November. The month of birthdays, anniversaries, and, this year, Christmas decorations shopping. Opening my reading list I was very surprised by the number of books I read and finished this month. However I wasn’t completely satisfied (the number was four) and as there was still a week and a half to go I decided I wanted to add to the list. I chose comfort reading because of everything that’s been going on, and my current comfort reading genre is romance where the books tend to be shorter. Suffice to say a few of these books are here due to my personal readathon. In addition, I also took part in Jenn’s Thankfully Reading Readathon, so there’s an extra book on this list thanks to America. And I hit the mini goal I set for myself a couple of months ago, to reach 70 books. Books 71 and 72 are on the go as I type.

All books are works of fiction.

The Books

Eloisa James: An Affair Before Christmas – Born of love, four years later Poppy and Fletch’s marriage is on the rocks, but can it be saved by Fletch’s acceptance or Poppy’s realisation that her mother has ruled her thoughts? The very funny second book in James’s duchess series, even if it is flawed.

Juliana Ross: Improper Arrangements – An independent Victorian Lady travels to France to walk the High Route, but didn’t expect to find a match in her guide. Just as wonderfully written as Ross’s debut and a good candidate for those wishing to try erotic romance as the writing is very literary.

Kimberly S Young: The Eighth Wonder – A woman on her second career path moves to a small town where she meets a man who is still coming to terms with the loss of his daughter. When it’s good it’s good, when it’s not it’s in dire need of editing. I was actually scheduled to review this a couple of weeks ago but after I found out the reviews were to be a favour for the author I pulled out.

Natalie Whipple: Transparent – An invisible girl in a world of mutants tries to leave her father’s syndicate and live as normally as possible. A fair premise but the content is rather silly and nonsensical.

Rainbow Rowell: Eleanor & Park – When the large, strangely-dressed, girl is denied a seat on the bus, Park gives up the free one next to his, not thinking anything would come of it. A stunning story told by an author who has a brilliant talent for characterisation.

Shannon Stacey: All He Ever Desired – Lauren rejected Ryan, refusing to leave her bad marriage to elope with him, but now she’s divorced, Ryan is back, and maybe she likes him more than she’d realised. A really good addition to the series.

Tanya Byrne: Follow Me Down – Adamma’s new boarding school turns out to be not so boring as it seems and when her new friend goes missing after a previous incident, it doesn’t seem plausible that Scarlett has simply run away. A very good book with a few messages included.

Vincent Lam: The Headmaster’s Wager – In war-torn Vietnam, a Chinese emigrant who does not take heed of what is happening in the world around him continues his life in ignorance and beliefs that will cost him everything. A very good book, though the main character remains difficult.

When you’re comfort reading it can be hard to pick a favourite but I think my non-comfort read of Eleanor & Park just about took the top spot. Objectively it most definitely did but that An Affair Before Christmas was incredibly funny. I was happy to read Juliana Ross again; I’m creating a special post for her books because I read very few erotic romances and review even less, but her work is particularly good and may even interest people who don’t read the genre. My least favourite was Transparent. I’d been excited about it for months so it was a pity it wasn’t as well written as the author’s blog.

Quotation Report

In Improper Arrangements, Lady Alice reminds us of changing fashions and attitudes when she says that without crinolines and petticoats she will look ridiculous. And whilst generally a girl might feel upset that another girl is wondering what the man sees in her (the first girl), the reaction of Eleanor from Eleanor & Park is one of agreement. It’s funnier than this blogger makes it sound.

I will be very surprised if I read anything in December. Details to come.

What was your favourite book this month (or week if you round-up each week)?