I really can't wrap my head around the fact it is December and we are nearly at the end of this very strange year. It still feels like May to me! However, it is in fact already time to wrap up my November reading. I had a more successful month of reading in November with 7 books read.
One Family Christmas by Bella Osborne* -
This was an eARC that I received from Netgalley and turned out to be quite disappointing. It follows a girl who decides to host one last family Christmas in the manor house she grew up in before it is sold, but of course chaos ensues. I really like the idea of this, but it was just too much for me. Something went wrong every ten seconds and every time it was very overdramatic, making it annoying rather than funny. Like seriously, how many things can go on fire over the course of a few days?! There was also a second chance romance storyline, which was nice but very much overshadowed by all of the drama. Toned down slightly, this could have been a really fun, heartwarming Christmas story about the importance of family and giving love a second chance. Instead, it was juvenile and too over the top with some really annoying characters.
Rating: 2/5
Flow by Kennedy Ryan -
After falling in love with Kennedy Ryan's Hoops series, I decided to check out some of her other works so picked up the prequel novella in the Grip series. The Grip series follows an up and coming rap star and his romance with his best friend's little sister. Flow, the prequel, tells the story of their first meeting and how their relationship first started. I enjoyed this novella but it didn't blow me away. I enjoyed getting to know these great characters and seeing their relationship develop. However, it just fell a bit flat for me and I didn't love the way it ended. I am definitely interested in continuing with this series, though, and seeing how things progress.
Rating: 3/5
The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes by Suzanne Collins -
I finally got around to picking up one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I was putting it off a bit, as I had heard mixed reviews, but decided it was time to try it out for myself. I loved The Hunger Games series, so I was very excited to find out we would be getting another book in this world. However, like most people, President Snow was not the character I was interested in knowing more about. I surprisingly ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. I really enjoyed everything to do with the Games, which was always my favourite aspects of the original books, and found it so interesting to see it from the other side. I did find Snow's back story more intriguing than I anticipated and, while I was never able to feel sorry for him or think of him as anything other than the evil he became, I could still appreciate his story and everything that led to the character we got to know in the original trilogy. I found the romance a bit strange and the ending very odd, but other than that it was an enjoyable read.
Rating: 4/5
The Shelf by Helly Acton -
I got this from my library on a total whim, purely because the premise was intriguing. It follows a woman who believes she is going on holiday and about to get her big proposal, but instead finds herself dumped live on TV and the new star of a reality TV show in which women compete to become 'The Keeper'. This was everything I could have hoped for from that premise. It was so much fun and completely hooked my interest the entire time. It had it's laugh-out-loud funny moments and it's heart-wrenching, hard to read moments. The real highlight for me, though, was just how impactful such a fun, seemingly light-hearted book can be. This book, through the setting of a reality TV show designed to turn these amazing women into complete doormats, has such an empowering message and really tackles the misogynistic ideals that many still hold. It is described in the Goodreads blurb as being 'funny, feminist and all-too-relatable' and I would say that sums it up perfectly.
Rating: 4/5
Know My Name by Chanel Miller -
After several attempts to read this before my hold expired, I finally managed to finish this book! This is a memoir from a woman who may be more well known to you as Emily Doe. Chanel Miller was sexually assaulted on the Stanford campus and, after her the man who assaulted her was sentenced to just six months in jail, became known worldwide (as Emily Doe) when her victim impact statement went viral. This memoir is her reclaiming her identity, and is one of the most powerful books I have read. She shares the story of that night and all throughout the trial that followed, sharing how not only her life, but the lives of her family and those closest to her were impacted. This was hard to read but so worth reading. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Chanel Miller herself, and it just emphasised to me how incredibly brave she is. This was such a brave book, especially considering the abuse she has received over the years, much of which she mentioned in the book, and can still be seen within the reviews of the book on Goodreads. There are so many things about this book that will stay with me, I still can't really form coherent thoughts. I would highly recommend this book to everyone, although do keep in mind that there is a lot of in detail talk of sexual assault within it that may be very triggering to some.
Rating: 5/5
The Twelve Dates Of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss* -
All I am in the mood for at the moment is a bit of Christmas romance, and this gave me just that. This follows Kate, who's best friend signs her up for Twelve Date Of Christmas, and even run by the biggest dating app promising 12 fun dates in the run up to Christmas. This was a lot of fun. Kate is such a genuinely loveable character and her small town life with her two best friends was just so heart-warming. I just loved reading about her everyday life, never mind all of the fun and eventful dates. The dates, however, were a lot of fun to read about as well. As you would expect, they couldn't all go to plan, so they made for a very entertaining read. The romance was very predictable and I knew who she would end up with from the beginning, but it was a really sweet relationship. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the characters, but it wasn't anything super special.
Rating: 3/5
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks -
This a book I have owned for years and just never got around to reading it. I loved the movie so always wanted to give the book a try. This follows a soldier who meets, and falls in love with, a girl while on leave over the summer but distance and life in general complicates things for them. I actually enjoyed this more than I was expecting to. I obviously knew the story already but still enjoyed experiencing it all over again. This is not a fun, light-hearted romance. It is sad and shows just how messy and complicated life can be. I really loved the relationship between John and Savannah and seeing it develop into something really beautiful, even if it was very much instalove. I also loved John's relationship with his father. His father is thought to have Aspergers and though the topic of Autism and Aspergers wasn't always handled brilliantly, some of the language used made me very uncomfortable at times, it was probably written as best as can be expected from a book published in 2006. For the most part, it wasn't handled too badly, and the father-son relationship dynamic and how that changed throughout the book was, for me, one of the most impactful aspects of the story. I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying reading this and I'm glad I finally managed to pick it up.
Rating: 4/5
That is everything I read in November. I am really enjoying reading again and I can't wait to make my way through all of the Christmas books in December. At the moment, I am on track to read about 70 books this year, which is the most I have ever read in a year, but I'm really hoping to make December my best reading month this year.
What was the best book you read in November?
Sophie :)
*provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
