November (and December) Reads!

[tjs_whatnot]

Almost done with this year. I'm trying to get to 100 books read this year. I'm at 96. 😱😱 Wish me luck! i DID IT! 102 actually!

Here's what I read in November:





Bloom by NR Walker ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I don't know. I think I might be out of my NR Walker phase. This was just way too sweet, with very little character development or growth. I think that works in their sappy, Hallmark-y Christmas series (is which I'm still a sucker for) but just…I don't know. I guess I want more.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I waited for so long for this library hold to come through (I reserved it months before it was released) and it wasn't until I started reading that I remembered that The House in the Cerulean Sea was not one of my favorite of Klune’s books. But, unlike most people whose reviews I've read, I think I enjoyed this one more than the first.

I think it did get a bit preachy, as if Klune didn't trust his audience to get the parallels and the moral of the story without beating us over the head with it. I did like the Rowder/Rowling parallels and how he sort of just wrote her as one of her own most vile characters. I mean, tell me I wasn't the only one who was getting Umbridge vs Dumbledore vibes in that courtroom scene? Come on, there's even a phoenix and everything!

I liked the kids more in this one than I did the first one, and I liked getting into Arthur's head this time and seeing that he's not as all-knowing and serene as I'd been led to believe, that it takes a lot out of him to give that appearance. I'm glad that people are being introduced to TJ Klune through these books, even though I sort of resent that they're the only books my local bookstore seems to know he's written.

You're the Problem, It's You by Emma R Alban ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm really digging on queer historical fiction. Who knew that it could be this delicious? And just like current romantic comedy type loveliness? This was just a tropey (enemies to lovers, hidden affair) as anything else I've read and I loved it.

I'm pretty sure I read this one out of order as well (one day I'll read back flaps before starting a new book, one day *sigh*).

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I liked it. I didn't weep a thousand tears or commit any of it to memory like others I know have, but it did sit on my heart for a while after reading and there were some lines that punched me in the gut. And, because this isn't normally my genre and I know nothing of Achilles, I was not expecting what an asshat he becomes there in the end and I was not prepared for how much I wanted to drop-kick him for what he did to those who loved him and stood by him until the end. Grrrrr.

The Stonewall Reader by The New York Public Library ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read this for many reasons and I'm glad I did. It was a great way to learn more about Stonewall and how it happened and why it matters. It was split into three sections: Before, During and After, and it was a collection of writings and remembrances from those who were there.

Arthur and Teddy are Coming Out by Ryan Love ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I was afraid that the reason this book seemed flat and void was because I was accidentally reading simultaneously two books that had a main character coming out when they were much older (80 in this one and 65 in the next one) and I was judging this one too harshly in comparison to the other.

But then I read some other people's reviews and most of them agreed with my assessment, and none of them really had anything bad to say about that storyline. It was the grandson's half of the book that was irksome and annoying.

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So much better than the other twilight-of-life coming out story I read at the same time! It was a bit slow and took a while to get to the meat of the story, but such a nice slice of life story about being true, being open to all life has to offer and not waiting until it's too late.

  And now, since I took so long with this, here, let's do December too!





The Raven King by Nora Sakavic ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

I am still broken by this book. I legit need to take a mental health break before reading the next. The way that this author fills the page with trauma after trauma as if it's nothing. Wow.

Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

And more trauma! At least this one tells you right in the prologue that it probably isn't going to end well. But still… I'm a hopeless romantic and I so wanted to believe. I just sort of liked that they both suffered the heartbreak in the end, that it wasn't one sided and pathetic. There are parts of this story that will stay with me for a long time.

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

Haha. I read this because I had one more square in my Read Queerly Bingo and it needed to be a vampire book and I haven't had interest in this since Twilight sucked it dry (pun intended, my apologies 🙃). But I did like this, and I really liked the characters, there was just a repetitive, irritating thing the author did in the first 1/3 of the book that made it really hard to get through. But, ultimately, I'm glad I did.

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgemon ⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

I was really excited to start this because it was for a real-life, in person queer book club, but it took way too long to read and I really didn't like it, so I didn't wind up going. I pretty much rage read and then got super ragey at the end when I realized it was the first in a series, so the ending was a set up. Ugh. No thank you!

Holiday Heart Strings by N.R. Walker ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Okay, remember last month when I said that N.R. Walker might be too sappy for me, except for her Hallmark-y Christmas ones? This was what I was talking about. RIDICULOUSLY sappy and tooth achingly sweet, but I loved it.

Plus, one of the MCs is a kindergarten teacher and you know how much I love that! ❤️

The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh man! I don't even know if it's the book that is really good and really sweet (and hot) , or if I'm just in love with this narrator, Tim Paige, (they did “Everything for You” too and they had very similar vibes). But I do know that when I finished reading, I didn't go looking for more from this author, I went looking for more from this narrator. And I found a series that he reads with another narrator that I love a ridiculous amount, Kirt Graves. *sigh*

But, more on that book next month.

I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This book took me forever to get through and I'm not sure why except I just… didn't really care? Like, I thought I would, it was about fandom and how it collides with real life, how it can't be your everything and how so much of it is a facade. But it's also about the family you find in it, and how that's precious, but also misleading and… I don't know, I just didn't care.

I'm starting to realize that a lot of the books I don't engage with, or find fault with are about a particular type of person and I'm going to have to spend some time unpacking just what they means for me as a person. What about teenage girls irritates me so? Because, if I'm being honest, I didn't read (or like what I did read about) teenage girls even when I was one. Hmmmm… yeah, lots to unpack.

Reindeer Games byN.R. Walker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay, this was short, and not quite as sweet as the others I've read recently. It just had a bit more angst, though, not in the relationship, and a bit more depth. The relationship was her signature low angst, high heat, but the characters had some issues to sort, so that was good.

  And that's it! Only took me a month to write this. But, who knows, maybe I can finish one more before the end of the year. 🤣🤣 Either way, I'll have some re-cap, readerly, year end thinky thoughts here soon, I'm sure. And I'll want to hear all about your reading journey this year, too!❤️❤️