Hello book loverrrrrrr!! I really kicked up my reading gear last month because I did NOT want to miss out on hitting my 2024 reading goal (50 books). I’m finding that I have more time to listen vs read right now, but I’m hitting into my slower event season, so I’m hoping to dive into some hardbacks soon. One of my favorite authors, G.K. Parks, has another Alexis Parker book coming out this month (12/26 or 12/27) and I know I’ll devour it in one sitting (if I can!).
I cranked through 12 books in November. Several were part of a series (I actually read A-F in the Sue Grafton Alphabet Series). And read 1 more in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Childs. I read a couple of new to me authors – Scott Bergstrom (first book was 5 out of 5, second book in the series was 4 out of 5 for me) & Lisa Jewell (when I posted I was reading her book, several IG followers were like…ohhhh that’s a good one). I gave it 5 out of 5 stars as well.
It’d been awhile since I had picked up a Joshilyn Jackson book. I chose “The Girl Who Stopped Swimming” and was immediately engrossed. 11 out of the 12 books that I read in November were 5 out of 5 stars for me. It takes a pretty bad book to get into the 2’s or 3’s for me. If it goes any lower, I just DNR the book. Life is too short — and I did that twice in my life & swore I’d never do it again (ie. read crappy books from cover to cover). I’m looking at you “I Don’t Know How She Does it” which took me 7 years to finish. It might have been 6 or 6. It was AWFUL. But I was stuck on this mindset of “I have to finish every book I pick-up” phase. What a waste! The other one was The Casual Vacancy which was penned by J K Rowling, but under a different name at the time. AWFUL!
I can remember that book was selected by someone in my old online book club, The Literary Junkies. And I was the only one who finished it. AWFUL! LOL
Are you an avid reader? Do you have a Kindle Unlimited Membership?? If not, it’s definitely something I encourage!! (click here for a membership!). And if you have busy seasons like me, you might consider either an AudioBooks.com Membership (click here) or an Audible.com Membership (click here). Both are great platforms for book listening. And then also, don’t forget to sign up for a local library card and connect into the Libby app to access your library’s audio books too!
I always look for the books in Libby before I pop into AudioBooks.com to use one of my credits. I have a library card for my local library + I pay for an out of county library card for the Fort Worth Public Library. So I’ve got options….that’s basically what I’m saying. LOL
What books did you read in November? Pop them in the comments and tell me your thoughts! My star ratings listed below for each book I read!
NEW TO ME AUTHORS THIS MONTH
AUTHORS I RETURNED TO THIS MONTH
- Joshilyn Jackson
- Lee Child
- Sue Grafton
- Katherine Center
BOOKS I READ
The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
by Joshilyn Jackson
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she’s helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel’s life seems neatly on track–a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna–everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne’s backyard pool. Molly’s death is inexplicable–an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia’s help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family’s guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...
None of This is True
by Lisa Jewell
ABOUT THE BOOK…
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...
Gone Tomorrow
by Lee Child
ABOUT THE BOOK…
New York City. Two in the morning. A subway car heading uptown. Jack Reacher, plus five other passengers. Four are okay. The fifth isn’t. And if you think Reacher isn’t going to get involved . . . then you don’t know Jack.
Susan Mark, the fifth passenger, had a big secret, and her plain little life was being watched in Washington, and California, and Afghanistan—by dozens of people with one thing in common: They’re all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or just enough to get him killed. A race has begun through the streets of Manhattan, a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. For Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, the finish line comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...
A is for Alibi
by Sue Grafton
ABOUT THE BOOK…
A IS FOR AVENGER
A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she’s got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes.
A IS FOR ACCUSED
That’s why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she’s out on parole and needs Kinsey’s help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki’s bad name won’t be easy.
A IS FOR ALIBI
If there’s one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it’s playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer―and sharper―than she imagined.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...
The Cruelty
by Scott Bergstrom
ABOUT THE BOOK…
The Cruelty is an action-packed young adult thriller (optioned for film by Jerry Bruckheimer) about a girl who must train as an assassin to deal with the gangsters who have kidnapped her father.
Gwendolyn’s father kept his life a secret from her. When he goes missing, she’s plunged into a world of assassins, spies, and criminal masterminds.
When Gwendolyn Bloom’s father vanishes, she sets off on a journey she never bargained for. Traveling under a new identity, she uncovers a disturbing truth: to bring her father back alive, she must become every bit as cruel as the men holding him captive.
This suspensful debut from Scott Bergstrom features a strong female character and nonstop, cinematic action.
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...
The Rom-Commers
by Katherine Center
ABOUT THE BOOK…
She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?
MORE READS FROM THIS AUTHOR...