November Challenge Wrap Up Post

2018 Books I Already Own Challenge

Ah November.  The month that somehow manages to feel super long and super short every year.  As we ramp up to the Holidays, the first part of the month always seems to stretch, then the last two weeks or so FLY by, and suddenly it's December.  EVERY year. 

Though I managed to read a decent amount of books, it was not quite what I'd hoped... As part of a group online, I read A Discovery of Witches, which has been on my TBR long list for ages and while it was EXCELLENT, it also took longer than I expected to read.  It's surprisingly dense. Well worth the read, though! One of my favorite books of this entire year.

So, here's what I actually read in November:

Audiobooks
Possession by Jessica Hawkins
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick
Hello Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
A Rogue of Her Own by Grace Burrowes

Physical Books I Own
Renegade by JA Souders

eBooks I Own
Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
Move the Stars by Jessica Hawkins
Neutral by Jane Washington and Jaymin Eve
Pain by Jane Washington and Jaymin Eve

Nonfiction Title of the Month: FAIL. I did not read one AGAIN.

Required Reading
(work) Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver *technically a re-read*

Group Read: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

DNF (Did Not Finish): Zero Repeat Forever by Gabrielle Prendergast
I read 25% of this book from my home library and decided that I was not interested enough to finish it.  There are too many other books to read! So, this one has a new home as a prize for a teen at our Library...

I did very little actually sit down with a book reading this month! It was much more audiobook listening and sneaking in books on my kindle or phone between things... probably going to be similar in December, but we'll have to wait and see. How was your November reading?

DNF - Doll Bones

Doll Bones 
by Holly Black

Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.

But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in her empty grave.

Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost, will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches? (description from Amazon.com) 

I love Holly Black. I wanted to love this book. Instead, I found that it did not hold my attention at all. I didn't connect with the characters and by the time the Queen doll started to get creepy, I just didn't care.  I was honestly sad to put this one down, but with so many books to read, I found myself unwilling to take the time to finish a story I had no interest in... 

However, many other readers loved this book, so, don't take my word as the be-all-end-all...Check out these other reviews:

Hidden in Pages

The Book Belles

The Book Smugglers

Full disclosure: Borrowed from my Library

DNF - Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish

by Dave Freer

 

The smallest thing can change the path of history.

 

The year is 1976, and the British Empire still spans the globe. Coal drives the world, and the smog of it hangs thick over the canals of London.  Clara Calland is on the run. Hunted, along with her scientist mother, by Menshevik spies and Imperial soldiers, they flee Ireland for London. They must escape airships, treachery, and capture. Under flooded London's canals, they join the rebels who live in the dank tunnels there. Tim Barnabas is one of the underpeople, born to the secret town of drowned London, place of anti-imperialist republicans and Irish rebels, part of the Liberty—the people who would see a return to older values and free elections. Seeing no farther than his next meal, Tim has hired on as a submariner on the Cuttlefish, a coal-fired submarine that runs smuggled cargoes beneath the steamship patrols, to the fortress America and beyond.  When the Imperial soldiery comes ravening, Clara and her mother are forced to flee aboard the Cuttlefish. Hunted like beasts, the submarine and her crew must undertake a desperate voyage across the world, from the Faeroes to the Caribbean and finally across the Pacific to find safety. But only Clara and Tim Barnabas can steer them past treachery and disaster, to freedom in Westralia. Carried with them—a lost scientific secret that threatens the very heart of Imperial power. (description from Amazon.com)

I very much loved the idea of this book. I'm very into steampunk and I loved the sound of a very interesting submarine adventure... As I read, though, I had a very hard time with the tone of this book.  Within the first few chapters there are some very exciting explosions and escapes, yet they are revealed in such a third person past-tense way that there was no EXCITEMENT.  It just fell flat for me.  Unfortunately I have so many books that I need to read that I just couldn't make the time to finish this one.   

Check out other reviews here:
Shiny Book Review
Justin's Book Blog
Lovey Dovey Books

Full disclosure: Borrowed through interlibrary loan

DNF - Shattered Souls

Shattered Souls
by Mary Lindsey

Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon. (description from Amazon.com)

I had such high hopes that I would love this book. I first heard about it at BEA last year. The premise sounded cool and the cover was really phenomenal. 

Sadly, this book just didn't grab me at all.  It was not at all bad, but I got 1/3 of the way through and still felt "eh" about it.  With the book award selection committee that I'm on, I just didn't have time to try and finish the book if I wasn't super into it already. 

I may try to pick this one up again at some point in the future, but for now...it's a DNF.

If you want to check out some other reviews of the book, you can go to:

Parajunkee's review

Reading Vacation's review 

Fiktshun's review

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DNF: Chime

Chime

by Franny Billingsley

Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know. (description from Amazon.com)

This book got such great reviews that it literally pained me that I could not get all the way through it.  I read more than half, hated every minute of it, skipped a chunk and finished the end...just to know what happened.  This was one of those books that just bothered me, deep in my core. It was by no means bad...but I just grit my teeth everytime I picked it up.  I hated how Briony referred to herself in whiny third person all the time! Hated.  Even the plot, which had sounded right up my alley, couldn't get me past that...ugh.

Now, there have been plenty of people out there who loved this book, so please...do not let me sway you from reading it.  Check out the reviews on the web and decide for yourself! 

DNF - Extraordinary

Extraordinary
by Nancy Werlin

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory's magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe - but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself.

Soon she'll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe's ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn't been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?(description taken from Amazon.com)

It saddens me to admit that I did not finish (DNF) this book. I LOVED Werlin's previous book, Impossible, and was stoked to finally read this one...

The premise sounded very good. I still like the idea of a generations old debt that must be collected. I love faerie tales. I love that folk tale feeling in books...

I just couldn't connect to either Phoebe, who is supposed to be the main character, or her BFF, Mallory, who sort of steals the spotlight early on... I just couldn't get that invested feeling and so was pushing myself to keep reading. Finally, I gave up. :(

I hate doing that!

In the future, I might try to pick this one up again. It may be I just wasn't in the mood with the holidays, New Year's, etc., but for now...I've moved on to books that keep hollering at me..."Pick me, Pick me!!"