It’s time for my first half of November 2025 book review post! I am sharing what I read in November so far, although I am skipping my 5 star reads to share later in the month. The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Title: Hollow Chest
Author: Brita Sandstrom
Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction / Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Audio, 6/8/21
Source: Publisher – Print, Library – Audio
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 3.5 Stars, Rounded up to 4 Stars
Hollow Chest is about Charlie, whose brother comes home from fighting in World War II not the same person as he was before. Charlie finds out about war wolves who stole his brother’s heart and he attempts to convince the wolves to give it back.
“Charlie has been having nightmares. Eyes watching him in the night, claws on his chest, holding him down. His dreams have been haunted for years, ever since German bombs rained down on London, taking his father’s life, taking his city’s spirit, taking his beloved brother, Theo, off to war in France. Now Charlie is left to take care of his grandpa Fitz while his mother works, waiting for the day when Theo will come home. And with World War II nearly won, that day is almost here. Grandpa Fitz warns Charlie that soldiers sometimes come back missing a piece of themselves, but Charlie isn’t worried. Whatever Theo has lost, Charlie will help him find it. When Theo finally does return, though, he is cold and distant. But Charlie refuses to accept that the brother he knew is gone, and soon, he discovers the reason for his brother’s change: war wolves. Terrifying ancient beasts who consume the hearts of those broken by grief. The wolves have followed soldiers back home from the front.
And if Charlie truly wants to save Theo, he’s going to have to find them and get his brother’s heart back. But can a heart that’s been eaten ever be replaced?”
This was an interesting way to explain PTSD through a bit of fantasy or even horror. An adult read alike would be The Living and The Lost.
Title: We Met Like This
Author: Kasie West
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Saturday Books, 9/16/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars, Rounded up to 4 Stars
Margot is an aspiring literary agent who wants to experience a “real” meet cute – and not to meet a love interest through apps. After a previous bad date and a hook up, she rematches with Oliver. Once they begin to get to know each other again, things are looking up. But then he tries to tell her something about his past, she doesn’t let him, and she gets mad when she finds out! This made me want to yell at her.
“Margot Hart is a hopeless romantic. That’s why she wants to be a literary agent―to help bring romance books to the world. It’s also why she hates dating apps with all her romance loving soul. She wants her own love story to be just as much fun as the books she reads―a mixed up coffee order, a mistaken identity. She’s not going to tell the story that she swiped right on future husband’s shirtless pic for the rest of her life. The problem is that her most consistent relationship over the last several years is with Oliver, a guy she keeps rematching with on the apps. They’ve only been on one date and it was a disaster…well, until the make out session in the car before parting ways. But, she keeps reminding herself, a make out session does not a relationship make. And so there will not be a date two regardless of how witty their app banter is. When Margot gets fired from her job on the same day she meets Oliver again, her life becomes a veritable shit show. Her dream career is dying right before her eyes, and Oliver thinks she’s interested in only one thing: a repeat of the hot make out session they had three years ago so she can get him out of her system. And maybe that is all she wants from him, because she and Oliver are definitely not compatible―he doesn’t hit the snooze button, he runs five miles every morning, he reads nonfiction, and worst of all, she didn’t meet him in cute way! But in her scramble to keep her dream career alive, by opening her own agency, Oliver is there with his golden retriever energy, more steady and helpful than any man she’s ever dated. Just when she thinks she’s overcome her app bias, she realizes that maybe it’s not her who’s holding back, but him. And his reasons are more than she bargained for.”
There were a lot of things working against Margot and her goals in this book including her sister and her boss. Oliver was so supportive, so it annoyed me when Margot got mad at him for not telling her something that he’d tried to tell her. I liked the background story of Margot’s work as a literary agent. I wondered why there were lemons on the cover!
Title: The Disengaged Teen
Author: Jenny Anderson & Rebecca Winthrop
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Crown, 1/7/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This book is about how kids do better at school when they are engaged. The book discusses the different modes of learning and how to engage with kids in each group.
“Adolescents are hardwired to explore and grow, and learning is mainly how they do this. But a shocking majority of teens are disengaged from school, simultaneously bored and overwhelmed. This is feeding an alarming teen mental health crisis. As kids get older and more independent, parents often feel powerless to help. But fear not, there are evidence-backed strategies to guide them from disengagement to drive, in and out of school. For the past five years, award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson and the Brookings Institution’s global education expert Rebecca Winthrop have been investigating why so many children lose their love of learning in adolescence. Now, weaving extensive original research with real-world stories of kids who transformed their relationships with learning, they identify four modes of learning that students use to navigate through the shifting academic demands and social dynamics of middle and high school, shaping the internal narratives about their skills, potential, and identity:
• Resister. When kids resist, they struggle silently with profound feelings of inadequacy or invisibility, which they communicate by ignoring homework, playing sick, skipping class, or acting out.
• Passenger. When kids coast along, consistently doing the bare minimum and complaining that classes are pointless. They need help connecting school to their skills, interests, or learning needs.
• Achiever. When kids show up, do the work, and get consistently high grades, their self-worth can become tied to high performance. Their disengagement is invisible, fueling a fear of failure and putting them at risk for mental health challenges.
• Explorer. When kids are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.
Understanding your child’s learning modes is vital for nurturing their ability to become Explorers. Anderson and Winthrop outline simple yet counterintuitive parenting strategies for connecting with your child, tailoring your listening and communication styles to their needs, igniting their curiosity, and building self-awareness and emotional regulation.”
I appreciated a lot of the information in the first part of the book, as I tried to place each of my kids into the given categories. I appreciated the advice about how to talk to your kids about their schoolwork without nagging them, which is something I know I do and I know is not helpful!
Title: Root Magic
Author: Eden Royce
Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction
Publisher: Harper Audio, 1/5/21
Source: Publisher – Print, Library – Audio
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 3 Stars
Root Magic takes place in South Carolina and is about the Gullah people. Twins Jezebel and Jay are learning their family healing traditions from their uncle. They experience a lot of push back about their practice, both from white people and other Black people.
“It’s 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven— and their uncle, Doc, tells them he’s going to train them in rootwork. Jez and Jay have always been fascinated by the African American folk magic that has been the legacy of their family for generations—especially the curious potions and powders Doc and Gran would make for the people on their island. But Jez soon finds out that her family’s true power goes far beyond small charms and elixirs…and not a moment too soon. Because when evil both natural and supernatural comes to show itself in town, it’s going to take every bit of the magic she has inside her to see her through.”
This story contained a good deal of the supernatural and fantasy elements. I found it a bit long, but I liked learning about rootwork. An adult read alike would be Conjure Women.
Title: The Carb Reset
Author: Harley Pasternak
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Rodale Books, 8/19/25
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Every so often I will read a book about dieting and get motivated again to try to lose weight. The one and only time I succeeded was with an expensive diet of supplements, and since returning to regular food, I’ve gained back all of that weight. Aside from diets like that, most dieting advice is the same – eat what you want, but with balance and restraint. The book stresses that you don’t have to give up carbs, but instead should eat with portion control and the right amounts of each food type.
“Harley Pasternak has worked with the biggest stars in Hollywood, whipping celebrities into shape for roles and the red carpet. His secret to helping these A-listers may seem counterintuitive, but the proof is in the results: fasting, detoxes, and carb-avoidance don’t work. Losing weight and looking sculpted require a specific proportion of all macronutrients, including the much-maligned and vilified carbohydrate. Yes, you read that right: Lean and healthy people really do eat pasta! The Carb Reset expertly cuts through the noise of toxic diet culture to help reset your relationship to the foods you love but have perhaps been avoiding. Pasternak details why bread, pasta, rice, and fruit should be a part of every healthy meal. He lays out the right combination and quantity of nutrients that speed fat loss, reduce fat storage, and improve your hormonal balance. The secret is quite literally in your hands, thanks to Pasternak’s ingenious and easy-to-remember PATH acronym: a Palm of carbohydrates, All the vegetables, a Thumb of fat, and a Hand of protein.
The Carb Reset also includes clear explanations of the proven science around how and why your body stores and burns fat , 50 quick-cook recipes, most of which require as little as five minutes of preparation, two weeks of meal plans with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free swaps and an ‘add a treat a week’ strategy to work in your favorite dessert or snack.”
So yes, you can eat carbs, but make sure they’re whole grain. I appreciated the easy way of remembering how much of each food type you should eat in each meal, which is based on your hand – a palm of carbs, all the vegetables, a thumb of fat, and a hand of protein. I also appreciated the food lists and recipes included at the end of this short book.
Title: The Sisters of Auschwitz
Author: Roxane Van Iperen
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Harper Audio, 8/31/21
Source: Publisher – Print, Library – Audio
Why I Read It: Backlist
My Rating: 4 Stars
The Sisters of Auschwitz follows Dutch sisters Janny and Lien Brilleslijper as they join the resistance and save lives by hiding people in a hidden house called the High Nest. Their eventual betrayal has them sent to Auschwitz, along with another famous pair of Dutch sisters, the Franks.
“Eight months after Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Nazis roll into The Netherlands, expanding their reign of brutality to the Dutch. But by the Winter of 1943, resistance is growing. Among those fighting their brutal Nazi occupiers are two Jewish sisters, Janny and Lien Brilleslijper from Amsterdam. Risking arrest and death, the sisters help save others, sheltering them in a clandestine safehouse in the woods, they called ‘The High Nest.’ This secret refuge would become one of the most important Jewish safehouses in the country, serving as a hiding place and underground center for resistance partisans as well as artists condemned by Hitler. From The High Nest, an underground web of artists arises, giving hope and light to those living in terror in Holland as they begin to restore the dazzling pre-war life of Amsterdam and The Hague. When the house and its occupants are eventually betrayed, the most terrifying time of the sisters’ lives begins. As Allied troops close in, the Brilleslijper family are rushed onto the last train to Auschwitz, along with Anne Frank and her family. The journey will bring Janny and Lien close to Anne and her older sister Margot. The days ahead will test the sisters beyond human imagination as they are stripped of everything but their courage, their resilience, and their love for each other.”
I found the story of the sisters to be quite interesting, and on audio I felt that it read like fiction, although it is non fiction. I did see some reviews accusing it of being too text book like. The author definitely did her research. One of the most interesting facts about the sisters is that they knew Anne and Margot Frank and were able to provide information about their fate to Mr. Frank after the war. I do have a point of concern on the title, as most of the book does not take place in Auschwitz. In fact, it seems that the original Dutch title was the more appropriate “The High Nest.”
This post includes 6 of the books I read this month. Three were print books and three were audio. Four of these were adult books and two were middle grade. Genres included historical, rom com, and non fiction.
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?
