It’s hard to believe that we’re already charging towards 2026, but here we are, with only one month to spare before new year’s. The holiday season is single-handedly my favourite time of year, so we spent November soaking in some of our favourite traditions, like decorating our home for the holidays, visiting Santa for the first time with baby girl (!!!), and slowly, methodically picking up gifts for the loved ones in our lives. It’s been a busy month, but when is it not nowadays? If things are going to be chaotic and hectic, I’m more than happy to simultaneously sip hot chocolate under my Christmas tree lights while the chaos unfolds.

November wasn’t a great month in terms of quantity of books read, but it was great for quality! My reading summary will be brief this month since I only managed to finish two books, but both were super enjoyable, so it was well worth the slower pace.

Books Read in November 2025

It’s easy to summarize what I read this month with only two books. In November I covered:

1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: I wanted to read this one before the movie comes out and I’m so glad that I did because it was so much fun! Very similar vibes and humour to The Martian, but perhaps a little more destitute at times. This was a 4-star read for me with a full review to come. 
2. Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross: Ross is already an auto-buy author for me, she writes in such beautiful prose and evokes worlds that feel utterly enchanting, but the love story between Matilda and Vincent that unfolded in this novel is my favourite story of hers yet. I savoured every minute of this book, and it was an easy 5-star read for me with a full review to come. 

TBR Lists

I feel like I was keeping my eyes peeled a little more than usual this month for books that I could add to my TBR. I’ve managed to make it through a lot of the books that were in my backlog over the past six months so I’m itching to now replace them with more books to look forward to. These are the ones that caught my eye this month:

• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews: a story where the heroine wakes up in the fantasy realm she’s read about in her favourite books. I love the idea behind this one, it sounds so original. I’ll be picking it up when it releases in March.
• Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder: a woman chooses to avoid her execution by accepting a position as a food taster, but soon is given a poison for which she must receive the antidote every day. This one was released back in 2007 but it sounds like a very unique fantasy.
• Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe: a new dystopian dark romance with enemies to lovers and a lot of political intrigue. I always love a good dystopian novel, so I’m hoping this one delivers. 

What I’m Loving Right Now

As I mentioned, the holidays are my favourite time of year. I love everything to do with December and am so happy to be filling this year full of new traditions for baby girl too. Here’s a few of the things that have provided joy this past month:

Decorating (and reading under) the tree

I’ve always loved a good Christmas tree. For the past seven years, my husband and I have been collecting ornaments that have become heirlooms to us and there’s a unique kind of happiness that comes from pulling them out each year and reminiscing over how we acquired them. 

This year, we have the added fun of having baby girl wake up and rediscover the tree each morning. While I’ve always appreciated hanging out and reading under the tree, nothing could have prepared me for how special it is to have a tiny toddler stare up at the tree in awe every single day saying “ohhhh!” and “ahhhh!” She loves it so much my folks bought her a pile of toddler-safe ornaments so that each day, she can add and remove ornaments safely without anyone standing in her way. I knew having a little one over Christmas would be special, but my heart can barely handle how enchanted she’s been already.

Vacation season

In addition to a nice, long holiday break that’s coming at the end of December, November was also my anniversary with my husband, and each year we take some time off to celebrate together. This really kicks off the vacation season for us and it’s something I look forward to each year. 

I feel so fortunate to work in an industry where things slow down enough at the holidays for us to unwind and relax before the chaos of the new year kicks in. November was the perfect mini-break to hold us over until we head into full vacation-mode for Christmas. 

4 Before the End

I saw a lot of people post about their 10 before the end, meaning the 10 books they want to read before 2026. In this season of life, balancing career and parenthood and relationships, there was no world I’d be able to read another 10 books before the end of the year, but 4 felt attainable (and would get me to an even 50, which feels good to my brain). 

I just started A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman and picked three other (similarly sized) books to try to plow through in December as well. It’s been a while since I gave myself a little reading challenge and I’m already enjoying sinking into this one. 

November was another busy month, but it closed with a perfect wind-down that has me practically vibrating with excitement for the holiday break to come. I’m looking forward to all the seasonal activities and traditions my family and I will be partaking in throughout the coming month, and I’ll hopefully be able to squeeze a bunch of reading time in as well!