Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is the authors we read for the first time in 2022. I did that post for blogmas here. So, instead here are 10 authors I want to try in 2023.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic isNew-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022.
Becky Chambers
Carlos Hernandez
Yoon Ha Lee
Tehlor Kay Mejia
Martha Wells
Ursula K. Le Guin
V. E. Schwab
Will Wight
That’s all I have for new authors in 2022. What authors did you read for the first time?
Hey, lovelies! We’ve reached the end of the year. This month wasn’t a super easy one for me reading wise. I dnf’d so many books and did a huge book unhaul. So, I listened to a bunch of audiobooks and managed to read ebooks when I could, but I didn’t have that much time for physical reading.
Physical Books The Choice by Nora Roberts Astrid Parker Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake Going Rogue by Janet Evanovich The Name of All Things by Jenn Lyons Beartown by Fredrik Backman Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
eBooks Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Books-Dalton Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Audiobooks Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott The Wilderwomen by Ruth Enna Lang The Poison Season by Mara Rutherford Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore
Hello, lovelies! The last few years I’ve made a list of all my unread releases, so I’m going to continue that trend. Here are all of the books I own that were published in 2022 and I have not yet read them.
Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca The Winners by Fredrik Backman The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friesland Love in the Times of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson Every Summer After by Carley Fortune The Drowning Summer by Christine Lynn Herman Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
I did way better this year than the previous years. Are any of these on your tbr list?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection.
Seasparrow by Kristin Cashore
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima
The Choice by Nora Roberts
A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab
A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab
I’ve been trying to be good about buying books lately so that’s all I have this week. What are your newest books?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week we talk about our top ten with a different topic provided by Jana. This week’s topic is the ten books I’ve most recently acquired.
Thronebreakers by Rebecca Coffindaffer
Devil in the Device by Lora Beth Johnson
Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel
Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (B&N Special Edition)
Hello! We’re back to wrap up another round of five-star predictions. We shared these for Blogtober and managed to read some of them for once. Here’s what we thought!
Amanda’s Predictions
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun I finally read this and I really loved it. It was absolutely the perfect holiday season romance.
Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake I knew this one was going to hurt me emotionally and it certainly did. Five stars for sure.
Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton This book was strange in a way that I really enjoyed. I don’t think five stars, but I would definitely recommend it.
Antonia’s Predictions
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers I absolutely loved this. It was the perfect continuation of Dex and Mosscap’s story. Definitely a five star read for me.
The Choice by Nora Roberts I really loved this one. I thought it was a perfect ending to this series and really tied everything up for me.
Children of Ragnarok by Cinda Williams Chima I found this one really interesting. It was hard for me to get into initially with all the unusual terms but once I did I could hardly put it down. The ending was a little anticlimactic but still five stars overall.
Someone give us a high-five! We both managed to read all of our predictions! Do you have any upcoming reads that you think will be five stars?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is Books I Hope Santa Brings This Year. But i just bought a bunch of books so, Amanda’s going to make my list with books she wishes she could buy me for Christmas.
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
What books are you hoping to get this holiday season?
Hello, lovelies! I have some book readers that I get to shop for this year. So, these are some of the books I’m eager to purchase for others so we can scream about them together.
For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten “The first daughter is for the Throne. The second daughter is for the Wolf. As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.”
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun “One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money. Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.”
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers “Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend. Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers’ series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?”
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston “Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny. But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes. On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square. Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.”
The Gilded Wolvesby Roshani Chokshi “It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood. Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history–but only if they can stay alive.”
Furyborn by Claire Legrand “When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first. One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire’s heart is more terrible than she ever imagined. As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.”
These are some books that I would love to gift to some of the people in my life. Do you try to gift books during the holiday season?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is a freebie. I’m going to do top ten books I’d planned to read in 2022 but didn’t get around to.
The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi
All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
The Empire of Gold by S. A. Chakraborty
Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
Set Fire to the Gods by Sara Raasch and Kristen Simmons
ARTWORK: this year’s SciFiMonth artwork is by the amazingly talented Simon Fetscher.
Hey, lovelies! I thought it would be fun to share a list of science fiction that I’ve read since last years #SciFiMonth festivities. These are all books I enjoyed, and this is me recommending them to you. Now, these books won’t be all new releases, just books that are new to me.
Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace “Like everyone else she knows, Mallory is an orphan of the corporate war. As a child, she lost her parents, her home, and her entire building in an airstrike. As an adult, she lives in a cramped hotel room with eight other people, all of them working multiple jobs to try to afford water and make ends meet. And the job she’s best at is streaming a popular VR war game. The best part of the game isn’t killing enemy combatants, though—it’s catching in-game glimpses of SpecOps operatives, celebrity supersoldiers grown and owned by Stellaxis, the corporation that runs the America she lives in. Until a chance encounter with a SpecOps operative in the game leads Mal to a horrifying discovery: the real-life operatives weren’t created by Stellaxis. They were kids, just like her, who lost everything in the war, and were stolen and augmented and tortured into becoming supersoldiers. The world worships them, but the world believes a lie. The company controls every part of their lives, and defying them puts everything at risk—her water ration, her livelihood, her connectivity, her friends, her life—but she can’t just sit on the knowledge. She has to do something—even if doing something will bring the wrath of the most powerful company in the world down upon her.”
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal “The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.”
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling “A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival. When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane. Instead, she got Em. Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . . As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head. But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?”
Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer “Alyssa Farshot has spent her whole life trying to outrun her family legacy. Her mother sacrificed everything to bring peace to the quadrant, and her uncle has successfully ruled as emperor for decades. But the last thing Alyssa wants is to follow in their footsteps as the next in line for the throne. Why would she choose to be trapped in a palace when she could be having wild adventures exploring a thousand-and-one planets in her own ship? But when Alyssa’s uncle becomes gravely ill, his dying wish surprises the entire galaxy. Instead of naming her as his successor, he calls for a crownchase, the first in seven centuries. Representatives from each of the empire’s prime families—including Alyssa—are thrown into a race to find the royal seal, which has been hidden somewhere in the empire. The first to find the seal wins the throne. Alyssa’s experience as an explorer makes her the favorite to win the crown she never wanted. And though she doesn’t want to be empress, her duty to her uncle compels her to participate in this one last epic adventure. But when the chase turns deadly, it’s clear that more than just the fate of the empire is at stake. Alyssa is on her most important quest yet—and only time will tell if she’ll survive it.”
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton “An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.Until something goes wrong…
Summary: What if you knew how and when you will die? Csorwe does — she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice. But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard’s loyal sword. Topple an empire, and help him reclaim his seat of power. But Csorwe will soon learn – gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.
Review: Shout out to whoever recommended that I buy this over on Twitter. I picked up The Unspoken Name for the Clear Your Shit Readathon because I bought this book sometime last year only knowing that it was a queer, adult fantasy. I’m so glad I finally picked it up because I think it’s going to be making my 2021 favorites list. The story is a winding path down which we follow our main character, Csorwe (pronounced like doorway but with a ks sound like in the word books). Csorwe is meant to be the next bride for the Unspoken God. But what if she wasn’t? She runs away from the path her life has been on with Sethennai, a wizard that visits where she lives. We see them go from place to place and work toward completing Sethennai’s goals. But we don’t really get to know Csorwe until she realizes that she hasn’t been living for herself. I loved all of the characters. The three most important are Csorwe, who really grows and develops. She realizes that she’s just replaced the Unspoken God with Sethennai and what he wants. She’s made his goals her whole life. So, getting to see her fall into that trap and then get herself out of it was really a ride. Then there’s Tal. Csorwe and Tal are the frenemies that I didn’t know I needed in my life. I laughed out loud so many times at the way they talk to and behave toward each other. I’m very interested to see how or if we will get more of them in the second book. Even though I understood why Csorwe hated Tal, I really liked him. He and Csorwe had more in common than they would ever admit. I liked seeing how differently he handled come out of making his whole life about Sethennai. Finally, there’s Shuthmili (our love interest). Like Csorwe, Shuthmili has a path planned for her because of her culture and her connection with a god. But she doesn’t have to choose that path and with Csorwe’s influence, she runs. I mostly loved Shuthmili because of how absolutely brainless Csorwe gets around her. Their interactions gave me so much joy. It took me a lot longer to actually care about Shuthmili because she was a little boring having accepted and seemed excited about the path that had been planned for her. But she definitely grew on me. The world building was absolutely fascinating. We get to see Csorwe travel through these gates that take her all over for her travels, but I’m still not really sure if they’re going to other planets, or what the specifics are with that. But the places that we do see are wonderfully described from the settings to the culture. Each new place has a unique and interesting way of living (usually based on what god their people serve). I can’t wait to learn more about the gods outside of the three that this book sort of focused on. Overall, I cannot say enough good things about this book. The world was compelling and kept my interest. I never really felt confused or overwhelmed with information. The characters were likable. The romance was swoon worthy. The yearning was absolutely top tier. The plot sort of meandered about, but I found that I didn’t really mind that. I am incredibly excited to read the second book (which I have an eARC of, so I’m going to go do that now!)
Hey, lovelies! I haven’t done one of these in what feels like forever. One of my goals for 2021 was to get my physical TBR list down to almost nothing (I’ll be happy with about 20-25 books on it). So, part of that was me wanting to read all of my owned but unread graphic novels. I’d like to go into 2022 with no physical copies of graphic novels on my TBR shelf. I want to make more use of my library when it comes to graphic novels since my library uses Hoopla and Hoopla has a really good selection of graphic novels and comics on there. Let’s get into all the graphic novels I read in December and my thoughts on them!
Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe
I think all the hype has let me down for this one. The story is a romance between Hades and Persephone but it’s still in the very beginning stages. I just wanted more. I think if I continue this series it will be via the website where I can read the full webtoon for free. I didn’t love the art style and I just felt like I was left wanting for more.
TheApocalypse Suite by Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba, & Dave Stewart
I bought this because I’m a huge My Chemical Romance fan and also because I wanted to read the graphic novels before I watched the show adaptation. I have to be honest, I genuinely have no idea what just happened. This was a quick read but the plot (aside from “save the world” was hard to follow. I didn’t understand what happened to them as kids other than not being treated well or loved. There were so many things references that weren’t elaborated on or explained which I think is why I was so confused. I’m going to combine the series only because I already borrowed them from the library and I still want to read them all before I watch the show.
The Secret Loves of Geek Girls by Hope Nicholson, Marjorie M. Liu, Mariko Tamaki, Marguerite Bennett, Margaret Atwood, Trina Robbins, Noelle Stevenson, Carla Speed McNeil, Sarah Winifred Searle, & Stephanie Cooke
I sadly DNF’d this. It was entirely too much prose for me. This wasn’t what I wanted it to be, though I’m sure it’s still a very good book.
These are my mini-reviews this month. Did you read any graphic novels?
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