My November Reads

Here’s a wrap-up of the books I read in November. The first part of this post is the list of all the books with the links to the complete reviews and it’s followed by quick reviews of them. Hope you’ll enjoy it!

Please find below all my readings for November:

1. Magic by Lylian K. & Audrey Molinatti
2. Angelbound by Christina Bauer
3. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
4. The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson
5. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
6. Towers And Tithes by Christina Bauer
7. Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Magic by Lylian K. & Audrey Molinatti

Themes: children’s fiction, fantasy, witches, middle grade, graphic novel

My rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

A baby girl born with purple hair is promptly handed over to a convent by her horrified father, who fears she bears the sign of the witch. And indeed, little Evelyn seems to have strange powers and to attract supernatural manifestations as she grows up among the nuns, who patiently put up with it as best they can. But after one scary “trick” too many, she is entrusted to the care of a hat-maker, who whisks her off to London, where she will learn about much more than making hats! For as Evelyn and her talking cat Benedict will soon find out, Master Neil has a few tricks up his sleeve, too, and his hat shop might not be exactly what it seems…

Quick review: A very sweet and quick graphic novel about the adventures of a young witch and her cat!

Angelbound by Christina Bauer

Themes: YA fantasy, angels, demons, romance

My rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Eighteen-year-old Myla Lewis is a girl who loves two things: kicking ass and kicking ass. She’s not your every day quasi-demon, part-demon and part-human, girl.

For the past five years, Myla has lived for the days she gets to fight in Purgatory’s arena. When souls want a trial by combat for their right to enter Heaven or Hell, they go up against her, and she hasn’t lost a battle yet. But as she starts her senior year at Purgatory High, the arena fights aren’t enough to keep her spirits up anymore. When the demons start to act weird, even for demons, and the King of the Demons, Armageddon, shows up at Myla’s school, she knows that things are changing and it’s not looking good for the quasi-demons.

Myla starts to question everything, and doesn’t like the answers she finds.

What happened seventeen years ago that turned the quasi-demons into slave labor? Why was her mom always so sad? And why won’t anyone tell her who her father is? Things heat up when Myla meets Lincoln, the High Prince of the Thrax, a super sexy part-human and part-angel demon hunter. But what’s a quasi-demon girl to do when she falls for a demon hunter? It’s a good thing that Myla’s not afraid of breaking a few rules. With a love worth fighting for, Myla’s going to shake up Purgatory.

Quick review: It was a good discovery. I really liked Myla and following her in her adventures.

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Themes: non-fiction, negotiation, psychology, self-help

My rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders and terrorists. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most – when people’s lives were at stake.

Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Difference will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.

Quick review: An excellent book about negotiation that will teach you how to negotiate everything and at every time. Full of real-life examples.

The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

Themes: YA mystery

My rating: 4,5/5

Synopsis: the final book in the Truly Devious series!

Quick review: I wasn’t disappointed by the end of the series! A real pleasure to read about Stevie’s adventures again and a surprising resolution of the mysteries spread in the previous books.

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Themes: YA fantasy, mystery, romance, retelling

My rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

Quick review: One of the books I preferred this month. A skilled writer who was able to make me travel in the Shanghai of the 1920s and a good retelling of Romeo and Juliet!

Towers And Tithes by Christina Bauer

Themes: YA fantasy, retelling, romance

My rating: 4/5

Synopsis:

Rapunzel Meets Jane Eyre in this fairy tale romance!

I’m a Tower Tithe with a Rapunzel problem. That’s not as weird as it sounds.

Ever wonder how Rapunzel survives without leaving her home? After all, someone must stock groceries, buy hair products and fix the plumbing. Witches don’t wield toilet brushes, so “Rapunzel care” becomes the job of Tower Tithes like me. Not that we choose this gig. We’re just unlucky elves who get magically chucked into servitude. Since our kind live for ages, being a Tower Tithe can drag on for thousands of years… and I’m seventeen. Yipes.

That said, it wouldn’t be too awful if I had a cool Rapunzel. No such luck.

I serve none other than Lady R, the social media sensation and sadist who lives in Manhattan’s famous Apex Towers. With the help of her manager—a witch named Jocasta—Lady R releases daily gossip videos while assigning me “torture chores.” Many tasks are designed to remind me how Lady R is the gorgeous variety of elf, while I’m beyond plain. I spend a lot of time scheming my escape. And dreaming about Dex, the hot prince who is Lady R’s promised happily ever after.

My name is Grayson Eyre, and this is my story.

Quick review: A very quick read but a very nice one 😉

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore

Themes: Adult, chick-lit, historical romance

My rating: 3/5

Synopsis:

England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women’s suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain’s politics at the Queen’s command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can’t deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn’t be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn’t claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring… or could he?

Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke….

Quick review: a good romance without much novelty but a bit of feminist history.

Note: Most synopses are taken from Goodreads.