Books On My Radar || November 2023

Welp, it’s November. I am the world’s worst for keeping this blog running, haha! This post really should have been posted at the beginning of the season. But no use crying over spilled milk!

Today, I’m sharing some books that are on my radar this fall, some which I hope to read before the season is out, but only time will tell! I’ll be posting the back cover copy of these books and a Goodreads link. I haven’t read all of these, so please don’t take it as a recommendation XD

Leviathan by Brian McBride

The Jailbirds are reeling after a devastating standoff with Orion in Peru, but the mystery that began with Tommy at Hollow Hill isn’t over. More determined than ever to finish what Tommy’s father started, Mars recruits a new source to help him uncover Orion’s true motives while Maya pulls at an old thread – one that just might unravel the secrets and lies that have plagued their lives. Both haunted by the sins of their fathers, Jude wrestles with a decision about his future while Reid struggles to come to grips with his past. Meanwhile, in South America, Immy works to fulfill a promise made to her parents when the arrival of familiar faces thrusts her into danger and leads to a fifteen-year-old unsolved murder.

A world of secrets will be exposed. Family ties will unravel. Deadly betrayals will come to light. With Orion hot on their tail, the Jailbirds follow a new trail of clues across the country to the small, New England town of Mariner’s Cove, Maine. Daring escapes, hidden messages, and stolen fossils all converge as the Jailbirds face their most desperate challenge yet: the fight for family.

Goodreads Link

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

A classic tale to share with the next generation, Little Women is a coming of age story of virtue and true love in nineteenth century America.

A true classic, Little Women follows the lives of Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March, four spirited sisters living in Civil War era America . Join the Marches as they navigate New England life with a father at war , financial hardships , and the lure and intrigue of the handsome young man who lives next door.

Originally published in 1868, Little Women was an immediate best seller that inspired three sequels : Good Wives , Little Men , and Jo’s Boys . Little Women is based directly on author Louisa May Alcott’s own early life. Alcott’s father, a reformist and staunch abolitionist, was able to often meet with luminary Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other figures that would influence her to become one of the great American authors of the post–Civil War era .

Complete and unabridged , this beautifully designed, jacketed hardcover edition features an introduction by Victorian literature scholar Laura Ciolkowski and a timeline of the life and times of Louisa May Alcott .

Essential volumes for the shelves of every classic literature lover, the Chartwell Classics series includes beautifully presented works and collections from some of the most important authors in literary history. Chartwell Classics are the editions of choice for the most discerning literature buffs.

Goodreads Link

Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly

Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast’s castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.

The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she has ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast’s castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore’s world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever.

Goodreads Link

Write What You Know by Jess Mastorakos

He wants me to write what I know, but I don't know anything about love... Yet. Welcome to my life, where pygmy goats have a seat at the dinner table, my writing career is on the rocks, and I've just been arrested for stalking a celebrity... who also happens to be my long-lost brother. Enter Travis Wilson, a wounded veteran as irresistibly handsome as he is complicated. We strike up a I'll help him pick up the pieces of his shattered dreams, and he'll help me learn to write chemistry that sizzles. Between motorcycle rides, drama at the ballet recital, and brainstorming new career options by the lake, we're writing our own rom-com—and it's getting messier by the chapter. But here's the the more we try to focus on our bargain, the more we realize the best chemistry can't be written; it has to be lived.

So what's a girl to do when he's teaching me everything I need to know about chemistry and love, but I still can't figure out if love is in the cards for us?

Write What You Know is the fourth book in the Love in Charlotte Oaks series, where you'll find families as sweet as the tea, hot veterans who've returned home to find true love, and a beloved pet goat who has the habit of coming in clutch to save the day.

Goodreads Link

Break the Beast by Allison Tebo

Who is to say who is the real beast?

Grendel haunts the land of Frisia in a restless need for vengeance on the human world that has rejected her. With a fiendish master urging her on, she attacks without fear of repercussion.

But the arrival of a foreign prince causes Grendel to doubt her invulnerability. Beowulf is renowned for killing monsters, and he can have only one purpose in visiting Frisia: to break her hellish reign.

When the inevitable confrontation occurs, the battle between man and beast will change both their lives forever as they find themselves thrust into a quest for truth neither could have anticipated.

Allison Tebo re-imagines the ancient legend of Beowulf in an epic story of redemption and grace in a high-stakes fantasy adventure.

Undercover Princess by Olivia Jarmusch

The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella

Solve the clues. Face your fears. Survive the Trials.

All Alice Liddell wants is to escape her Normal life in Oxford and find the parents who abandoned her ten years ago. But she gets more than she bargained for when her older sister Charlotte is arrested for having the infamous Wonder Gene—the key to unlocking the curious Wonderland Reality.

Soon, Alice receives a rather cryptic invitation to play for Team Heart in this year’s annual—and often deadly—Wonderland Trials. Now she has less than twenty-four hours to find her way into Wonderland where nothing is impossible . . . or what it seems.

The stakes are raised when she discovers players go missing during the Trials each year. Will she and her team solve the clues and find the missing players? Or will betrayal and distrust win, leaving Alice alone in a world of her own? Follow the White Rabbit into this topsy-turvy fantasy where players become prey, a sip of the wrong tea might as well be poison, and a queen’s ways do not always lead one where they ought to go.

Goodreads Link

Wishtress by Nadine Brandes

She didn't ask to be the Wishtress.

Myrthe was born with the ability to turn her tears into wishes. But when a granted wish goes wrong, she is cursed: the next tear she sheds will kill her. She must travel to the Well to break the curse before it claims her life—and before the king's militairen find her. To survive the journey, Myrthe must harden her heart to keep herself from crying even a single tear.

He can stop time with a snap of his fingers.

Bastiaan's powerful—and rare—Talent came in handy when he kidnapped the old king. Now the new king has a job for him: find the Wishtress and deliver her to the schloss. But Bastiaan needs a wish of his own. He gains Myrthe's trust by promising to take her to the Well, but once he gets what he needs, he'll turn her in. As long as his growing feelings for the girl with a stone heart don't compromise him.

Their quest can end only one way: with her death.

Everyone seems to need a wish—the king, Myrthe's cousin, the boy she thinks she loves. And they're ready to bully, beg, and betray her for it. No one knows that to grant even one wish, Myrthe would pay with her life. And if she tells them about the curse . . . they'll just kill her anyway.

 Goodreads Link 

Like a Ship on the Sea by Kellyn Roth

If God asks you to confront a storm, how dare you stay in the harbor?

Lady Mary Cassidy O’Connell has a dream that can be summed up in three connecting a loving husband, adorable children, and a home of her own. Her mother’s lack of care makes life difficult for Cassie, and an escape is necessary. The plan? Marry Aubrey Montgomery, the man her parents have chosen for her, and find the peace she craves.

Unfortunately, Cassie is uneasy about marrying Aubrey. Her apprehension grows as she witnesses her dearest friend’s loving marriage take place. At this wedding, she catches the eye of Patrick Hilton, son of a wealthy American. Like Cassie, he’s also set to marry a woman chosen by his parents—only, Patrick claims, he is content with this choice.

Torn between her desire for happiness and the knowledge that God is leading her in a different direction, Cassie confronts the impossible decision. Is a loveless marriage of obligation better than being alone, or will she set sail on a voyage without a safe harbor?

Like a Ship on the Sea is the first novel in The Hilton Legacy, a stand-alone trilogy featuring characters from the author’s first series, The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy.

Goodreads Link

Anything by The King's Daughter Writing Camp

He was willing to do anything.
Talk about anything, they said.
She hadn’t ever done anything.
You can do anything.

In this heartwarming collection, thirteen Christian authors weave tales both historical and contemporary in a variety of imaginative settings. Anything features characters stretched to their limits: a pencil and a crayon who are best friends, a Tea-Dragon with a mischievous and mysterious habit, a terminally ill child with a lovely wish. In these pages, you’ll discover an eccentric gentleman who never stops reading, a foster boy who makes up in appetite what he lacks in conversational skills, and a single mother with a fault-finding mother-in-law and five rambunctious children who haven’t learned respect for a living room.

Watch as a couple sacrificially prays for a lost and dying sister-in-law, a young lady tearfully talks her best friend through a coma, a courageous brother offers to lay down himself for others, a camera-shy teenager faces her greatest fear, and a music camp applicant struggles mightily with writing an interesting bio. Warmth, hope, and encouragement pervade the pages, echoing the theme of “anything” from a refreshing variety of angles both insightful and entertaining, spiritually profound and eternally valuable. These short pieces will delight and encourage the whole family.

Goodreads Link

{What books are on your radar this month?}
{Are you a TBR reader or a mood reader?}
 
Have a blessed Day!
Ryana Lynn
Jer. 29:11