Emily’s Monthly Wrap Up — November 2019

Hello all! It’s time for our monthly updates. Since we both are kind of power-readers, we thought it would make sense to each do a separate wrap up post so that we didn’t make you read the equivalent of War and Peace in a single post each month.

Of course, I say all that about us being power readers, and I realize that I’ve only read 3.5 books this month. I think it’s the first time this year that I haven’t been in double digits! I’ve been in a pretty significant reading slump all month — I think just with life getting busy around the holidays and taking a pretty tough class in school, I couldn’t get into the reading spirit much. I’ve mostly been ok with it, though it is definitely part of the reason why we wrote that post about reading slumps earlier this month. I’ve been leaning in to it, relaxing, and just trying not to freak out.

Typically for these wrap-ups, we will talk about some of our favorite reads of the month, reads that disappointed us, any ARCs we received and upcoming reading events/challenges that we want to participate in next month. Since I didn’t read very much, that part will be kind of short, but bear with me!

Books I Loved This Month

My absolute favorite read of the month was hands-down This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. This book was this month’s pick for the Jen Hatmaker Book Club, which is a monthly book box/reading club that I am in. It’s become my real-life book club as well, and it’s absolutely my favorite night of the month, so I always make sure to read the books so I can participate in the discussions. This book absolutely did not disappoint! It’s about a family with a young transgendered child, and how that family deals with the changes that come with that. It’s a beautiful look at a wonderful family dynamic and the pain that can come with big secrets. I loved every single character in this book. It was gorgeously written and everything about it was just beautiful. I highly recommend this one!

Books That Weren’t My Cup of Tea

I absolutely never want to yuck anybody’s yum, as they say, so if I ever say I didn’t resonate with a book that you absolutely loved, please don’t be offended! Especially this month, I was having trouble getting into ANYTHING.

But for this month, I just couldn’t get in to Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte. I just wasn’t resonating with the characters or the multiple POVs. The timeline wasn’t making a lot of sense to me either, and given my super slump and the fact that this book was kind of getting in my way of reading something I might enjoy more, I made the tough decision to put it down at about 65%. I almost never put down books once I’m more than halfway through, but I just couldn’t do it!

ARCs We Received

This month I picked up Miss Iceland by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood, Burn the Dark by S.A. Hunt, and We Unleash the Merciless Storm by Tehlor Kay Mejia. I got the first four from the publishers through NetGalley and the last one from the publisher through Edelweiss. Have you heard any hype about any of them? I’m super excited to dig in and hopefully will have updates for you ASAP!

Reading Events For Next Month

I know next month will be busy with the holidays, but I am still hoping to take part in a couple reading challenges next month. I had so much fun in the summer doing the Book Junkie Trials and now she is back with a 1-week readathon called the Book Junkie Trials Winter Quest and I am definitely back in for #teamscribe. Go here for all the information and let me know if you’re participating, too!

I also really want to participate in the Winter 2019 Magical Readathon from Book Roast. She puts together these amazingly intricate readathons based on the Harry Potter world. Earlier this year you could study for your OWLs and NEWTs in order to work your way into the wizarding career of your choice. And this winter, we are banding together to Save Ginny in a Choose Your Own Adventure style readathon, and I am here for it! All the information is here, and let me know if you’ll be doing this one!

Are there any other December readathons or challenges I should be looking out for? I am so excited!!

What About You?

How was your reading month? Did you slump like me or (spoiler alert) read a gazillion books like Haley? Come back tomorrow to see all of her reading info for the month!