#iamthankful for BOOKS! (Or what I read in November)

Hard to believe we have just completed the eleventh month of 2025 and there remains just one month between us and a new year. So much has happened since this time last year, so much that was unforeseen (like my mom dying), and it makes me stop and wonder what I'll be saying at this time next year. Will I be adjusting to the loss of another family member? Will I be down to just three kids remaining in our house? Will I still be proofreading and trying to hit reading goals? Only time will tell, but what I know for sure is this...no matter what, God is good.

This was the first Thanksgiving without my mom being around, and we knew it would be different, but it was still good. We headed up to Virginia to spend the holiday with two of my siblings, a nephew and his family, my dad, and some family friends. In a year with so many changes, it was helpful to be somewhere entirely new. 

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

After our family time, we continued north, taking our school-aged kids to Williamsburg and Jamestown to enjoy the Christmas festivities. What that meant was that by the time Thanksgiving week rolled around, I was pretty much done with all of my reading for the month, but here's what I managed to sneak in around packing 146 Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes, visiting family, and exploring history with our kids.

1. The Spectre of Hawthorne Manor (Homefront Sleuths #2) by Anna Elliott & Charles Veley - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Let me just say that book 2 in this series did not disappoint. While there are some weak spots (Harry continually tripping up right before an attack comes to mind, or dangling plot lines - like what happened to the housekeeper?), this book proves that the series definitely has a lot of potential and I appreciate the lack of crude language or unnecessary lusty bits. They leave it on a nice cliff hanger, while still tying up the story for this book (reminds me a bit of the old Nancy Drew stories, honestly). The writing isn't at the level of Agatha Christie, but it's a really nice group of characters in a lovely little English village, fighting evil and figuring out life in a world continually changing due to the war. Four stars. {Amazon Associates Link - FREE with Kindle Unlimited, or $3.99 to buy}
2. The Spitfire Murders (Homefront Sleuths #3) by Anna Elliott & Charles Veley - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another really nice addition to the series from Elliott and Veley, complete with character growth and historically-based plots. And I will add, again, that the series continues in the vein of a more grown up version of Nancy Drew, with a cohort of friends swooping in at the last minute to save the day. There were a couple of typos or plot details that were wonky (like, one minute the two hostages are bound and gagged, and the next minute they're no longer gagged), but overall, it was an enjoyable, easy read. The more I read these books the more I am sucked in, and luckily for me...they are writing and publishing the next books quickly. Four stars. {Amazon Associates Link}
   
3. The Judas Monk Murders (Homefront Sleuths #3) by Anna Elliott & Charles Veley - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ This series keeps improving with each book. The writing gets better, the plots become more detailed without becoming cluttered, the characters are developing at an appropriate pace, all in all, enjoyable writing. I will say that there are some plot lines that have not been a surprise...certain people turning up, for example. You can see where they're headed before you get there, but it hasn't made the stories any less enjoyable. Clean, lacking the sensationalism or modern (woke) twists that so many of these types of series have now, which is refreshing. This is the series I've been looking for for a while, just a bit of cozy British mystery, with a hint of romance, but not enough to really distract from the primary plot of the story. I almost gave this one five stars, but I reserve that for the very best of books and writing. But...for a clean, cozy mystery...five stars. {Amazon Associates Link}

Only three books, but I thoroughly enjoyed them all and am about 50% of the way through the next book in the series, and recommended it to a friend over Thanksgiving as well. I still have a few books to go before I hit my (lowered) goal for the year, but I have every confidence that it will happen before the 31st. In the meantime, Happy December, Merry Christmas, and I'll see you in January with a review of what I read this month and my favorite books of 2025, along with some reading goals for 2026. 🎄📚🎯