Tuesday, 16 January 2024

Goodreads My Year In Books 2023


I set myself a goal of reading 40 books in 2023, and miraculously reached my goal on New Year's Eve with six hours to spare! 

It wasn't my best year for reading number-wise, but hey, at least I smashed it! Even if I had to read some short novellas to make up the last few on time. 

As always, I kept track of my reading life on Goodreads, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and share my Goodreads Year in Books- and I've added in a few prompts of my own, too.


So... I read approx. 17,699 pages across 40 books in 2023. 

This is less than the 46 books I read in 2022, but I actually read over 1200 pages more as many of them were longer reads over 600 pages. 

These longer books definitely impacted the number of books I was able to read, as did the amount of time I spent annotating when I could've been reading. If we counted all the books I annotated page by page, my number would be closer to 70. I definitely need to rethink how I annotate so it doesn't slow me down so much. Maybe I should just stick to using page markers and only highlight my absolute favourites?


Shortest book: The Lost Sisters by Holly Black at 50 pages.

Longest Book: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas at 980 pages. (But I wish it had been twice as long as it was one of my favourite reads ever)!

Average Book Length: 442 pages.


Most Shelved: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas with 3,949,944 shelved.

Least Shelved: The Muppet Christmas Carol by Brooke Vitale, with a pitiful 16 people shelving it. (C'mon people)!

My Average Rating: 4.2 stars. I read so many great books last year, and maybe I get a bit over-enthusiastic and rate on vibes more than quality of writing.


Highest Rated on Goodreads: The Muppet Christmas Carol by Brooke Vitale with 4.70 stars average. (Unsurprising- it's so cute)!


My First Review of the Year:

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black. It's a companion book of illustrated short stories from The Folk of the Air series told from Cardan's POV, giving more insight into some iconic scenes, his backstory, and even some scenes after the series had ended with Jude in the mortal world. It's wonderful and you can read my review here.




Books Read (roughly in order):

1. How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black. 5⭐
2. Throne of Glass (collector's edition) by Sarah J. Maas. 4⭐
3. The Stolen Heir by Holly Black. 5⭐
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses (collector's edition) by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
5. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
6. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
7. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. 4⭐
8. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
9. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
10. Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
11. Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas. 3⭐
12. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas. 4⭐
13. Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
14. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
15. The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas. 5⭐
16. The Lost Sisters by Holly Black. (Ebook novella). 3⭐
17. Throne of Glass (hardback) by Sarah J Maas. (Reread). 5⭐ (Upgraded from 4⭐ on first read)
18. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. 5⭐
19. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 3.5⭐
20. Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs. 3.5⭐
21. The Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 5⭐
22. A Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 5⭐
23. The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 4⭐
24. The School for Good and Evil (collector's edition) by Soman Chainani. 2⭐
25. A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 5⭐
26. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. (Reread). 5⭐
27. Once Upon a Broken Heart (vault edition) by Stephanie Garber. (Reread). 3⭐
28. The Ballad of Never After (Owlcrate edition) by Stephanie Garber. (Reread). 5⭐
29. A Curse for True Love (Waterstones exclusive edition) by Stephanie Garber. 5⭐
30. Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco. 4⭐
31. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. 4⭐
32. The Forest Grimm (Fairyloot edition) by Kathryn Purdie. 3⭐
33. Legends and Lattes by Travis Bardee. 5⭐
34. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas. (Reread). 4⭐
35. Upon a Frosted Star (Waterstones exclusive edition) by M. A. Kuzniar. 5⭐
36. The Nutcracker by E.T.A Hoffmann. 3⭐
37. The Muppet Christmas Carol by Brooke Vitale. 5⭐
38. How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (Litjoy Crate edition) by Holly Black. (Reread). 5⭐
39. It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malermann. (Ebook novella). 2⭐
40. Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo. (Reread). 4⭐

Plus, the bonus chapters from 

♥ Fourth Wing red Waterstones holiday edition.
♥ The Cruel Prince collector's edition.
♥ A Curse for True Love Barnes and Noble, Owlcrate, and Waterstones editions.
♥ Letters to Jude- bonus content PDF from The Queen of Nothing.
♥ Various ACOTAR bonus chapters.

And the last chapter from Crescent City 2 as I was curious about the ACOTAR cross-over! Haha!


My Last Review of the Year:

Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco, as I'm so behind with my reviews. I loved this spicy fantasy adventure book about a demon prince of hell teaming up with a gifted artist from the mortal world to complete a game held by the fae king in order to save his court, and get back what was taken from them. It's full of vampires, monsters, vicious fae, hot demon princes, and lots of other good stuff, and you can find my review here.


Challenge completed at 6pm on New Year's Eve, with six hours to spare. Yay me!

Books Read: 40

♥ New Reads: 33
♥ Rereads: 7
♥ DNF: 0


Authors Read: 15
♥ Jennifer L. Armentrout.
♥ Travis Bardee.
♥ Leigh Bardugo.
♥ Holly Black
♥ Soman Chainani.
♥ Stephanie Garber.
♥ E.T.A. Hoffmann.
♥ M. A. Kuzniar.
♥ Sarah J. Maas.
♥ Josh Malermann.
♥ Kerri Maniscalco.
♥ Kathryn Purdie.
♥ Emma Torzs.
♥ Brooke Vitale.
♥ Rebecca Yarros.


New Authors Discovered: 9
♥ Jennifer L. Armentrout.
♥ Travis Bardee.
♥ Soman Chainani.
♥ E.T.A. Hoffmann.
♥ Sarah J. Maas.
♥ Kerri Maniscalco.
♥ Kathryn Purdie.
♥ Emma Torzs.
♥ Rebecca Yarros.


Most Read Genre:
Fantasy / romantasy.


Favourite Book(s) Read: (In no particular order because I can't decide- except QOS is definitely 5th).
♥ A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas.
♥ A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.
♥ Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas.
♥ Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas.
♥ Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas.


Least Favourite Book(s) Read:
♥ The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. (Too YA for me).
♥ It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malermann. (So dull and weird).


Favourite New Series:
♥ Throne of Glass
♥ ACOTAR
♥ Blood and Ash
♥ Fourth Wing


Favourite New Stand Alone:
♥ Upon a Frosted Star

Favourite New Characters:

♥ Throne of Glass- Aelin Galathynius, Rowan Whitethorn, Lorcan Salvaterre, Elide Lochan, Yrene Towers, Fenrys Moonbeam, Dorian Havilliard.

♥ ACOTAR- Nesta Archeron, Cassian, Lucien Vanserra, Rhysand, The Suriel.

♥ From Blood and Ash- Casteel Da' Neer, Kieran Contou, Poppy Balfour, Emil Da' Lahr, Delano Amicu, Reaver.

♥ Fourth Wing- Violet Sorrengail, Xaden Riorson, Liam Mairi, Ridoc, Sawyer, Tairn, Andarna.


Most Hated Characters:

♥ Ianthe (ACOTAR).

♥ Maeve and Vernon (TOG).

♥ Dain and Jack (Fourth Wing).

♥ Cat and Varrish (Iron Flame).

♥ Apollo (ACFTL).

♥ Vexley (Throne of the Fallen).


Favourite New Bookish Couples:

♥ Cassian and Nesta (ACOTAR).

♥ Lorcan and Elide (TOG).

♥ Rowan and Aelin (TOG). (And basically all the other TOG couples- they're all awesome).

♥ Poppy and Casteel... and Kieran (Blood and Ash).

♥ Violet and Xaden (Fourth Wing).


Favourite Editions Bought:

♥ The Folk of the Air Litjoy Crate Boxset.

♥ Grishaverse collection from Owlcrate.

♥ OUABH trilogy from Fairyloot. (Can't wait to get them)!

♥ ACOTAR collector's edition.

♥ TOG Bloomsbury hardbacks.

♥ A Curse For True Love Waterstones Exclusive.


Favourite Dust Jacket:

♥ A Curse for True Love UK edition.

♥ Queen of Shadows and Empire of Storms Bloomsbury hardbacks.


Favourite Hidden Covers:

♥ A Curse For True Love UK and Barnes and Noble editions.

♥ Throne of the Fallen Waterstones exclusive.

♥ The Stolen Heir Illumicrate edition.

♥ Ninth House and Hell Bent Illumicrate editions.

♥ The Forest Grimm Fairyloot Edition.


Favourite Naked Hardbacks:

♥ The Folk of the Air Litjoy Crate editions.

♥ ACOTAR collector's edition.


Favourite Sprayed Edges:

♥ Grishaverse Owlcrate editions.

♥ Iron Flame Waterstones exclusive.

♥ Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries Fairyloot edition.

♥ Throne of the Fallen Waterstones exclusive.

♥ The Forest Grimm Fairyloot edition.


Favourite Bookish Merchandise bought:

♥ Litjoy Crate ACOTAR book tin.

♥ Litjoy Crate reading journal.

♥ ACOTAR and Throne of Glass colouring books.


Some Favourite New Bookish Quotes: 

(I have far too many new favourites to list- mostly SJM ones! Haha!).

♥ One blink for yes. Two for no. Three for Are you alright? Four for I am here, I am with you. Five for This is real, you are awake. -Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas.

♥ 'I love you. There is no limit to what I can give you, no time I need. Even when the world is a forgotten whisper of dust between the stars, I will love you.'- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.

♥ 'One day, I am going to marry you. I'll be generous and let you pick when, even if it's ten years from now. Or twenty. But one day, you are going to be my wife.'- Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.

♥ 'I have no regrets in my life, but this...' ... 'That we did not have time. That I did not have time with you, Nesta.' ... 'I will find you again in the next world- the next life. And we will have that time. I promise.'- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas.

♥ 'He thinks he'll be remembered as the villain in the story.'... 'But I forgot to tell him,' ... 'that the villain is usually the person who locks up the maiden and throws away the key.' ... 'He was the one who let me out.'- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

♥ 'You have no morals.'

'True. But yours are as grey in tone as mine, my dear.'

'That's hardly true.'

'What a cunning little liar you are.'- Throne of the Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco.

♥ 'Thank you, Liam. Thank you for being my shadow. Thank you for being my friend.'- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.

♥ 'Yes, I am a murderer. I enjoy hurting people. I like blood. I like pain. I am a monster, but whether you remember it or not, I'm your monster, Evangeline.'- A Curse For True Love by Stephanie Garber.

♥ 'Some say patience is a virtue.' ... 'Some deserve a punch in the face.'- A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

♥ I suppose that's one good thing about being obedient and faithful and good. People think you will never surprise them.- The Lost Sisters by Holly Black.

And that's my 2023 in books.

I've set myself a new reading goal of 40 books for 2024, but I hope I can do even better and beat last year's figures. I'm already on book 3 of the year, so I feel like I'm off to a strong start.

If you'd like to keep up with what I'm reading and adding to my TBR list, come say hello on Goodreads and Storygraph. You can also find me on Instagram, where I often share what I'm reading, post mini reviews, and give you a peek at pretty new books I've been buying on my Insta Stories.

Did you meet your reading goals last year, and have you set any new ones for 2024?

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