5)

            I loved it, I loved Bringing Down the Duke as well. Like Tristan and Lucie are so much, in all the best ways. Everyone should know by now I love a good enemies to lovers where the guy for sure falls first! Victorian politics and decorum are a mess. I am glad that I don’t live in that time because no thanks. Her cousins are the worst, seriously, the worst. It was such a fun read and I read more than half in one day because it sucked me into the story and then didn’t let me go until the ending. I cannot wait to read about Hattie and Blackstone in the next one but that is way down on my list so that very well could be an early next year read. 

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey (4.2/5)

            Wow, this one was a lot angstier than It Happened One Summer also a lot less spicy which I was okay with. I was so worried that Fox and Hannah wouldn’t actually make it and that to be honest would have been so sad about that. Like Fox holds my heart and he needs to be protected, he’s kind of a lot but so is Hannah. I liked the first one a little better, but this one had a very different vibe to it. Fox and Hannah just work and it makes sense to be honest. For him to have this persona that he tries to live up to in the first book, then you find out why and I want to give him a hug. People are the worst to be completely honest. He tries to change for her and I was like, ah yes, he falls first but she’s not far behind. I love their relationship to be completely honest. 

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang (3/5)

            This was my November Book of the Month because none of the choices sounded good. I should have just kept my credit for next month because I wasn’t a huge fan of it. There is a much more in-depth review that will be coming out soon. 

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (3.5/5)

            It was weird. Good but weird, I think that it was good anyway. It felt like a weird cross between The Starless Sea and Annihilation, I loved the idea of this place with the halls and the statues. The ending was weird though, I understand the mind fracturing and all of that. I know that this is a favorite of a lot of people and it’s been on my list for a long time. It was good, but it was also very strange, I know that’s kind of the point. I went into it blind so that was for sure a better plan than knowing anything. I liked that it was told in the forms of a journal or multiple journals. The random capitalizations were a little weird though, but I understood it. Like it was a lot, some of it was great and some of it was confusing, but that’s totally fine. 

Death on The Nile by Agatha Christie (3.5/5)

            This was written and published in the 1930’s I wanted to read it because they made a movie. I was not a huge fan and that’s okay. I love mysteries, I really prefer the cozy variety. This was a lot as a whole book, there was so much convolution. It ends in a murder/suicide and the detective figured that would happen, which was really strange. It didn’t actually start to interest me until like halfway through the book. There were just so many things going on, there were so many perspectives and I cannot judge it on the standard of today, but it’s just not 100% for me and that’s okay.  

The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther (3.8/5)

            I liked it, it was cute. That’s about all I have on it, it was insta love and v Taylor Swift inspired. I liked the premise of the game of Assassin and the story kept me wanting to read it. The whole thing with her ex felt like it was just thrown in there to be a plot point. I was not a huge fan of how her friends/cousins acted with the situation about her sister, like grief is hard and she completely shut down, which was her choice and how she was grieving. I did like the cast of characters though and I love big families like that, I don’t have a big close family, it’s small and everyone is slung across the country. We don’t spend almost any time together and the last time all of my cousins and I were in the same room was a wedding in 2017 and even then, it was just the four of them and their families. It was very small and quiet so there we are. I do wish sometimes that I was part of one of those big families that got together every year, but I’m not. 

Much Ado About You by Samantha Young (4.2/5)

            It was so cute! Like I read it in two days and I smiled so much. I didn’t really like the twist, but it was still a happily ever after because if it wasn’t I would have been upset. I loved the village so much, the bookstore, the whole cast of characters was so much fun. I loved all the Shakespeare references throughout the book. I really liked the main couple because of course I have to. He for sure fell first and head over heels because it was insta love for him which was super cute. I loved Shadow so much; I love when an animal character is featured so heavily. It was a lot of healing old wounds and all of that which was a really good story. A lot of emotional trauma came out through this book and so much of it was solved. 

Bride of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes (4.5/5)

            It took me some time to get into, but man do I ship them. Seriously. Some of the words were a lot because they were not in English and that’s okay, but it did detract from the story a little bit for me, like translations? Please. This for sure was a TikTok made we want it book. It was really good and such a slow burn, I will be getting the second eventually because let’s be honest, I need to see how their story ends but the third one doesn’t come out until next September, so I am going to wait a while before I buy the second one. There is so much in this book and I am wondering, if they would have been up front and honest about all of it, would it have been a very different story? Because let’s be real, boy is pining. I am so scared to see what happens in the second one though because it’s going to be rough, I just know it. 

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan (4/5)

            This was my November Unplugged Book Box book, it was really good and if you want a more in depth review (yes I promise this every time and then I don’t post anything for two months) it will be up in a few days. It was a good book if you like ghosts and The Secret Garden and Japan, it was for sure worth the read even though it took me some time to actually get into it. 

            Okay, I did want to read more in November, but honestly, life likes to get in the way and I read some chunky books this month. I have no idea how many I am actually going to read in December, my goal is 13, that’s my goal every month but I have three books that are at least 550 pages so that might be a stretch. I have two weeks off for Christmas break, so we are going to try. I promise we are going to try.

            There were a few books this month that I wanted to love, I wanted to really enjoy, but I didn’t and that’s okay. There were a few that left me wanting more of them and not having anything else. I had two books this month that I will be unhauling because I don’t want them in my permanent collection, that’s just the thing at this point. I have books that don’t bring me the joy that I want them to, so I will be saying goodbye to them at the end of the year. I feel like I say that a lot of months and that’s just how it happens because I know that I have more now than I even did last month with the separation of time. 

            If you want to check out what else I have read this year you totally can; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.

            Alright I will be back later in the week with another post, so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy!
            

            -MJ

Post TBR Reads: 25/? (Go Hex Yourself, Bringing Down the Duke, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, Love on the Brain, The Devil in the White City, The Shadow in the Glass, Sky Pirates, The Orphan Witch, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, Throne of Glass, Not Your Average Hot Guy, Kingdom of the Feared, Six of Crows, Well Matched, What Lies Beyond the Veil, The Masked City, Book of Night, Defy the Night, Til Death, A Rogue of One’s Own, Hook, Line, and Sinker, Piranesi, Death on The Nile, The Summer of Broken Rules, Much Ado About You, Bride of the Shadow King, )

Unplugged Book Box: 5/6 (The Woman in The library, They Drown Our Daughters, The Last Housewife, Throw Me to the Wolves, The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn, )

Book of The Month: 11/12 (Reckless Girls, A River Enchanted, Dating Dr. Dil, Kaikeyi, Darling Girl, The Stardust Thief, The Bodyguard, Small Angels, Other Birds, Sign Here, The Heart Principle, )