Happy November! There are tons of fantastic books out today. Let’s take a look
Books for Kids
Bad Dog – A little girl desperate for a dog treats the cat she got instead as if she were a dog anyway. This looks awesome!
Everybody Says Meow – While the title asserts that everyone says meow, readers will discover that is not quite true.
How to Catch a Dragon – A group of kids try to catch a dragon during Chinese New Year.
I Am Perfectly Designed – From one of the stars of Netflix’s Queer Eye and his son. Readers can celebrate how who they are is just right.
I Do Not Like that Name – When a new elephant arrives, it is his owner’s job to name him. This looks adorable!
One Snowy Morning – When some woodland creatures discover a snowman, they don’t know what it is, but they have their own ideas about the accessories they find on him. The illustrations for this are fantastic. I can’t wait to see this one in person!
Sofia Valdez, Future Prez – The latest picture book in the Questioneers series. When her grandfather is hurt at the local landfill, Sofia tries to figure out how she can make her community safer – and more beautiful – but she hits some roadblocks because she’s “just a kid.” I love this series!
A Trapezoid Is NOT a Dinosaur! – When Triangle decides to put on a shape show, no one believes Trapezoid is actually a shape. Sounds darling!
A Pony with her Writer: The Story of Marguerite Henry and Misty – Readers can learn about the author of Misty of Chincoteague and the real-life Misty.
Thomas Edison: Lighting the Way – An early reader biography.
Princess of Pets: The Snowy Reindeer (November 7) – Book 3 in the Princess of Pets series. Princess Bea rescues a reindeer and tries to keep it secret in a busy castle.
Roxy – Book 55 in the Puppy Place series. Charles helps an injured puppy as part of his science project.
Wake Up, Crabby! – Book 3 in the hilarious Crabby series from Scholastic ACORN. At bedtime, Crabby just wants to go to sleep, but Plankton has other ideas.
How Great Is Our God: 100 Indescribable Devotions about God and Science – Devotional for kids 6 to 10.
Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults
Beneath the Weeping Clouds – Book 3 in the Riders of the Realm series. Enemies and friends must work together to mount a rescue.
Legacy – Book 8 in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. Sophie and her friends are drawn deeper into the conspiracies and mysteries surrounding her family.
The Missing (Older Middle Grade – 10-12) – A teen starts to question everything when a message in a video game ties his missing older brother to a secret government project. At the time of this writing, this book is available for free with a subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Missing Adults (Graphic Novel) – Nancy and Frank and Joe team up when all of the adults in their community go missing. This sounds fun!
The Princess Who Flew With Dragons – Book 3 in the Tales from the Chocolate Heart . This time, Princess Sofia is being sent away on a diplomatic mission, and she’s fed up with being used for her sister’s political goals. But this mission – complete with exile and ice giants – doesn’t go the way anyone planned. I have this series on my wish list.
Shine! – A girl who feels there’s nothing about her that’s special finds herself in an all-school contest at her new posh prep school. I can’t wait to tell you all about this book tomorrow!
Smile, Sisters and Guts: The Boxed Set – Get all three Raina Telgemeier autobiographical graphic novels in one box set including her latest, Guts.
The Treacherous Seas – Book 2 in the Perilous Journey of Danger and Mayhem series by Christopher Healy, author of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. Molly, Pepper and Emmett thought their adventures last time – you know, when they saved New York – would get them admittance into the Inventors’ Guild. But the government decides to cover everything up, and they are left no better off than before. But then they learn of an expedition to the South Pole – where Emmett’s father disappeared years ago – and they are off on another adventure.
Wonder Under Cover – Book 3 in the Real McCoy’s series. Moxie joins the Wonder Scouts to solve a mystery and gets caught up in the hype of earning badges while her brother takes on a case of his own. I have the first book of this series on my TBR shelves. I can’t wait to read it.
Wrecking Ball – Book 14 in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. A surprise inheritance gives Greg’s family the chance to make some changes.
American Girl: Holiday Baking – Sweet Treats for Special Occasions – Includes more than 45 recipes.
Home of the Brave: An American History Book for Kids – 15 Immigrants Who Shaped U. S. History – Includes biographical information on Albert Einstein, Levi Strauss, and Nadia Comaneci.
Who Was Sam Walton? – Biography of the founder of Walmart.
A Constellation of Roses – A companion novel to The Deepest Roots. Trix has been staying on the move since her mother abandoned her, but when she stops over with some extended family she discovers the women in her family have always had special, magical gifts like hers.
Deadly Little Scandals – Sequel to Little White Lies. Sawyer has finished her Debutante year, and has chosen to stay with her grandmother and extended family for the summer, which means she’s at their lake house when the White Glove invitations arrive. While her cousin is thrilled with the opportunity to try to get into the exclusive group, Sawyer sees it as a chance to look into one more mystery that is still unsolved from 20 years ago. This was AMAZING! I’ll be reviewing it Thursday.
Every Stolen Breath – From the folks at Blink YA. After her father was killed by a mysterious, destructive group called the Swarm, Lia has suffered from PTSD compounded by her asthma. But she’s not backing down from finding out what the Swarm is up to and taking them down for good.
The Guinevere Deception – The first book in the Camelot Rising trilogy. Merlin believes Guinevere is the secret to saving Arthur and Camelot, but no one else knows her real name or her identity because Guinevere is a changeling. This sounds amazing!
Hero – Final book in the Monster trilogy and the Gone series about a group of mutants who must take down a new, unstoppable threat. This series is on my list.
The How & the Why – A girl who was adopted struggles to know who she is and where she comes from while a set of letters from her birth mother may hold the answers she seeks.
Sisters of Shadow and Light – Sisters imprisoned in a citadel behind a magical hedge are shocked the day a stranger passes through the hedge from the outside world. This sounds fascinating.
Supernova – Final book in the Renegades trilogy, a superhero series. I have book one, Renegades, on my pile of books to read.
The Toll – The third and final book in the Arc of a Scythe series. The good guys have disappeared and the series “big bad” seems to have a clear line of sight to anything and everything he desires. Our whole family will be fighting over this book when it arrives this week. We have all enjoyed this brilliant, dark, dystopian series.
Books for Adults – Fiction
The Angels’ Share (Hardcover) – Book 10 in the Wine Country Mystery series centers around a death at a Thanksgiving party and a 200-year-old wine.
The Bake Shop (Trade Paperback) – First in a new Amish Marketplace series. While the Bake Shop’s success is causing some trouble when her lines block access to the shop next door, Christiana and Jeffrey overcome their initial conflict and become friends. But a fire at Jeffrey’s shop – and his use of electricity – put their relationship, and Christiana’s business, in jeopardy.
Blind Search (Hardcover) – Sequel to the excellent A Borrowing of Bones. Mercy and Elvis are investigating again when a nine-year-old autistic boy gets lost in the woods and sees something disturbing and a woman is found murdered. I’ve had this on hold from the library for months. Can’t wait to dig into this book.
Boyfriends of Christmas Past (e-book) – A workaholic digital designer with a habit of working through Christmas is visited by the “ghosts” of boyfriends past. I’m eager to dive into this one, too.
The Bromance Book Club (Trade Paperback) – A baseball player on the verge of divorce discovers a secret book club for the top “alpha men” in Nashville. As the group reads a steamy Regency romance, the other book club members coach him on saving his marriage. Yes, please! This is at the top of my (very long) reading list for this week.
Cast Iron Alibi (Trade Paperback) – Book 9 in the Vintage Kitchen mystery series (with a main character who spells her name like I do!). A girls only college reunion vacation doesn’t go at all the way Jaymie envisions when the group simmers with hostility and a local with an eye on one of the ladies ends up dead. I have the first book in this series (I know, I’m so behind) on my TBR shelves.
The Chocolate Shark Shenanigans (Hardcover) – Book 17 in the Chocoholic Mystery series. Lee and her family’s plans to flip a house are interrupted when a developer outbids them after their offer had already been accepted. But when a gun is later found at the property – as well as the body of the developer – it’s time for Lee to start sleuthing again. I read several of the early books in this series, and it’s a lot of fun.
A Christmas Gathering (Hardcover) – An historical Christmas mystery from Anne Perry. The warmth of the holiday season is disrupted when Vespasia’s husband Victor is doing undercover work at the country gathering, work that reminds Victor of an unsolved case from twenty years ago.
City of Scoundrels (Hardcover) – Book 3 in the Counterfeit Lady series. A wealthy man comes to Elizabeth’s fiancé Gideon for a new will to provide for his secret wife and their unborn child. But when the man is killed and his new will goes missing and his no-longer-secret wife is threatened, Elizabeth and Gideon try to protect her. That sounds fantastic!
Dead Wrong (Trade Paperback) – First in the new Agatha’s Amish B&B series. An Amish widow moves to Texas to make a success of her brother’s bed and breakfast dream after his death. When she finds a body in one of her cabins, she partners up with her neighbor, a retired detective, to investigate. Sounds fun!
Fate of the Fallen (Hardcover) – First in the Shroud of Prophecy series. When Mathias discovers he is destined to save the world, he grabs his best friend and goes all in. But over time, their allies start to turn away, feeling like they would be better off giving in to the evil forces Mathias is trying to stand against.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown (Trade Paperback) – When a chronically ill web developer is almost killed by a drunk driver, her life flashes before her eyes and she realizes it’s pretty bland and pathetic. So Chloe puts together a “get a life” list, and the super at her new apartment might be just the guy to help her cross a few items off the list. I’ll be reviewing this one later this week.
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry (Hardcover) – The latest from Mary Higgins Clark. When the women at a hot, trendy television network start making complaints of sexual misconduct, an investigative reporter starts digging into the story while the company’s in house counsel tries to pay off the ones who are complaining. But has someone gone a step further than payoffs and started killing off those who are making accusations?
Novice Dragoneer (Trade Paperback) – The story of an orphaned teen who seeks entry into a military order of dragonriders. I’ll be reviewing this one later this month. First in a new series.
Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders (Trade Paperback) – First in a new mystery series called A Woman of World War II. In 1942 in a remote village in England, the American Allies are using land as a new airfield. Not everyone in the community is comfortable with these outsiders, and those sentiments grow worse when two women from the village who were dating American pilots are found dead.
Smoke Screen (Trade Paperback) – The latest from Terri Blackstock. When they were dating as teens, Brenna’s preacher father was furious to find out she snuck out to see Nate. The subsequent argument between the teens’ dads was ugly and public. When the pastor was found dead, Nate’s dad was arrested. But now, years later, he’s been pardoned and Nate is back in town. Brenna is stunned at the pardon decision but she’s also consumed by her own problems. Can Nate and Brenna find their way through the troubles of their past and present and back to one another?
The Starless Sea (Hardcover) – A graduate student finds a mysterious book in the school library that records fantastical stories – including one from his own childhood. This launches him on a journey that takes him to an ancient and secret library – a place some would love to see destroyed.
Star Wars: Resistance Reborn (Hardcover) – Prequel to Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. After the events of The Last Jedi, the rebellion is in ruins and the First Order has all but won. If the resistance is going to survive to fight another day, they will need to find new allies and leaders.
We Met in December (Trade Paperback) – A young woman who moves into a London house share meets an intriguing man and sparks fly. But after a two-week holiday for Christmas she comes back to find him dating someone else in the house.
Books for Adults – Nonfiction
The Adventurous Eaters Club: Mastering the Art of Family Mealtime (Hardcover) – Read how these parents refused to give in to the childhood staples of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, instead challenging their family to be adventurous eaters.
Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women’s Fight for Their Rights (Paperback Graphic Novel) – A graphic novel of the history of fighting for rights for women.
Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty and Law (Hardcover) – Twenty years of conversations with Justice Ginsburg.
DC: Women of Action (Hardcover) – An overview of the women of DC, including full-color art for each character. Beautiful!
Friends Forever [25th Anniversary Edition]: The One About the Episodes (Hardcover) – Fully illustrated and authorized guide to the top 100 episodes of Friends.
The Grumble-Free Year: Twelve Months, Eleven Family Members, and One Impossible Goal (Trade Paperback) – A large family living in survival mode decides to be more intentional by eliminating grumbling from their home and cultivating more gratitude.
How to Save Your Child from Ostrich Attacks, Accidental Time Travel, and Anything Else That Might Happen on an Average Tuesday (Trade Paperback) – The latest book from the hilarious James Breakwell (on Twitter as @XplodingUnicorn). A parenting resource for those pesky questions you aren’t sure you can ask out loud. Our whole family loves Breakwell’s Twitter feed.
I Am C-3PO (Hardcover) – Autobiography of Anthony Daniels, the actor who portrays C-3PO in the Star Wars universe.
Losing My Voice to Find It: How a Rockstar Discovered His Greatest Purpose (Hardcover) – The front man for Audio Adrenaline shares the story of his journey through the loss of his singing career and his marriage and what he found on the other side.
The Meaning of Marriage: A Couple’s Devotional (Hardcover) – A devotional for couples based on the author’s book The Meaning of Marriage.
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook (Hardcover) – Inspired by the food at Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disney properties.
The Witches Are Coming (Hardcover) – Commentary about the contemporary culture and women, especially in the era of President Trump.