My Year in Novellas

Posted November 12, 2026 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Novellas in November 2026

I did my year in non-fiction for Nonfiction November, so it seems only fitting I do a roundup of this year’s novella reading for Novellas in November. It’s not quite as extensive, at least when it comes to books I rated highly: I’m more prone to taking chances and trying novellas I’m less sure about, because the time investment is lower, so I did have a few disappointing reads as well that we’ll skip over.

Still, I’ve read some great novellas this year that are worth celebrating!

(Note: a couple of the below come up on StoryGraph with over 200 pages, but Kobo’s store said they were under when I got them. Caveat emptor.)

Four-star novellas:

These are books I’ve rated as “really liked it”, and this really is a high rating for me — I keep five stars rare and special.

Cover of A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo Cover of A Theory of Haunting by Sarah Monette Cover of The Hollow Sea by Jordan L. Hawk Cover of The Killing of a Chestnut Tree by Oliver K. Langmead

Cover of Brimstone Slipstream by Matt Weber Cover of A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck Cover of Dirt-Stained Hands, Thorn-Pierced Skin by Tabitha O'Connell Cover of Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan

Cover of The Album of Dr Moreau by Daryl Gregory Cover of Nobody's Baby by Olivia Waite Cover of The Double Dorothy by Olivia Waite Cover of And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer

 Cover of Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnick Cover of Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis Cover of Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

I don’t have reviews up for all of these, because some of them are recent reads (though I’ve made sure my next week of reviews is almost all novellas to catch up with some of this!) but here are links to the ones I’ve posted reviews for already:

Three-star novellas:

I know three stars seems a bit lukewarm, but in my rating system it still means “liked it”, so I think they’re still worth talking about — especially as something that isn’t my cup of tea may go down well for others!

Cover of Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw Cover of Fate's Bane by C.L. Clark Cover of The Bishop of Durham Attempts to Surrender the City by Susanna Clarke Cover of Love & Saffron by Kim Fay

Cover of The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai Cover of A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience by Stephanie Burgis Cover of A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence by Stephanie Burgis Cover of A Waltz of Sinister Import by Stephanie Burgis

Only a couple of these reviews are up already, as most of these are recent reads:

Novellas?

These books meet the page-count criteria, but I didn’t really think of them as novellas and I’m not sure their authors did… but you know, just to round it out, here are a handful of those I liked! Mostly crime fiction, plus a verse novel.

Cover of The Home Child by Liz Berry Cover of Tenant for Death by Cyril Hare Cover of Sweet Poison by Mary Fitt Cover of The Last Escape by E.C.R. Lorac

Here are the reviews!

And that’s it… for now! I have some more novellas coming up that I want to get to, like the below:

Cover of The Summer War by Naomi Novik Cover of In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra Vasti Cover of The Iron Below Remembers by Sharang Biswis

Tags: , ,

«
Divider

Leave a Reply

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.