Howdy lil freakies!

Here's my roll-up of everything I read this month. Full spoilers and deep dive reviews can be found on my YouTube channel, but you guys get to see what I read behind the scenes!

Below is a roll-up of books with unprofessional summaries and reasoning for the rating.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks ⭐/5

A woman in her 20s crashes a local university's psychology study. The professor running the study is sketchy af, and the book follows the dynamic between these two. I feel like everyone's motives were weird/nonsensical. There was no real reason for any of it, and it ended on such an oddly hollow note.

Never Lie by Freida McFadden ⭐⭐/5

Okay, genuinely, I'm becoming a certified fan (derogatory) of Freida. The writing sucks, the plots are nonsensical but it's genuinely so entertaining. I don't get tired of these weird weird books lol. This one was about a woman and her boyfriend who get trapped in a snowstorm. Trapped where, you ask? In a famous psychologsit's house... who went missing a few months ago. And from the jump, everyone is acting sketchy and lying to eachother.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley ⭐⭐⭐/5

This one will be my first December upload on the channel! There's a wedding being held on a creepy island. The book follows the POV of various guests and talks about their relationships and how they got to this point in their lives. Everything seems like rich people messy problems, until someone comes across a dead body. The premise was awesome. Only critique was that it was a sloooooow build and in general the pacing was a little off. Other issues are spoilers, so watch the video if you want more.

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer ⭐⭐⭐/5

Eve and her girlfriend buy a house to flip. One day Eve is there alone and this off-putting family knocks on the door, says that they used to live there and would love to take a look around. AND SHE LETS THEM INSIDE. Someone on Goodreads said this book was r/NoSleep coded, and I couldn't say it better. It was interesting, and then we went off the rails in a way that felt like a Jordan Peele movie, but without the right set up.

Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman ⭐⭐/5

Speaking of Jordan Peele... 8 year old girl tells us about her daddy, mommy and other mommy. My stomach dropped reading the description and there were a few other moments in the book that gave me that feeling, however, they were over shadowed by repetitiveness and just odd narrative choice. It's from an 8 year old, but she talked/thought like she was much younger and then her parents talked to her like she was an adult. And also the tension of WHAT other mommy is and what she looks like is immediately ruined and she wasn't scary anymore, just a weird creepy vibes rommate instead of a monster under the bed. Ya know? I don't think monsters should be described directly or in detail, that almost always kills the vibe.

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Little boy's dad turns into a wolf monster when he gets mad. One day he runs from home and runs into a woman. She takes him in and tries to protect him. It's an absolute batshit ride from there. SUCH a unique premise, fast paced, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I really enjoyed this one. The ending was a little meh, but great otherwise.

Bury Our Bones in Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab ⭐⭐/5

Getting away from thriller and horror genre binge, I read this fantasy/historical fiction/toxic saphhic vampire book. That premise? Wild. Love. Sign me up. The execution? ahhhhhhh. The ending pissed me off enough to go down an entire star. But, it was a multiple timeline story that eventually interconnects and boy howdy do I eat that up lmao. The timeline, premise and general vibes really carried this book. The characters felt shallow, the pacing wasn't the best and that ending made get up and go for a walk because I was so mad and made me feel like I wasted my time.

Other News

I'll be doing a 2025 Q&A video in a few weeks. If there's anything you've ever wanted to know, ask me here!

For full spoilers and long-form deep dives of other books I read this month, check out my YouTube channel!

In November, I reviewed:

Animal Farm by George Orwell ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Hooked by Emily McIntire ⭐⭐/5

Housemaid series by Freida McFadden ⭐/5

Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver ⭐⭐⭐/5

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell ⭐⭐/5

Good morning, mis Internet amigxs,

Holiday shopping season has officially begun and there are a number of ways to shop online to benefit independent bookstores while getting an excellent deal!

1. Bookshop.org has FREE SHIPPING through November 30th site wide. that includes all my curated bookshelves; PLUS they have 25% off 150+ titles handpicked by indie booksellers. Bookshop is a wonderful alternative to big retail chain online bookstores this holiday season because a portion of every purchase goes towards indie bookstores.

2. LibroFM Shop Small Audiobook Sale has begun! They have a plethora of bookseller and bestseller picks for $5.99 or less! Did you know you can gift audiobooks (in addition to monthly subscriptions)? Every purchase through libroFM benefits an indie bookstore of your choice.

3. Everything in my Pango Bookshop is currently 20% off and orders of $60 or more get free shipping! I will be adding more books this weekend and have a number of rare and special editions up for grabs!

Happy holidays!

Carmen

Today is a great day for reflection.

How many books by Indigenous authors have you read this year?

How many books by Indigenous authors have you bought this year?

I'm going to include some books that I recommend adding to your shelves today! Buy one (or a few) that sound the most interesting to you.

Instead of shopping for the best Black Friday sale, commit to supporting the work we do at this imprint for a year for $5 a month(That's the cost of two hardcover books per year).

Forget hollow land acknowledgments and show support for the people. We are still here.

Have a great holiday. How you show up matters.

Okay, stop what you are doing. We need to talk about the Waking Heart Series by Erica Ivy Rodgers starting with Lady of Steel and Straw. This series is officially certified as having everything The Page Ladies crave:

▫️Immortal Scarecrow Guardians

▫️Forbidden Love that should be illegal

▫️Enough Ghostly Chaos to literally raise the dead.

✨️If you like your fantasy lush, lethal, and ready to rip your heart out, you need to step into this kingdom that's currently on fire.

🔥The Chemistry You Could Slice with a Saber!

In Lady of Steel and Straw, we meet our two tormented souls:

👧Charlotte Sand: Fierce, stubborn, and refusing to bow to corrupt power. The perfect rebel.

👨Luc de Montaigne: The loyal captain torn between faith, duty, and the one girl he absolutely cannot stop loving.

Their dynamic is pure, tortured perfection! One minute they're enemies, the next they're saving each other's lives while the world burns around them. Rodgers doesn't just write tension; she writes tension so thick you could slice it with a saber, leaving you breathless with every turn of the page.

🔥Raising the Stakes and the Dead

Then Lord of Blade and Bone shows up and ups the stakes tenfold. The rebellion is in full swing, the kingdom is bleeding, and the emotional scars run deeper than any sword wound.

What truly obsessed us was the way Rodgers layers the world: we get bone collectors, haunted Guardians, and underground resistance networks; it's all so vividly cinematic and heart-wrenching. Charlotte’s fight for justice collides with Luc’s struggle for redemption, proving that love and sacrifice might just be two sides of the same blade.

We were emotionally wrecked by the end, half in love with every morally gray character, and absolutely desperate for the next book. The prose feels both lush and lethal like a velvet cloak concealing a dagger.

🗡️ The Page Ladies Verdict: Read This!

✨️If you're in the mood for a series that is beautifully macabre and romantic in equal measure, clear your schedule. The Waking Heart Series is a dangerous obsession we fully encourage.

❗️The Big Question for the Rebellion!

❓️If you were bound to a magical Guardian half spirit, half soldier would you fight for the living or follow the dead who still whisper your name? Tell us your choice in the comments!

Our December Booksworn Bookclub pick has been chosen by our Bright Stars! Really looking forward to the reactions, chats and videos all about The Only Good Indians with our First Swords and Bright Stars!

It's time for The Page Ladies Book Club's 2025 Book Lovers Secret Santa Gift Exchange! We're turning up the holiday cheer and using the magic of Elfster to handle the anonymous matching. Let's make this Christmas the most bookish one yet!

🎁 How the Gift Exchange Works:

Matching: Elfster will anonymously pair you with one lucky recipient.

The Gift: You choose the perfect read! It can be a newly purchased book OR a beloved title from your own collection new or gently used.

Wish List Wisdom: Please head to Elfster and clearly state your "wishes"! Include specific titles, preferred genres, and your preferred book format physical, e-book, etc.. Help your Secret Santa out!

⭐Dates to Remember:

Register by: December 24th

Matches Drawn: December 25th A Christmas morning surprise!

Send Your Gift by: January 1st

A Quick Note on Spending: Please ignore the $50 spending limit on Elfster it's just a site requirement! There is no minimum or maximum amount. The true magic is in the exchange!

📍Our Golden Rule: The success of this event relies on commitment. Please only join if you are committed to sending a gift. Let's make sure every member is feeling the love this Christmas!

❗️If you or know of someone who maybe interested in joining us tap or send them this link! https://tinyurl.com/4hafcpsu

Guess what I've got for you today...

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I think that's enough to keep it out of the image preview, so....

Ta-daaaaa! Subscribers actually got this a couple weeks ago so shout out to you guys for keeping it a secret in the discord.

For those of you who don't know the lore here, let me give you a little background. Yes, you are reading that correct, that says this is announcing the 2024 Best of Books winners. In November. of 2025.

I wish I had a reasonable excuse for this, I really do...but I don't. I genuinely can't even tell you why I didn't release this in January like I was supposed to or why I haven't released it in the many months that these images have been sitting in my Canva projects, but from the bottom of my heart I have no idea. Anyway, it has now been almost a full year since we first started the process of nominating books for our Best of Books 2024 and for the love of god I need this to not be hanging over my head anymore. I say that as though there was literally anything or anyone but my own damn self keeping me from getting this out, BUT THERE WASN'T.

You ever get a text or an email from someone that you don't reply to right away and then you kind of forget about it until it's a few days later and you go "oh my god I need to reply to that" but you've remembered at 1am and that's not a reasonable hour to text someone so you'll do it in the morning, and then you wake up in the morning and for many more mornings until the next time you remember it's suddenly been weeks and now it's awkward but you really should reply to it but you put it off because now you're embarrassed and then the longer you wait the worse it gets so you just never reply and suddenly you've ignored someone you really meant to get back to?

That's normal...right? Anyway that's basically what has happened here and I refuse to have this sitting on my dusty, unseen to-do list any longer so HERE are the winners of our 2024 Best of Books:

And there we have it! I AM FREE. Free to get started all over again on our 2025 nominations...