I read 23 books in November and I had some unpopular opinions 🫠 [November Wrap Up]

And this book just had the perfect combination of things for me because I'm not always the biggest fan of like slashers in books. But this slasher was written so well.

I just really loved their chemistry in this. I really connected to both of the characters and I also really loved all of the discussions about them writing, you know, because I always talk about how much I love reading about writers in my books and this one was no different.

I think I once described this book as like Mean Girls meets Stephen King but like on acid and I still think that's the case. Like I still think that's a perfect way to describe this book.

Because if you didn't know, CJ Drews is the author of Don't Let the Forest In, aka my number one favorite book that I've read in the year of 2025.

I also ended up dnfing Great Disasters almost right away because I found the writing in this to be so pretentious.

I mean, the writing in this was absolutely gorgeous. Don't get me wrong. Like I think CJ Drews is an incredible writer in terms of like being able to build atmosphere and I could really like imagine things with all of my senses.

And the only reason why I gave it four stars instead of five stars is because the ending was a little bit of a let down for me. Like I just thought the ending I wanted it to go in a different direction, but otherwise this was a really fast read, really engaging, and I really like this one a lot.

But, for the most part, I really did enjoy this book because I really liked both of these characters a lot and I really liked how unique and diverse both of these characters stories were.

There was a lot about this ending that I really loved. Like the last 50 to 100 pages of this are so good and so intense.

I also ended up dnfing Little Eyes. This is for a similar reason. I just really didn't like the writing style very much in this one.

You know, I wanted to read this book for the book troop because I really enjoyed Love Letters to a Serial Killer by this author. But I feel like for me, this book was really like missing the magic and like the weirdness from that book.

I felt like all of the characters just felt so one-dimensional to me and the writing itself just got so repetitive with like how often she would bring up her fianceé and her best friend. But I will say there was a twist at the end of this book that I personally did not see coming that I was really shocked by.

There's just something so cute and so wholesome about both of these characters in this series. It was just making me smile most of the time while I was reading it.

There's just something so cute and so wholesome about both of these characters in this series. It was just making me smile most of the time while I was reading it.

But the premise of this book I just thought was a little bit ridiculous. And I had trouble getting invested in the story because of that.

And this one was just a lot for me because it felt like it was so inspired by Taylor and Travis that it really took me out of the story and I really couldn't get into this one, but I might come back to it at some point.

I feel like I've always given him like three stars or lower, but I sadly wasn't the biggest fan of this one because it just felt a little bit too fantasy for me and I was getting really bored and really lost. I mean, what I do like about this story, I thought the first like 50 to 100ish pages of this story were really gripping because we're following this young boy named Apollo.

And I feel like the ending of this book was also like a massive disappointment because there was nothing shocking about the ending of this. All of it was just so predictable and it was so obvious what was happening.

This is a book that I do think is really cool and really impressive and really like different for Stephen King because I do enjoy when he ventures more into like the sci-fi territory as opposed to just horror.

It was just a really interesting character to follow in a situation like this. But I feel like the reason why I only gave it three and a half stars is because the ending of this book was just a little bit abrupt.

But, this was a really great time. I ended up giving this one four stars. And I actually wish Stephen King would write more novelas like this because I thought this had the perfect amount of like creepiness and it was unsettling and it was just so fun to read.

And I gave this one four and a half stars. It's definitely a new favorite of mine from Stephen King, and that feels amazing.

This is actually my third book from this author. I've read everything that she's published so far. And this one, I'm so happy to let you know, is my new favorite from this author.

I've seen a lot of people compare this to like Thursday Murder Club as well, which I do see the comparison even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Thursday Murder Club myself, but I do think if you enjoyed Thursday Murder Club, then you should absolutely check out this one.

The writing in this book just felt so dull immediately from the beginning, and I feel like we're following so many characters, and like I don't care about any of them in this, which is so shocking.

But I feel like this story just did a lot of like overexplaining and the chapters were just so long and like parts of this book would just go on and on and on and on forever. This book did have one element that I was like really invested in. But for the most part, this was just such a disappointment because it was so boring.

And this book was just so good. It was so incredible. I feel like this author did such a great job of like fleshing out these characters and like really making you care.

Like this definitely reminded me a lot of Wild by Cheryl Strade, which is like one of my favorite books of all time. And that book really like sparked something in me for like wanting to go out into the wilderness more.