NOVEMBER wrap up ✓

Why haven't I read this earlier.

No, seriously, why didn't I pick

this up before? This book is genius !!

We follow s, a girl who sometimes

forgets there's more than life than

studying. She absolutely wants to get into

Harvard, her dream university. People at

school see her as nothing but a study machine.

And who really is Aled? Is there more to him

than a shy, boring boy? {I drew him up there}

When they meet, connected by a podcast

called Radio Silence, a friendship blossoms.

✯✯✯✯✯

Is it even surprising I started November with

an Alice Oseman book? No.

I really consider this her best book so far, the

characters were incredibly relatable {for me,

especially Aled} and there's a bunch of queer

representation. I've never seen my {lack of}

gender, agender, mentioned anywhere before!

It's a very easy read, please give it a try if you

haven't already.

A woman murdering problematic men?

Tell me more about this psychological thriller.

Scarlett Clark works as an English professor,

but in her free time she kills men that have done

awful things, to women, specifically.

Not ever has she been caught, but the school

begins growing suspicious right as she's

preparing for her biggest kill yet.

Meanwhile, a student named Caryl Schiller is

gifted a fresh start, away from her abusive

family and into the room, and life, of her new

roomate Allison Hadley. The two form an

intense friendship. When Allison is sexually

assaulted at a party, Caryl promises herself she

will make the attacker pay.

✯✯✯✯

This book was so complicated !!

I'm aware this might be for audiences a bit older

than me, not especially YA, but still. It took me

too long to even realize I was reading about two

different people's POVs.

Nontheless, I wasn't disappointed by how the

killings were described, and I didn't have very

high expectations for this book anyway so it

definitely didn't let me down. I recommend this

to every thriller loving feminist!

I know the drawing looks wonky, shut up.

All These Bodies is set in 1958, which is very

noticeable. Michael Jensen, our main character

and aspiring journalist, gets involved into the

Bloodless Murders after the Carlson's murder.

This murder is different from all the others that

have been happening, though, because this time

there's a girl left at the scene. Marie Catherine

Hale, a fifteen year old with a strong personality.

And Michael is the only one she will confess to.

✯✯✯✯

The vibes!! I recommend this to every dark

academia lover, which isn't really my thing but I

enjoyed this book nonetheless. I didn't have high

hopes for the ending, but it was genius! It made

the whole book worth it.

This book has gotten so many mixed reviews,

it's about a third year Ph.D candidate, Olive Smith,

who wants to find a fake date to convince her

friend Ahn that she's doing great in her love life.

Which obviously means kissing the first guy she

sees, and who happens to be Adam Carlsen, one

of the professors famous for being a pretentious

asshole.

✯✯✯✯✯

Sounds cliché, right? It promised clichés and it

delivered clichés, I was so satisfied.

The book was pure romance, it was easy to read

and there was little angst. As someone who hates

angst, it was hard to put down. I took this book

everywhere with me, it put me in a great mood on

days that would've been miserable otherwise. A

nice break from reality.

I don't know if we've all seen that writing advice

that says it's bad to write about our character's

interests all the time, where it says that the reader

might not have the same interests and is bound

to be bored. This book proved that advice wrong.

I have absolutely nothing to do with science, and

frankly I'd suck at it. I don't even have any science

classes in my school. This book, however, descri

bed science in a fascinating way that made it

seem like the most interesting topic ever. Olive

often compares things from real life to lab

experiments, I loved those moments.

I rarely enjoy straight romance books, this was an

exception. Give it a try!

A middle grade book? Bet. I hadn't read one of

those since... well, middle grade.

This book by Barbara O'Connor made me tear up.

It's about an eleven year old girl, Charlie Reese,

who's been making the same wish every day

since fourth grade. Her home situation is far from

perfect, and when she's sent to North Carolina to

live with family she barely knows, the fears her

wish may never come true.

Luckily, she meets Wishbone, a stray dog that's

hard to get near but a nice distraction. There's

also Howard, a boy that keeps being nice to her.

Is what she wishes for really what she needs?

✯✯✯✯✯

My mom once wrote a children's book she never

published, but we do have a copy at home, and

it's so similar to this story.

Wish covers themes of abuse, depression and

found family in a way that's suitable for children.

If I ever find a physical copy of this, I'd read it to

my little sister for sure. I read this book on my

phone since the battery of my e-reader died and

I couldn't find my charger, you can see me on a

picture at the end where I'm struggling with the

tiny letters.

This was a comfort read, I won't re-read it, but

it's definitely something I'd recommend to a

younger audience.

Now what in the world was this. Ew. Oh my god.

I started reading this book purely because it was

November, and I finished it just so I could share

with you all how bad it was.

I can't bring myself to tell you what it's about, so

have this short description by goodreads:

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day

before her scheduled cross-country move. Their

untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last

day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes

the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for

his novel. Over time and amidst the various

relationships and tribulations of their own separate

lives, they continue to meet on the same date every

year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben

has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect

reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and

simultaneously his novel—be considered a love

story if it ends in heartbreak?

✯

It doesn't even sound that horrible, does it?

I thought so too, but it's problematic from the

very start. I highlighted some parts, hold on.

"If we're just going to sit here and stare at

eachother, it'd be nice if she were showing a little

cleavage, instead of wearing this long sleeve shirt

that leaves everything to the imagination." [. . .]

That's... so wrong. Men, don't do this. As you can

probably guess, that's Ben's internal dialogue

when him and our main character Fallon haven't

known eachother for even an hour.

"what's your favourite food?"

"Pad Thai," he says. "Yours?"

"Sushi. They're almost the same thing."

"Nor even close," he says.

"They're both Asian food." [. . .]

Ignorant Western people, who would've thought!

This are only two examples, but there's also

casual homophobia, a lot more sexism and

objectifying of women than you think. The first

chapter is just Ben thinking about what colour

Fallon's underwear might be. Creep.

Somwhere at the end Ben tries to convince Fallon

that she should forgive her abusive father, and

Fallon agrees?? I don't the exact words

, but both of them agree that parents should have

a say in their children's career and should freely

give them their opinion about it. They should not.

Unless you ask your parents for criticism, they

shouldn't give it. End of story.

The worst thing is that both characters are supposed

to be likeable, which shows that the author herself is problematic. It's honestly sad, don't read

this book.

After all these hetero books, it's obvious why

I picked this.

Savannah Brown writes about Sydney, a girl from

a small town where nothing ever happens. Her

dad is the only psychiatrist for miles, he knows

everybody's secrets. When he dies in a car accident

everyone is shocked. The police have no explanation,

Sydney's mom thinks she's overreacting when she

tries to explain what happened, and no one wants

to listen. When June Copeland comes to her dad's

funeral, Sydney's confusion only grows. The two

grow closer after the accident, but not everyone is

happy about that.

Is grief even something that can be healed?

✯✯✯✯✯

I'm so glad I read this!

Besides romance, thrillers are my favourite, and

this book delivered a bit of both. The main focus

absolutely isn't on romance though.

The book does handle abuse, gaslighting,

assault and similar themes, so beware of that.

I enjoyed the character development and Sydney's

thoughts that are exactly those you'd expect from

a teenager that's lost a loved one. It seemed very

realistic.

If anyone has read this and wants to rant about it,

hit me up.

Thanks for reading this blog! I know it's five days

late, but in my defense, I was busy with school.

I read seven books last month, did you read more?

What do you think about the art? It's minimalistic

since I did it in a hurry, but I still like it.

Have you read any of these before? Which ones?

Please spit your thoughts in the comment section.

-emerald out