November Reading Wrap Up

It’s finally the end of the year that never ends! Which means that it’s time for our November wrap up. You may notice that this post is a little late and that’s because the end of the year also means the end of the semester for us, which in turn means FINALS! So you probably won’t be seeing much of us (as in, even less of us than you already have) until after finals are over. Which means you may next hear from us in January. Ooops. But we’ll see. We’re getting off topic. Here are the books we read this month!

Books Read:

Malka:

I’m quite proud of how much I managed to read in November! This was a month filled with tests and projects, and just general exhaustion that comes from the end of the semester. But despite that I completed 6 books, and I’m actively in middle of several others!

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

If you remember in my September wrap up, I mentioned that I didn’t know whether to read this book immediately or wait until closer to the release date. Well, now you have your answer. The first time I was in need of something cute, I reached for this book and it did not disappoint! I’ve actually already started my review, but there’s a chance I’ll reread it before its release in March just to get to experience the cuteness of these two characters together again!

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

Both of my 4 stars this month were fantastic books that I’d highly recommend. Beautiful Player is my favorite Christina Lauren book, even though it’s an older title of theirs! And A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow was so sweet and adorable, and made me wish I had a Cuban bakery nearby!

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

Each of my 3 stars reads this month each had one main point that reduced this book to a 3 star, but had some other really great qualities to them, that makes me want to recommend them! So let me give you some quick thoughts on each books!

So for Twins, I loved the art style and I thought the dynamics of starting middle school were really interesting, but I wasn’t a fan of lots of the choices made. (Weirdly enough, especially the decisions made by the parents!).

For the Duke Who Didn’t, I love how the story really focused on Chinese culture and took place in a town where everyone was accepted. But my absolute favorite thing about this book was how so many tropes were turned on their heads, and the results were fantastic (and made me laugh!). My only issue was that I didn’t feel the chemistry between these two characters, even though I shipped them romantically, and enjoyed them together.

Finding Balance had some great conversations about hidden versus obvious disabilities, and just great discussions about disability overall. However, I think the romance was quite toxic, and that the relationship was not a healthy one. Since the romance was such a big part of the story this meant that my enjoyment was dampened quite a bit.

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Chana:

I apparently read 11 books this month, but I don’t remember any of it! Much of the end of the month has been a blur so I kind of blocked everything out, but! Looking back at the books from this month I read a lot of books that I really enjoyed! Usually I try to pick out a favorite, but this month it’s way too hard to choose.

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Magic Fish is one of the most adorable and beautiful graphic novels ever! It’s so so cute and it was such an enjoyable read!

In an insane turn of events, Tor.com sent me an arc of Fugitive Telemetry! This is the first physical ARC that I’ve ever received from a publisher, so I obviously had to freak out and read it immediately. I absolutely loved it, and will post a full review closer to the release date!

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

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I loved all of these, but I just need to mention that omg the burning god was so good! I absolutely loved the ending it made me so happy, and I kind of want to reread the entire series again right now!

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⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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Books Acquired:

Malka:

I have a pretty small haul this month, which is good, because I already hauled 3 books on the very first of December, so a smaller haul this month hopefully means my TBR can still remain somewhat under control.

Purchased:

I had seen this around, and even though I didn’t really see that many reviews, I decided to purchase it. It’s an anthology, and I’ll probably keep it around for 2021, when I have less time to read, and short 100 page romances will be the perfect pick me up whenever I need them! Also, this book is chunky, but since it’s an anthology it won’t feel as big. So I’ll manage to read a book over 500 pages, while only reading 100 pages at a time. Everybody wins!

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Gifted:

I’ve been wanting my own copy of Fangs since the moment I read it, so I’m so happy that I now have my own copy! Plus, this book is gorgeous! Sprayed edges, embossed cover, AND a great read inside. That’s almost too much for one book!

As for The Body, well, I have been wanting to read more non-fiction and I’ve had my eye on this book for a while. I find the human body to be absolutely fascinating, and when I tried the first page or two in a bookstore a few months back, I really enjoyed the accessible way it was written in. So now I have a copy, which I’ve already started reading (and enjoying) and I’ve already learned some pretty cool (and weird!) stuff already!

NetGalley:

This book has the fake-dating trope, which I’ve slowly come to learn that I really enjoy, and so I requested this when I was stressed from school and looking for a cute book to read. And luckily, I got approved! I can’t wait to read this one and review it in a few months!

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Chana:

Gifted:

ISN’T THIS COVER SO PRETTY??? I mentioned to Malka that I wanted it and she bought it for me! And I obviously still can’t get over how pretty it is, but I mean come on, so shiny!

Things We Did:

We became Bookshop affiliates! We’re still not sure exactly what kinds of lists we want to make and which books we plan on linking up. So as a question for all those of you who are reading this, would you like us to link covers to Goodreads as we normally do and then have a list on Bookshop of all the books we mentioned in a given post, or would you rather us link each book directly to Bookshop? Please let us know!

Malka:

I built an EKG! I’ve been showing it off everywhere and to everyone, so I figured I needed to share it with all of you as well! I put a picture of how it looked down below, but the video I shared on Instagram was cooler because it also showed how there was a light that I made blink in time with my heartbeat. I honestly really enjoyed this project and I’m kind of sad to be done with the projects in this class!

Chana:

I’ve been pulling multiple all nighters! My entire personality nowadays is staying up till 3 am doing work, passing out, and then consuming exorbitant amounts of coffee the next day. Today I actually got my first final presentation/final report in (don’t worry, I do still have an actual final for the class), and that means that in less than 2 weeks I’ll be free!

Other than school nothing has happened, but hopefully there’ll be something slightly more exciting in this section of the wrap up next month.

Posts We Loved:

This section is going on hiatus until after finals! Hopefully in our January wrap up we’ll have blog hopped and will therefore have some posts to share with you at the end of the month!

An accurate image representing what it feels like to study and prepare for 3 finals, 4 reports, and 2 presentations all due in the span of 5 days.

How was your November? Any reading goals for the last month of 2020? What do you want to see in terms of our Bookshop affiliate links? Are you also busy with finals?