Kickin’ It is a feature at The Bucket List where I round-up the whole month in one post, bringing you reviews you may have missed, other awesome bookish things, and even what I’m currently obsessed with in other media besides books. November was a good month, overall. I reread a book which is so rare for me but having remembered nothing of the book, I loved it as if it was the first time! My job search continues into December, and I'm hoping for some good news soon. Thanksgiving was this month and getting the family together was so nice. Overall, I was able to read 13 books. Here's my recap:


Cloaked by Alex Flinn (3.5 stars): Back in high school, I always enjoyed Flinn's work. Her take on fairy tales is fun and imaginative. Cloaked is no exception; it was a fun, fast read!

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (4 stars): That cliffhanger will be the death of me! All the reveals and everything I learned in this one- I don't want this series to ever end!

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (4 stars): What a great conclusion! Blue and the gang were phenomenal. And all the reveals made me wish there was a next book so I could stay in the world a little bit more. I can’t believe it’s over.


Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (2 stars): When I first received this, the book was hyped to the max. I went into Beautiful Creatures and hoped to like it much more than I did. The world building was lacking so much. Having the male perspective who was non-magical in the lead role, it was such a missed opportunity to have some massive world building and some explanation. Instead, nothing, which just left me disappointed.

Because You Love to Hate Me edited by Ameriie (3.5 stars): This anthology was great! Popular booktubers give awesome authors writing prompts about villains. The outcome makes for some great stories (my favorite was about Death in a well and the Sherlock and Moriarty romance).

Destined by P.C. and Kristin Cast (3 stars): I was hoping to find some newfound love for this series. And I actually rated it lower than all the other 8 books in the series. If you ask me what this book is about, I really couldn’t tell you—if felt like a filler plot with blatant foreshadowing for the end of the novel.


Landline by Rainbow Rowell (5 stars): This turned out to be an unexpected holiday story. It was absolutely fantastic! I wouldn't say I have high expectations going into this one but after liking both Carry On and Fangirl from Rowell, I was excited and hesitant to read her adult book, Landline. It was raw and heartwarming with the amazing writing I've come to expect from Rowell.

Emma by Jane Austen (4 stars): I knew going in that Emma is rather selfish and obnoxious, though her character arc is structured very well. The matchmaking was super fun. But so far in my Jane Austen reads, nothing has topped Pride and Prejudice yet.

Just a French Guy Cooking by Alexis Gabriel Ainouz (4 stars): I'm obsessed with his YouTube channel and reading his cookbook is the perfect companion to his videos. There were definitely some amazing recipes I tabbed to try later.


The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff (2 stars): This one used to be so hyped and I was always curious to find out why. Occasionally, you’ll hear readers now loving it so much. And I was happy to finally pick it up. But The Replacement was just not for me. It didn’t have much world building which could have made the plot tremendously better. There was a bit too much info dumping told via dialogue which was unfortunate. And I just couldn’t warm up to any of the characters. There just didn’t seem to be enough drawing me into the story.

Defiance by Lili St. Crow (4 stars): This is the fourth in a five book series. After giving book 2 and 3 only 3 stars, I went in expecting to give out another 3. However, I surprised myself. After I pushed past the language peeves (how every character uses the same words, making them all sound very similar in dialogue), I really enjoyed the plot. The action scenes were phenomenal; I was on the edge of my seat.

War Storm by Victoria Aveyard (5 stars): I had a stomach ache from all the stress this book gave me. It was truly superb; an epic conclusion. The ending was both final, yet open ended enough to make your own theories. Still reeling from all the awesome!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (5 stars): Reread! I should reread more often because it was as amazing as it was the first time around maybe even more so. It also helped that I remembered about 5% of this going into a second time so the refresher was needed.


Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare (12/4/18): I haven’t started this series yet but as they’ve come out, I’ve bought each and every one of them. Having liked The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series, I know I’m going to love this one!

Once A King by Erin Summerill (12/4/18): Isn’t this cover just gorgeous and when put with the rest of the series, the covers are absolutely breathtaking. This is another series I haven’t started yet but I’m confident these books will become favorites!


Dear Heartbreak: YA Authors and Teens on the Dark Side of Love by various authors (12/18/18): A collection of amazing YA authors answer letters from teens all over the world about the dark side of love.


I watched a few films this month and continued season 4 of Jane the Virgin. I just love that show so much! I saw Bohemian Rhapsody, which was such an amazing film. The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. And Rami Malek deserves an Oscar, his acting was so fantastic! I'm obsessed with all things The Nutcracker so I was so happy to finally see the new movie. It was good; I think they could have given us more character development but the costumes were beautiful! And, of course, I saw Fantastic Beasts, The Crimes of Grindelwald. I preferred Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them than the sequel but it was still good. I don't think the plot moved as seamlessly as it should as a film but I adored all the fantastic beasts and am looking forward to the next one.