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Review: I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Mariama J. Lockington

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I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Mariama J. Lockington

I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Mariama J. Lockington
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published October 14, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

When snow falls, sparks fly in this irresistible queer romance from Schneider Family Book Award and Stonewall Honor winner Mariama J. Lockington—for fans of She Gets the Girl and Jennifer Dugan.

High school senior Lyric has always found Christmas to be the hardest season. While other kids got presents and family time by the fire, she was in and out of foster care. An up-and-coming make-up influencer and aspiring cosmetology student who loves a bold lip, Lyric definitely isn’t looking for romance—not when opening up to someone feels a lot like asking to get hurt.

Christmas is Juniper’s favorite time of year. At least, it was, until her moms’ separation. They’re back together now, and Juniper hopes they’ll stay that way. Because if they’re happy, that means Juniper can leave for her gap-year trip after graduation (the one she has yet to tell her parents about, and can’t really afford without their help).

When a chance meeting brings these two opposite personalities together, they should clash . . . only they don’t. Instead Lyric strikes a deal with Juniper: pose as her fake girlfriend in a series of holiday-themed social media posts and they can split the money from her beauty sponsorships. But soon the lines between what’s real and what’s not start to blur. Could it be that sparks are flying both in front of the camera and behind it?

Told from dual perspectives, one in prose and one in verse, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm is a cozy and modern love story from acclaimed author Mariama J. Lockington that’s perfect for the winter holidays or all year round.

My Review

This festive holiday romance hit all the right notes to start my Christmas season. I love the contrast between Lyric and Juniper as characters. Lyric is closed off and has difficulty trusting others, but she takes great care of her grandmother and works hard at her online beauty-influencer gig, saving money for her future. Juniper is sweet and more down-to-earth, though she’s quiet and reserved. She loves the holidays and romance. Her chapters appear in verse, which supports the romantic feel of her character.

Both girls have painful elements in their pasts that they don’t really want to talk about or acknowledge. For Lyric, it’s her history with her mom, who’s unwell and living unhoused. Juniper’s moms have recently reunited after a troubled relationship and separation. Both have dreams for the future that they’re not sure their families will support.

The girls begin fake dating because their photos and videos gain a lot of clicks on Lyric’s social media, generating some new sponsorship opportunities and income for both of them. They keep insisting they’re just friends and business partners, but sparks will not stop flying when they’re together, and it seems like everyone sees the relationship possibilities before they do.

I really like the balance of characters calling out issues with the main characters and the characters realizing things for themselves. Lockington leaves plenty of room for Lyric and Juniper to come to their own conclusions, but also shows the value of supportive relationships for helping us realize when we’ve missed the mark.

This is the first of Mariama J. Lockington’s books that I’ve read, but she’s won some huge awards for her other work in middle grade and young adult fiction. I’ll definitely be adding more of her books to my reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to sex. (Not shown on scene.)

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Lyric recalls a time when she was a small child, and she had a high fever and a seizure. Some of the things her mom did to try to address the fever don’t align with current medical advice. References to anger outbursts when Lyric was younger. In one scene, someone punches a locker and regrets it.

Drug Content
An adult references a time she got in trouble because unbeknownst to her, her date was selling drugs, got caught, and got her in trouble, too. Teenagers sipped vodka from a flask before entering a school dance. (Happens off-scene.) In one scene, two teen girls swipe alcohol from a parent’s liquor supplies and get drunk. They have a rough time the next day.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow by Kendall Kulper

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A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow
Kendall Kulper
Holiday House
Published November 4, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow

A time-bending love story between a prickly young woman and a carefree stranger, who are tasked with saving the universe—after accidentally destroying it in the first place.

Genevieve Newhouse and Ash Hargreaves weren’t supposed to meet like this. Unless it was always meant to be . . .

Gen is a fastidious science prodigy with a chip on her shoulder, and she can turn herself invisible.

Happy-go-lucky Ash has just escaped a sheltered (read: cultish) childhood, and he can manipulate time.

The gifted eighteen-year-olds cross paths at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair, where Genevieve’s experimental physics project causes an apocalyptic explosion. Ash tries to avert catastrophe by gallantly rewinding time a few minutes, but instead, he transports them back to 1893. The duo finds themselves trapped in an unfamiliar, unwelcoming era, with no idea how to return to their own time—or if their own time even exists. Their cataclysmic leap across decades might have destroyed the world as they know it . . .

Fate and free will intertwine in this page-turning historical romance that sets two irresistible strangers down a chaotic, potentially apocalyptic path. “Will they or won’t they” takes on a whole new meaning as Gen and Ash fight for survival while falling in love.

Hand to fans of Immortal Longings and Anatomy: A Love Story, and don’t miss companion novels Murder for the Modern Girl and A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

My Review

I read The Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife by Kendall Kulper, which is about Genevieve’s sister Henny, two years ago, so I was excited to read this companion novel. The historical setting has the same noir feel as the other book, which I love. Most of the story takes place in Chicago in 1893, in and around the World’s Fair.

The chapters alternate from Genevieve and Ash’s perspectives, and I enjoyed both characters. I like that she is the scientist and he is the romantic, people-oriented person in the partnership. It would have been easy to write the characters the opposite way, and I like that Kulper challenged some gender expectations with these characters. Genevieve also finds a talented Black woman in 1893 who mentors her. That created some opportunities for the narrative to note the ways that misogyny didn’t only affect white women, but also women of color.

The pacing in the last quarter of the book felt so fast to me. I loved how quickly things unfolded, though I think I lost the thread of the character arcs for both Genevieve and Ash as they prepared for their big move to save the world and un-pretzel the timeline.

Despite that, I had a lot of fun reading this book. I didn’t realize that Genevieve and Henny’s older sister, Ruby, has her own novel: Murder for the Modern Girl. So I’m definitely adding that one to my reading list.

Definitely check out Kulper’s books if you enjoy a good historical novel with a bit of magical realism or fantasy elements.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have supernatural abilities, like traveling through time and turning invisible. At the beginning of the story, one character lives in a highly controlling religious cult community.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Two scenes include a person nearly falling to their death. Two scenes include someone nearly drowning. One person dies in the water. Someone collapses with some kind of apparent medical crisis. Reference to death in a fire (not shown on scene).

Misogynistic and racist characters restrict the ability of talented women and people of color to participate in the science field and/or receive credit for their work. References to the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 and the Indigenous people and people of color incarcerated at the fairgrounds as part of an exhibit. The narrative also acknowledges the fact that certain cultures and people groups were excluded from exhibits on progress and science.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

MMGM Review: Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina

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Graciela in the Abyss
Meg Medina
Candlewick Press
Published July 1, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Graciela in the Abyss

“A thrilling, action-packed journey filled with heart, bravery, and ghostly exploits.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A sea ghost, a mortal boy, and a dangerous enchanted harpoon . . . A Newbery Medalist takes us far beneath the waves in this extraordinary foray into fantasy.

In the deepest recesses of the ocean, Graciela—once an ordinary girl—now makes sea glass and assists her friend, Amina, as she welcomes newly awakened sea ghosts from their death sleep. Though Graciela’s spirit is young, she has lived at the bottom of the ocean for more than a hundred years. Meanwhile, in the mortal world on land, twelve-year-old Jorge Leon works in his family’s forge. He’s heard of the supernatural spirits living beneath the ocean’s waves—tales that do nothing to quell his fear of the water. But when Jorge discovers a hand-wrought harpoon with the power to spear a sea ghost, he knows he must destroy it any way he can.

When the harpoon is accidentally reunited with its vengeful creator, unlikely allies Graciela and Jorge have no choice but to work together to keep evil spirits from wreaking havoc on both the living and the dead. If only the answer to saving what they care about didn’t lie within the depths of the abyss . . . Newbery Medal winner Meg Medina and illustrators Anna and Elena Balbusso have crafted a thoughtful tale infused with magic and high-stakes adventure that will leave readers wondering what power lies in the depths of the ocean—and inside each of us.

My Review

That this book received a starred review from Kirkus is no surprise to me. The story world is so imaginative and immersing. The characters feel so real.

I will say the opening is a little bit jarring, only because it’s unusual to open a story with the main character’s death, and especially a death by such a tragic accident. (Graciela falls off a cliff into the sea.) But it does offer a lot of insight into who Graciela is, so that as she awakens as a spirit, we’re unsurprised by some of her choices.

She really grows as a character, and it feels very organic. I love the contrast of her character in the opening scene versus in the final scene. What a transformation.

I have to talk about Jorge, too. He has such a joyless life, and yet, he still finds ways to create joy for himself. He’s kind to others, too. I love the way the story works out for him, though there were moments that I could not see how there would be any happiness at the end for him. That final scene really got me. So perfect.

This story has such a unique setup. Usually, the living human is the main character and the ghost is more of a side character. While both Jorge and Graciela tell the story in their points of view, it feels a little more weighted toward Graciela’s perspective to me. So much of the story is set in the spirit world with Graciela and her community. I love the fantasy landscape that Medina created beneath the ocean’s surface.

The back of the book has a glossary of terms related to the spirit world and the book has a map as well.

If you’re looking for something dark and unusual for your middle grade reader, check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
When someone dies in the ocean or at sea, they sleep for 100 years and then wake as a spirit, where they’re tasked with certain roles to protect the ocean or other spirits. The Almas are guardians who watch over the ocean and all the spirits.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Description of a girl’s accidental death falling from a cliff into the sea. Descriptions of a ship’s crew lost at sea. Some characters use a harpoon to hunt spirits, intending to kill them and steal their pearl teeth. Jorge’s parents are cruel, threatening him with violence (burning out his tongue, for instance) if he doesn’t do what they expect.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.

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Review: Going Overboard by Caroline Huntoon

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Going Overboard
Caroline Huntoon
Feiwel & Friends
Published May 27, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Going Overboard

From author Caroline Huntoon comes a sparkling new middle grade novel, Going Overboard, a reverse-Parent Trap story where tweens Piper and Colton must force their parents to break up, or their lives will change forever.

Piper Shapiro has the best mom in the world: Noura, a single parent by choice who always has a plan, whether it’s for a spontaneous Saturday adventure or helping Piper navigate middle school as a nonbinary kid. They’re a package deal, and they tell each other everything. At least, they used to. But then Noura invites Piper out to dinner with her girlfriend Gwinny… and Gwinny’s son, Colton—a boy Piper knows, and doesn’t exactly get along with. Piper panics when the realization Noura and Gwinny are serious about each other. Suddenly, Piper’s life as half of a duo has an expiration date, and ze is horrified.

To put a stop to any potential wedding bells, Piper makes a plan to break up the parents and keep things the way they are—the way they should be. When Gwinny surprises everyone with a getting-to-know-each-other cruise for spring break, Piper’s game is on—and Colton is in on it. The two of them work hard to make it clear that they are not one big happy family, even though it turns out that Colton might not be so bad after all. But when things with Operation Break Up go a bit too far, Piper starts to question everything… and realize that maybe a little change isn’t a bad thing.

My Review

I read Linus and Etta Could Use a Win, another book by Caroline Huntoon, earlier this year, so when I saw a review copy of this one up for grabs, I jumped at the chance to read it. Going Overboard is the first novel I’ve read in which the main character uses neopronouns. Piper uses the nonbinary pronouns ze/zir/zem. Piper’s pronouns don’t come up as often as you’d think in the story. At one point, a salesperson in a store misgenders zem, but someone immediately corrects the clerk, and she switches to the correct pronouns. Piper’s pronouns simply aren’t the focus of the narrative beyond the support that Piper feels from zir mom and others around zem.

The real focus of the story is the attempt to break up Piper’s mom and her girlfriend, Colton’s mom. The narrative does a great job showcasing the shift in Piper’s feelings about the relationship despite the commitment to the breakup project. While Piper is certain Colton is a jerk and Gwinny is too perky, ze begins to see qualities ze enjoys and admires in both of them.

The cruise creates a close-proximity environment in which Piper really only has Colton to talk to, and an artificial deadline (return to port) in which to accomplish zir mission. Both of those things drive the story forward and keep the narrative from drifting too far from the central plot.

Piper and zir mom’s relationship is really sweet. I think it borders on maybe too enmeshed at some points, but I loved seeing a mom of a middle schooler so engaged and supportive.

Going Overboard feels like the perfect read for someone needing a slightly aged-up Alex Gino book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 9 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used very infrequently (twice, I think).

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to Piper’s best friend’s crush on someone. Colton also has a crush on someone.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A group of older kids make fun of Piper and Colton, who are dressed similarly at the dance.

Drug Content
Adults drink alcohol socially on a vacation.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Tea Dragon Festival by K. O’Neill

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The Tea Dragon Festival (The Tea Dragon Society #2)
K. O’Neill
Oni Press
Published September 17, 2019

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Tea Dragon Festival

Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago.

With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep, but Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost.

My Review

I absolutely love K. O’Neill’s beautiful fantasy communities. They create such unique characters with a wide variety of skin tones and fantasy-inspired features. This story is set in a different village (and at a different time) than the first book. Initially, I wasn’t sure of the connection between the two stories beyond the presence of tea dragons. But then, shortly after the story begins, two characters from the first book appear as visitors to Rinn’s village.

You could read this book without having read the first book in the series. The storytelling here is pretty gentle, so it’s accessible to very early middle grade readers. My daughter is seven and enjoyed this one.

Rinn and Aedhan’s friendship is such a sweet part of the book. I loved how that developed. I also loved the way that the sleep mystery resolved. I’m looking forward to reading the final book in the trilogy.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have magical abilities. Bounty hunters look for a nature spirit that can cause people to fall asleep for long periods of time.

Violent Content
A mythical creature attacks a group. A dragon fights off the creature but is injured.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my local public library. All opinions are my own.

November 2025 Reading Recap

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November 2025 Reading Recap

LOOK AT THIS. It’s the last day of November, and I’m posting a monthly reading recap. Cue the choir and toss the confetti because this is probably never going to happen again. Ha!

I feel pretty proud of my reading this month. While I did not come close to October’s 28 books, I read 20 titles, which still feels pretty good. I read over 4000 pages and listened to almost 36 hours of audiobooks. It was a great month.

I started the month really behind on books I’d committed to review. As of my writing this, I’ve got one more book to review that came out in October and one more from November, and then I’m on to my December list, which is only three books! If all goes well, by this time next week, I’ll be starting to read January releases. It took me ALL YEAR to get there, but progress is progress.

Let’s get into what I read this month.

Note: This post contains affiliate links that do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. Thanks for using them to do your shopping.

November 2025 Reading Recap

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Logan Family Saga #4)

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: I’d been meaning to reread this book for such a long time, and this year, it finally happened. Cassie’s story stands out as one of the formative novels I read in elementary school. Her courage, her curiosity, and her love for her family make her an unforgettable heroine. I love that this is a story totally accessible to young readers that presents truths about American life for a Black family in the 1930s.

Published January 5, 2016 (Orig. 1976) | My Review to Come

The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: Another reader noted how different this book is from Meyer’s other reimagined fairytales, and I totally agree. The main character is a survivor. She’s bristly and slippery at once. I spent quite a few chapters worrying about the person she was taking advantage of, only for the story to flip in ways I didn’t expect. Loved it.

Published November 4, 2025 | My Review

Dead Ends!: Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels by Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: I’d read another book by this author/illustrator team that was wildly entertaining, so when this showed up in my mailbox, I had to check it out. Squeamish readers will probably not want a piece of this hilarious look at some of the medical failures that led to treatments we depend on today. Readers who enjoy books about the human body or science will be completely engrossed.

Published October 14, 2025 | My Review

The Tear Collector by R. M. Romero

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This is an unusual fantasy story set in a world heavily impacted by rising sea levels. I love how it shows the ways an isolated community’s ideas can get stagnant or warped by those in power and how a new perspective can clear the air.

Published October 14, 2025 | My Review

These Bodies Ain’t Broken edited by Madeline Dyer

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: I love that this anthology pairs together horror short stories featuring disabled characters as heroes and essays from the authors offering context about the disabilities portrayed in the work. If you enjoyed Disfigured by Amanda LeDuc, definitely grab a copy of this one.

Published October 7, 2025 | My Review

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: I read an anthology edited by Ashley Hope Pérez earlier this year, and added this book to my reading list out of that experience. It’s a reimagining of Romeo and Juliet set in Texas in the 1930s in a town where racial tensions ran high and a school exploded. It’s heartbreaking, brutal, intense, and also somehow threaded through with joy and beauty.

Published September 10, 2019 | My Review to Come

A Matter of Murder (Lizzie & Darcy Mystery #2) by Tirzah Price

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: I’ve enjoyed this spinoff of “The Jane Austen Murder Mysteries” for its cozy mystery and regency era vibes. I don’t know how true to the original Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy these characters are, but I find that less important to me than the fun of imagining those characters in this universe solving a mystery together.

Published November 11, 2025 | My Review

Angelica and the Bear Prince by Trung le Nguyen

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: As a huge fan of The Magic Fish, I knew I wanted to read this. In some ways (celebrating fairytales alongside a contemporary story) it reminded me a lot of TMF, but in some ways it’s so different. The storytelling here is a bit sassy, which I enjoyed, and it shows a lot of interactions in which the characters communicate what they need and what isn’t working, which I found very welcome!

Published October 7, 2025 | My Review to Come

The Beasts Beneath the Winds: Tales of Southeast Asia’s Mythical Creatures edited by Hanna Alkaf

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This playful anthology shows modern kids interacting with cryptids and creatures from Asian folklore and mythology. Such a fun read. Introducing each story is a spread that looks like a cryptid journal with photos and facts about the creature.

Published October 21, 2025 | My Review

Lord of Blade and Bone (Waking Hearts #2) by Erica Ivy Rodgers

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This was one of my most anticipated books for 2025. At nearly 500 pages, this book has a LOT to say. I kind of wish it had been two books so the story had room to slow down a little and recap or go deeper with some of the characters a little more. It has a huge cast of characters, and one of my favorite magic systems out in fantasy right now. It took me about 100 pages to get back into the story because I couldn’t always remember who was who, but once I got that far, I remembered why I love this series (duology?) so much.

Published November 11, 2025 | My Review

Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: Bring your willing suspension of disbelief and dive into this world-jumping story about a girl from Ireland who’s just trying to get to school and a boy from a marginalized nomadic people trying to survive in hostile worlds. It’s part love story, part multiverse exploration, and part revolution. I loved it.

Published June 3, 2025 | My Review

How Girls Are Made by Mindy McGinnis

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This is a hard read, but felt like such a necessary story. The writing is so compelling. It shows the importance of comprehensive sex ed and how anyone can be vulnerable to abuse, even people who think they’re safe.

Published November 18, 2025 | My Review

The Whale’s Song: Discover the Giants of Our Oceans by Rossana Bossù

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This is such a cool book. Short paragraphs and passages offer great information on a variety of topics about marine mammals, like the different regional groups of orcas, the phases of decomposition of a whalefall, how whales support a healthy, diverse ocean environment, etc.

Published June 24, 2025 | My Review to Come

North for the Winter by Bobby Podesta

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This debut graphic novel by a Pixar animator offers a lot of Christmas cheer. I’d been looking for an uplifting holiday story when this one landed in my mailbox, so it was a very welcome read.

Published September 2, 2025 | My Review

Finally, Something Mysterious (The One and Onlys #1) by Doug Cornett

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

What you need to know: I was scrambling to find something to read to my seven-year-old, and I hit the jackpot with this one. I’d read this book back in 2020, and loved the quirky humor and small town setting. This is a perfect mystery for a younger MG audience, and it had my girl laughing out loud. Total win.

Published April 14, 2020 | My Review

I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This one started out a little rough for me, but once some elements of the plot came into focus, I found it much easier to invest in the characters and their romance. I wish the love interest wasn’t so heavy-handed in the early chapters of the book, but I enjoyed the way the author used some common time travel tropes.

Published November 18, 2025 | My Review

Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: I’m totally unsurprised that this book received a starred review from Kirkus. It’s such a unique story world. The characters pulled me in right away. If you love weird, ethereal novels, you want this on your list.

Published July 1, 2025 | My Review to Come

Hollow by Taylor Grothe

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: This book is every bit as weird and eerie as its cover image. Estranged friends go for a hike in the woods to reconnect only to become separated and lost. One winds up in a remote village that seems too good to be true. This book too me on a wild ride.

Published September 30, 2025 | My Review

Silenced Voices by Pablo Leon

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: A graphic novel inspired by real events. I am embarrassingly unfamiliar with North American history outside of American history, so I wanted to read this book as part of an effort to broaden my understanding. I also love seeing how graphic novelists use this form to educate young readers through history or novels inspired by real events. I’m so glad I read this one.

Published September 2, 2025 | My Review

Setting the Stage (Cast vs Crew) by Lindsay Champion

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

My Thoughts: Theater kids and theater-curious readers will enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at a stage crew in this short MG novel. I like the variety of viewpoints presented and how that helps clue readers into what’s driving some of the conflicts and misunderstandings.

Published October 21, 2025 | My Review Coming Tomorrow

What did you read in November?

What is your favorite book that you read in November? Leave a comment letting me know about your favorites, and let me know if you read anything on my list.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is probably my favorite from this recap. Of the books that came out this year, I’d say Graciela in the Abyss is my favorite. If you post a November reading recap on your blog or social media, leave me a link in the comments! I’d love to check it out.