October 2025 Book Reviews!
- Christine
- 2 minutes ago
- 14 min read
Happy November! November is always one of my favorite months. I guess part of it is that my birthday is in November. But it's also because Thanksgiving is the beginning of the holiday season, which is one of my favorite times of year.
Of course, the start of the holiday season also means that a lot of us get really busy, so it can be easy to put reading aside and focus on other things. For me, escaping to a quiet space with a good book is a great way to decompress and relieve some of the stress that can come along with the holidays. So, I hope you take some time to read this month and find a book you want to escape with in this month's book reviews! And, be sure to check for my "highly recommended" reads below (including a rare five out of five star rating on a book)!
And remember, if you don't want to wait for my monthly book post to see what I'm reading, be sure to follow me on Goodreads or The Story Graph!
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The Devil Is A Southpaw by Brandon Hobson
I struggled getting into this one. I found it very difficult to follow and a bit too esoteric for me.
The book is generally about a group of boys who end up in a juvenile detention center and the effect it has on them throughout their lives. I really had a hard time following the different characters. The story jumps from timeline to timeline, so it made it hard to keep track of. At some points, the story seems to be a total illusion or fantasy, and I just couldn't figure out how that fit.
While the writing is good, the author seems to love to use very large and uncommon words. As someone who reads a lot and feels like they have a pretty robust vocabulary, I really struggled sometimes to understand what the author was saying.
I did like that it touched on mental health topics and I think the story itself had potential, but just way too difficult to follow and understand.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two out of five stars.
Crude: Ukraine, Oil and Nuclear War by Mike Bond
Unfortunately, this is a book about politics disguised as a thriller. I started out pretty interested in this book. As someone who worked in the oil industry, I thought a thriller involving it would be interesting. And it did start out that way.
An oil platform explodes and the company that owns it is quickly blamed for faulty maintenance. Shortly after, a unit in a refinery in the middle of Wyoming blows up which is owned by the same company, and they are again blamed. As the CEO of the company tries to prove that they weren't at fault and actually targeted, he is also trying to save the world from a nuclear war.
Started out strong and action packed, and then it went wrong. It when down a path that clearly reflected the author's political views, and started to turn into a platform for him to push his theories and agenda. The President - who is never outright named, but is clear who it is - is in bed with the Ukrainians. The Russians are our friends and only looking out for us. The Times, NPR and the rest of the "woke" media is lying.
What's disappointing is that whatever your politics are, this didn't have to be a political book. It could have just been a thriller with fictional characters. But the author chose to insert his politics in it, and just lost focus on the story.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two out of five stars.
The Hitch by Sara Levine
When Rose's brother and sister-in-law go on vacation to Mexico, they reluctantly leave their six year old son, Nathan, with Rose for the week. Rose has the perfect week planned, until things go wrong on the first day when Rose's dog, Walter, bites a corgi named Hazel in the neck and kills her. Rose quickly discovers that things have gone even more wrong when Nathan informs her that Hazel's soul has jumped into his body.
This book is quite quirky. Rose is a very strange character and the plot is obviously pretty bizarre. But it's a short read and entertaining.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
This book will be published on January 13, 2026. To pre-order your copy on Amazon, click here: Kindle, audiobook or hardcover.
Last Nerve: A Memoir Of Illness And The Endurance Of Family by Mindy Uhrlaub
In this memoir, the author shares her struggles as she deals with obstacles in her life. Her husband is undergoing chemotherapy for the second time, her oldest son has severe behavioral issues, her youngest son is struggling with it all, and her mother is dying of ALS.
When the author decides to do the genetic testing to see if she also carries the gene for ALS and finds out she does, she know must deal with her own health concerns on top of everything else.
A very open and honest book about dealing with struggle and tragedy, taking care of others, and learning to care for yourself.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
Orange Wine by Esperanza Hope Snyder
This book tells the story of the main character, Ines. She is the youngest of 5 sisters born to wealthy parents. When she falls in love and marries Alessandro, she quickly realizes she's made a big mistake. On the day her daughter is born, Alessandro runs off with Ines' sister and leaves her stuck with his debt.
Ines moves to Bogota to live with her other sisters and start her life over. But when she falls in love with a man, her sisters disown her as she is still a married woman.
The story is fine, but not overly interesting. I didn't really find myself feeling passionate about any of the characters. The writing is also fine, but nothing exciting.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Beneath The African Sun: A Memoir by Barry Maughan
This book is a travel memoir that shares the author's experience while spending several years traveling through Africa with his wife and children. Maughan and his wife decide to leave their jobs and the comforts of living in the U.S. for a travel adventure. Their original intent was to travel throughout Europe, but as winter approaches and they struggle to get to a warmer place there, they find themselves changing the gameplan completely and traveling to Africa.
Through their travels, they encounter all sorts of adventures and people. After settling down in the capital of Ethiopia for a couple of years - where both of their children are born - they eventually travel all the way to Cape Agulhas, which is the southern most tip of Africa, to complete their goal of traveling the entire length of Africa.
The memoir was fairly well written, although there were some instances where there was a lot of repetition that could have been edited out. The stories the author shared of their adventures were interesting. I wish there would have been a bit more description of the country itself.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel
Anyu is living in northern China when her mother is killed in a bombing and she is left an orphan. Previously, Anyu had met a man on a train platform and returned his jeweled egg. The man had told her that if she ever found herself in Shanghai, she should look him up, so unsure what to do or where else to go, Anyu decides to go to Shanghai and look the man up. Isaac turns out to be a master jeweler and gives Anyu a place to live and a job working in his jewelry shop. However, Anyu quickly discovers that her skills lie in creating and making the jewelry, not selling it.
As Anyu learns to become a master jeweler, her life takes many twists and turns through first Shanghai and then Hong Kong in the 1930s and early 40s.
This is a very intriguing story that will keep your interest. And while the writing is primarily quite good, I did feel that the story jumped around a bit and lost focus from time to time. It's quite long and at times it feels like you aren't quite sure how one thing that happens to Anyu fits in with another. I also found Anyu's character a bit hard to connect with. I think her personality and briskness were character traits that the author wanted her to have for a reason, but it sometimes made it hard to cheer for her as the main character of the book and one whose life was full of tragedies.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Sometimes after you finish a book, you know that book is just going to stick with you for awhile. This was one of those books.
The book is told in two storylines. The first storyline is told from the perspective of Yale, who is a gay man living in Chicago during the mid-1980s at the beginning of the AIDS pandemic. The second storyline takes place in 2015, and is told from the perspective of Fiona who has traveled to Paris to search for her daughter. Fiona was the younger sister of Nico, who was in the group of friends that Yale and his partner hung out with. Nico was one of the first of their group of friends that died from AIDS.
The book tells the story of the gay community and what it went through - both from the perspective of struggling as friends were contracting the virus and dying from it, as well as how they were treated by the rest of the community at that time. Fiona's storyline shows how even 30 years later, the trauma of her losing her brother and then one by one each of his friends (who had become her friends) had affected her throughout her life and led to her strained relationship with her daughter.
This is not an easy book to read and it won't be for everyone. Emotionally, it is very difficult. The author does not hide from the horrors of AIDS and the effect it had on the gay community during that time. This book will also not be for everyone because of its subject matter. But it is a book that will stay with you. It is written beautifully. The author brings all of the characters to life so well.
It's rare for me to give books a five star review, but this one truly deserves it. It was one of those books that I didn't want to put down, but at the same time I was sad to finish it because I didn't want it to end. This book is #64 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Five out of five stars!
Hotel Goodbyes by Stephen Jon Thompson
This memoir tells the story of the author's childhood after being abandoned by his mother and left to fend for himself in the foster care system.
The book starts out with the author sharing how he and his four younger siblings were left in a motel room in Reno by their mother, who told them she was going to the laundromat. After a couple of days, the author realizes that his mother is not coming back and is left in charge of figuring out what to do with his siblings. Throughout his life, the author moves through the foster care system in Nevada, constantly looking for "family" and a way to escape the cycle of poverty he was born into.
The author does a great job sharing his story in a very open and honest way. The writing is very good, although it got a bit clunky at certain points. However, I think that added to the honesty of his story. Very inspiring!
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four our of five stars!
The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead
This book is due to come out January 20, 2026, so put it on your TBR list now!
The Future Saints are a band that had a ton of potential, but are slowly spiraling out of control and just about at rock bottom. In fact, the book opens with them playing a show to a small crowd in a bar in their hometown. It's at that show that Theo, who is known as "The Fixer" at Manifest Records (which is the label The Future Saints are signed with), first encounters the band. He's been sent by his boss to try and get the band together long enough to get one more album out of them to fulfill their contract.
What Theo encounters is a band in total disarray, mostly due to the fact that their manager (and lead singer Hannah Cortland's little sister), Ginny, recently died in a tragic drowning incident. Hannah has been unable to move beyond her sister's death and is spinning more and more out of control with her behavior and her use of alcohol.
However, after a viral moment of Hannah and the band putting their emotions on their sleeves with a new song that's totally different than their typical sound, Theo finds himself thinking that there is a real possibility he can save the band and they can ultimately meet their full potential. But saving the band has less to do with the music than it does with Hannah's fragile mental state.
If you are into music, this is a must read for you. It's just a great story and characters that you will find yourself really coming to love and cheer for. There is also an element of romance, although the author does a good job of not making that the main focus of the book. I highly recommend giving this book a read when it's released in January.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
Imogene's Grand Fiasco: The Misadventures Of Imogene Taylor by David Putnam
Imogene Taylor is a 75 year old woman who is definitely not your "typical" senior citizen. She's on parole and finds herself being pulled into being an unwilling accomplice in a bank robbery during her town's Fourth of July parade and celebration. As Imogene tries to outwit the criminals, the mob and the police, she finds it harder and harder to keep her friends and herself out of trouble and safe as well.
There were a couple of things about this book that I struggled with. First, this evidently isn't the first book the author has written about this character, but I didn't realize that by the title. So, it felt like I was just sort of dropped into the story without the right backstory information - which was important to understand some of the things happening in the book. Second, I know the author was trying to make Imogene's character quirky and different. But, I think at times he went a bit over the top with it and she came across really unrealistic at times. That made it hard to like her character. Finally, the writing felt a bit disjointed at times.
Overall, a fun book and a nice little plot turn at the end when everything finally comes together. But some definite flaws to be aware of.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Is This Real Or Just Pretend? by Emily Sullivan
Alex has always been more interested in helping her father run the family business than having a social life. But then Lucien returns home after being in Paris for the last several years studying as a chef and then running his own supper club business. At first, Lucien's return home means a return to his interest in Alex's sister, Freddie. But after making a business arrangement where Alex and Lucien need to pretend to be courting, Lucien quickly realizes that his true feelings might be with Alex.
This book follows kind of the general formula for a romance novel. Two people realize they are attracted to each other. Then they hate each other. Then they are attracted to each other again, etc. In this case, the book is set in England in the late 1800's. And, the main female character is meant to go against the grain by being a strong woman who is smart and business-minded.
Where the book really falls short for me is just character development. All of the characters felt very flat and one dimensional. I really had very little interest in them, which means I had very little interest in cheering for the love story between the two characters. Add to that the odd appearance of "The Nun", who is somehow supposed to be someone going after Alex's family, and the book just didn't do it for me.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Desire In Dairyland by Michelle Caffrey
After finishing nursing school in Madison, Ruth returns to her hometown of Eureka, WI to save money before returning to Madison to go to med school. While home, she takes a job at a local nursing home. But after just one day on the job, she realizes that something is amiss at the nursing home when residents keep turning up dead - and not due to illness.
This is a fun little mystery, that also has a romance weaved through between Ruth and her childhood friend Tyler, who Ruth realizes she's grown to have feelings for. Lots of quirky characters and some twists and turns in the plot. I think the pacing of the book is a bit off, as it starts out pretty slow and then seems like everything happens in the last 25% of the book. But, if you are looking for a fun and easy read with a unique mystery, this one is for you.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
While the title of this book implies that it's about Veronica, the main character - and narrator - of the book is actually Alison. As the book starts, we meet Alison, who is an ex-model who is now in her 40s and making a living cleaning office buildings. She's also sick with hepatitis and suffering from chronic pain in her arm due to a car accident that happened years ago.
As Alison tells the story of her life as a model in Paris, NY and L.A., we learn about her friendship with Veronica. Alison meets Veronica when she's working as a temp in NY trying to make a living after fleeing Paris when her agent/boyfriend kicks her out and steals all of her money. When Veronica contracts HIV from her bi-sexual boyfriend, Alison becomes her only friend and the person who sticks with her through the end.
I went back and forth on the rating for this book. I thought the writing was excellent and the story had good potential. But the relationship between Alison and Veronica never totally made sense and wasn't fully developed. Veronica's character - in general - feels like an afterthought, and so I never grew emotionally attached to her. Alison's character is much more developed, but even so the character just felt a bit dry and unemotional.
This book is #63 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Three out of five stars.
That's a wrap on my October book reviews. I hope you had a fun Halloween and remember to take some time to read as we go into the holiday season!
What books do you recommend I read next? Let me know! Did you check out any of these books? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or e-mail me at tips2livebywriter@gmail.com.
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