My Month in Books: November 2017

Hello everybody!

I hope you all had a wonderful November! As you may already know, I participated in Nanowrimo for the first time this month (and won!!), so a lot of my time in November was dedicated to that. I thought this would impact the number of books I got around to reading, but I’m actually pretty happy to say I managed to finish twelve books this month.

I’m not quite sure how many I typically read on average per month—I’ve never actually kept track—but this probably a few more than I usually finish. This is great, but I think I may need to slow down a little bit to keep up with actually purchasing these books.

Thanks to the nagging voice in my head that forces me to read every single book I buy, I’ve read almost everything on my shelf so far, despite the fact that I go to Half Price Books almost weekly and leave with another huge stack. I’m down to only about six books, so I’m definitely going to have to stock up soon if I want to match this number in December.

THE MURDER COMPLEX by Lindsay Cummings

“Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?”

This is the first book I finished this month, but I feel a little guilty about how long it’s taken me to read it. I preordered this book and received it the day it was released (in 2014…) and now here we are, over three years later, and I’ve just now finished reading it.

I was excited for this book when it came out because I was active on Instagram and a big fan of Sasha Alsberg (who just co-wrote a book with Lindsay that will be coming out in January) and she had been promoting the book on her Mortal Instruments fan page. I was a part of the “street crew” or whatever it’s called to promote the book, but by the time I received it I just wasn’t that interested anymore. Now that I’ve read it though, I’m glad I didn’t put it off forever because it really wasn’t bad. Not my favorite, but not bad either. 

WAYFARER by Alexandra Bracken

“All Etta Spencer wanted was to make her violin debut when she was thrust into a treacherous world where the struggle for power could alter history. After losing the one thing that would have allowed her to protect the Timeline, and the one person worth fighting for, Etta awakens alone in an unknown place and time, exposed to the threat of the two groups who would rather see her dead than succeed. 

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Sophia are racing through time in order to locate Etta and the missing astrolabe with Ironwood travelers hot on their trail. As Etta and Nicholas fight to make their way back to one another, from Imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, time is rapidly shifting and changing into something unrecognizable… and might just run out on both of them.”

This book is the second in the Passenger duology, and while I really loved this series, it took me a lot longer to get through this book than I would have liked. The language was beautiful and the story was exciting, but for some reason, it felt a little too slow for me, though I ended up enjoying it. You can read my full review here.

CARRY ON by Rainbow Rowell

“Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.”

Carry On is my favorite book of all time, no explanation needed, just read it. And if you need more convincing on why you should read it, read my review first. (But don’t question it, just read it)

UNTAMED by PC Cast and Kristin Cast

“Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you. Just ask Zoey Redbird – she’s become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast. Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead and unMarked. And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey’s adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened in PC and Kristin Cast’s spellbinding fourth House of Night novel.”

Honestly, part of me is ashamed to say I’m even reading this series, but it’s the kind of guilty pleasure read that has absolutely no substance but is entertaining nonetheless. I hate a lot of things about these books (especially the main character, who has like ten boyfriends at a time but still whines when they get mad at her for it), and reading them is kind of like watching a train wreck, but a really entertaining train wreck. I’m ashamed to say I do plan to read the remaining eight books…

THE RED PYRAMID by Rick Riordan

“Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them —Set— has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe – a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.”

I am a huge Rick Riordan fan: I’ve read all the Percy Jacksons, the Heroes of Olympus Series, and the Trials of Apollo and loved every single one of them. I have been eying up The Kane Chronicles at half price books for months now, expecting to find a typical witty and exciting Riordan novel, so I was disappointed to find that this book was a little…boring. Maybe it’s the introduction of a whole new set of gods that I had no prior knowledge of, or just simply the fact that it didn’t live up to any of Riordan’s Greek mythology-based stories, but I wasn’t really a fan of this one. It wasn’t completely terrible, but I don’t see myself finishing the series anytime soon.

THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J Maas

“After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom.”

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.”

So I may be a little late on this bandwagon (or a lot late, are you sensing a theme here?), but I finally got around to Throne of Glass and yes, it lived up to the hype. I had heard so many good things about this series before I started it, and I honestly wasn’t even convinced I’d like it that much, but it ended up becoming one of my favorites.

FIRECRACKER by David Iserson

“Astrid Krieger lives in a rocket ship prototype in the backyard of her parents’ estate. Her recent expulsion from the elite Bristol Academy has won her a unique punishment: She’ll have to attend public school for the very first time…”

Buying Firecracker was mostly just an impulsive decision, as I had never heard a single word about it before reading it. It was just one of those days where I happened to be at Half Price Books (which seems to happen pretty often, if you’ve picked up on that), and it happened to be cheap and have a pretty cover. And I’m a sucker for a pretty cover…

I was actually pretty surprised when I ended up enjoying this book (because yes, sometimes I buy books purely for the joys of looking at them on my shelf rather than for reading pleasure), and it was a fun, quick read that didn’t take up enough of my time for me to regret it. You can read my full review here.

CROWN OF MIDNIGHT by Sarah J Maas

“From the throne of glass rules a king with a fist of iron and a soul as black as pitch. Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become his Champion. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown. She hides her secret vigilantly; she knows that the man she serves is bent on evil.

It seems no one is above questioning her allegiances—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.

Then one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena’s world shatters, she will be forced to give up the very thing most precious to her and decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie… and whom she is ultimately willing to fight for.”

Again, I’m a little late on the bandwagon. I expected that I would like this book because I liked the first one so much, but I didn’t expect it would live up to Throne of Glass. I find that especially with fantasy series, I tend to like the books less and less as they go on, but I actually maybe even liked this one more than the first. Since the characters had closer relationships in this story, there was more emotion and I cared more about what happened.

ANOTHER DAY by David Levithan

“Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Until the morning everything changes. Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning. Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Then, one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person…wasn’t Justin at all.”

I read Every Day a few years ago, and I had no idea that this “sequel” (companion?) even existed until I ran into it at (you guessed it) Half Price Books. I had such high expectations because I loved the story the first time around, but I was disappointed to find that it was pretty much the same exact book, except much more boring. Rhiannon’s perspective was a little dry, and all it really did for me is make me really hate her character. If you haven’t read either of these books, I recommend picking up Every Day and stopping at that.

HEIR OF FIRE by Sarah J Maas

“Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak―but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth . . . a truth about her heritage that could change her life―and her future―forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?”

I know you’re probably expecting another satisfied, five-star review on this one, but unfortunately, the series plague seemed to finally set in in the third book. After the first two, I figured it was pretty much a given that I would love this one, but my predictions were wrong.

I understand how this story pushed the plot along for the whole series, but I just wish it could have been done a little quicker. It seemed to drag on and on forever, and I felt myself losing focus often as I read. Nothing particularly interesting seemed to really happen in the almost six hundred pages of this book, and I really hope it gets better from here because it would be a shame if the series falls flat like this.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jared Reck

“Fifteen-year-old Matt Wainwright is in turmoil. He can’t tell his lifelong best friend, Tabby, how he really feels about her; his promising basketball skills are being overshadowed by his attitude on the court, and the only place he feels normal is in English class, where he can express his inner thoughts in quirky poems and essays. Matt is desperately hoping that Tabby will reciprocate his feelings; but then Tabby starts dating Liam Branson, senior basketball star and all-around great guy. Losing Tabby to Branson is bad enough; but, as Matt soon discovers, he’s close to losing everything that matters most to him.”

This book was has become an unexpected favorite of mine, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a short, cute story. I won’t say much more because I have a lengthy review here.

THE CEMETERY BOYS by Heather Brewer

“When Stephen’s dad says they’re moving, Stephen knows it’s pointless to argue. They’re broke from paying Mom’s hospital bills, and now the only option left is to live with Stephen’s grandmother in Spencer, a backward small town that’s like something out of The Twilight Zone. Population: 814.

Stephen’s summer starts looking up when he meets punk girl Cara and her charismatic twin brother, Devon. With Cara, he feels safe and understood—and yeah, okay, she’s totally hot. In Devon and his group, he sees a chance at making real friends. Only, as the summer presses on, and harmless nights hanging out in the cemetery take a darker turn, Stephen starts to suspect that Devon is less a friend than a leader. And he might be leading them to a very sinister end…”

This probably goes without saying, but yes, I bought this book because I was at Half Price Books and I liked the cover. The story is creepy and dark and full of surprises and betrayal at every turn. I should have a book review posted on this soon, so once it’s up I will link it here.

So that’s all the books I got around to this month! I just started the Lengend trilogy, and I have a few more stray books waiting to be read for December. (But not nearly enough, so I’m going to have to hold out for Christmas)

What did you read this month? Have you read any of the books I talked about? Are you also addicted to Half Price Books? Let me know!

Also, follow me on twitter (@readerbailey) and goodreads (@baileylsims) because both of those accounts are pretty weak right now, but I’m working on it!

Have a great December and read lots of books!!

Happy reading!