Best and Worst of 2023

I'm changing it up slightly this year. Instead of the top 10 Best and 5 Worst, I'm just going to do 5/5. Makes my counting easier. So let's get into it!

Top 5 Best Books

1) The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne - One of the first books I even read in 2023. I half read the physical book and half listened to the audiobook. The narrator was brilliant. I adored the way he brought the characters to life. It was so good, that I immediately went out and bought the next volume of this series, and the first book in the Faithful and the Fallen series. (I have yet to read either)

2) Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero - I am a huge fan of Scooby-Doo (I've seen the various cartoons, I have owned and read a few of the novelizations, I once had a talking Scooby-Doo toy). So I was definitely interested in this. It was just as goofy as I was hoping it would be. I adored the Weimariner, Tim, and his methods of helping his friend out of a tough situation. I liked the jokes and how they interacted with each other. I believe this was my first 5-star read of the year and everything. 

3) A Song of Sin and Salvation by L.H. Blake - I know full well that this is a thinly disguised Eddie x Chrissy novel. Eddie is my favorite character. The story itself was also really good. I loved the way Rebecca and James were portrayed. You could really connect with them. The girl who is being basically groomed by her parents/church and the boy who is villified for the sake of being different, despite being the sweetest man in the whole town (and the most understanding). I am looking forward to any new L.H. Blake books. 

4) Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - Yeah, I fell into the hype train. It was worth it though. I wanted to kick Xaden many times. With a steel-cap boot. While I'm not for the "chosen-one" trope, this one actually had it work out really well. I liked how Violet is really good at what she does. She definitely did not want to do it. It was well written.

5) Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer - Great big villain is too big of a chicken to tell the girl he likes that he likes her. I loved how they kept up this almost 'will they won't they' thing going that was entirely one sided. I am excited to get my paws on the sequel and find out what happens to the characters and where we go from here. Now that they know how each other feels and whatnot. It was wonderfully written and Ms. Maehrer is now on my list of autobuy authors.

Top 5 Worst Books of 2023

1) Wicka by Christy Deveaux - I thought I was getting into something good. It is based on a magickal family/community. It was dumb. I absolutely couldn't understand why this was written at all. I don't even remember much about it at this point, other than I didn't care for it. I read it back in March and disliked it so much that I didn't bother rating it. 

2) The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman - I hated this. The characters were way too wrapped up in themselves to really worry about what was going on with each other. It was so ridiculous that just talking to each other could have solved all of the problems and dropped the book down to like, five whole pages. Forget miscommunication trope, this was flat out no communication. One of them was so wrapped up in what she wanted that she wasn't even really listening to anything anyone else was saying. I unhauled the book immediately after finishing it.

3) Sackett's Land by Louis L'Amour - It was just weirdly bad. I didn't even dislike the book. I have virtually no opinion on it. It wasn't memorable in the slightest. The best review I could even come up with was "Well, I read it..." because it was just that meh. 

4) The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean - This one was just all kinds of ick for me. I couldn't take the way the 'eaters, as they call themselves, treated humans and then female 'eaters and then the mind-eaters who had absolutely no control over it. It was just horrible on so many levels that I didn't even want to keep the book in my possession any longer than was necessary. 

5) Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo - This book seemed to be more about prohibition than the reported LGBT+ that it claimed itself to be. We got her questioning herself a little, but that was it. They barely explored the relationship of the girls. More emphasis was put on the "illegal" bar and risk of a bust. I didn't much like it and I am glad it was only a library book.