Hello Fiction Dwellers!

It’s mind boggling how fast November passed by~ *sigh* Here I am again writing another wrap up of my November reads. I participated in something quite ambitious this month with the end goal of cutting down on the amount of Advance Reader Copies I have on my NetGalley. For NetGalley November I picked at least nine books and I’m happy that I read six of them, which raised my percentage by 4% from 65% to 69%. Props to myself AYO! Reading six ARCs in a month, who dis? A new record for me.

Books

In November, I read a total of 11 books consisting of 10 books and 1 short story with a total of 4,068 pages. The month started out fast paced though a bit bumpy as I devoured six arcs in a row. But during the middle of the month I was losing steam so I took a break. Out of the six arcs I’ve read my favorite has got to be Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell and The Bone Shard Emperor (The Drowning Empire #2) by Andrea Stewart. The thing about reading a lot of fantasy it will easily get me into a genre burn out so I picked up a couple of classics on the way to break the cycle, they are : The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin and The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. After resting I was in the mood to finishing a series I’ve been holding off for months, I’m glad to say that I’ve finished Heaven Official’s Blessing. To close the month I read Not Here to Be Liked since I’ve heard nothing good things about but sadly I didn’t like it that much.

❁ Daughter of the Moon Goddess (Celestial Kingdoms #1) by Sue Lynn Tan ❁

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Release Date : January 11th 2022 (US), January 20th 2022 (UK)

Daughter of the Moon Goddess is an extraordinary first book and most anticipated 2022 debut by Sue Lynn Tan that is ready to captivate readers with a high fantasy epic romance filled with magic, legendary weapons, and heavenly politics.

❁ Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell ❁

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Release Date : February 2nd 2021

An evocative, emotional, and wonderfully layered story about relationships in a space opera setting weaving dire circumstances and nuanced inter-galactic diplomatic sequences.

❁ The Descent of the Drowned (The Descent of the Drowned #1) by Ana Lal Din ❁

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Release Date : March 15th 2021

❁ The Bone Shard Emperor (The Drowning Empire #2) by Andrea Stewart ❁

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Release Date : 23rd November 2021

An excellent follow up to a solid debut. The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart is the drip feed epic fantasy that will keep you guessing.

❁ The Red Palace by June Hur ❁

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Release Date : 25th January 2022

Full review to come! Will be posted on blog 😀

❁ Only A Monster (Monsters #1) by Vanessa Len ❁

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Release Date : 22nd February 2022

Full review to come! Will be posted on blog 😀

❁ The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin❁

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Release Date : October 1973

❁ The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy #1) by Douglas Adams ❁

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Release Date : October 12th 1979

❁ White Clothed Calamity (#4) & Heaven Official’s Blessing (#5) by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù ❁

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Chapters : 181 – 198 (Book #4), 199 – 244 (Book #5)

Online Release Date : 20th December 2017 to 25th February 2018

Last time, they spent eight hundred years running towards each other.

This time, it only took an instant to fall into each other’s embrace.

I’ll make this review short. . .

There is no greater story of love, faith, and devotion that can parallel the story of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian. A story filled with twists and turns, happiness, tears, and suffering. This five book series has come to it’s finality for me as I finally found it within me to finish it. I’ve held back because I didn’t want to see their story end just like that, so I kept stalling and stalling. Now, that it’s over. I am nothing but an empty shell of tears. This series has brought me so much joy and tears. Just like Xie Lian, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So, I did both.

It’s a series that has become one of my favorite reads this year and I’m excited to collect the English translations that will be released by Seven Seas. Though I’m sad that I am parting with this series . . I want to express my feelings with quotes I highlighted from the story.

“I pray to never rest in peace”

“To die in battle for you is my greatest honour.”

“There is no banquet in this world that doesn’t come to an end.”

“I am forever your most devoted believer.”

❁ Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach ❁

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Rerelease Date : September 21st 2021

Full review to come!

Blogging

November is probably the month where I’ve peaked in terms of posting book reviews. I’ve posted four ARC reviews in a month which the highest amount since probably the month of June. What made it the highlight of my November is the comments from fellow bloggers and friends complimenting me on my thorough and detailed reviews. The energy it takes to write those reviews really paid off since I see people enjoy reading them. I want to thank you all for that! Your comments and likes really do mean a lot to me <3

What this month so special as well is that I collaborated for the first time with my friend  Jayati from It’s Just A Coffee Addicted Bibliophile. We made a post on Jayati’s blog recommending books based on the characters from The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee to celebrate the release of the book on November 30th, 2021. If you haven’t checked it out yet click the link on the picture below 🙂

Bookish Content Creator Shout Out!

☾ Gauri from A Book and Chai shared her review of my most anticipated release of 2021, Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. Gauri expressed my feelings about the end of the Green Bone Saga really well in her review. I love reading reviews of Jade Legacy especially if it’s a close friend’s <3

☾ Lyn from Lyn & Lily Reads posted a character study of the characters from The Green Bone Saga and her review of Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. I stumbled upon Lyn’s blog a month ago during my time in Bali and I really liked reading their character study of the characters in The Green Bone Saga and they recently reviewed Jade Legacy so kill two birds with one stone! Check out their blog! <3

☾ Kashvi formerly Kerch Books have rebranded her blog to Misty Realms posted her interview with 2022 debut author Vanessa Len author of soon to be release Only A Monster. Dear Kashvi just recently rebranded her blog into a cottage core paradise and they recently interviewed Vanessa Len so do check it out if you’re planning on reading Only A Monster next year 🙂

☾ Saima from Stories of Saima takes a step back to revisit her favorite reads from 2020. Again Saima hitting me with her awesome posts! She is reminiscing on her favorite reads from 2020 and there is a book that I’ve planning on reading This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

☾ Nessma from Talk of Tales posted two exciting interviews : first, an interview with Fonda Lee author of The Green Bone Saga and second, 2022 debut author Chelsea Abdullah author of my highly anticipated release The Stardust Thief. Ness never misses with her interviews and she treated us with not one but two banger interviews with two very awesome authors! I’m still not over reading the Hilo comment I swear I keep cackling reading it. Do check it out! It’s so good! Chelsea Abdullah’s interview is also soo good as they talk about their publishing journey and add The Stardust Thief on your Goodreads now! <3

☾ Veronica from Little Corner Reads posted a list of 22 debuts she’s looking forward to in 2022. I haven’t been keeping up with 2022 releases lately so Veronica’s post really helps with informing us about what books we should pay attention to next year 🙂

☾ Katie from A Cup of Cyanide posted their review of Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee. Another Jade Legacy review because one is never enough and I love reading Katie’s thoughts about the series coming to a close <3

☾ Sahi from My World of Books posted the Best and Worst Series of 2021 Book Tag. I do love a good book tag and this tag is quite an exciting one. I love the book Sahi has chosen and if you wanna know what Sahi picked. Check out the post 😀

☾ Bertie from Luminosity Library posted a list of 10 Books by Trans or Non Binary Authors for Transgender Awareness Week 2021. Book lists?? Yes. It’s an exciting one because it included some awesome books by amazing authors! If you’re looking for new books to read do check out Bertie’s list 🙂

☾ Jayati from It’s Just A Coffee Addicted Bibliophile posted of 20 2021 debuts that needs to be on your TBR. Thank you Jayati for reminding us about all of the amazing 2021 debuts that we need to read! This post is a good reminder for y’all too so if you wanna check out which book you’ve read and haven’t do click click on Jayati’s post <3

☾ Nihaarika from Clouded Galaxy Reads posted a review of Chances for Serendipity by Natalie Chung. This is an ARC that I got from Amanda from Bookish Brews so seeing reviews about it is making me excited to read the book more. If y’all don’t know it is a self published romance and Nihaarika’s review got me excited to read it!

December ?

For December the plan is to reach 100 books read to wrap up my year and read these four must read books below as I have mentioned in my The End of the Year Book Tag post. Along the way I will be picking up a lot of short stories and novellas as well. It’s going to be a very hectic December Wrap Up judging by the current count of short stories I’ve finished reading. *laughs nervously*

Do you have any plans for December? Is there a book you want to read before 2021 ends? Let me know <3

Thank you for reading!

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