Carrying on with the end-of-the-year posts we have my infamous worst, most surprising and most disappointing. These posts are getting harder and harder to do due to the number of books I read. Trying to narrow over 160+ books into 3 per category has been a challenge but I am happy with my choices for this year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ANYONE WHO CELEBRATES! I come to you with a slightly down post oops. Ladies and gentleman. As the avid DNFer that I am, I am surprised that after reading 160+ books this year I have only DNFed 10! Let’s get into them and my reasonings.
I do this post every year. Every year I look back at how hopeful I was, how excited I was to get to all these books and every year I disappoint myself hahaha. Let’s look at what I did manage to read from my 2023 list.
I thought I had read more murder mysteries this year than I actually had! But here are my top 5 murder mysteries from the year. We may also have my favourite book of the year on this list?…
So, I have started a new thing which I plan on doing at the end of every year where I look back on my years worth of ratings and decide if I still feel the same way and if not, I change it.
I thought I would restart my book haul posts but instead of doing them sporadically and whenever it suited me I thought I would do an end of the month haul. These are mixture of books sent to me by the publisher and books I have purchased myself. I wanted to use this post to highlight the amazing books that are coming out and champion the books already published.
Despite this being a successful month compared to my other reading month’s this is by far my weakest reading month. I don’t know what was in the water this month but I’m hoping next month will be better.
I read 9 books this month
I DNFd 2 book.
Genre: 4 fantasy, 5 non-fiction, 1 thriller and 1 sci-fi
Gender of authors: 7 women and 3 men
Race of authors: 6 white authors, 2 asian writers and 2 black writers
Age range: 8 adult, 2 YA and 1 middle grade.
Format: 6 paperback, 4 hardback and 1 audiobook.
Challenges
Prompt: Non-Fiction
Becoming – Michelle Obama
Pandora’s Jar – Natalie Haynes
Beyond the Story – BTS
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokkbokki – Baek Sehee
Always Take Notes – Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd
Bookshops and Bonedust – Travis Baldree (DNF)
Earlier this year I read Legends and Lattes, by the same author, after seeing all the hype on social media. I was quite underwhelmed with it to be honest and I didn’t really want to read the prequel but a couple of my friends who didn’t love L&L actually loved B&B. I, on the other hand, just couldn’t get into it. I found there to be a real disconnect with me and the main character Viv.
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokkbokki – Baek Sehee (3 stars)
Another book I picked up due to the insane amount of hype I saw. Something like this is always subjective to someone’s personal experience so in some cases I really enjoyed and connected with some of the stuff mentioned. But other chapters I just didn’t connect to as much. I always felt I didn’t learn anything new. This led to a middle of the road rating.
Beyond the Story – BTS (4 stars)
Really interesting discussion about BTS’ journey from pre-debut to now, there was some stuff that I knew especially the more recent years. But the earlier years and their first stint in America I knew nothing about and it was enlightening and sobering to learn about their struggles and how they supported one another. I loved the use of QR codes to link to unseen footage, music videos, performances etc. But I will say I was not expecting as much musical analysis in the content. I felt it was more a musical analysis book than an actual memoir.
There is a small selection of middle-grade novels that I have read over the years which make such an impact on me that I need to scream into the atmosphere. This book is one of them. I wish I had had this book growing up as it’s exactly what little old me would have devoured. The characters were fun and meaningful, the world was vibrant and vast, and the plot was exciting and kept me on my toes. This is an epic book that I am so excited for young readers (and older readers as well) to be able to read and lose themselves in. We have a classic in the making here!
Their Vicious Games – Joelle Wellington (4.5 stars)
This was incredibly thrilling and heart-pounding. I enjoyed reading every second of it despite hating the events that were unfolding. I thought the writing was super engaging and I literally flew through this book and couldn’t put it down. The characters were written so well and I enjoyed watching the psychology of the characters, their alliances, and their battles. It was very very interesting. The ending had me cheering and jumping in my seat!
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (5 stars)
I don’t think I will be able to truly put into words how much I enjoyed this book! This book literally put me in a reading slump after I finished it. Literally no book was matching up to this one! I had been waiting for a book with interesting characters, unique plot and a complicated world. I like not fully understanding what is going on. This book confused and amazed me.
Other books I have read:
Sisters of Sword and Shadow – Laura Bates
Always Take Notes – Simon Akam & Rachel Lloyd
Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower – Tamsyn Muir
OMG, the final TBR of 2023! How crazy is that! Hopefully this month will be a great final month for the year. And maybe some new favourites as well!
There are some changes to the way I am planning my reads which I will explain more in my 2024 Reading Plan but I am trying to be up to date with my new releases. The final theme for this year is Christmas!
January 2024 Releases
Title: Rabbit Hole
Author: Kate Brody
Series: Standalone
Format: eBook
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Literary Thriller
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 18/01
Plot: Ten years ago, Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom’s older sister, Angie, disappeared. Her case remains unsolved. Now Teddy’s father, Mark, has killed himself. Unbeknownst to Mark’s family, he had been active in a Reddit community fixated on Angie, and Teddy can’t help but fall down the same rabbit hole. Teddy’s investigation quickly gets her in hot water with her colleagues at the pretentious high school where she teaches English, her gun-nut boyfriend, and her long-lost half brother. Further complicating matters is Teddy’s growing obsession with Mickey, a charming amateur sleuth who is eerily keen on helping her solve the case. Bewitched by Mickey, Teddy begins losing her grip on morality. As she struggles to reconcile new information with old memories, her erratic behavior reaches a fever pitch, but she won’t stop until she finds Angie—or destroys herself in the process.
Title: The Beholders
Author: Hester Musson
Series: Standalone
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 18/01
Plot: June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin. Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at Finton Hall. Fleeing the drudgery of an unwanted engagement in the small village where she grew up, Harriet is entranced by the grand country hall; she is entranced too by her glamorous mistress Clara Gethin, whose unearthly singing voice floats through the house. But Clara, though captivating, is erratic. The master of the house is a much-lauded politician, but he is strangely absent. And some of their beautiful belongings seem to tell terrible stories. Unable to ignore her growing unease, Harriet sets out to discover their secrets. When she uncovers a shocking truth, a chain of events is set in motion that could cost Harriet everything, even her freedom…
Title: The City of Stardust
Author: Georgia Summers
Series: Standalone
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 25/01
Plot: The Everly family is cursed. Every generation is destined to lose their best and brightest, taken by a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never sickens, and never forgives a debt. When her mother vanishes in the middle of the night, the curse falls on Violet Everly—unless she can break it first. To do so, she must descend into a seductive, magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge. And at the edges of the world, she’ll find the City of Stardust, where the Everly story began.
Manga/Graphic Novels
Title: Nana, Vol.1
Author: Ai Yazawa
Series: Nana #1
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 192
Plot: Nana “Hachi” Komatsu hopes that moving to Tokyo will help her make a clean start and leave her capricious love life behind her. Nana Osaki, who arrives in the city at the same time, has plans to score big in the world of rock’n’roll. Although these two young women come from different backgrounds, they quickly become best friends in a whirlwind world of sex, music, fashion, gossip and all-night parties! Anxious to get into a Tokyo groove, both women are on the prowl for a funky and cheap place to live. But inexpensive apartments in Japan’s capital city are hard to find. Thank goodness each Nana has a clique of cool friends willing to help out. Too bad these friends are a little wiggy!
Title: Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Search
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Series: ATLA Comics #2
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: YA
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 224
Plot: For years, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have burned with one question–what happened to Fire Lord Zuko’s mother? Finding a clue at last, Zuko enlists the aid of Team Avatar–and the most unlikely ally of all–to help uncover the biggest secret of his life.
Title: Sweat and Soap, Vol.1
Author: Kintetsu Yamada
Translator: Matt Treyvaud
Series: Sweat and Soap #1
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Romance
Pages: 208
Plot: Yae’s living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she’s ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company’s lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what “that smell” is, she’s terrified… but could it be… that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Yae… does she like him?
Title: Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
Translator: Anjali Singh
Series: Standalone
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 344
Plot: The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandaughter of Iran’s last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. This is a beautiful and intimate story full of tragedy and humour – raw, honest and incredibly illuminating.
Christmas Reads
Title: The Christmas Appeal
Author: Janice Hallett
Series: The Appeal #2
Format: Hardback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Murder Mystery
Pages: 524
Plot: The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk, and some perennially absent players behind the scenes. Of course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer before the curtain closes on their holiday production—for good.
Title: Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night
Author: Sophie Hannah
Series: New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #5
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Murder Mystery
Pages: 384
Plot: It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why. Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else – someone utterly ruthless – also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot . . .
Title: Mystery in White
Author: J. Jefferson Farjeon
Series: Standalone
Format: Paperback
Age Rating: Adult
Genre: Murder Mystery
Pages: 256
Plot: On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea – but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.
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