November Wrap-up

Well, we got our first big dump of snow during the last week of November, so that's pretty darn good!! We received between 9-11 cm of snow, so that made for a very slow drive home from work and lots of shovelling that evening. Because of the snowfall, the temps last week had been pretty mild with daytime highs of -6 degrees Celsius but now that's dropped drastically with highs of -15 degrees Celsius.

I did a ton of Black Friday online shopping and am happy to have the majority of my Christmas shopping finished and also for my younger daughter's birthday which is in December. I just have a couple of gifts left to buy for Christmas and then I need to start wrapping! My Christmas tree is up, and now I just need to get back to the bathroom repairs which I hopefully can finish before Christmas. I'm holding off on my bedroom until January. I have too much on my plate right now!

I went from 13 books read in October to 12 books read in November. That's up from 9 books in November 2017, so I'm very happy with that!


FROM MY BOOKSHELF:

4 stars
Heart-Shaped Box
by Joe Hill

5 stars
Naked in Death
by J.D. Robb
(In Death, Book #1)

4 stars
Gladiator
by Anna Hackett
(Galactic Gladiators, Book #1)

3 stars
Tartan Candy
by K.C. Burn
(Fabric Hearts, Book #1)

4 stars
Triple Trouble
by Michael J. Pellowski

3 stars
The BFG
by Roald Dahl

4 stars
Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline
(Ready Player One, Book #1)
[review to follow]

3 stars
The Midnight Kittens
by Dodie Smith
(The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Book #3)
[review to follow]

FROM THE LIBRARY:

3 stars
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
by Aimee Bender

2 stars
The Queen of the Tearling
by Erika Johansen
(The Queen of the Tearling, Book #1)

FOR REVIEW:

3 stars
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
by Kiersten White

3 stars
Alaskan Holiday
by Debbie Macomber

My stand-out favourite read was Naked in Death followed closely by Gladiator. I've wanted to read Naked in Death for a long time, and I loved the futuristic aspect of the story and loved the main character Eve Dallas. I've never read a sci-fi romance before, and Gladiator was a very pleasant surprise. It was quite nearly a 5-star read for me, and I'm happy to have discovered a new genre to enjoy.

My least favourite read was The Queen of the Tearling, which was quite boring and long-winded. I won't be continuing with that series. Another big disappointment was The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. I liked it, but I did struggle with it. The beginning was very slow but it picked up midway through so that's why I bumped it up from 2 stars to 3 stars.

I discovered nine new authors (including one Canadian, Burn), I started six new series (Robb's In Death, Hackett's Galactic Gladiators, Burn's Fabric Hearts, Johansen's Queen of the Tearling, Cline's Ready Player One, and Smith's The Hundred and One Dalmatians - I actually jumped in that series at the third book), discovered two new genres (sci-fi romance and M-M romance), read two debuts (Johansen's Queen of the Tearling and Cline's Ready Player One) and continued on in one series (Pellowski's Double Trouble). 

I read ten backlist books and two new 2018 releases. I listened to seven audiobooks plus read five traditional books. 

In October, I broke my Goodreads goal of 100 books. I'm currently sitting at 133, and I broke my 2012 record of 123 books since I started keeping track. So, yes, I'm feeling very proud!

via GIPHY

January Wrap-up: 7 books

[3 shelf-love, 1 library, 3 review]

February Wrap-up: 13 books

[10 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

March Wrap-up: 12 books

[5 shelf-love, 3 library, 4 review]

April Wrap-up: 14 books

[11 shelf-love, 2 library, 1 review]

May Wrap-up: 9 books
[5 shelf-love, 0 library, 4 review]

June Wrap-up: 13 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 0 review]

July Wrap-up: 16 books
[9 shelf-love, 6 library, 1 review]

August Wrap-up: 10 books
[5 shelf-love, 4 library, 1 review]

September Wrap-up: 14 books
[6 shelf-love, 7 library, 1 review]

October Wrap-up: 13 books
[5 shelf-love, 8 library, 0 review]

November Wrap-up: 12 books
[8 shelf-love, 2 library, 2 review]

Year To Date Total: 133 books

[72 shelf-love, 43 library, 18 review]

So, how was your November? What was your favourite book? Least favourite? Please let me know in the comments! I'd love to add your favourites to my TBR :)