What I Read in November 2025

I did not have as much time as usual to read this month as I was really busy with work (gift guide season, cyber week!) but I still managed six books. For me the main highlights were Conform (a new fantasy series to love, with the second book coming out this summer!) and What Kind of Paradise (a literary thriller that blew me away). Plus a few more great thrillers and an audiobook packed with stories and career advice. 

What I read in November 2025

Tell me what you read and loved in the comments section: I always shop your recs. And for even more books, check out The Library: a catalog of every single book I’ve read over the past ten+ years; you can even filter by genre and sort by best/worst.

PS – Last month’s list! Also, check out my list of good books for fall!

Fantasy

Conform, by Ariel Sullivan

This one feels like a mashup between Love is Blind, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Hunger Games. Emeline has been a lifelong outcast. She spends her days in the basement of her city’s capitol building, where she marks ancient artworks for destruction. It is centuries after a horrible war where humanity was nearly decimated. Now, the city thrives under the rule of a group called The Illum. The population’s health is constantly monitored, and procreation contracts are take seriously. Meanwhile, Emeline is twenty seven and waiting for the MIND device (a health monitoring chip that is embedded into everyone’s wrist to mark her ready for a mate. A mate could change everything for her: elevating her status within society, giving her new opportunities. When the unthinkable happens (for the first time in years, an Illum takes a mate–and he chooses Eveline), her whole world is changed and she is thrust into a lifestyle of parties and fancy courtship rituals. Meanwhile, Emeline finds herself torn between two men: there is also Hal, one of the leaders of an underground resistance. As Emeline draws closer to both men, she must question everything and decide which side she is on. This is fun, unputdownable, and has me so excited for a sequel! Overall Score A- // Order on Bookshop or Amazon

Thriller

The Intruder, by Freida McFadden

I’ve really turned a corner on Freida McFadden. Initially, I judged the writing. But the twistiness of her plots more than makes up for the more straightforward and sometimes simple writing style. Her books are always fast, fun, propulsive reads that you can’t put down. I’m at a point where I order anything she’s written, sight unseen. This one delivered. I stayed up late reading it and didn’t see one of the big twists coming! Casey is a young woman living alone in a cabin in the woods. She’s preparing for a long night when she discovers a young girl lurking outside her kitchen window. The girl is alone, covered in blood, and holding a knife. Casey invites her in and attempts to figure out what’s happened, making a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night. Things take a turn for the worse. The girl has a secret and she will kill to keep it. Casey alternates between wanting to protect the girl and protect herself. In between chapters, we get to know Ella, a victim of child abuse. She is the school outcast with a hoarder mother. We empathize with her as she does everything she can to just survive and get by when the whole world seems to be against her. I’ll say no more but highly recommend this! Overall Score A- // Order on Bookshop or Amazon

What Kind of Paradise, by Janelle Brown

I am classifying this as a thriller, but that feels a bit reductive: the writing is gorgeous, and it could just as easily be classified as literary fiction. Jane grew up in the woods of Montana. Her father is her entire world. They live in a tiny cabin filled with books and an old stove. They grow their vegetables in a garden and kill their own chickens. They are as self-sufficient and off the grid as anyone can be in the 1990s. She studies nineteenth-century philosophy and eventually learns HTML to help her father publish his manifesto online. Her father is her whole world. But as Jane enters her teenage years, she is bored, and begins to realize that her father may be keeping terrible secrets. She longs for connection (and answers!), begging her father to join him on his trips outside of the cabin. But when she realizes that her love for her father has caused her to become an accomplice in a horrible crime, her world is shattered. She flees Montana for the one place where she believes she can get some answers: San Francisco–the place that her mother died, the place her father lived and worked in before Montana. Can she get answers to her questions? Can she ever forgive herself for what she allowed her father to do? I will say no more as it really is best to read this knowing as little as possible! I really loved this one. Overall Score A+ // Order on Bookshop or Amazon

We Don’t Talk About Carol, by Kristen L. Berry

After her grandmother’s passing, Sydney Singleton finds a hidden photograph of a little girl that looks just like her. A little research tells her that the girl is her aunt Carol, one of six Black girls to go missing in North Carolina during the 1960s. But Sydney and her sister Sasha had no idea her aunt Carol even existed! With her grandmother (and father) gone, Sydney decides to unravel the truth and figure out what really happened to Aunt Carol (and the other girls). Her search leads her to Detroit, Brooklyn, and back and forth between Los Angeles and Raleigh. Meanwhile, Sydney is grappling with her own issues: her traumatic childhood and abusive father, her own nervousness about motherhood (as she goes through IVF), and her difficult relationship with her mother. As Sydney searches to find out what happened to Carol, she must confront her own baggage. Family secrets come out, and she must do everything she can to stay afloat as she entangles a web of lies that surround her family. I couldn’t put this down, I found it highly enjoyable (and I loved the twist). Overall Score A- // Order on Bookshop or Amazon

The Raise, by Ali Kriegsman

Alexis Ecker has always been the behind-the-scenes sort of type. She stays out of the spotlight, while her co-founder Darcy (their fashion startup Savvy’s CEO) is front and center. When Darcy dies in a freak accident at Burning Man, Alexis must grieve the death of her very best friend but also rescue her company from the brink of bankruptcy. At just 29 years old, she feels lost and isn’t sure who to trust–especially as she finds herself under ruthless pressure to deliver a gigantic new round of VC funding. Everything is fine! It’s fine! No really. As Alexis attempts to woo investors and get her company onto the right track, secrets come out. Did she really know Darcy? Was Darcy keeping secrets from her? Was her death actually an accident? The plot is dark and twisty, reading like a psychological thriller. I couldn’t put it down. It brought me back to my own fashion startup days, gave me empathy for my former bosses (the co-founders), and kept me on my toes. I let out an audible sigh at the end! Highly enjoyable, though very stressful! Overall Score A- // Order on Bookshop or Amazon

Non-Fiction

All the Cool Girls Get Fired, by Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill

I really loved this. A lot of the advice was not pertinent to my life right now, but I was laid off back in 2008, and man, do I wish this book existed! The practical advice is top-notch, and the interviews would have left me feeling so much less alone. Brown and O’Neill share their own experiences with being let go from high-profile careers, but they also interview some incredible women: Lisa Kudrow, Jamie Lee Curtis, Oprah (!!), and more. I listened to it on audio and loved it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has ever been fired, but also if you are feeling stagnant in your career or need a change. Or are just feeling down. The stories are really empowering. The book is a mix of practical and inspirational. A guidebook to the recently let go/fired/laid off, but also chock full of inspiring stories from women we all love and admire. Overall Score // Order on Bookshop or Amazon

Disclosure: If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. I only feature things I truly love here. Thanks for your support.