January 2023

I’m going to try and do monthly posts. This might fizzle out midyear but we’re going to try this for now. For the sake of my sanity, I’m not going to add covers anymore (sorry!).

The Mislaid Magician by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

This was delightful and sweet. a little bit boring but mostly interesting and just a good ride.

The Duke Heist by Erica Ridley

The first book in the series that I read the third book of on our anniversary trip. it was a delightful romp even if it was unrealistic. Love the family of orphans even though they make no historical sense.

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

As one of my goals this year I decided to reread the Innkeeper Chronicles. It’s just so.. cozy. Although you can definitely tell that the story is evolving as it goes. I also really appreciate how slow burn the romance is.

Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley

Went ahead and read the second book in this series. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and thought it was sweet, but the ending was just so unrealistic. I guess that’s a common complaint with this series but I understand it’s all about the HEA.

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Book two in which they host a negotiation. The alien worlds really expanded in this one. Although I was surprised how easy it was for her to adopt a cat.

One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

We are introduced to her sister and niece. Also the romance solidifies

Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews

A novella where Dina recovers from trauma.

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

Maud’s book where she has to decide what she wants for the future.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

This was one of those books I wanted to reread this year. Unfortunately I didn’t like it that much. Like I just didn’t find it funny or even that engaging. I was mostly bored and didn’t care at all. Yes, it’s quirky and different but it just didn’t land this time.

FireLogic by Laurie J Marks

A friend recommended this as a classic fantasy book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this either. It’s super depressing (the country is at war the whole time) and although by the end there were some characters I liked, I mostly just didn’t want to read about all this struggle and trauma. I won’t be continuing the series.

I requested graphic novels from the library so these are the random selections I received (and promptly read). I’m not sure if all the diverse representation was intentional or not but I feel like I got a selection about immigrant families which was unexpected but nice.

New Kid by Jerry Craft

This is about a middle school kid starting at a new school. It’s about racism and class and trying to find your place in the world. Very well done (if a little preachy).

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

Girl learns about her Indian side with the help of a magical scarf. Beautifully illustrated even if I didn’t quite get it.

Anya’s Ghost by Very Brosgol

Probably my least favorite. We follow a Russian-American who accidentally releases a ghost. Our main character is super unhappy and thinks she’s fat and smokes and skips school and generally I just really didn’t vibe with this.

Wash Day Diaries by Jamilly Rowser and Robyn Smith

This was such a beautiful book about four women who are friends and just a little snippet of their lives/friendship. I would read a whole series about them.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

This is about two friends on their last day working at a pumpkin… festival? very sweet kinda crazy. I personally didn’t love the ending but the characters were great.

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

A Vietnamese-American boy tries to tell his mom that he’s gay while they read fairy tales together. This story was told in a very interest style.

And back to traditional novels:

Paladin’s Grace by T Kingfisher

My continuation of the white rat series. A perfumer and a broken paladin who knits. This book is just so delightful if a bit all over the place

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

For some reason I thought this was a novella but it’s not. We follow a girl with half a soul and a magician who wants to help the poor in a historical English setting. Yes this is a romance but it’s a lot more about social reform than I was expecting. Also I somehow thought there was a love triangle which there isn’t which was a relief.

Paladin’s Strength by T Kingfisher

Second paladin book in which we have two big people falling in love.

Paladin’s Hope by T Kingfisher

They gay book with the amazing gnole.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I was sick so I read a childrens book. this was really good. very well done and written super interestingly.

Dealing With Dragons by Patricia Wrede

Again with the sick reading kids books. Princess runs away to a dragon to get away from her dumb life. She ends up helping save the dragons from wizards, lovely and easy to read with little brain.

Searching for Dragons by Patricia Wrede

Book two in this series. We follow the King of the enchanted forest as he tries to discover who is burning up parts of the forest. Just a fun sweet romp.

Cursed Luck by Kelly Armstrong

I’m not sure where I heard about this but it was described as a cozy urban fantasy. I’m not sure I would call it cozy but it was interesting. I didn’t love one aspect of the story but overall it was fun.

Goddess of Summer Love by Kelly Armstrong

A novella following the prior book. It was… fine. I think I’m just not that into mysteries. Also I didn’t love the character whose perspective we were in. I wanted her to stay more mysterious.

2022. 201-202

201. Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan

I picked this up since I remember liking books by this author in the past. Our main characters leaves London for a small town in order to help her great aunt and her failing sweetshop. Although I enjoyed this book, I didn’t appreciate how much of it was spent with her prior relationship. Like we know from the very start that they’re going to break up and it’s kind of painful just waiting for it to happen.

202. Not Quite A Husband by Sherry Thomas

Another historical romance novel… and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. The two characters are super in love with each other and yet refuse to be together because they don’t trust each other. Also it’s mostly set in India during British occupation and I just don’t love reading about colonialism I’ve realized. Idk, it was fine but didn’t make me feel good.

And there ends all the abundance of books I read in 2022. I’m not sure what I’m going to do for 2023. I might abandon this blog completely and just use storygraph? I haven’t decided yet.

2022. 198 – 200

198. The Christmas Wedding Guest by Susan Mallery

This is one of those Christmas books I picked up on a whim from the library. In this one we follow two sisters and their respective love stories. Overall I really enjoyed this book. It felt very much like a hallmark movie. We have the small town obsessed with Christmas, the songwriter who can’t write, the quirky characters. Also I appreciated the side characters (including the dogs) in this. It was fun and a little different yet somehow still believable.

199. Swordheart by T Kingfisher

In my attempt to reread this series I’m now at this one. So… this book was steamier than I remember it being the first time. Like there’s a lot of graphic pining but I still really enjoyed it. the world, characters, etc. It’s just is such a fun time.

200. The Pregnancy Countdown Book by Susan Magee

So… I really need to be more selective when it comes to pregnancy books. Turns out this one was published in 2006 and it definitely felt dated. it’s kind of like those apps that tell you what your baby looks like each week but also with comments from a doctor and real women. I mean, I enjoyed it but would have liked it more if it wasn’t so dated (one piece of advice was to get a phone with a camera so you can take pictures of the baby).

2022.190 – 192

190. The Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher

192. The Wonder Engine by T Kingfisher

Every since I read the last paladin book, I’ve wanted to reread the whole world. I’m a little worried that they aren’t as good as I thought? But I reread them and still loved these two. It’s just the perfect type of book for me. So.. cozy? even with all the like death and possession etc. Excited to reread the rest of them.

191. Belly Laughs

I don’t want to talk about this book. I read it because it was on a list of recommended books about pregnancy so I picked it up knowing nothing about the author. After I read it I looked up the author and 30sec of reading made me realize that I cannot support anything of hers. Fortunately I also didn’t like the book that much.

2022.187

187. Facets of Revolution by T.A. White

This is the… third? book in this series and I’m honestly not sure why I keep reading them. This was a super long book where nothing of any importance happened. I still really do not believe the romance (AT ALL!) and there are so many characters I cannot keep them straight or really understand what is happening. However I do find our main character (and J1N) interesting. Maybe that’s why I keep reading? Can’t say. But I definitely skim read and just wanted it to be over.

2022. 184 – 186

184. Unlocked by Courtney Milan

This is a novella in which we follow a girl who was bullied by this boy as a child and now they’re both older and he’s changed and is in love with her. Although I didn’t love how quickly the romance happened, I really enjoyed the characters and world of this book. Pretty sure it’s the start of a series so that’s exciting.

185. The Lightning God’s Wife by Grace Draven

This is a short story set in the crow? world. It was fine but I really like her writing and am currently trying to read all of her books.

186. The Lion’s Daughter by Loretta Chase

I heard good things about the… third? book in this series but I wanted to start from the beginning of the series which may have ben a terrible mistake. oh this book. First off, it’s long and it doesn’t know what to be. Is it a romance? Is it a mystery? adventure? My biggest problem with it is that the girl is presented as 15. Spoiler, turns out she’s 18 but seriously, I did not enjoy the age gap element. Also it felt like there were two stories; one in Albania and one in England and they felt very very different. I ultimately enjoyed this but at the beginning I really hated it so I’m not sure what to think.

2022.182 – 183

182. Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

This was another book that was selected for me by the librarians. This is a holiday romance book about a woman who goes to England with her daughter for Christmas. It was interesting in that the main characters in this book are older (and more mature) and this isn’t their first romance etc. But it was super sweet and fun. The ending was unrealistic (to me) but the only way to have a HEA.

183. Raven Unveiled by Grace Draven

This is the next on in this series and at the start of the book the bad guy from a prior book is searching down the woman who betrayed her. I wish I remembered more from the prior books in the series because I feel like I was missing a few things but overall I enjoyed this. I didn’t love it as much as I hoped or expected to but it was still fun.

2022.174 – 176

These are the last three books in the Incorrigible Children series by Maryrose Wood. Around book 4 I started enjoying the series a bit less. It becomes a much larger plot and also started to feel a bit ‘teachy’. idk, I still enjoyed the series overall but I stopped loving it. I think I wanted it to remain a small story about a governess and three children but I can see how it would be hard to write a series about that.

2022.170 – 173

170. Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo

This is the next novella in this series but I’m not sure I can tell you what it’s about. Our main character is still traveling and meets new people who tell them stories. I prefer the second book best but this is still a feel good beautifully written little tale.

171-173. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood

This is the first three books in this middle grade series. Our main character (who is only 15) graduates from school and ends up as a governess for three children. The only catch? They seem to have been raised by wolves. I’m loving this quiet comforting series (currently reading book 4). There are some bigger mysteries that we’re still trying to figure out and it almost doesn’t feel like that much happens in each book and yet they’re never slow or boring. There’s some commenting about the children being ‘savages’ which I don’t love but it’s definitely indicated that this is ridiculous.

2022.168 – 169

168. Show Us Who You Are by Elle McNicoll

This is a middle grade book following our main character (whose name I’ve forgotten) and her friendship with this boy she meets. It’s set in a slightly futuristic world in which the company the boy’s father owns is trying to create AI versions of dead people so that when someone dies they don’t actually die. Although I personally didn’t love the ending of this book (it felt rushed and chaotic and unrealistic) I think that for the intended audience (which is not me) it would work really well. Also I really appreciated reading a middle grade and how it really is about friendship and not romance. Oh and also it’s great neurodivergent rep. The girl has autism and the boy has ADHD. The author herself (I believe) has both.

169. Better off Wed by Susanna Craig

This is the third book in this series of historical romances between women and British spies. I liked this book a lot more than the previous book in this series. We have a very strong female lead who goes about trying to avenge women who have been taken advantage of by rich men. and we have codebreaker who gets assigned to find out her true identity. Idk, I just really enjoyed this book. It was a thorough romp with a steamy side. I liked our characters and that they were clear in their communication and desires. This book didn’t strike me as historically accurate (or realistic if we’re being picky) but I appreciated how feminist it is and what are you reading a romance for if you don’t want a happily ever after.