Today I’m going to wrap up my 2023 reading year with a series of questions. I sadly didn’t do one of these last year but I will link the one I did in 2021 here.
Books read: 190
Favorite book
I love this book so much I read it twice last year! Every aspect of this story works flawlessly for me. Which doesn’t mean I don’t acknowledge its faults, I just don’t find that they hamper my enjoyment.
Worst book
I’m copying my original review of this book because all I remember about this book now is how much I dislike it.
And the worst book of the week (and year) easily goes to the The Warning. I can’t believe that I actually read this book and it was so terrible. There was just something about it that kept me engaged and wanting to overlook all my issues with it. But there is no real twist. Nothing is connected and is just a hodge podge of a story that has a ridiculous ending. I honestly don’t know what was the point of this book. And it has major content warnings for death of kids that is referenced many times, emotional and mental abuse, on page domestic abuse, kidnapping, and a bizarre “twist” where the only LGBT character was a villain. I wish that I could give this zero stars and do not recommend at all.
Overhyped
This is going to be controversial but so far I don’t vibe with this series. I have an hour left in Heir of Fire, the third or fourth book in the series. I don’t remember where some people read The Assassins Blade but I read it first. I don’t like the characters, the pacing is all over the place, and I feel like Maas didn’t know where this series was going until the last half of Heir of Fire. However, it is rewarding to see how far Maas has come since this is her first series and I’m enjoying the world TOG is set in. Also, it shocked me how much of Yarros’s Empyrean series is inspired by this series. In my opinion Yarros has done it better but at the same time Maas was the one whose creativity thought of it first. I have four books left and I will be tandem reading the fifth and sixth books. Fingers crossed it gets better for me!
Most disappointing
This one is funny because in my original review I ranted about the poor marketing of this book because it was an ARC offered to me with the synopsis saying it is Clue meets The Great British Bake Off. It has no resemblance to Clue and I was so annoyed that I was promised something that wasn’t delivered (not the author’s fault!). Here is my review if you are interested in reading it. I was happy to see when I went to grab a Storygraph link that this book now has a synopsis stating this book is perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building meets The Maid. Which I don’t know if I 100% agree with but it definitely fits better then Clue.
Most read genre: I’m not sure since I didn’t do a good job tracking my reading but I would guess romance or thriller
Most surprising
I picked this book up for a readathon last year because I needed a creature book with a dark cover and this book fit the bill. I wasn’t expecting much and honestly thought I might end up DNF’ing it. But I ended up being blown away by this story. It had the fun werewolf aspect but it was also a deep emotional book that had many witty moments. I will definitely be reading more of Rachel Harrison in 2024.
Longest book
This one is a bit of cheat since I feel like I read most of it in 2022 but I did finish it last year. This was a challenging read because it is 99% a stream of consciousness novel but I still find myself thinking about the main character from time to time.
Shortest book
This was a fun short story in the Master of Crows series.
Biggest accomplishment
I started this at the end of July and it was a struggle to get through the first volume. It is so incredibly descriptive of all the landscape and the action in the first volume can be summed up in about five sentences. I ended up finishing the book in November since the rest of the book flowed well minus the ending that seemed to drag on. I’m so happy that I pushed through that first volume because I love the bulk of this story.
Favorite characters
I would pick Fourth Wing for this but I wanted to have different answers for each question. I do love Rhysand and the Night Court and I’m so excited that Maas is writing the next book in this series. But I would have chosen Crescent City if I read one of those books last year.
Book that made you cry
This was a fantastic historical fiction that truly transported me to war torn Warsaw. My full review is here.
Book that made you laugh
I loved seeing young Jane Austen’s mind at work in these early works of hers. They were surprisingly witty and well done which truly showcases her immense talent.
Favorite author
I had to put Rebecca Yarros here even though I’ve only read her Empyrean series. And I didn’t love Iron Flame has much as Fourth Wing but I truly love being in this world. I will be rereading this series and trying to read her backlist in 2024.
Books With Cassie 