What I Read In October + My November TBR
HELLO! October was a great month for reading, and not just quantity-wise. Although, while we’re on the subject … I HIT MY READING GOAL FOR THE YEAR!! 🎉
I am so beyond happy and excited and surprised that I hit my reading goal—and an entire two months before the end of the year. The last couple of years, I hit my reading goal two days before the end of the year, but not this year. And I’m pumped.
I’m excited to talk about the books I read this month, so alas, here it goes.
Drunk on Love by Jasmine Guillory
I think it’s safe to say that I will pick up any book by Jasmine Guillory. To me, she is the queen of contemporary romance. It wasn’t my favorite of hers, but I still loved it nonetheless. The book was set on a winery in California and featured the two main characters: Margot, a winery owner and successful businesswoman who just inherited her uncle’s winery with her brother, and Luke, a charming newcomer to the area who just quit his high salary tech job and moved to the wine country to take care of his mom and his burnout. Honestly, this forbidden romance was cute and I highly recommend!
Rating: 4/5
Buy on Bookshop.org.
Beautifully Distinct: Conversations with Friends on Faith, Life, and Culture Edited By Trillia Newbell
This book was a collection of essays written by a handful of Christian authors—all women, btw—and it was a fantastic read. Each chapter was on a different topic, whether that panned to faith, life, or culture. Some of my favorite chapters were on reading literature by Karen Swallow Pryor, on race, and one on body image. I hesitate to pick up Christian living books and to be honest, I don’t have a reason why. I guess it was enstilled in me that I should be reading the Bible to learn more about God, but this book opened my eyes to a biblical worldview that I never really saw before. The chapter on literature, for example, helped show me that reading fiction over non-fiction is in fact a way to strengthen our faith. I highly recommend this one to all Christians as we engage in today’s culture.
Rating: 4/5
Buy on Bookshop.org.
Dating You Hating You by Christina Lauren
This month was a Christina Lauren month for me. Oh boy, I loved this one. Their books are a hit or miss for me. I love contemporary romance, but I’ve only liked one or two books by them. However, I could not put this book down! The two main characters, Carter and Evie, are characters so good … like Nora Ephron good. They are two Hollywood agents whose agencies just merged together. They are both vying for the top agent spot, and the other has to move away. Hijinks ensue in this enemies-to-lovers plot but underneath the romance of it all, the book was set on a couple different topics: one, sexism in the workplace as in Evie was constantly belittled and passed over by her mean and sexist boss, and two, the amount of extra work that women have to put in just to be taken seriously. Evie was a fantastic and well-written character in not just the romance and opening up to Carter and herself, but also a character who stood her ground. It also helped that the characters weren’t in their early 20s and in fact in their early 30s/late 20s (Evie and Carter, respectively).
Rating: 4/5
Buy on Bookshop.org.
The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren
When I said this month was a Christina Lauren month, I meant it. I finally read this after being on my TBR for months. Imagine if Chip and Joanna Gaines hated each other. (Although I could argue that this was focused on Tarek and Christina.) Okay, put yourself in the shoes of their assistants. This was the plot of this book. Carey and James are the two assistants to Melissa and Rusty Tripp (Carey to Melissa, James to Rusty). Melissa and Rusty Tripp are home remodeling and design gurus who are just about to launch their new show and book on marriage and relationships … except that they despise one another. This book was alright. It captivated my interest but not until about 50 percent the way through. The first 50 percent (I listened on audio) was a lot of build-up but as I got into the second half of the book, the build-up was necessary. It wasn’t my favorite Christina Lauren book (mine was above) but it wasn’t my least favorite. I would recommend as a fun, cute, light-hearted enemies-to-lovers book!
Rating: 3/5
Buy on Bookshop.org.
Meant To Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein
This has been on my TBR all summer long and I meant to read it as a summer read but … I didn’t get to it until mid-October. (I even classify this as my Midnights read, aka the book I read when Midnights came out.) I loved this book. I thought the entire plot and storyline was incredibly charming and captivating. I loved the Jewish matchmaking but with the twist of fate played in there. Edie’s grandmother, Gloria, has been predicting the day of when all of her family members meet their match/soulmate. She’s gotten it right starting with her siblings, all the way down to Edie and her twin sister, who just got engaged. On the day when Edie is supposed to meet her match, she meets one man who turns out to be the man of her dreams, but she can’t fight the nagging suspicion that her perfect guy doesn’t have perfect timing. Honestly, this book surprised me by the end. I did not see that ending coming, but I loved it nonetheless. I follow the author on Instagram and I’m excited to dive into her other books!
Rating: 4/5
Buy on Bookshop.org.
It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
I wasn’t going to read the latest Colleen Hoover book, but with the many different tables at Barnes & Noble, I gave into temptation. But I’m glad I did. I loved It Ends With Us but it definitely was a heavy book with heavy topics (abuse, assault). But this book? If It Ends With Us was dark, this book was the light. I’m not going to say that it ignores those same heavy topics, because it does, but this book focuses on the POV of Atlas. Atlas is a breath of fresh air for Lily (and for all of us) but he didn’t have a great upbringing as we all know from It Ends With Us. We learn more about his upbringing and where he comes from; this book picks up from where we left off at the end of the first book as we navigate Lily and Atlas’s new relationship. Pick this one up (read content warnings: abuse, assault) if you can.
Rating: 4/5
Buy on Bookshop.org.