 Hello, hello, everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel Laura's Little Library and welcome to my November wrap up month of November, I read 15 books and they were quite scattered in terms of The genres and everything that I read but that kind of is what November typically is for me. They were all Pretty good like I enjoyed Pretty much all the books that I read. There was just like one or two that was like that was not great but yeah, so the month of November I kind of finish reading the spooky books that I had leftover from spooky season and then I read Some more fall books just because November is still technically fall and I want to stay in that vibe a little bit longer And then kind of near the end of it I really start looking forward to Christmas, especially in the last week after Thanksgiving. I'm thinking about Christmas quite a bit so There's it's a very transitional month So I'm gonna start off with the two spooky books that I will not there's more than two I just only have two physically here I'm going to start off with the spooky books that I did read As a leftover so first off I read in the dark dark wood by Ruth where I gave this like 3.5 I it's very much Ruth where's style Where it starts off and it's kind of thrilling, but then like it doesn't get even more thrilling it just coasts and You kind of get used to the thrilling elements almost and you're just waiting for something more to happen But I enjoyed this more than the woman in cabin 10 I will say that I like to remain character just a little bit more So it follows this woman who gets invited to the hen party or the bachelorette party of a friend From high school that she just hasn't seen in years and it's kind of confused as to why She was invited and it's kind of secluded I don't know. I just feel like it was less it have less creepy vibes Then then what I was hoping for just you know with it being called in a dark dark wood And then being secluded and people end up dying, but you know still like a hen party Yeah, I had a very like Ruth where twist So if you've read a lot of Ruth where you're probably gonna be able to predict the twist in this Especially because it is one of her older books So just keep that in mind, but yeah, I enjoyed it. I'm glad I read it Then I also read white smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson. This is a haunted house book so this follows our Blended family who is moving into this new house and our main character already has like this huge fear of bed bugs And so that kind of shapes a lot of things of how she's reacting to moving to a new house She doesn't really get along with her new stepsister and her stepfather So there's like some tension there. Yeah, this was a four out of five stars. I very much enjoyed it I did read the weight of blood by Tiffany D. Jackson and I think I enjoyed that one a little bit more Mostly because I remember that one more like I remember more details about the weight of blood than I do white smoke And I read this one like quite recently, but I will say I the haunted house vibes here were amazing It was very hauntie. I mean I probably could have done with a little more, but that's just that's my personal thing but Yeah, it just it was a haunted house and it was creepy and Very true to form so the twist was great. I loved it the ending It had one of those like longer drawn out endings than what I prefer and then it didn't even like and I don't know Just gonna throw that out there, but this was definitely a four-star read it had such good Haunted house vibes. I think I just wanted a little bit more from it Then I also read capturing the devil by Carrie Manascale called This is the final book in the stocking Jack the Ripper series and if you've been on my channel for a while You know that I've kind of been reading one book a year around Halloween, but this year I couldn't help myself. I read both Escaping from Houdini and capturing the devil because I was just so excited to read the next book I wanted to finish the series So good, so I gave this five out of five stars I was so satisfied with how this series ended. It was amazing So we follow our characters who are in America and it was just the perfect wrap-up of the series So stocking Jack the Ripper follows our female main character in the 1800s who Wants to be like a an undertaker of mortician And so she studies under her uncle and she ends up solving these like very famous crimes Like stocking Jack the Ripper hunting Prince Dracula Escaping Houdini and capturing the devil, but this book just this the fourth one tied in all three books Before it so well, and it was such a good ending for our characters. I was So happy there were twists and turns the interesting thing about this book is that it balanced more so the crime that they're solving along with the personal issues and Because most of the books it's very based off of the crime that they're solving But this book because it's the final book and we've grown so attached to the characters that they start to have their own like Figuring out life with each other that ended up being much more prominent in this final book and I actually loved it I thought that I like I worried it was gonna take away from my experience of the book because I love like the murder plots But actually I was enraptured by it I just needed to keep reading and keep like figure out what was gonna happen because like My mind was blown it It made me so happy I just love how it all came together and I cannot believe the series is over now Which just means I can move on to carry my own Skellco's next series the kingdom of wicked Then I also read killers of a certain age And this is by Deanna Ray born and I also gave this four out of five stars. I enjoyed it quite a bit So this follows this team of women who were recruited way back when to be assassins and Somehow they have managed to get to retirement age like they didn't die Like a lot of you know agents typically do so they are Rewarded with a cruise that their company is paying for Before they retire Except that they figure out that there is a plot to get rid of them on said cruise because no one really ever Retires from this job. I very much enjoyed it. I I love their characters They were all they all had such big personalities and they work well together Like to end funny and there are these jokes about them being old which was fabulous and wonderful. It was Amazing I could have done with a little more of the age jokes. I'm actually gonna say Yeah, it just the book was like I don't know if it took itself too seriously or if it was just the perfect amount of balance with comedy and seriousness Just lots of espionage lots of spy work cool dual timeline. That was fun Yes, I enjoyed this one final spooky book that I had that carried over from spooky season was actually Bella Donna by Adeline Grace and this 4.5 out of 5 stars it was so good like there was some hype around it and Some people had been really enjoying it and some people had been like not enjoying it so much So I kind of went into it with a slightly lower expectations Because I knew that some people weren't enjoying it quite as much as the hype was just and so I wanted to take that into account But I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. So our main character is the heiress to this huge Fortune, but her family her parents die and she keeps going from Family to family as she's trying to find someone to take care of her that isn't just there for the money So like she's had some bad experiences with family members who don't care about her They're just waiting for her to come of age so they can gain access to her money It's kind of like series of unfortunate events in that kind of way because they also just keep dying She then finally ends up at this one family's place That has like their own mansion their own money and it's different for her there And she finds lots of secrets and it's very mysterious But yeah, I don't want to say too much, but I loved death as a character death is a character And Bella Donna is able or Our main character is able to eat poisonous berries and she doesn't die, but she like communicates with death and it is So cool. It has amazing like dark Gothic vibes good twists like It was it was pretty thrilling. I'm gonna say so now I'm gonna move on to the rest of the books that I read this month that were kind of more like For the fall season or I had been wanting to read these so I finally did Especially this first one. I've been wanting to read it and I finally Did for the throne It took me so long to read this like I picked it up in summer But it took me a very long time to get into it because I read a little bit of it But I felt it was so slow moving that I just I wasn't super motivated to read it even though I loved the first book and Then once I finally got through and the book started to pick up then it was much easier to read and to get through But like it started off kind of slow, so that was a little disappointing I think I think I still very much enjoyed the first one more than this one Just cuz I liked the romance of the first one better But it was continued into this one nicely like a lot of times when you kind of switch focus from one couple to another I feel like You lose the magic of the first couple, but I didn't I didn't feel that with this one which was great lots of there was a lot more of like kind of The belief behind everything and how the world actually works which was Interesting, I think this one was just a lot clearer and easier to understand Which I think took away from the mysticism from the first one that you were able to just kind of be like this is the way it is We don't really know why but we know that it is so we know what we're working on and it just If it was very dark, I feel like this one just wasn't like quite as dark and You know, you had a lot to just kind of go through I still very much enjoyed it and I would still Highly recommend this duology, but you know the first one is almost always my favorite, so But I'm just happy to have finally read this it took me so long Then I read a book called spindle and dagger and this is by Jay Anderson coats. I Did not like this one. I gave it like one star. This was a one out of five stars I would not recommend reading this one it the summary of the book is Background information that you need to know before going into the book like the summary does not describe what happens in the books It's the prologue basically Because the summary says that this woman Her village was being Rampaged by this king and her family was killed and she was taken by him and now she Convinces him that she is this representation of a goddess And so he needs to protect her to keep himself safe and in this goddess's favor the book actually starts off her in The castle like convincing him she has already Convinced him that all this like everything had already happened, so we're picking up from there So I didn't know what the book was about which was kind of disappointing But this is a Welsh book by the way, and it was just really slow boring Didn't really care The thing is is that our main character would constantly reference the past but without being explicit like a memory So you never knew if who she was talking about was actually there like a character that was happening Or if she was relating someone there to like a memory that she was having so it got really confusing It was not dual timeline, but it felt like it should have been and it was just Really weird our main character was so She irked me I didn't care for her There were so many things that could have just been done better. I did not like the writing of this book And there just was no story here I felt like for a long time It just wasn't happening and it's a short book and so I felt like for a majority of the book There wasn't a story like the only thing that happened is that The the guy that she is with gets banished to Ireland And then they somehow come back for some reason it was not good I'm gonna stop talking about it. Don't read this. I Was so excited for it It was bad. I then read the final gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This is the final book in the Hawthorne Legacy trilogy although there is a new book like the brothers Something coming out and I think it's like a backstory kind of companion prequel to it But anyway, I finished the final gambit five out of five stars. I love how it all wrapped up. It was Nice neat little bowl the puzzles. I think the puzzles were probably some of the best parts classic Just dove into the family and the history and puzzles. I love how We got into the complexities of the emotions of the Hawthorne brothers I love how they had feelings and they were learning to express these feelings. And so we got to kind of See them grow in that way, which was really cool So I read that book not much to say about it other than I loved it And I would highly recommend the trilogy and also read the ballad of never after by Stephanie Garber This was a 4.5 out of five stars It was it was really good I enjoyed it like it moved quickly, but there was just something missing from it. I think I Think it was just a little easier than the first book And normally I feel like it should be the opposite Where the second book is harder and the first book is a little bit easier because it helps like get me into the series a Little better. I don't know how to describe what I mean by it was easier It just I think it was just more clear-cut this happened than this happened than this happened Yeah, I think that's what I mean It's just a lot of like putting things together and not like twisty per se But it was still like a phenomenal book and I love Stephanie Garber's writing So I was very happy with it overall I'm starting to speed through it a little bit because this is starting to get to be a long video And I still have quite a few books to talk about. I then read The Witch's Heart and this is by Genevieve Gornecek and this follows North mythology So you are following the witch Agrivoda and her kind of love story her life from what she remembers and Like her relationship with Loki because she like falls for Loki. They have some kids They may or may not bring around Ragnarok who knows it was a very Interesting book like the pacing was weird just kind of sped up slow down sped up slow down It was inconsistent, but I mean it was all right like it like I started to enjoy it Probably halfway through the book is when I actually started to enjoy it. There were quite a few times I was considering DNFing it or putting it down, but I just I knew that it was going to get better I was just I felt like I was waiting for that to happen. But yeah, it was very like Rich in mythology with Loki and the things that he does and the stories that he tells of what he did to like Thor and Some of the other gods. It's it's very character driven It kind of almost put me in a slump, but I managed to not slump so three out of five stars. I don't The only reason it's not a two out of five stars is because I don't quite think it deserves that But it's right on the edge there now changing gears for a hot minute I actually did read a contemporary romance in the month of November, which is not Super normal for me, but I read chef's kiss and this is by TJ Alexander This book it Surprised me so our main character is by which I was super excited about of course and she works in a test kitchen for a magazine Like a cooking magazine company, but she's a pastry chef, which I'm like Yes, please. I'm here for it and she so her company They get a new kitchen manager and this kitchen manager uses they them pronouns They are genderqueer and a lot of this has to do with so the company is trying to stay relevant And so they start switching their format to making like YouTube videos Um, but with the new kitchen manager, oh There's a lot of like homophobia a little bit just with not accepting of using they them pronouns So just as a trigger warning that's Be warned. There is some hate around that which was really really sad That's also it's their romance and I I give this four out of five stars. I I loved it I loved how the like our main character is by and her roommate is trans But she is constantly asking stupid questions Like it's just the idea that not every single queer person knows every single detail about Everyone like Everyone's like sexuality and gender identification is very different and unique to each person So for her to not have all the answers about everything was just like yes, that is true Just because someone is gay doesn't mean they know the experience of a trans person or you know things like that And it was just it was nice and refreshing to kind of see that although I do still think our character did ask some pretty stupid questions Just I love how they handled the hard topics and how everything played out it It just made my heart pound It was not quite a five-star read and there were a couple reasons for that the first being we were constantly reminded of their professional palates, which was like really annoying and also so they Cook in a test kitchen Which I don't work in a test kitchen. I work in a commercial kitchen and a catering kitchen but Like there it's still there were some elements that I felt were missing to like the kitchen atmosphere But again, I'm like relating it to my very specific experience But that's because I got so excited about like I'm a pastry chef I mean characters a pastry chef they work in a kitchen, but I don't know it just it didn't it was so close to the right experience, but just not quite I think Also, there's a character in here kind of near the end of the book and she is French and the audio book This reader did not understand How French works or how French accent works and it bothered me so much So for example to say no in French it is spelled n-o-n But you don't pronounce the last n so it's and you get really me easily about it. So it's like no no and This audio book person said none Every time none like they pronounce the end it and at the end And I was like this is such a common word that I feel like so many people know Not to do that and oh as you can tell I'm very passionate about it. I'm a linguist this this This is what I do so that was one tiny thing that really bothered me about the audio book And then the other thing was it was kind of like a guide for straight people a little bit But overall I still very much enjoyed I loved the romance and the things that the characters went through and just again How they handled the hard topics It was really good. So four out of five stars. I would definitely recommend this. We are almost there Wow, okay I Also read the merciless ones by an Amina forna this is the second book after the gilded ones and I believe this is going to be a trilogy and I'm So proud of myself for like keeping up with this. So hopefully the third book will be released next year. It's great This It was good four out of five stars. See I had a great reading month four out of five stars the thing is is that there are a lot of terms for a lot of different situations and Things like that and it was kind of hard to keep it all straight like I just got to a point where I was like I can't even register what this term is supposed to mean at this point. It's it's Too it was mentioned once in the first book with context and then since then I Have forgotten what it means because there were four other terms I was trying to memorize and it just did not happen this series definitely deals a lot with discrepancies between male and female because females were very much looked down upon but there was starting to be an intro into Queer genderqueer and trans which was like I had kind of been waiting for that in the first book but I'm really glad that they introduced it in this one because Then you you were able to gather a handle on the first book and then in this book Like it was there and it was given the time that it deserved So that was really cool to see I love how kind of the mythology of the world Got into a much stronger play here. Not everything was as it seemed it took me a little bit to like warm up to it again But then once I did it was like Amazing, so yeah, it was just it was very fast and it was a lot to keep up on But it was definitely worth it. So Highly recommend the series so far the final book that I'm going to talk about in detail Because I have two more books after this that I read but they are going to appear in a vlog So I won't talk about them too much, but I Also read hench and this was by Natalie Zina Walcott This was recommended to me by one of my old co-workers quite a while ago And this follows our main character who is a temp worker and she works for villainous agencies So she is a hench. She is a bad guy and Her specialty is data analysis It's very office job. It was great. I actually ended up giving this two out of five stars Here's the thing I loved the premise of this book. I think it sounded so good But I was very let down on the execution of it. I the beginning I was super happy I loved it. I thought it was amazing how you know, she gets this job and then she starts to Analyze the heroes to find out how to make their worlds crumble around them so that they are Weak or more sporadic and then the public starts to fall less in love with the heroes and the villains can take them down Then it just kept the book just kept going and there was nothing new introduced and It just kind of let me down. I started to get bored by it a little bit. There's also zero romance Which wouldn't be an issue? It's just something I think you should know if you think you would enjoy this book and when pick it up There is no romance. I just by the end of it I was like when is this book going to end? Where is the climax like you didn't Get introduced to the climax until a lot later just because you're kind of On the rise and then low and then rise and then low with the events happening in the book And so I just I did not enjoy this near as much as I thought I was going to there was also very little Description in this book. I I could not picture anything and so I had a very hard time like Imagining the world and immersing myself in it because of that the characters were okay. They were not my favorite I felt they were kind of two-dimensional and there wasn't much to them They were just kind of doing their jobs and moving along which I just I couldn't get invested in characters like that Even though it is kind of character driven just because there didn't seem to be too much of a plot But then it switched around And yeah, I I was very let down by this book Unfortunately, so as I mentioned there were two other books that I read in the month of November But they are going to appear in another vlog and they kind of don't fit the vibe with November I'm gonna say so I read kisser once by me by Allison Cochran and a very merry romance by Lisa K Adams These are both Christmas romance books holiday reads I'm starting to get into that mood right now kind of at the end of November and in December So I very much enjoyed these I loved a very merry romance five out of five stars. Lisa K Adams does it again. We're following Colton the country singer Just captured my heart kisser once for me. I didn't have the right Kind of summary going into it. I had one expectation. It is fake dating But queer romance and so I was kind of let down by a couple of the aspects in this book So I didn't quite read it as highly. It's a three out of five stars It's still a great like Christmasy queer romance. Just I was expecting one thing. It wasn't that and so I got let down but Whatever so these were the last two books that I read the Christmas books And they will be talked about in my Christmas book reading vlog going up later in December So stay tuned for that and the best way to do that is by hitting the subscribe button and hitting the bell So that you're notified when these books go up. I am starting to actually post bonus videos throughout December So I will be posting three videos a week on sunday wednesday and friday. I believe is what i'm going to do so Subscribe again hit the bell Uh, give this video a thumbs up if you liked it comment down below some of your favorite or least favorite reads that you read in november I have bookish social media link down below where you can keep up with what I am reading on like Books to gram and twitter and tiktok and all that jazz But yeah, until I see you all in the next video very soon. I wish you Happy reading