A Year in Books

 

Photo by İrem Karakaş : https://www.pexels.com

It has been a minute since I posted anything on my blog. But I am determined, this year, to

be better about posting stuff to my blog. So, I've updated my look and I've come up with a focus for this year's posts. Since I am still in the process of working on building my own publication credits, this year's focus for my blog will be a year in books. By that I mean that I will be reviewing books that I've read throughout the year and posting reviews to this blog. Each month I hope to have a theme for the types of books I'll be reading and reviewing. The goal here is that every two weeks I will be posting a review on a book. That way I will have two weeks to read and then review each book. We will see how things go. It may be that I have to adjust my timeline as I go and only post a review of one book per month. We will see. But for this month's theme I am going to focus on reviewing young adult or middle grade books. I have one book already done and ready for a review. I hope to begin another book soon. 

But first I'd like to talk about some memorable books that I read in 2023 to start things off. First off, I discovered some authors that I have really come to love in terms of fantasy series. I started off the year reading Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim which led to me reading all of the duologies in this world. They are wonderful fairy tale retellings that incorporate both European and Asian Pacific influences in their retellings. They are truly lovely in terms of plot and prose. If you love young adult fantasy adventure with new spins on fairy tales of old, you will enjoy her books. Another author I really enjoyed in fantasy for 2023 were several works by T. Kingfisher, namely her novel Swordheart and her more recent novella Thornhedge. One is an original fantasy revolving around a magical sword and the other is a subversion of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. Other wonderful fantasy series by authors I discovered this year are the Vine Witch series of books by Luanne G. Smith, wonderful for those who like alternate history, magical realism style fantasy, the Legends and Lattes series by Travis Baldree, a great series if you like Dungeons and Dragons themed books, and the first book in the Emily Wilde series, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett, which is a historical fantasy. All of these books were ones I rated 4 or 5 stars out of a 5 star rating. 

For romances, I enjoyed reading more Emily Henry, my favorite of hers that I read this summer was Beach Read. It is sort of an enemies to lovers style book, but it also deals with working through grief and starting over. Her books always have wonderful characters and humor along with of course, romance. Other romances I read and enjoyed were rereads of some of my favorite Nora Roberts trilogies, including the Gallaghers of Ardmore series as well as some rom-coms in a Renaissance Faire setting by Jen Deluca starting with the first in the series, Well Met.

For mystery and suspense some of my faves this past year were more Bibliophile Mysteries by Kate Carlisle. They revolve around book lover Brooklyn Wainwright who makes her living restoring rare books but who also gets caught up in solving murders. For those interested, the first in that series is Homicide in Hardcover. Other mysteries I enjoyed are the Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano about a writer and recent divorcee who is mistaken as being a hitwoman. Naturally, hijinks ensue in this comedy of errors style mystery. The first in the series is entitled Finlay Donovan is Killing It.

And finally, in terms of nonfiction a compelling memoir that I read near the end of this year was Educated by Tara Westover. I'll admit this is not one I would have chosen on my own to read. It was a book club selection. But I did find it compelling and one that stayed with me as I was reading and after I'd finished it. It could be a triggering book for those who have had trauma from physical or emotional abuse as the book does deal with both. But it is a very well-written book about a woman overcoming unbelievable odds to become not only a very well-educated woman, but one brave enough to reinvent herself.

Admittedly, few of the books I've mentioned in this list are new publications, a few are, but most are not. However, most of them were new to me and I would highly recommend any of them. Hopefully this broad range of genres will inspire some of you to find your next favorite read for this year. 

As for my first read and review that I'll be giving for this month's theme, I'll be talking about Dan Santat's graphic novel memoir, A First Time for Everything. It was the 2023 National Book Award winner for Young People's Literature. I will say here and now that this honor was well deserved. 

Image copied from Goodreads

As for my second pick for the month, I am still debating, but one that I am seriously considering is a young adult fantasy adventure that I found on NetGalley entitled The Ascenditure by Robyn Dabney and set to come out in May 2024. 

How about you? Any books that stood out to you that you'd recommend from last year? Any books you'd like to recommend I read for this year? Feel free to share any recommendations for favorite reads in the comments.