November reading wrap-up (finally!)

December has really run away with itself, hasn't it?! I've not written a word for my blog (until now), I've wrapped zero presents and I only managed to get my cards posted towards the end of last week. It has felt like a whirlwind of a chaotic month so far, but I'm finally sort of feeling like I have a little breathing room (or at least, I will be feeling like that until I start wrapping and remember how much I hate getting it done!).
I was lucky enough last month to be involved in a couple of Instagram readalongs, which means that a couple of the books were gifted. I'm so glad I really loved them, and all in all November was a really great reading month. Now that I'm really settled into cheesy Christmas December reads, it's nice to look back at a whole range of genres!

'Flights' by Olga Tokarczuk was my one kindle read of the month, and took me well over a full month to get through. Usually when something takes me so long to read on my kindle I lose interest in the story, or track of what's really going on, but this was a really nice book to dip in and out of. It follows different stories of travel across the book in an almost dreamlike way. You know those dreams where you're walking through a house and open a door and you're suddenly in the middle of nowhere? It was a bit like that. The idea of travel, or flights, was really toyed with throughout the book, and at one point the story focuses on the travels of some preserved organs rather than living people. It's really like nothing I've read before, and whilst the cover is the dullest thing you could come up with for a book, it was an interesting read.
3/5 stars

'So Lucky' by Dawn O'Porter (gifted to discuss on Instagram). This was a book pretty far out of my comfort zone - I just never seem to get around to adult chick lit much nowadays, but it was something I really did enjoy. Told from the perspective of three different women in our modern world, the book tackles a whole variety of stigmas and taboo topics, including: post-partum body issues and mental health, women's body hair, women's sex drives and orgasms. The issues in the women's lives are dealt with very sensitively, but the author also manages to insert a good deal of humour in at the same time.
5/5 stars
'The Hunting Party' by Lucy Foley (gifted to discuss on Instagram). I LOVE a good crime fiction book - is it because I'm in my mid-twenties and am probably likely to never go clubbing again? Or have all those Sundays of being forced to watch Columbo with my parents finally taken effect? Who knows. It's set in the Scottish highlands on NYE with a group of friends that have travelled to spend some time together. When one of them ends up dead, no one knows who to trust. As the book goes along, you're not only trying to guess whodunnit, but also who it was done to, as the victim isn't revealed until quite late on!
5/5 stars
'Two Can Keep a Secret' by Karen M. McManus. I've wanted to read this pretty much since the moment I finished 'One of Us is Lying'. Both books are YA crime dramas, and I loved this one. Our twin protagonists Ellery and Ezra move back to the town their mum grew up in after their grandmother gains custody of them. Echo Ridge is a place filled with secrets, and Ellery as a true crime fan is determined to unearth not only what happened to her missing Aunt, but also the more recent murder of a high school prom queen. There were SO many twists in this and I was absolutely hooked throughout.
5/5 stars

It felt like pretty much everything I read this month was a five star read, and it was so great to read such a variety of genres, and really great books within each of them! December's not exactly shaping up to be such a high rated month, but I'm hoping that I'll find something I love! What have you been reading recently?
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