November 2023 Wrap-Up

I read almost everything I wanted to read this month. I didn't get around to reading The Sword's Elegy, but with another large fantasy book on the list, The Dragons of Deepwood Fen, I knew I might not get to that one. Also, I'll be posting reviews throughout December most of the books I read this month, just like I did for the October books this month.

I started out the month with a completely spontaneous read of The Girl Upstairs by Georgina Lees

 

4 of 5 stars.

I read Spirit of the Wood by Kristen Britain next.

 

4 of 5 stars. See my review here. 

Then I read the Hercule Poirot book for the month, Taken at the Flood (Hercule Poirot #26).

 

3 of 5 stars. I enjoyed most of this book, even though it isn't one of Christie's best. I was even prepared to give it 4 stars until I got to the end. Let's just say domestic violence isn't sexy, and one female character turned into a complete idiot.

After that I went back for more psychological suspense with Your Life for Mine by Karen Clarke

 

3 of 5 stars.

Next it was onto romance with The Island House (Getaway Bay #1) by Elana Johnson

 

3.5 of 5 stars.

After that I listened to the book club pick for this month Mutineer's Moon (Dahak #1) by David Weber.

 

2.5 of 5 stars.

And then I listened to the Mystery Book Club read The Survivor's by Jane Harper.

 

4 of 5 stars.

Next was The New Wife by Karen Clarke.

 

3 of 5 stars.

I do this A to Z challenge every year where I try to read a book by an author with each letter in their name. For most of them it's the first letter of their last name, but the harder ones like X and Z I'm just happy to find the letter anywhere in the name. I was looking for the last letter of the challenge, X. I decided on this book by Jaima Fixsen, The Reformer to complete that challenge.

 

2 of 5 stars.

I was still in the mood for romance so I decided to read this book, The Headmistress of Rosemere by Sarah E. Ladd, that I've had on my list for a few years.

  

3 of 5 stars.

I have a Premium Spotify account and recently they added audiobooks. This was pretty exciting for me. I get 15 hours of listening time with my account and can buy more time if I run out of hours. I have no intention of ever buying more listening time. There are a lot of books that are under 15 hours, so at least once a month I plan to take advantage of this feature. I decided to go with After the Party by Georgina Lees, since I just read a book by this author earlier in the month and liked it.

2 of 5 stars.

 

Then I finally got around to reading the Pick It For Me book for this month, The Memory Watcher by Minka Kent.

 

4 of 5 stars.

 

After finishing The Memory Watcher I decided I needed to go back and reread The Watcher Girl by Minka Kent. It's sort of a sequel to The Memory Watcher, but the story is a standalone story.

4 of 5 stars.

 

 

After reading three psychological suspense thrillers in a row, I needed something lighter and this ARC from B. E. Baker arrived just in time!

 

4 of 5 stars.

And finally, I've spent a good chunk of the month reading this book. Picking it up and reading it between most of the others. I wanted to take my time and enjoy it and not rush through it. It took a little while to really grow on me, but it eventually did.

 

I'm not quite done with this one, so no rating yet.