(A Super Late) 2023 Yearly Recap - Top 10 Reads

Hello everyone! I meant to post this MUCH earlier, but it simply slipped my mind. Better late than never though, I still wanted to share my favorites, least favorites, and stats with you all. Hope your 2024 reading is going strong!

My goal in 2023 was 122 books, I ended with 126 books read.

Goodreads Stats:

Books read- 126

Pages read- 50,621

Average book rating- 3.5

Average book length- 401 pages

My Top 10: (in no particular order)

1. Illuminae- Amie Kaufmann and Jay Krisotoff Unlike anything I've ever read. Blew through this series.

2. The Hero of Ages- Brandon Sanderson Simply the king of fantasy. The end to this series was phenomenal and I think about it so often, almost a year later.

3. Fourth Wing- Rebecca Yarros This book took the world by storm and I am a simple woman. This was phenomenal.

4. Yellowface- R.F. Kuang What a read. What a writer. What a twist. What a train-wreck. What a book.

5. Divine Rivals- Rebecca Ross Discovered her this year and am now working through the backlist. This may be the best book all year. Wow what a read.

6. In the Lives of Puppets- T.J. Klune A warm hug of an author. Everything he writes is gold.

7. Belladonna- Adalyn Grace Cannot wait for the final book in this series this year. This is definitely in the top 5.

8. A Study in Drowning- Ava Reid Although this is a little lacking in plot and actual clarity, this was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.

9. Imogen Obviously- Becky Albertalli I dove into her books a little this year and was so so impressed. I've never felt so seen.

10. Poppy War- R.F. Kuang Another by her, this woman can do no wrong in my eyes. This was a fantastic trilogy.
    

Honorable Mentions: Couldn't just leave these out...

They Never Learn- Layne Fargo

The Last Mrs. Parrish- Liv Constantine

Nineteen Steps- Millie Bobbie Brown

Iron Flame- Rebecca Yarros

Magnolia Parks- Jessa Hastings

My Top 10 Most Disappointing: No shade to authors and fans but not my favs here

1. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow- Gabrielle Zevin This has such a strong fanbase and I'm so sorry but I was so bored.

2. Graceling- Kristin Cashore Cannot believe I made myself suffer through 5 of these books. Absolutely not.

3. Renegades- Marissa Meyer This was just disappointing because I really thought I was going to love this and it was just okay.

4. Never- Jessa Hastings THE single most disappointing book I've ever read. I am a huge Peter Pan lover and this was just insulting honestly. Stick to the Magnolia Parks universe and stay away from Neverland.

5. The Golden Enclaves- Naomi Novik I really liked the first book in this trilogy but with every one I read, the more downhill it went.

6. Secretly Yours- Tessa Bailey This was so cringy.

7. Meet Me at the Lake- Carley Fortune This was so highly rated and I have ZERO idea why. A cheating trope?? No thanks.

8. Murder on the Orient Express- Agatha Christie My first ever Christie book and I was expecting phenomenal and just got okay.

9. One of Us is Back- Karen McManus A completely unneeded sequel.

10. The Maze Cutter- James Dashner Coming from a huge Maze Runner fan...why why why was this written?

11. A Thousand Heartbeats- Kiera Cass I think The Selection series was just a one-off and I have aged out of her books offically.

12. Kingdom of the Feared- Kerri Maniscalco No. So incredibly cringy and hard to get through.

With the good and the bad, heres to many more books in 2024 and a new goal of 124 books.

First book of 2024 you ask? Heartstopper Vol. 5.

See y'all next (this) year.