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While we do not want to discuss how many days there are until December, we might need to be aware that there are just over two weeks until the next Virtual Book Club on Friday, December 9 at 7:30 p.m. CST.  We are looking forward to getting some quality time with Veronica and Stoker, (and Nikki is lamenting that her plans to revisit books one and two are not likely at this point) as we read A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourn and discuss it with you lovelies! If you are also looking for a chill hang, via book and the interwebs, register here to join us!

Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
• 30-Day Stay: A Real Estate Investor’s Guide to Mastering the Medium-Term Rental by Zeona McIntyre and Sarah Weaver
• A Year of Positive Thinking: Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage by Cyndie Spiegel

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist
• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

Ashley FIN

• The Witch’s Book of Selfcare: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit by Arin Hiscock-Murphy
• Always Practice Safe Hex (Stay a Spell #4) by Juliette Cross
• Witches Get Stitches (Stay a Spell #3) by Juliette Cross
• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia
• Don’t Hex and Drive (Stay a Spell #2) by Juliette Cross
• Wolf Gone Wild (Stay a Spell #1) by Juliette Cross
• The House Witch: Your Complete Guide to Creating a Magical Space with Rituals and Spells for Hearth and Home by Arin Hiscock-Murphy
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• The Witch’s Wolves by Ellie Mae MacGregor*
• The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher*
• Basic Witches: How to Summon Success, Banish Drama, and Raise Hell with Your Coven by Jaya Saxena*
• Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham*

Nikki FIN

• Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling: And Other Feminist Fairy Tales by Laura Lane and Ellen Haun (audio)
• Wolf Gone Wild (Stay a Spell #1) by Juliette Cross
• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia
• Her Missing Marquess (Wicked Husbands #5) by Scarlett Scott
• Wishes in Winter (The Wicked Winters #3.5) by Scarlett Scott
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• Sutton’s Scandal (The Sinful Suttons #6) by Scarlett Scott
• The Witch’s Wolves by Ellie Mae MacGregor
• The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
• Halloween Surprise by Rose Bak

*Finished in October

Darling readers, I’m feeling pretty fantastic about my reading experience this month.  It was exactly what I needed it to be, either smart or chill and very engaging.  You can see the books we read for No Rules November, all of which I highly recommend for very different reasons and reading experiences, and several by Scarlett Scott (who writes fun, spicy Victorian romance available on Kindle Unlimited) and a few other hangers on from October that were similarly fun and spicy, but set in our modern time with some paranormal elements.  The balance was good, the individual books were exactly what they needed to be and more than usual felt like they exceeded expectations.  Would that I could magic this every month…and then I look back at the last few months and realize, I’m living my best reading life!  It’s such a joy and since my beloved Kendra Adachi has been giving me permission I didn’t know I needed, let me give you some too!  I hereby give permission to each and every one of you to read what feels like the right book for the moment.  Am I on track with the reading schedule?  Nope.  I have a book deadline and that’s what I’m reading, off schedule, because I wanted to read that book this month.  Am I sad?  Only that I can’t start the previously scheduled book tonight, but it’s an ARC and it’ll wait until I’m ready (and Ashley’s behind too, I do love it when the stars align!).  

What I really want to dig into here is my audiobook of the month, Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling: And Other Feminist Fairy Tales by Laura Lane and Ellen Haun.  I think Ashley’s #Enneagram1 might be rubbing off on me.  I identify as a 6w5, so I don’t even go to 1, yet two days ago, I realized that there was only about a week left in November, I had listened to zero audiobooks, and I was going to break my streak in the second to last month of the year.  *facepalm* So, I did what any logical reader does, I went through my (extensive) holds list, first the audiobooks, then what books I might appreciate on audio from the big list, and picked a short one, then another, and then I found one that was even shorter.  The best part?  I picked THE book I needed this holiday week!  Would others have worked?  Yes!  Would the other books I checked out have worked as well?  NO!  They’re serious titles, and not the kind that makes you lol.  I landed with the (arguably) serious and funny nonfiction title: Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling: And Other Feminist Fairy Tales by Laura Lane and Ellen Haun and it made all the difference!  Surprising no one who’s been here more than a hot minute, I had zero clue what I was getting into.  I thought it was a feminist book about the metaphorical glass ceiling, and not a collection of feminist fairy tales.  “But it’s in the book’s title?!” You say.  I know… I do now at least.  I also have no clue how this title landed on my holds list, and I’m only sorry I don’t know what else came from the same source so I can prioritize that.  

Now, about the book, Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling: And Other Feminist Fairy Tales is exactly what it sounds like (if one reads the entire title that is), classic fairy tales, retold with a feminist, modern spin.  This was the background I needed for the day before Thanksgiving, cranking out some work, and cleaning up the kitchen.  I’m so relieved I wasn’t drinking anything at the end of Rapunzel’s retelling, because that darlings, that was a rival to an episode of The Popcast with Knox and Jamie (and I did look to see if they are the source, as I think Jamie would LOVE this title).  The snark, sass, and direct kindness to inconsiderate, selfish characters was amazing and I loved all two-ish hours of listening to this fun collection read by the authors, so much so that I’m considering who on my holiday gift list might need to receive this title from me!

What’s a book that surprised you (whether or not it should have) and you love all the more because of it?

~Nikki 

Folks, my FINI list looks so long this month! But, that’s because quite a bit of it is leftover from books finished in October. December’s Reading Life Review is going to look very similar to this because we still have six days left to read in November! I’m going to freely admit that I am THRILLED about that because I still have several titles I want to finish up before December’s Comfort Reads titles commence! (Ok, technically they have started and that’s a hint for what we’re bringing you next month! Can you guess which title it is?! 😀 )

I want to let you know about a small buddy reading faux pas I committed this month. With our current Kindle Unlimited subscription we had placed Juliette Cross’s Stay A Spell series on the possibilities for KU reading in October. October is for witches and this series is about the Savoie sisters of New Orleans, a powerful family of witches in the supernatural world. The series starts with Wolf Gone Wild, where Evie falls in love with Mateo, a werewolf under an unknown curse. You’re probably still asking, where was this faux pas you committed? Well, darling readers, it was against my buddy that I made the executive decision to start reading the series without her…and then kept on reading them all during the month of November. And I’m not sad because it was my best reading life! I’m so annoyed that the series isn’t complete yet, as the sixth Savoie sister’s story is set to release on May 9, 2023, and I haven’t read book five yet because it’s not currently available on KU. I’m impatiently waiting for the day it does become available on KU (crosses fingers for the beginning of December). Thankfully, Nikki wasn’t too mad about my getting started without her. She went ahead and read Wolf Gone Wild, even after I had finished all the current KU titles, and will possibly be ready for a buddy read in May when Clara’s story is published. But, I’m definitely reading book five ASAP and Walking in a Witchy Wonderland, a collection of holiday stories involving the sisters and their friends during the month of December!

As a challenge for the rest of 2022, I want each of you to read what you want when you want. Life is too short to limit yourself while doing an action that’s supposed to bring you much joy. Here’s to Joy for the end of 2022.

~Ashley

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