cozy up and stay inside: it's a november to spend inside the pages
hi, and welcome to our (ever-growing) collection of weekly reading book reviews! assembled here are all four of this month’s weekly reading book review videos: complete with links so you can learn more about each title at bookshop.org.
happy cozy (warm!) reading to you!
xo,
*hallie :)
(you can also find my bookshop.org affiliatte page with recommendations organized by category right here:
✨weekly reading book review november 2025: episode one!! ✨
this week, i read:
✨ MY PLAIN JANE by brodi ashton, cynthia hand, and jodi meadows (a.k.a. "the lady janies!" it's [clearn] YA remix/retelling of charlotte brontë's JANE EYRE)
✨ THE DAGGERS OF IRE by j.c. cervantes (fast-paced middle grade magical quest adventure!!)
(i mispoke in the video! this came out in september of 2024; it’s sequel drops shortly! yay!)
✨ THE COOL CODE by deidre langeland & illustrated by sarah mai (middle grade graphic novel)
✨ HENRY VIII by wm. shakespeare
☕️ currently reading:
✨ THE LOST MASTERPIECE by b.a. shapiro (adult fiction art mystery with historical timeline, too!! )
watched:
✨ friday night's episode of 20/20 on the MURDAUGH MURDERS (the new "murdaugh death in the family" show on hulu / based on mandy matney's reporting and podcast … it gave a decent overview … which of course is even more nuanced and wild than what any news show can cover in 90 minutes!! but helped me catch up the hubs with what’s on the podcast i’ve been listening to since 2019..!!
the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-sunlight/id1573560247
hope to watch tonight:
✨ STRICTLY BALLROOM (baz luhrmann, 1993)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105488/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1
miiiight read next:
✨ GENTLE WRITING ADVICE by chuck wendig
✨ ASTERWOOD by jacquelyn stolos (coming 12/16 from delacorte press kids!! )
✨ KING JOHN by wm shakespeare
✨weekly reading book review november 2025: episode two!! ✨
this week i read:
✨ THE LOST MASTERPIECE by b.a. shapiro (adult dual timeline art history & girl*power intrigue!!)
✨ CAST VS. CREW: SETTING THE STAGE by lindsay champion (yaaaayyyyy middle grade theatre books!!❣️)
book two in the trilogy, TECH WEEK, comes out next june!
watched:
✨ STRICTLY BALLROOM (baz luhrmann, 1992/3)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105488/?ref_=fn_t_1
currently watching:
✨ WICKED (part one, 2024)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262426/?ref_=fn_t_1
(yes, i still own/buy dvds: you CAn'T get Bonus Features & commentary on streaming- it's absurd. and temporary.)
get to see this week:
✨ rogers & hammerstein's THE SOUND OF MUSIC (live!) at the peace center in greenville, sc !!!!!
https://www.peacecenter.org/events/detail/25-the-sound-of-music
currently reading:
✨ GENTLE WRITING ADVICE by chuck wendig
✨ RED QUEEN by victoria aveyard [me: ten years late; but biggest soman chainani (her bff) fan + plot twist podcast fan, so….. it’s time!! tbd if i get to see them both at ya'll fest in charleston this weekend!]
(there are also a number of stunning 10th anniversary editions coming out soon!)
reading next:
✨ KING JOHN & KING LEAR by wm shakespeare
& mayyybeeee…
✨ THE BORROWER by rebecca makkai
✨ THE MIDWATCH INSTITUTE FOR WAYWARD GIRLS by judith rossell (she illustrated her own middle grade book, too!! ✏️ )
✨ THE AMBERGLOW CANDY STORE by hiyoko kurisu (gorgeous japanese fiction in translation!!) thank you, dear friend tracy!!!
(mine is from the UK, so it has a different cover!)
crunching on toast like doc martens on leaf confetti,
❣️xo,
*hallie :)
✨ weekly reading book review november 2025: episode three!! ✨
☕️ here’s what i read this week:
❤️ GENTLE WRITING ADVICE by chuck wendig
❣️ RED QUEEN by victoria aveyard (rockstar author, cohost of plot twist podcast w/ her bff soman whom i got to see this weekend at ya'll fest!!)
❤️ KING JOHN by wm shakespeare (my #brushupyourshakespeare2025 handlettering quote/post coming soon to my instagram!!)
☕️ currently reading:
❤️ KING LEAR by wm shakespeare (my "vintage" high school copy with kinuko craft cover!!)
☕️ got to see:
❤️ ROGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S SOUND OF MUSIC (touring broadway company) at the peace center in greenville! (full post up on my blog here!)
☕️ reading next:
❤️ YOUNG WORLD by soman chainani (coming 5/5/2026!! ya political thriller!!)
pre*order gift here: https://revoltingyouth.org
❤️ TO BE OR NOT TO BE by ryan north
❤️ LITTLE WOMEN by jo march. i mean, louisa may alcott…. :)
a different edition because there are 90000 out there:
https://bookshop.org/a/5254/9780143106654
❤️ RICHARD II by wm shakespeare
☕️ looking forward to:
❤️ studio time for a new illustration (& timelapse video for the crayon box!) https://www.patreon.com/halthegal
❤️ sending happy mail
❤️ seeing & reviewing sh!t-faced shakespeare HAMLET at the peace center!! https://www.peacecenter.org/events/detail/25-shtfaced-shakespeare-hamlet
❤️ writing a blog post about my quick trip to ya'll fest!!
❤️xo,
*hallie ☕️
✨weekly reading book review november 2025: episode four!! ✨
this week i read:
❤️ KING JOHN & KING LEAR by wm shakespeare
❤️ YOUNG WORLD by soman chainani (out 5.5.2026!!!)
pre*order goodies here: https://revoltingyouth.org/
my "review" post here! :D
❤️ NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by annabel monaghan
saw live:
❤️ s%!it-faced shakespeare: HAMLET at peacecenter / gunter theatre
my “review” post here!
listening to:
❤️ GUYS AND DOLLS “new” broadway cast recording (1992)
❤️ BEAUTY & THE BEAST original broadway cast recording (1994)
watched:
❤️ CONCLAVE (2024)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20215234/?ref_=fn_t_1
❤️ PAST LIVES (2023)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13238346/?ref_=fn_t_1
currently reading:
❤️ MIDNIGHT TIMETABLE (a novel in ghost stories) by bora chung , translated by anton hur
❤️ BEASTS & BEAUTY by soman chainani (audio re*read; but WHY the beans for jack’s cow?!?)
audio book: https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780063138827-beasts-and-beauty
reading next:
❤️ LITTLE WOMEN by louisa may alcott
❤️ WICKED: LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK LIBRARY ULTIMATE FAN EDITION
(after i see WICKED: FOR GOOD, of course!) :)
what stories are YOU loving right now?!
wishing you all the treats and pie & story love this week ahead,
❤️xo,
*hallie
p.s. when i said “sleepless in seattle," what i meant was “while you were sleeping.” peter gallagher was the guy who had marlon brando’s guys & dolls part… :)
of the books i read this month, here are the ones i happened to love the most:
NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by annabel monaghan
a swoony grown*up romcom whose {v. satisfying} ending i couldn’t begin to predict! a “romance channel” single-mama screenwriter has a BIG budget hollywood movie made of her v. emotional break-up with her ex-hubs. and there’s something in that secret smile the a-listiest of the a-listers hollywood actor who comes to town to film some scenes of her new movie…
i know it’s a YA “classic” (celebrating its 10th anniversary with all kinds of special editions this holiday season), but i’d never read it! it was accessible fantasy/speculative fiction with just the right dose of magic and rising against the elitist powers that be with PLeNtY of plot twists to keep one turning the pages long into the night…
CAST VS. CREW ACT ONE: SETTING THE STAGE by lindsay champion
mostly, i’m just glad a theatre book for kids exists—hopesfully making more room for MY pre-published theatre-kid book! ;D as the title suggests: the (hoighty-toighty) cast is at war with the (hardworking) crew of this year’s musical. prank wars, first crushes, and oNLY the BackSTage drama on the page! (two sequels to follow in 2026!)
as you saw in my celebrity sightings above: i got to meet soman (again; in-person) this month— and a super-bonus highlight of the trip was getting my greedy paws on an EARLY copy of this YA mega-tome that doesn’t hit the shelves until may 2026!
in the book, youth are revolting (and winning elections)— all against the established powers-that-be in governments around the world.
it reads part video game, part young bond, part carmen sandiego murder mystery thriller, x non-nerdy model un. there’s twists. there’s (hundreds of!!!) visuals. there’s a Whole lot of (hormonal & awkward & relatable) story and i never had annnyyyyyy idea what was coming next!!
preorders (with bonus gift!) up at revoltingyouth.com