LIFE'S A PEARL

I recently heard the months of November and December referred to as reflection season by Sarah Hart-Unger, host of the podcast Best Laid Plans.

I love that description! True to form, my reading life has slowed down going into November as I make room for reflection, holiday prep, and contemplating next years’ goals.

I read 5 books so far this month and I have 4 reviews to share today.

I’ll post an in-depth review of my nonfiction Pearls of Wisdom book club pick, Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin, next month. Last week I shared all my thoughts and takeaways on October’s selection Chatter by Ethan Kross in case you missed it.

I’m chipping away at both my fall TBR and the 12 authors still left from my 2023 reading life bucket list.

I started the month with a 5-star read, which is also our November pick for A Dose of Romance Book Club! Check out my review of Always Mine by Laura Pavlov below. There’s still time to read along this month on Fable if you’re interested!

Here’s what I read so far in November.

Mid November Reading Recap:

Always Mine by Laura Pavlov

Rating: 5 stars

Steam Level: 2

This was November’s book pick for A Dose of Romance Book Club over on Fable. It was one of the titles in the October Edition of What’s in my Kindle Unlimited Library.

I read the ebook. The entire series is available on KU!

Book Blurb:

“He fights fires for a living, but the flames building between us may be too big to extinguish.

Niko West is the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Six feet, four inches of broody, chiseled Greek god in a firefighter suit.
He’s also been my best friend since kindergarten.
He always says the only solid thing in his life is our friendship.
He’s Honey Mountain’s favorite player and I’m what you’d call a relationship girl.
But when I find myself single for the first time since turning sixteen, I make Niko an offer he can’t refuse.
Who better to show me what I’ve been missing?
But now that we’ve crossed that line, I don’t know if friendship is enough for me.”

My Thoughts

The pacing of this book was really strange so I’m surprised it worked so well for me but I adored it!

Maybe the timing was just right for something cozy featuring a big family. It didn’t hurt that a lot of the story is set during the holidays.

I loved the Thomas sisters and the way Niko had always been treated as part of their family. We were introduced to many side characters who likely reappear as the series continues. There was tons of humor!

The way the childhood friends to lovers trope was set up felt like a unique take. There weren’t any years of pining or unrequited love prior to this moment. There also wasn’t a third act breakup.

The steam was surprisingly light for how early in the story we get it. It felt like it fit their story though.

The last half of the book was pretty quiet with a honeymoon period, slice of life scenes, and holiday celebrations. At the same time there was so much going on emotionally!

Much of the plot revolves around character growth involving grief, fear, and domestic violence.

We’re with Vivian and all the Thomas’s going through the continued cycles of grief from losing their mom. Niko was working through his fear and self-worth. Vivian was also working through her fear of potentially loving and losing someone again.

There was a side plot involving Niko’s father and a lot of character progression with his sister, Jada. There was actually a ton of backstory on side characters and secondary plots in this book but it held my interest and was really fun.

I’m very invested in this town and these sisters now!

Reading Life Insight

This is the fifth series I have picked up and wanted to binge this autumn. However due to my large fall TBR, I haven’t felt like I can deep dive into any of these series and still get through most of the books on that reading list.

Sometimes that’s ok for my reading life and sometimes I resent it.

So I’m playing around with the idea of making room for more series rabbit holes on future seasonal TBRs – similar to how I set up my summer one. I had a pretty good idea that I’d want to read more from the series I was being introduced to and tried to keep the reading list smaller to allow for that.

My love for series this year feels stronger than possibly ever before. I’m also considering how series reading could fit in with my online reading communities. Stay tuned for some ideas for this for next year!

Questions to Consider for Your Own Reading Life: Are you a series reader or do you prefer standalone novels? Does this preference fluctuate in your reading life? Do you find yourself embracing both but in different years or seasons? 

Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney

Rating: 4 stars

Sally Rooney was one of the 12 authors I wanted to read again this year as part of my 2023 reading life bucket list. I previously loved her novel, Normal People.

I listened to this one on audio.

Book Blurb:

“Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed, and darkly observant. A college student and aspiring writer, she devotes herself to a life of the mind–and to the beautiful and endlessly self-possessed Bobbi, her best friend and comrade-in-arms. Lovers at school, the two young women now perform spoken-word poetry together in Dublin, where a journalist named Melissa spots their potential. Drawn into Melissa’s orbit, Frances is reluctantly impressed by the older woman’s sophisticated home and tall, handsome husband. Private property, Frances believes, is a cultural evil–and Nick, a bored actor who never quite lived up to his potential, looks like patriarchy made flesh. But however amusing their flirtation seems at first, it gives way to a strange intimacy neither of them expect. As Frances tries to keep her life in check, her relationships increasingly resist her control: with Nick, with her difficult and unhappy father, and finally even with Bobbi. Desperate to reconcile herself to the desires and vulnerabilities of her body, Frances’s intellectual certainties begin to yield to something new: a painful and disorienting way of living from moment to moment.”

My Thoughts

Frances wasn’t exactly a likable main character but I found her relatable.

Especially in moments where she overthought her email draft, deleting it just in case it accidentally sent, and then proceeding to rewrite the exact same message. Or the first two lines here, “Things matter to me more than they do to normal people, I thought. I need to relax and let things go. I should experiment with drugs.”

The way this book ended though definitely left me scratching my head and wondering what was the point of this journey. Especially for the other characters who are dragged along. Unless senselessly repeated cycles were indeed the point. Maybe that’s just human nature or at least the nature of some humans – particularly young adults.

I didn’t like this novel as much as Normal People but I was more on board than I expected given this book is basically about a woman having an affair with a married man.

I knew Normal People was adapted into a Hulu series and apparently Conversations with Friends has been as well but I haven’t watched either. It would be interesting to see to see how they adapted the endings.

To be honest I’m a little burnt out on the sheer enormity of books being turned into shows right now. If I loved the book, I could probably commit the time to check out a movie adaptation. However a show feels like too much of a commitment and there are so many!

Reading Life Insight

I highlighted and bookmarked an audiobook for the first time with this story.

I listened using Libby. There’s a button on the top right of the screen that looks like a heading symbol. You tap it to bookmark and can hold it to create a highlight. The icon to the left next it to it records all your bookmarks and highlights to make it easier to go back and listen.

I believe there are similar features on audible and hoopla.

This was pretty cool to me as I’ve been curious if there’s a way to incorporate audiobooks and annotating.  However it’s not intuitive for me to remember to use and I often have my hands busy cooking or cleaning or whatever while I’m listening so it isn’t always easy to do.

Still it’s an exciting option to have. I’d also appreciate being able to do this with podcasts! If you use something like this feature with either let me know.

Questions to Consider for Your Own Reading Life: What are your feelings on books being adapted into movies or TV series? Do you love it and rush to watch? Or do you think the book is always better anyway? Does it depend? Do you feel like there are too many with this current trend? 

There Are No Saints by Sophie Lark

Rating: 4 stars

Steam Level: 4

I wanted to try another book from Sophie Lark since enjoying Ivan (4 stars) back in June.

There Are No Saints is the first book in a duet and after hearing so much love for it from Jenn at The Book Refuge, I added it to the dark/serial killer romance category on my fall TBR.

The duet is also available on KU and was part of the October Edition of What’s in my Kindle Unlimited Library.

Book Blurb:

“I loathe Alastor Shaw.

The city of San Francisco thinks we’re rival artists.

In truth, we’re predators battling for hunting ground.

We never chased the same prey. Until the night we both laid eyes on Mara Eldritch.

Shaw wants to use her as a pawn in his twisted game.

I’m fixated on her for a different reason…

She makes me feel things I never thought I could feel. Want things I never wanted.

Only she can make me lose control.

I don’t know if I should protect her at all costs… or destroy her before she ruins me.

Mara knows I’m no saint. But she has no idea she’s dancing with the devil…”

My Thoughts

This book was a wild ride! Which Sophie Lark does warn in the extended blurb.

I read the first third and was pretty sure this book wasn’t for me. But somewhere around the halfway point (probably right when Mara’s backbone comes out in a truly epic fashion – her revenge was darkly hilarious) I did a 180. From there I couldn’t put it down.

I think part of what didn’t work for me in the beginning, besides the disbelief of Cole somehow being the hero/love interest in this book, was the way Sophie Lark would share one scene and then we’d get the exact same scene but from Cole’s POV. That made the story drag for me. That format also stopped by the midpoint.

I haven’t been able to binge the second book yet as I’ve been prioritizing book club and buddy reads but I’m planning to read it asap.

I’m intrigued by Cole feeling things he can’t control, by Mara’s ability to see Cole’s masks, and how the heck this will all play out with Shaw.

Also the brunch scene where Mara showed Cole how to eat, combining foods to enhance taste and flavors was such a great sensory experience! It somewhat oddly tied in with November’s nonfiction read, Life in Five Senses.

This book is very steamy (at one point I wondered if Cole’s plan was to kill Mara with orgasms 😂). It’s also one to check your trigger warnings carefully with.

Questions to Consider for Your Own Reading Life: What is the last book you changed your mind on halfway through? What wasn’t working for you and what changed to pull you into the story? Or was it the opposite scenario? Was the book was working for you and some element ruined it? 

Serendipity: Ten Romance Tropes, Transformed edited by Marissa Meyer

Rating: 3.5 stars

Marissa Meyer is one of the 12 authors I wanted to read again this year from my 2023 reading life bucket list. I adore her young adult series The Lunar Chronicles, which features fairytale retellings set in a futuristic sci-fi world. Scarlet is my favorite!

I read her Renegades trilogy in 2020 but didn’t love it and also enjoyed a contemporary romance, Instant Karma (4 stars), from her in summer 2021.

I’m not quite sure what I was thinking when I added her to that 12 authors list. I only have one series and one standalone still to read and neither appealed to my current reading tastes. So I picked up this young adult anthology that she edited to try. Her short story is called “Shooting Star” and features the one bed trope.

Book Blurb:

“Love is in the air in this is a collection of stories inspired by romantic tropes and edited by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marissa Meyer.

The secret admirer.
The fake relationship.
The matchmaker.

From stories of first love, unrequited love, love that surprises, love that’s been there all along, ten of the brightest and award-winning authors writing YA have taken on some of your favorite romantic tropes, embracing them and turning them on their heads. Readers will swoon for this collection of stories that celebrate love at its most humorous, inclusive, heart-expanding, and serendipitous.

Contributors include Elise Bryant, Elizabeth Eulberg, Leah Johnson, Anna-Marie McLemore, Marissa Meyer, Sandhya Menon, Julie Murphy, Caleb Roehrig, Sarah Winifred Searle, and Abigail Hing Wen.”

My Thoughts

I listened to the audio version of this anthology. It was a fun and quick read.

Most of the stories were cute and sweet but forgettable.

Some of these wound up being set around the holidays which was a pleasant surprise and gave me an early dose of holiday spirit.

I’m also not sure where the transformed part of the subtitle comes in. Nothing about these stories screamed transformed or new take to me, which would be ok if that expectation wasn’t set by the title.

The stories were pretty representative of LGBTQ+ voices and characters of color.

A few of the stories weren’t actually about a romance but concluded with an open ending for a future love story.

One of my favorites “The Idiom Algorithm” by Abigail Hing Wen was actually a trope I’m not familiar with as a romance reader – class warfare. When I first heard it I was confused which part was the trope and which part was the title.

Overall I didn’t love it but I also didn’t dislike any of the stories. I just don’t see many of them sticking with me.

Reading Life Insight

I have a thing for short stories and would like to read more.

In the past I mostly consume them as young adult anthologies. I had great luck with holiday themed collections like My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins and Toil and Trouble edited by Tessa Sharpe. I would love to try more when I’m in the mood for young adult again.

Right now, I’m mostly reading adult romance. I find the short stories that work best for me are set within a series I’ve already read. This way I know the world and characters. I read many short stories from Ruby Dixon this year set in her Ice Planet Barbarian world and had a great time!

Recently I also tried some short standalone stories set around the holidays. I’m finding I need at least a novella length story to get to know the characters a little bit, to feel grounded, and to find the romance believable.

I think the “within a known series” type of short story is the best for my reading life right now.

Questions to Consider for Your Own Reading Life: Do you read short stories? Do you find you prefer reading standalone stories, a themed anthology collection, or stories set within a familiar series by a known author? Does genre matter to you when it come to short stories? 

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What’s on your mid November reading recap?