November wasn’t a big reading month for me. It was a big month for all sorts of other things, though, like accepting a new job offer, tying up loose ends at Taste of Home, selling hoops and readying our home for the holidays. However, I did squeeze in four books between all the hoopla.
The Haar by David Sondergren • ★★★☆☆
I found myself craving a change of pace after reading several rom-coms and domestic thrillers last month or so. I was craving something new. I picked up The Haar after seeing it recommended on BookTok a while back, and I blitzed through it in just three days.
Muriel’s small Scottish village of Witchhaven is being taken over by a greedy American investor hoping to build a golf course. She’s one of the few remaining residents refusing to give up her home. Because the rich are often evil, the investor starts taking drastic and sometimes violent measures to intimidate the folks who refuse to budge—including Muriel. Well, things change when she finds—for lack of a better term—a glob on the beach.
It’s The Fog meets The Shape of Water. I enjoyed it—especially for the $2.99 price, however, it’s likely not for everyone.
Back in a Spell by Lana Harper • ★★★☆☆
This is the third installment in the Witches of Thistle Grove series. Back in a Spell is all about Nina Blackmoore.
The previous installments all painted the Blackmoore family as being a clan of villains, but I appreciated how Back in a Spell made a distinction between the actually evil family members and the younger generation. It gave the family—and the universe this takes place in—a bit more depth.
And unlike the previous two books in this series—Payback’s a Witch and From Bad to Cursed—this was very much about the protagonist and their internal struggles rather than some outside issue to be tackled. That switch makes me feel like the installments to come in this series will continue to be varied.
My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska? by Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆
Did you know Spotify has audiobooks now? I’m pretty impressed with the selection thus far—especially for newer reads. For example, Lessons in Chemistry has a six-month wait at my library. I can get it right away on Spotify! (This is in no way a dig at the library—I love MPL!)
Despite the ability to listen to these hot releases right away with Spotify, I decided to kick off my listening on the platform with Alaska’s memoir.
It was honestly delightful, and that’s in large part due to their performance of the book. If you’re a Drag Race fan, this is a good one to pick up.
Lease on Love by Falon Ballard • 🎧 • ★★☆☆☆
I try to time my reads right for the year. That means all the spooky reads in early fall and plenty of Christmasy romances in December. I picked up Lease on Love based on a Buzzfeed list of Thanksgiving-adjacent books.
I sort of wish I would have just skipped ahead to holiday romance mode. The characters in Lease on Love were just so flat to me, and the protagonist, Sadie, was unlikeable. Sadie’s inner monologue was all about knowing how hot she was and how much she loved vanilla lattes and how nerdy her roommate was for liking Lord of the Rings.
Also, if I have to read or hear the phrase “kitchen peninsula” one more time, I’ll scream. Why did this architectural feature get mentioned multiple times per chapter?
If this wasn’t an audiobook I could power through during craft fair prep, I would have stopped midway.
As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads! Also, if you’re an audiobook fan, I encourage you to try Libro.fm—you can support your favorite small bookstore while downloading your next listen.
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