A鈥檚 Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

101,116

pages read

303

books read

4 likes Like

Shortest Book

pages

Longest Book

824

pages

Average book length in 2023

333

pages

Most Shelved

7,862,480

people also shelved

The Blood of all Monsters by L. H. Rooney

Least Shelved

people also shelved

A鈥檚 average rating for 2023

2.9

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.80 average

My Big Fat Fabulous Christmas by Lyndsey Gallagher

A鈥檚 first review of the year

liked it

Sasha has been running her family鈥檚 castle and has been her younger sister鈥檚 guardian since ten years ago when her parents died in a tragic accident. Only 28 years old, she鈥檚 finding herself running out of time to keep the castle afloat and hasn鈥檛 had any time to think about romance. Until she finds out that her ex, her first and only true love, the famous singer Ryan Cooper is going to be staying at her castle over the holidays. Will Sasha be ab ...more

础鈥橲 2023 BOOKS

it was amazing

Best Friends Forever by Shannon Hollinger

Knot Bad Amigurumi by Vincent Green-Hite

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith

We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride

The Forest Keeper鈥� The True Story of Jadav Payeng by Rina Singh

it was amazing

King of Battle and Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin

The Many Dates of Indigo by Amber D. Samuel

Every Missing Girl by Leanne Kale Sparks

it was amazing

In the Time of Our History by Susanne Pari

really liked it

The Mistress Next Door by Lesley Sanderson

He Said He Would Be Late by Justine Sullivan

The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power

really liked it

The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland

Porcupette Finds a Family by Vanita Oelschlager

it was amazing

In the Shadows of Castles by G K Holloway

it was amazing

The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett

The Little Books of the Little Bront毛s by Sara O'Leary

it was amazing

Someone Is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong

River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givhan

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti

it was amazing

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

it was amazing

Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves by Quinn Connor

And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong

Backpack Explorer by Editors of Storey Publishing

it was amazing

And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Servant and the Scoundrel by Christopher Sendrowski

A鈥檚 last review of the year

liked it

Philem Clane is a lorianas, the head servant, confidant, and steward of the King. He鈥檚 used to keeping the entire castle in top condition and dealing with any issues that may arise. However, when the king informs him that they鈥檙e to host a grand feast and peace summit for their neighboring continent, Philem knows that the very fate of his kingdom rests in his hands. However, there are many secret agendas surrounding this summit, and Philem finds Philem Clane is a lorianas, the head servant, confidant, and steward of the King. He鈥檚 used to keeping the entire castle in top condition and dealing with any issues that may arise. However, when the king informs him that they鈥檙e to host a grand feast and peace summit for their neighboring continent, Philem knows that the very fate of his kingdom rests in his hands. However, there are many secret agendas surrounding this summit, and Philem finds himself pulled into the middle of them. Little does he know that the events at the summit will force his life in an unexpected and unwelcome direction.

The best thing about this work was the worldbuilding. The author clearly spent a lot of time coming up with a clearly defined world, from information as big as national/continental politics and biomes to details as small as the conditions a certain type of mushroom grew in. These details caused the greater world to come to life while also adding much to plot-relevant points. However, there were instances where it became too much of a good thing. Several places got too bogged down in interesting worldbuilding details, which then ended up detracting from the plot and characters. There鈥檚 also almost no plot in the first half of the book as it focuses more on Philem鈥檚 role as lorianas and preparing for the summit. I didn鈥檛 mind this much, but it might be a deterrent for some readers.

It's tough for me to decide how I feel about the characters. For the most part, they neither added nor detracted from the book. The protagonist was fleshed out the most, and since the story is told from his first-person POV, we were privy to his inner thoughts and dialogue throughout the read. This was sometimes a negative thing though, as his thoughts/feelings were awfully repetitive, especially surrounding his duties and role. The secondary characters weren鈥檛 caricatures necessarily, but certainly didn鈥檛 feel like they were more than roles that needed to be filled. I鈥檓 also fairly certain there was only one named female character in the book, and almost all of the dialogue she had was about her feelings for the protagonist.

I鈥檓 on the fence about reading book two as it seems like it鈥檚 going to get politic-heavy and since I mostly don鈥檛 find the characters too compelling. If you鈥檙e looking for a fantasy work with epic and wonderfully written worldbuilding, this one鈥檚 for you. If you鈥檙e looking for a fantasy with well written female characters, you probably won鈥檛 prefer this one. My thanks to BookSirens and the author for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. ...more

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