Words of November || Wrap-up

I'm writing this post in Goa because I'm currently on a fairly long workcation with my friends. We're taking each day slow—relaxing, spending lots of time together, playing games, and working in different schedules.

I don't usually blog on my trips. I always try to write them before or after and it works out because my trips are usually short. This one rivals the length of my Japan trip because of a last-minute extension 😂 But because I'm writing this while on vacation, the things on my mind are also different. I feel much more relaxed and not worried about doing things by a certain date.

Grab your favourite drink and settle down, let's find out if this post is any different due to my current setting and mood ☕️

books 📚

I finished my 2025 reading goal! I aimed for 100 books and it's currently well past that. I was already at 99 books at the end of October so I completed the goal soon into November and kept going.

I read a whopping 16 books in November which tracks because I was in a much slower and cozier mood. 14 ebooks, 1 paperback, and 1 audiobook. 7 romances, 1 non-fiction, 1 contemporary fiction, and 7 fantasies. I forgot about "non-fiction November" until halfway into the month so I only read a short one that was on my TBR.

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree was the first book I finished. I got it as an audiobook on Libro.fm. I expected another cosy book about a bookstore owner because it started that way. It very quickly turned into an adventure book, which was surprising and entertaining. I listened to it while painting or cleaning. It was good... but not good. The main character was not that interesting to follow. The goblin and Elder blades were my favourite—I wish the book was about the goblin instead. After the incredible journey in the book, the epilogue was not satisfactory at all. I considered writing a full review of this but procrastinated for weeks and now I don't remember the details so I won't.

By The Letter by Julia Wolf was very cute. The beginning was not executed well but the story became great from the 2nd chapter. The shy, socially anxious FMC (female main character) and the bull-headed, sometimes foolish MMC (male main character) made a great opposites-attract story. The bond between the male lead and his brothers was so nice. I loved the cameos of my favourite Julia Wolf couple from P.S. You're Intolerable. I found it interesting how the author makes series and the leads are related to people who are leads in other series. The author doesn't seem to make series about siblings, instead making it about friend groups that sometimes intersect. I liked it.

In The Details by Julia Wolf precedes By The Letter. I was intrigued by the couple's cameos so I gave their story a shot. It wasn't my thing, though. The story's beginning was not good (a theme with this series?). I wasn't taken with any of characters in this book. I think I preferred just glimpses of them after their story. Meh.

To The Chase by Julia Wolf is the 3rd/last book in the series. I knew I wanted to read this because there were quite a few incidents in the first two books that set the scene for this story. I expected this one to be much more chaotic and hilarious because of those snippets but it was much toned down here. It was really nice to see the FMC bonding with the MMC's family and not being alone anymore. I wasn't fond of a few things in the romance but it was okay. It was a good book but By The Letter is still the best in this series.

Art Matters by Neil Gaiman with Chris Riddle was my token non-fiction read of the month. Despite the title aptly describing what the book is about, the book wasn't what I expected. It was more like a compilation of short drawings and quotes that were posted online by the author and artist. It was a quick read and I didn't take anything away from it. Don't get me wrong: it had good things. But not anything new or presented in a way that stands out. I was a bit disappointed.

Jump on Three by Julia Wolf. Returned to Julia Wolf's books through Kindle Unlimited recommendations. This was really cute. I loved the pairing. I loved reading about the MMC basically simping over the FMC and removing anything that makes her unhappy whenever he sees it. I especially loved her friendship with the MMC's boss—it was funny and nice. I tried reading the first book in this series and hated the characters so much that I DNFed it. Only Jump of Three's characters are good, it looks like.

Stone Cold Notes by Julia Wolf. After pretty much hating every rockstar romance I've read, maybe I'd like one by this author? I gave this a shot and... nope. I still hate rockstar romances. I am not a fan of how the author glorifies/romanticises MMCs stalking FMCs with the reasoning that "he loves her but can't be with her". No, thank you.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This was my third reread and I read it much slower this time. Since I've read and loved it twice, a lot of the story is already on my mind even though it's been almost 2 years since the last read. I kept remembering what happens later due to certain things or how things would change so this read was much more melancholy than the first 2. If I were in the characters' positions, I'd still go through it all again, despite the pain. No wonder I love their story so much.

Better Daddy by Brittanée Nicole, Jenni Bara. This came up on Kindle Unlimited recommendations when I was looking at another book. The series name "The Dad Coms" caught my eye and the synopsis looked interesting so I picked it up. I was looking forward to the comedy aspect. The story about a married couple reconciling on the verge of divorce was nice to read. I didn't get about half of the humour because the jokes has references to things that must have taken place in different books so that was disappointing. Overall, an okay book. Fairly entertaining but not memorable.

A reader mentioned in their Amazon review of Better Daddy that they prefer The Mom Coms series so I decided to try it. I picked up the first book Mother Faker by Brittanée Nicole. Like that reviewer, I liked this more too. The moms-who-are-besties & their kids house was chaotic and fun to read about. The MMC seems immature in the beginning but he really steps up as the book progresses and makes a difference in the house. I liked that he joined the brood instead of taking the FMC away from her friends. Although I enjoyed this book, it wasn't enough to continue with the series.

I needed to get away from romance books for a while so I picked up a book that has been on my TBR for a few months. Kimberli hyped this up so much that I had to pick it up. When The Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer is a really cool story about a girl who lives dual lives in different times. When she sleeps in one time, she wakes up in another until her 21st birthday when she has to choose one to stay in. I struggled to get into it until 30% but after that I couldn't stay away. It was a great read. I guessed the twist at the end but I still loved it when it came.

Since I loved it so much, of course I had to immediately pick up the next book. In The Moment by Gabrielle Meyer follows the daughter of the leads of the first book. She has three paths so it was a bit different. I struggled with the beginning of this too but I knew that it would pay off so I stuck with it, and it did. It was great read but I preferred book 1 more. Keep in mind: I read this during my trip because it was so good.

The end of book 2 set up book 3 and I was super excited to read it, so I started it immediately. For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer is about twins who time travel together. One of the paths is set during the Salem Witch Trials which I've heard of but didn't know so I learnt about it in this book. I still don't understand how it became so bad but I guess I get it a bit? I used any free time in my trip to read it, eventually staying up until 3:30 am one night to finish it with focus. The character growth in this was really nice. The twist about one of their mothers actually surprised me. The end set up another story (I hoped it was for the 4th book but seems like we will get glimpses of it only via other stories).

The time to get into the story is reducing with each book. I barely felt it in the 4th book, Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer. I really liked how the MC was trying to find out something and it took her through things in both her timelines. This is the first time both the paths complimented each other instead of being wildly different. The piracy plot was interesting and the other path felt like a supporting character. I was glad to get a good glimpse of what I was interested in at the end of book 3.

Every Hour Until Then by Gabrielle Meyer is mainly focused on the story of Jack the Ripper. I've heard of him via pop culture but I didn't know what the story was so the plot was new to me. After learning that her sister will be a victim, the lead tries to find the killer's identity and stop it from happening. It read like a murder mystery and was pretty interesting. I wasn't a fan of the romance, though.

Through Each Tomorrow by Gabrielle Meyer is the 6th book in the series and one of the leads is a supporting character from book 1. Similar to book 3, this follows two characters and the times are split so each character's POV is always the same timeline. This story felt a bit too chaotic for no reason. Suddenly, there are several time-crossers abound. The author is trying to tie up loose ends from other stories (this book features 3 characters who were supporting/mentioned in the previous books) and the plot didn't feel as well passionate or thought-out like the others. Now, gotta wait sfor the last book until May 2026 ;(

Overall, a good amount of reading in November. Fairly good books too. I DNFed a bunch but I will count them as "good" because I DNFed them quickly.

writing

My biggest writing achievement in November, and probably 2025, is my Japan trip log. It is a super detailed trip log totaling 24k words and 105 images. I didn't even write everything that I meant to but I don't mind cutting those random details and thought wanders off. The post has enough. It's big enough to be a novella!

I had written my longest post (until November) earlier in 2025 and I didn't think I'd top that any time soon. The Japan trip log post overtook it and went much more ahead. I definitely think I won't write the next longest post any time soon. The bar is so high and I don't even want to cross it. Writing that post took so much from me. I wrote for 14-15 days and it wrung out all the words I had.

After writing that post, when I wrote 5 Non-fiction Books to Boost Your Creativity, I felt like the post was tiny. My average is so far out there now. 1.6k is actually a lot, compared to a lot of blog posts. It was already on the lower side of my average and now I don't even know what my average is.

The rest of my posts will still be around the same length as usual. Some of you may love to hear more from me but if I write that much, I think I will start writing lesser posts. That amount of writing, over and over, will be tiring. I've been doing fairly well with posting once every 8 days but now that I'm writing more and more, it's feeling short too.

After 2025, I will probably not keep a blogging schedule or I will reduce it. Maybe I'll post every 10 days i.e. 3 posts a month. Or I'll post on specific days but only 3 times a month. I'm not sure about the cadence yet but I am high-key considering reducing it. I'm afraid that if I decide to not have a schedule and write whenever I want to, I won't end up posting much 😂 My life is getting busier, there are other things I want to do with my time, and I write too much per post.

The only reason I don't want to reduce the cadence is because I'll have to be more choosy about what I write about. Will I end up de-prioritising book reviews (which, to be fair, I've already done in the past few months). Or maybe I'll stop writing these monthly wrap-ups (although they're one of my favs and easy to write). Maybe I'll finally prioritise the big posts on my ideas list because I'll have more time to write them. We'll see. I'm not sure yet.

It's interesting how having this blog seems to automatically elevate people's perception of me. It's happened enough times recently. I meet new people and we're cordial until they see this blog. Suddenly, they're super impressed and friendly. The switch is a bit too quick. It's led me to think about what this blog adds to my identity. I always consider it as a hobby like any other but looks like it adds a lot. Maybe because of the effort and thought it takes? The change in impression and behavior is noticeable enough that I have to record it here 😂

However, despite all the posts that I've written in the last few years, my annotation guide still steals the thunder in terms of popularity and response. Someone bought me 10 coffees in appreciation of that post in November! I was considering removing all the "buy me a coffee" links from the blog because it was kinda dead. If they're removed, Jetpack won't categorise this as a commercial site too and I'll get the Jetpack stats back. But it looks like I'll keep with it a bit longer lol.

content consumed

I did not read any blog posts this month which is kinda sad. I didn't reply to any blog comments either (I will get to it soon!). Whenever I had time, I was either furiously blogging or reading books. I did binge-watch a few things though 📺

• The Bureau of Magical Things Seasons 1 and 2. I really liked this show! The first season was homely and comforting to watch. I liked that it was low-stakes and each episode followed a small task or problem. Season 2 mostly followed a central plot with some side plots and added a bunch of characters. I liked Season 1 better though. Season 2's hairstyles sucked and there were too many changes for no reason. The writing or settings weren't great too. The ending wasn't satisfactory either. I really wanted a scene where the main character tells her dad about her magic but that was skipped completely and not even referred to.
• I watched Twinkling Watermelon almost immediately after it was added on Netflix. My friend had praised it a while ago so I knew it would be good. The beginning confused me but once the plot was setup, it became really good. I loved how the story showed that parents have their own lives and have gotten through problems to become parents. We often don't think of parents as having lives outside of us so the lead learning about his parents was lovely.

life

The main thing in November was my trip at the end. One of my friends from my previous job was getting married so a few of us went down to Mangaluru to attend the wedding festivities. Then, 4 of us headed to Goa (2 days in South Goa then 3 days in North Goa).

It was supposed to end there but my mom was suddenly very very superstitious and flat-out told me not to arrive home on the 9th day since my departure. It's a widely believed superstition in my people that returning on the 9th day will cause something bad to happen which will send you back to where you visited. I don't believe in it but I didn't win the argument with my mom. I told my friends and we decided to extend the trip a bit. So, after North Goa, we went to Amboli for a couple of days.

The trip was mostly a workcation. I had suggested that we do a chill workcation mainly to use up my work-from-anywhere weeks. I also didn't have so many PTO days available. We didn't do a lot of sightseeing—mainly worked and relaxed in cafes or restaurants. We dressed well and ate good food. One friend got a lot of driving practice (South Goa is actually a great place to learn to drive). I read a bunch too.

I hadn't met these friends from my previous job in months so I loved hanging out with them for an extended period of time. I'm usually just very relaxed around this group—I'm not the brain like in the Japan trip group—so this was a true vacation. I barely paid, I planned very few things, and I just went with whatever they said. It was a lovely time.

chat with me!

How was your November? How are you planning to spend December—with family, with a good vacation, or with lots. of festivities? Tell me in the comments!