November 2025 – Haul and Wrap Up
coffeestarsbooks
- November 30, 2025
- 2:00 pm
Hello friends and fellow bookworms, and welcome to my November haul and wrap-up. It’s been a quieter month on the reading front- life has been busy and I’ve been splitting my free time between books and a little gaming (League of Legends, Anno 117, Pokemon and the new Disney Dreamlight Valley expansion if you’re curious). Even so, while I haven’t read much, I’ve managed to bring home a few new books to add to my shelves, and I’m excited to share them with you here.
What I Read This Month:
The Starving Saints
Started reading: 28th October
Finished reading: 16th November
I’ve been interested in this one for a while, ever since I saw it on a friend’s recently read list. The gothic atmosphere, the suffocating horror, all of it seemed so interesting. I’ve shared my thoughts in greater detail in my review, but I ended up not really loving this one- part of why I didn’t read much this month was because this one dragged a bit for me, left me confused and exhausted, and even though I started reading a new book almost as soon as I finished this one, I was in a bit of a slump while reading it.
Brigands and Breadknives
Started reading: 16th November
Finished reading: 19th November
Travis Baldree’s cosy reads are fast becoming some of my most anticipated books towards the end of the year, and Brigands and Breadknives is no exception. While this one was a bit more action-heavy (I talk about this further in my review), I did think it kept most of the charm of the other books in the series, and I’m very excited to see what this author does next.
The Incadescent
Started reading: 19th November
Finished reading: 24th November
I’ve had this one on my shelf for a while, and now I’ve read it, I am so so glad that I decided to purchase the gorgeous Owlcrate edition of this book, because I really loved it. Magic, mayhem, slice of life stuff about being a teacher at a high school for young magicians, this book hooked me in from the front page. I’ll be posting my full thoughts on it tomorrow, so definitely check out the review if you’re intrigued.
Storygraph Stats:
What I Hauled This Month:
Brigands and Breadknives
Preordered from Waterstones so I’d get it as soon as it released, and this was their signed edition with sprayed edges too
The Strength of the Few
The sequel to The Will of the Many, this was my other November pre-order from Waterstones. I’m hoping to get to this one before the end of the year, but I suspect I’ll need to re-read the first book before starting on this one as it’s been a while.
Empire of the Dawn
My final pre-order of the month, this time from Illumicrate, since I had to get the third book to match the others on my shelf. I suspect this might by my next read, but it’s pretty heavy and I’m not sure if I’m ready to say goodbye to this series yet.
Alchemised
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this one, given the controversy about the book’s roots in fanfiction (especially HP fanfiction). However, I wanted to try it, given the hype, and see how different it is to the original source material.
A Rather Vengeful Accord
A book box pick for November. I love rivals to lovers when it’s done right, so I’m happy to get around to this book at some point, probably in the new year.
