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.

The Most Surprising Books of 2023

This category is basically for books that I didn’t think would astound me as much as they did. Books that I might zoom under the radar a bit.

Plot: Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope’s twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago. But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand. The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.

so, this book was a victim of mis-marketing. This book was marketed everywhere as an Odyssey re-telling when in fact it only takes inspiration from a tiny part of the whole Odyssey. Specifically the events with Penelope and her handmaidens. So, I was very shocked when I opened the first page and it was set like 100+ years after the events of Odyssey. I really enjoyed the romance element of this book and the characterisation but the thing that made it reach this title of Most Surprising Book of 2023 was that ending grabbed me in my heart and crushed me. Trying not to cry on the bus.

Plot: Yeongju is burned out. With her high–flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful, but all she feels is drained. Yet an abandoned dream nags at her, and in a leap of faith, she leaves her old life behind. Quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a small residential neighborhood outside the city, where she opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop. For the first few months, all Yeongju does is cry, deterring visitors. But the long hours in the shop give her time to mull over what makes a good bookseller and store, and as she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she begins to ease into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember that it’s never too late to scrap the plot and start again.

Now, this is a genre I don’t normally read let alone something as super self-reflect as this but this book just found me at the right time. I connected to this book 1. because I literally am a bookseller and there were some truly relatable moments but also because the conversations surrounding work/life balance, life fulfilment all of it just hit me in my soul and I just truly connected to this book.

Synopsis: When Polly Morland is clearing out her mother’s house she finds a book that will lead her to a remarkable figure living on her own doorstep: the country doctor who works in the same remote, wooded valley she has lived in for many years. This doctor is a rarity in contemporary medicine – she knows her patients inside out, and their stories are deeply entwined with her own. In A Fortunate Woman, with its beautiful photographs by Richard Baker, Polly Morland has written a profoundly moving love letter to a landscape, a community and, above all, to what it means to be a good doctor.

I read this book in 1 day. 1 whole day! Again, not a book I would normally read but I loved it. The human connection, the anecdotal stories everything was so heart-breaking and heart-warming. I wasn’t even thrown off by the covid section!

The Most Disappointing Books of 2023

This section is dedicated books that I had high hopes for or had a lot of hype around it that ultimately did not meet the mark.

Plot: In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, the richest of nobles and the most debauched of criminals have one thing in common: the constant search for wealth, power, and the next hedonistic thrill. Kel is an orphan, stolen from the life he knew to become the Sword Catcher—the body double of a royal heir, Prince Conor Aurelian. He has been raised alongside the prince, trained in every aspect of combat and statecraft. He and Conor are as close as brothers, but Kel knows that his destiny is to die for Conor. No other future is possible. Lin Caster is one of the Ashkar, a small community whose members still possess magical abilities. By law, they must live behind walls within the city, but Lin, a physician, ventures out to tend to the sick and dying of Castellane. Despite her skills, she cannot heal her best friend without access to forbidden knowledge. After a failed assassination attempt brings Lin and Kel together, they are drawn into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King, the criminal ruler of Castellane’s underworld. He offers them each what they want most; but as they descend into his world of intrigue and shadow, they discover a conspiracy of corruption that reaches from the darkest gutters of Castellane to the highest tower of its palaces. As long-kept secrets begin to unravel, they must ask themselves: Is knowledge worth the price of betrayal? Can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war—and the world into chaos?

Now I had read the first 4 books in Clare’s Shadowhunter series and had not read anything of hers since. But since then, I had seen hype after hype after praise for her work and when I heard she was writing her first adult fantasy series I was really intrigued. Ultimately, I DNFd this book just under 200 pages in. While I liked the world-building and lore, the characters were unremarkable and nothing really happened in the pages I read so I didn’t want to wait for something interesting to happen.

Plot: With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie. But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out. Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay. After all, a good job is hard to find.

One of my good friends loved this book and it made me pick it up but I went into this expecting something super different and it left me feeling pretty disappointed. I thought this was going to be a funny satirical ‘The Office’/’Parks and Rec’ kind of book but instead it was partially that but more focused on a super boring romance with a super cliche and cringey main character. I wish we had focused more on the office like shenanigans not the romance as when we did focus on the more office element it was so much more interesting. Just underwhelming.

Plot: In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

So much hype for this book! My god! Literally all over TikTok and any other social media platform. So, I went into this book with high hopes but I just was severely underwhelmed. Yes, it has some sweet moments but the bland writing and the many plot holes were just too much for me. I am surprised that this book is as popular as it is. It’s very average.

The WORST Books of 2023

Plot: Penny Paxton is the daughter of an icon. Her supermodel mother has legions of adoring fans around the world, and Penny is ready to begin her journey to international adoration, starting with joining the elite Dorian Drama School. When Penny’s new mentor offers her an opportunity she cannot refuse, to have a portrait painted by a mysterious artist who can grant immortal beauty to all his subjects, Penny happily follows in the footsteps of Dorian’s most glittering alumni, knowing that stardom is sure to soon be hers. But when her trusted mentor is found murdered, Penny realises she’s made a terrible mistake – a sinister someone is using the uncanny portraits to kill off the subjects one by one. As more perfectly beautiful students start to fall, Penny knows her time is running out . . .

This was a disappointing read unfortunately. I found the premise to be super intriguing and was excited to see how it was applied but I found the execution to be lacklustre and at times absurd. I found the main character unlikable, the plot structuring to work against the mystery the author is trying to set up and an ending that had me infuriated. SPOILERS – You spend 2/3 of the novel being told the murderer is one specific character (which the writing contradicts so its makes for a frustrating read) and who you do get is underwhelming and confusing. I will say it was super nice to see aloepica representation – as someone who struggled with it growing up I could relate to our MC on that level.

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.

Another book which was just infuriating to read. It started off really strong but the set-up was super confusing, the character motivations were all over the place, the main ‘detective’ character doesn’t really explain anything until the end which was also frustrating. You had to suspend your disbelief way too much for this book!