Another month down and one left in 2023. Where has the time gone? Before we get into all the books that I read in the last month and sharing my thoughts on them (or linking out to reviews I posted in some instances), I thought I would give a quick update of something I’ve been debating. As much as I love these posts, I’m thinking of getting rid of them in the new year. Instead, I’m thinking of doing a weekly post where I discuss what I’ve read or what I’m planning on reading. If I did, they would be posted on Saturdays since that’s the end of the week.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments on that idea.
I’m also debating on tossing my rating system out of the window and instead of using a star rating system, just use a recommend based system. So, I would use the following: don’t recommend, wasn’t for me, recommend, and highly recommend.
Alright, enough housekeeping. Let’s get into the books that I read in November.
So, what did I read this month?
These are all the new books I read, not any that I decided to re-read along the way. If I did a review, I’ll share the link to those. Otherwise, I will do a quick review of the book or series (with the series getting the mini-review at the end of all the books in the list). Mostly, those will just be a quick blurb about what the book/series was about. Any book with a ♥ next to the rating are available on Kindle Unlimited. Not all of these I read through there but in case you have that subscription, I figured I would let you know.
- A Fire in the Flesh (Flesh and Fire, Book 3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout – 3.75 stars
- See my review for thoughts on this book.
- The Graham Effect (Campus Diaries, Book 1) by Elle Kennedy – 3.75 stars ♥
- See my review for thoughts on this book.
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games, Book 0) by Suzanne Collins – 3.75 stars
- See my review for thoughts on this book.
- Iron Flame (The Empyrean, Book 2) by Rebecca Yarros – 4.25 stars
- See my review for thoughts on this book.
- Ice Bet (Bexley U, Book 2) by SJ Sylvis – 3.5 stars ♥
- This is a hockey romance about Riley (the coach’s daughter) and Aasher (the captain’s best friend from the first book). He’s meant to make sure no one flirts with her, and she’s suffering from PTSD as a result of her fall on the ice. Of course, several of his teammates decide to wager on who can get her in their bed first without the coach discovering it. Aasher and Riley end up falling in love, but they have to keep their relationship a secret for a long time because of how protective her father is and the fact he threatened Aasher’s future.
- Princes of Ash (Royals of Forsyth University, Book 8) by Samantha Rue and Angel Lawson – 3.5 stars ♥
- The second book in the Prince section was much better than the first, owing to the guys’ improved treatment of Verity and the four of them forming a team. They still have a lot to figure out, but they’re on the same page now, and the guys aren’t abusing Verity anymore. Have they completely transformed? No, but they’re closer to how I felt about the Dukes and Lords. They messed up in far too many ways to count, but at least they have moved away from the toxic culture that was previously ingrained in them. After the first book in their part of the series, I wasn’t expecting much to happen between the guys and Verity because they were doing everything out of duty with no feelings involved. That has all changed in this novel as they are now a family unit.
- The Umbra King (Vincula Realm, Book 1) by Jamie Applegate Hunter – 3.5 stars ♥
- Aeternum (Vincula Realm, Book 2) by Jamie Applegate Hunter – 3.25 stars ♥
- There is a lot of info dump at the beginning of the book on top of a world guide that was included in the beginning, almost rendering it unnecessary. The writing style isn’t my favorite, but the plot and characters were enough to get me past that. The book really gets good when Rory goes to the Vincula Realm (prison world) where she meets Caius, the Umbra King. The two are fated mates, but hate each other’s guts. She hates Caius, because she thought he killed her twin sister (he didn’t), and he hates her because he found out she was a serial killer known as the Butcher. I mean she did kill fourteen people, but she was stopping rapists and murderers so more vigilante. Granted, she also strung up her victims, and didn’t leave any sign that those individuals deserved it. And then I thought the second book was far too predictable, all the twists were point blank given away earlier, so when the reveal happens all I felt was ‘are you surprised though, they basically told you that earlier.’ And a lot of it felt like filler.
- Breakaway Hearts (Love and Hockey, Book 2) by Nikki Lawson – 3.75 stars ♥
- A cute hockey romance focused on Reese and his best friend Callie. After he accidently mentions to his ex-girlfriend that he’s dating his best friend Callie, the two decide to fake date. Though honestly, the two of them were dating from the start. They just didn’t realize it, and took them a long time to finally admit that fact to each other. He also helps her gain confidence and is such a golden retriever. Similar to how Noah was with Margo. I can’t wait for the next book in this series which is going to be about Theo and Becca, his rival’s girlfriend. I’m curious how that’s going to play out but I know it’s going to involve marriage of convenience.
- Rules Of Our Own (Rule Breaker Series, Book 3) by J Wilder – 3.5 stars ♥
- When I started reading this series earlier this year, I really wanted a book about River, Alex, and Mia. Or at least learn who she ends up with. This book focuses on the trio three years after university and the fall out that happened between them. During that time River and Alex have finally gotten over the jealous with each other towards Mia and agree they will share her, provided she agrees to take them back. So, following the wedding of Piper and Lucas, the three finally cross the line. Of course, they live in Boston while she’s in Canada dealing with an ex-boyfriend who can’t take no for an answer and trying to raise funding for a charity before her sponsor pulls out. So, after her ex-boyfriend frames her for theft resulting in her losing her internship, River and Alex end up moving her in with them. From there they work out their relationship, figure out how to make her charity take off, and rightful put her ex-boyfriend in his place. The story is good and while some elements seemed forced or unbelievable. Like the hospital is just going to let go of a doctor for stealing without proof and not have them arrested? No, there would be way more investigation and law enforcement involved. Especially when someone else did the investigation later and came up with proof it was the ex-boyfriend and he was stealing from all his father’s hospitals. And then the whole River and Alex relationship went extremely fast from Alex starting to question his sexuality to being intimate with River. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it but the plot was just a little weak in those areas.
- The Puck Drop (Central State, Book 1) by Jaqueline Snow – 3.5 stars ♥
- A cute yet short hockey romance starring Michael Reiner and Naomi Fletcher. He is an intern for her father’s hockey team, and she is an intern for data analysis. They end up falling in love and helping one other heal from past traumas: his parents’ death, and her strained connection with her father and sister. This book made me realize there was a series before this called Moo U, which I might read at some point in the future. Since Michael’s sister, Ryann, has a book in the series.
- From the Top (Central State, Book 2) by Jaqueline Snow – 3.5 stars ♥
- This one focuses on Cami (Naomi’s twin sister) and Freddie (Michael’s former roommate). She is known as a party girl who sleeps with anyone, even though she does not, because she allowed that reputation spread without worrying if it affected anyone else. And Freddie is a grad student in environmental engineering who is still battling with self-confidence issues after being dumped by his a longer-term girlfriend ffor being ‘boring.’ When Cami’s reputation comes back to haunt her in the form of the dance team (her coach excluding her from the rest of the team) and her school counselor omitting to disclose she needs two more courses to graduate, she realizes how much damage her reputation has caused. So, when the two wind themselves as dorm neighbors when their apartment building is condemned, they have some baggage to sort through.
My Rating System
Check out this post to see how my rating scale works, but the quick version is:
- 5 stars = Masterpiece. Nothing can literally be better than this. Not to mention, a major book slump happens afterward where I am unable to pick up another book for quite some time.
- 4 stars = One of the best books I’ve ever read, I couldn’t put it down and found little fault in it.
- 3 stars = A good book but there were some flaws, from editing to plot to you name it.
- 2 stars = Liked the book, but wouldn’t say it was something that was memorable.
- 1 star = Book wasn’t for me.
I almost never give a 5-star rating. Some books have come close, but something always held me back from giving it to those books. I also use .25 increments with the ratings, so there’s a range in each of those levels.
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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