I have mixed feelings about it already being November. lol. On the one hand, I’m excited about the holidays being right around the corner and our trip to Europe being only one month away. On the other hand, how is this year almost over? I’m going to cope with my absolute bafflement about how quickly 2026 disappeared by starting to decorate for Christmas ASAP. 🤣 I got a new tree this year that is a cat tree that turns into a Christmas tree. I’m hoping it will survive our five fur babies better than a regular tree, but we’ll see. I’ll keep you all posted. Without further ado, let’s dive into my November 2026 hopefuls and a brief recap of my reading from last month!

Recap of Last Month

The month of October was far from my most robust reading month, especially whenever it came to my priority reads. I only managed to read three out of my six priority reads and one of my other hopefuls. I think that I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump. However, it isn’t because I’m reading books I don’t enjoy. I just haven’t much been in the mood to sit and read at all. I’ve still been mostly focused on trying to get our construction projects done before winter sets in and doing odd jobs around the house, like washing the exterior and painting the office. I’ve also been enjoying the autumn weather by attending different outdoor markets and fall festivals. My wife and I went to an orchard and corn maze, as well, and celebrated Halloween with a weekend away to see the parade in Galena, IL. This meant pretty much all of my October weekends were booked with fun activities, which left little to no time for reading. I did finish reading some stuff, though. So, let’s jump into my reading recap! As a reminder, here were my priority reads for last month, along with my rating for the ones I read:

• The Two Wills by Blair Fell (NOT READ)
• Scorpion Deep by CG Drews (4.75⭐)
• Backwoods Banshee by David R. Slayton (RTC)
• Chateau Reverie by Natasha Siegel (NOT READ)
• The Darkness Bites Back by Laura R. Samotin & Ben Alderson (3.25⭐)
• The Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky (NOT READ)

I also finished some other books in October for a total of 10 books, 3602 pages, and a tentative average rating of 4.14 stars, which could change a little once I settle on a rating for the last book I finished. Fantasy stayed the top genre spot again this month, and the books I chose to read were super gay, as usual. Here’s a quick look at everything I read along with some stats from StoryGraph:

I also thought it would be fun to share some photos from all of the fun things I’ve done in October. So, here’s a gallery of some of the highlights, including the corn maze, Halloween parade, Thunder Bay Falls, and the Mississippi Palisades State Park:

November 2026 Priority Hopefuls

I’m sticking with six books again for my priority reads, including three holdovers from last month. All of them are once again ARCs, The Two Wills by Blair Fell, The Meridian Forge by Tara Sim, The Trial of Magdalena Overmorrow by Caitriona Moran, Chateau Reverie by Natasha Siegel, This Wild Wanting by Sophie Gonzales, & The Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky. Hopefully I can knock all of these out before the end of the month because I really don’t want to get too behind on ARCs again…

Other November 2026 Hopefuls

Since all of my priority reads are ARCs again this month, I think I’m going to stick with stacking my other hopefuls with some relatively recent releases I haven’t been able to pick up yet. With that in mind, here are all of my other November hopefuls:

The Weight of Angels by John Boyne, The Last King of Faerie by Cassandra Clare, Mark of the Warrior by Shannon Lee & Fonda Lee, Half City by Kate Golden

Well. Those are my November 2026 hopefuls. I’d love to read everything listed on this page, but that is unlikely. If I make it through six of them, I’ll consider November to be a success! Do we have any hopefuls in common this month? Happy reading!