LIFE'S A PEARL

My November reading consisted of 12 books. The theme this month seemed to be they were either dark or romantic.

I completed 6 more books off my fall tbr. The end of November marks the end of my fall reading. I tackled 21 of those 34 books!

There were two I was still hoping to get to last month but overall I’m pretty happy with my progress. I knew I wouldn’t read everything on that ambitious list but as you know fall reading is my favorite and I like having many choices to mood read from.

My cravings for the holiday spirit started a little early this year. I read 3 of my Christmas books in November. I may need to add a few more holiday reads to my Christmas tbr.

Three books from my November reading were new book club and buddy read selections. American Dirt was the pick for a new patron book club with the Reading Through Life Podcast. I tried out two buddy reads via the fable app and had an amazing experience! I’ll share more about that below.

I’m also pleased with how many books I physically read rather than listened to this month. This shows that I’m making my reading a priority and picking up a book in the evenings rather than watching TV. I’ve also taken some time out during the day for a reading break. Reading is a form of self care for me.

November Reading Wrap Up:

By the Season and Reading Format

Fall Reads

• The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell ??
• The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston ??
• A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria ?
• Folk Around and Find Out by Penny Reid ?
• The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller ?
• The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark ?

Holiday Books

• A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams ? (also a buddy read)
• A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone ?
• Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist by Codi Hall ?

Book Club and Buddy Reads

• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins ?
• The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead ?

Just Because

• The Kraken’s Sacrifice by Katee Robert ? (The Dragon’s Bride was on my fall tbr)

Recaps and Reviews

You can find my reviews on The Night She Disappeared (5 stars), The Dead Romantics (2.5 stars), A Lot Like Adiós (4.5 stars), American Dirt (4 stars), and Folk Around and Find Out (4.5 stars) in my Mid November Reading Recap.

The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller

Rating: 3 stars

Steam Level: 1

When pastry chef Olivia sends her career up in literal flames, she leaves Boston to visit her best friend, Hannah in her tiny Vermont town. An escape turns into an opportunity to start over when she discovers the Sugar Maple Inn is hiring a new baker. 

Livvy finds herself fully embraced by the small town. She’s playing banjo with a local group, enjoying her coworkers, and quickly welcomed into the McCracken family’s celebrations. 

As soon as she settled in though, a new arrival shakes the town and Livvy must decide whether to leave and start over again as she does best or stay and learn to belong. 

My feelings are all over the place with this book. I enjoyed the cozy baking scenes, the inn, the dog Salty, Livvy’s sugar shack home, and many of the side characters.

I was not too sure about the main character Livvy’s moral compass in the beginning and unfortunately the last 25% of the story proved me right. The path she took showed very little character development. Her actions felt more in line with someone in their early 20’s than their mid 30’s. She was also a terrible friend.

I wish there was more focus on some of the side character’s stories throughout the whole book rather than just throwing information in at the end.

A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams

Rating: 5 stars 

Steam Level: 3

One year ago country music star Colton Wheeler had a night of passion with immigration lawyer, Gretchen Winthrop. He hasn’t gotten over their time together but she hasn’t given him the time of day since.

Until Gretchen is put in the position of middle man between Colton and her family’s whiskey company. Colton has a few conditions of his own before he’ll consider the offer to be the face of their new advertisement campaign. He wants three dates before Christmas – the opportunity to show Gretchen the magic of the holidays and that the spark between them can’t be ignored.

I love this series and this book is my favorite so far! It’s hard to tell if it was the holiday atmosphere, the sexy country music star, or the fact that I had an amazing time buddy reading this with two friends. All of that added up to 5 stars for me!

The Christmas setting in Nashville was perfect. I fell for Colton and Gretchen as opposites attract with their sassy banter and spicy chemistry!

There was also a lot more to this book than just the romance. I loved the male friendships, the family dynamics, the behind the scenes peek at country music, and the book talk!

Lyssa Kay Adams nailed the humor in this one. It’s full of romantic fun, holiday cheer, and plenty of bromantic shenanigans.

If you enjoy reading with other book lovers and you have not checked out Fable yet – go do it now! It’s free and makes it so easy to read at your own pace while sharing comments and notes with friends with nobody getting spoiled.

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

Rating: 5 stars

I loved Ashley’s Winstead’s debut, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, when I read it at the beginning of summer. Her second book almost made it onto my fall tbr but after hearing everyone describe it as dark, I vetoed it unsure if I could handle the content.

I’m so glad a new friend through one of my patreon book groups wanted to do a buddy read! This book is dark but the way Winstead explores the complexity of the human mind and how people can be manipulated, influenced, or predisposed is fascinating to me.

Shay Evans is called back to her university town in the Hudson Valley after discovering her college best friend, Laurel, has committed suicide. Shay doesn’t understand why Laurel would return there after they made a pact their senior year to put their past behind them and move on never speaking of what happened in their last years of school again.

Trying to figure out whether Laurel’s death was actually a suicide or something more sinister, Shay enlists the help of a popular podcast host who’s also her long lost childhood friend. As Jamie works with Shay to unravel the events of her college years and all that lead up to that point, Shay wonders if any of the danger is actually behind her and whether the same threat is still operating in the area.

This was a great book to read with someone else because there is so much to discuss! It’s also a difficult one to discuss because there are so many elements woven together in this story.

The Last Housewife uses the tale of 1001 nights to frame Shay’s story. It contains complex characters, issues of societal structure, cults, how people can be groomed and manipulated, a true crime podcast, and how the layers of our experience form us.

As someone interested in writing, this would be a great one to reread and dissect. The conversation with the author was absolutely amazing! From now on I will just  trust Ashley Winstead to lead me through any story.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

Rating: 3.5 stars

Steam Level: 4

When Bee Hobbes unexpectedly gets the opportunity to star in a Hope Channel Christmas movie opposite her childhood crush and former boy band legend, Nolan Shaw, she takes it. The only problem is her producer makes it clear she has to keep her adult film career as the plus size star Bianca Von Honey under wraps.

Nolan Shaw is desperate to clean up his bad boy reputation and make a comeback so he can provide for his family. He never expected his dream girl from ClosedDoors to be his new co-star!

Now any sexy business has been taken off the table to keep production running smoothly but these two are forced closer every day by their movie roles. It’s just a matter of time before fireworks explode between them or from secrets on set getting out.

I listened to this on audio and Joy Nash was an awesome narrator. I love her male voice but it also made me flashback to Penny Reid’s audiobooks.

That cutesy cover is a bit misleading. This book is super spicy! Somehow going into this one I just thought it took place on a movie set. I completely missed the adult film star part ? That part reminded me of Rosie Danan’s Shameless series.

Many elements of the story felt very original for a holiday romance. I loved the body positivity, sex positivity, the hallmark movie set town, and the celebrity main characters. As I’m sure you can imagine there’s lots of funny adult content and plenty of spice in this one.

I hope Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone continue the series with some of the side characters like Nolan’s former bandmates and Bee’s best friend.

The Kraken’s Sacrifice by Katee Robert

Rating: 3.5 stars

Steam Level: 4

This is the second book in Katee Robert’s A Deal with a Demon series. The first one, The Dragon’s Bride, was on my fall tbr. This universe intrigued me enough to continue the series. I also like her Dark Olympus series!

Unwanted by everyone she’s ever loved, Catalina makes her deal with a demon in hopes of putting in her seven years and then living a life of luxury when her contract is over.

Thane, the kraken king, is only at the auction to keep up appearances with the other territories. After losing his husband 5 years before, he has no interest in becoming involved with anyone, let alone a human.

Unable to handle the isolation that comes with Thane’s home, Catalina seeks out his company and Thane finds himself drawn to her despite his feelings.

I enjoyed getting a little more insight into the demon world and the politics at play in this universe. I’m still curious for more backstory on that.

I found this book to have less steam than the first. It still held that surprising balance of sweetness in a monster romance. Catalina could be annoying yet was relatable and vulnerable. Thane’s grief storyline felt very real. There was an interesting dynamic and connection between these two characters.

Overall Katee Robert delivered another quick sexy read with this one, which is pretty much what’s expected from this series.

Nick and Noel’s Christmas Playlist by Codi Hall

Rating: 3.5 stars

Steam Level: 2

In this friends-to-lovers Christmas romance, Nick Winters has just gotten out of the military but his homecoming does not go as he hoped. Dumped by his longtime girlfriend, the last thing Nick wants is to be dragged for a night out on the town by his friends including his best friend, Noel.

When both of their exes show up with other people, Nick and Noel wind up putting on a show by kissing. Except the kiss didn’t feel much like a show at all, it felt very real.

As the two begin a dance of getting close and pulling away, the whole town has eyes on them. It’s hard to figure out their feelings with the pressure of their past, their very different dreams, the holidays and the influence of their loved ones all factored in.

I listened to this one on audio. It was a relatively fun and fast read although the pacing of the story felt like it dragged in a few parts making it too long.

Nick and Noel felt a bit immature for their ages as did a lot of the conflict in the story. At the same time I enjoyed the Winters family, their friends, and the holiday setting.

The friendships definitely grew on me. Anthony and Pike were great side characters. I enjoyed the way they supported both Nick and Noel but called them on any hypocrisy or unfairness that was going on. I was hoping the series might continue with one of them but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

There’s a fantastic playlist featured at the end that I’ll be checking for on Spotify! Since I’m making my way through my holiday reads faster than I anticipated, I may pick up the next one in this series, There’s Something About Merry. A few book friends recommend it.

The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark

Rating: 4.5 stars

I finished off my November reading with one last book from my fall tbr. Julie Clark is an author for me to keep my eye on. I really enjoyed her book, The Last Flight, over the summer.

Kat Roberts has been waiting 10 years for Meg Williams to return to L.A. The woman who set her life on a terrible course. Now Kat is ready to expose Meg for the con artist she is, at the same time elevating her journalism career with the article.

As Kat grows closer to Meg though, she feels herself drawn into the woman’s story and has a hard time keeping her guard up. Soon it’s unclear what’s true and what’s a lie. And even more important who Meg’s new target really is.

I went into this book a little unsure because I didn’t really care for either character off the bat. At the same time, the writing flowed in a way where I just couldn’t put the book down.

By a third of the way into the story, these two women won me over. I was rooting for them to drop the lies to team up and take down all the men in their lives!

Overall this was fast and unique read. I was very satisfied with the way the story came full circle in the end. I’m excited to see what Julie Clark comes out with next!

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What did you read in November?