December 2023 Reads
Writing the intro for December’s reading wrap-up is such a tricky task every year.
What do I highlight that will really round out 2023?
This year flew by and in the best way possible. Between a couple of really great trips, getting a new car, deleting Hinge because I found a nice lad, and spending a copious amount of time making memories with my family and friends, I really cannot complain.
On the reading front, I managed to exceed my Goodreads reading goal of 100 books again this year. Although I did not double my goal like last year (I honestly do not know how I managed 206 books in 2022 lol), I was able to surpass it by 14 books. So we’re finishing out 2023 with 114 under my belt.
And, oh the adventures those books took me on. *Dreamy sigh*
Audiobooks were my saving grace this year when it came to reading, so if you haven’t had luck sitting down with a physical book, I highly recommend giving the audio avenue a try. That’s in addition to making reading an intentional priority if you’re trying to read more in 2024.
Okay I think that’s it for my December intro this year.
Let’s get into everything I read this month.
**All summaries are taken or paraphrased from Goodreads.
Golden Son by Pierce Brown
GOLDEN SON by Pierce Brown (RED RISING SAGA #2)
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow’s kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds—and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within. A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love—but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind’s destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution—and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo’s principles of love and justice to free his people.
My Thoughts: OH MY LORT. Okay so much happens and I don’t even know where to begin. This book starts 3-4 years after Darrow graduated from the institute. He has been serving the ArchGovernor in House Augustus in an attempt to work his way up the ranks of the Golds. The Bellona are still after Darrow to avenge their brother that he was forced to kill at the institute in order to survive. Although the Sons of Ares tell him to bomb a large gathering of Golds that includes the Sovereign, Darrow decides to stir the pot instead and start a civil war between the leading Houses on Mars. This book was non-stop action and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. You never know who Darrow can trust, especially since few still know that he was born a Red. So he’s in this constant apprehensive state of letting people in, not only because he doesn’t know if they’ll turn on him, but also because if he opens up to them then he’s convinced he’ll only end up disappointing them. We lost a few baddies throughout this new journey which was incredibly upsetting, but I was definitely NOT READY to be absolutely wrecked during the last 10 pages. So much happened so quickly that I didn't see coming and then the book just ended. Talk about emotional damage. As a fool-proof recovery method, I decided to immediately start the audiobook for its predecessor, Morning Star. If you haven’t started this series yet, you’re missing out. I highly recommend the audiobooks simply for the Scottish accents alone lol.
Snowed In by Catherine Walsh
SNOWED IN by Catherine Walsh
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Megan is dreading going home for the holidays. She’s the village pariah, the she-devil who left local golden boy Isaac at the altar four years ago and ran away to the big city. She could really do without the drama. Particularly as he’s engaged again, and she’s just been dumped for the fourth time this year. Christian’s fed up with being on his own every Christmas. He doesn’t mind being alone , but he hates his family’s sad eyes and soft tones as they sit around coupled up. Because he’s actually, totally, fine. So when Megan literally bumps into Christian in a Dublin pub, they come up with a pact to see them through the holiday season. They’re going to be the very best fake dates for each other, ever. Rules are drawn up, a contract is signed on a wine-stained napkin. They will sit through each other’s family gatherings and be outrageously in love until freed from their annual obligations. After all, it’s only for a few weeks. But with everyone home for the holidays, two big families to deal with alongside old friends, old flames and old feelings, things are bound to get messy. And when a snowed-in cabin and a little Christmas magic are added to the mix, anything could happen…
My Thoughts: Y’ALL. This was everything I could’ve asked for in a holiday rom-com. Megan has become the mythical pariah of her hometown ever since she left the local golden boy at the alter five years ago. This is the first time she will be home for Christmas since she left and she is absolutely dreading the drama that’s bound to cast a shadow over her. Christian is tired of his family feeling sorry for his singledom - even if he doesn’t mind it. So when Christian and Megan bump into each other at a pub, they make a deal to help get each other through the holidays. Cue some of my favorite tropes: fake dating, forced proximity, and small town holiday romance. Don’t even get me started on how TOP NOTCH the banter in this story is. Like 15/10 quality banter that had me cackling like an idiot throughout multiple scenes. I absolutely loved the ease at which Christian and Megan fell into a friendship that quickly turned into something more. Not to mention there wasn’t a third act breakup!!! It was clear communication between these two characters which is honestly a Christmas miracle for a holiday rom-com, and I couldn’t be happier. This is also a great book for those of you who don’t really like smut all that much, but don’t mind a couple of intimate scenes. I wouldn’t say they fade to black necessarily, but they’re also not incredibly salacious either. If you haven’t found a holiday romance to sate your literary heart, definitely give this one a try!
The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE by Sarah J Maas (REREAD)
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Summary: Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.
My Thoughts: I originally read this prequel to the Throne of Glass series back in January of 2021 and gave it four stars. At that time, I had just finished reading ToG for the very first time and I felt like this was the perfect way to pacify my book hangover because it was still within that world, but wasn’t going to lead me down another road in the series. There is a debate on Bookstagram that you should read this prequel between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows (books 3 and 4 in the series). So I decided to give that order of operations a try this time around instead of reading it after the final book… Y’all. I still thoroughly love this series and appreciate what this book gave me the first time around. However, I was not as invested my second time through. I literally started this book over Thanksgiving break, read maybe 30% of it, and then did not have the motivation to pick it up again until Christmas break. I just kept it on my nightstand for a month with every intention to finish it, but never really grabbed it. I think that if this was my first time reading through Throne of Glass that this would be a really great book to read between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows because it gives some background into characters mentioned later in the series. However, since I already knew what was going to happen, I wasn’t itching to pick it up. That being said, I’m also a mood reader. So take this review with a grain of salt. I don’t think I had my blog yet at the time that I first read through it, so I don’t have a previous review to refer you back to. Overall though, I do think this book is necessary to the Throne of Glass experience. So if you’re reading through the series for the first time, reading The Assassin’s Blade between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows is the move. Otherwise, if I ever reread the series again, I don’t think I’m going to incorporate the prequel.
Morning Star by Pierce Brown
MORNING STAR by Pierce Brown (RED RISING SAGA #3)
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Summary: Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people. But Darrow is determined to fight back. Risking everything to transform himself and breach Gold society, Darrow has battled to survive the cutthroat rivalries that breed Society’s mightiest warriors, climbed the ranks, and waited patiently to unleash the revolution that will tear the hierarchy apart from within. Finally, the time has come. But devotion to honor and hunger for vengeance run deep on both sides. Darrow and his comrades-in-arms face powerful enemies without scruple or mercy. Among them are some Darrow once considered friends. To win, Darrow will need to inspire those shackled in darkness to break their chains, unmake the world their cruel masters have built, and claim a destiny too long denied—and too glorious to surrender.
My Thoughts: This book is a seamless transition from where we ended with Golden Son and starts almost a year later with Darrow being held prisoner by the Jackal. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how this book was going to go because it felt like all odds were against Darrow and the uprising. However, what I should know by now is that I can never predict what’s going to happen in this series. Basically, all odds are against Darrow at this point since some key people who were helping him lead this rebellion are no longer around. After information is released that Darrow was born a Red and transformed into a Gold, more uprisings from the lower-ranked colors start occurring around Mars and on other planets. With so much riding on Darrow, he has to find some unexpected allies in dangerous places and blindly hope for the best. I was basically on the edge of my seat this entire audiobook and had to pause it multiple times because I was dreading what was about to happen lol. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE PIERCE BROWN LOVES TO KILL OFF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS DAMMIT. The last portion of this book was more than I could handle emotionally and definitely not what I was predicting. If you cannot tell, I am loving this series so far. Apparently the next book takes place 10 years after this book though, and since the series was originally going to be a trilogy, I’m interested to see where the last three in the saga takes us.
Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh
HOLIDAY ROMANCE by Catherine Walsh
Rating: 4/5 stars
Summary: Molly and Andrew are just trying to get home to Ireland for the holidays, when a freak snowstorm grounds their flight. Nothing romantic has ever happened between them: they’re friends and that’s all. But once a year, for the last ten years, Molly has spent seven hours and fifteen minutes sitting next to Andrew on the last flight before Christmas from Chicago to Dublin, drinking terrible airplane wine and catching up on each other’s lives. In spite of all the ways the two friends are different, it’s the holiday tradition neither of them has ever wanted to give up. Molly isn’t that bothered by Christmas, but—in yet another way they’re total opposites—Andrew is a full-on fanatic for the festive season and she knows how much getting back to Ireland means to him. So, instead of doing the sane thing and just celebrating the holidays together in America, she does the stupid thing. The irrational thing. She vows to get him home. And in time for his mam’s famous Christmas dinner. The clock is ticking. But Molly always has a plan. And—as long as the highly-specific combination of taxis, planes, boats, and trains all run on time—it can’t possibly go wrong. What she doesn’t know is that, as the snow falls over the city and over the heads of two friends who are sure they’re not meant to be together, the universe might just have a plan of its own…
My Thoughts: So this is the first book in the series that Snowed In takes place. Although this wasn’t dual POV, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself through the eyes of Molly. The storyline bounces between the present where Molly and Andrew are planning convoluted ways to get around a storm so that they can get back to Ireland, and the last ten years of this exact flight home for Christmas. It was so much fun watching the dynamics between Molly and Andrew shift throughout the years and how those past experiences bled into the now. Plus, this year’s trip home is an absolute DOOZY as they travel from Chicago to Ireland with Murphy’s Law painting every turn. (Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.) The banter was spot on and I loved seeing how each of these characters slowly realized how they felt about the other after a decade of friendship. This really was the perfect cozy holiday rom-com and although I didn’t love it as much as Snowed In, I do think it’s worth the read!
Weyward by Emilia Hart
WEYWARD by Emilia Hart
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Summary: I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century. 1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom. 1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.
My Thoughts: Wowowow. I did not know what to expect with this book, but after I saw it win the fiction category for this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards, I knew I had to dive in. The story follows three different women (Kate, Violet, and Altha) over three different generations. Each one is facing their own form of adversity, but the common thread is abusive men. The format of this book flips between the POVs of each woman and their current predicament. As you learn more about the individual character, it starts becoming easier to piece together where their story is headed. The writing is beautiful, the character development was everything I could’ve hoped for, and the main message about female resilience in a world built for men was effortlessly depicted. There is a magical layer to the plot that’s related to how these women interact with various elements of nature, but it’s very easy to understand and adds a touch of whimsy to this already entrancing story. I loved my entire experience with this book and highly recommend giving it a read.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
Rating: 5/5 stars
Summary: Alaska, 1974. Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed. For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival. Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier. Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown. At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources. But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
My Thoughts: Wow okay. So I read The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah last summer and fell in love with her writing. She has such a gift for historical fiction and I’ve only heard good things about her other books including The Great Alone. Although I have this book on Kindle, I mainly listened to the audiobook, and with Julia Whelan as the narrator, I was instantly invested. Leni’s parents have an absolutely tumultuous relationship as they move from place to place anytime her father gets restless in their current situation. Her mother, hopelessly in love, blindly follows him every time. Their latest move is to a cabin in rural Alaska where they quickly realize how under prepared they are for living off the grid. I loved watching Leni go from an awkward 13-year-old who is unsure of herself to a young, independent woman who is confident in her skills to survive. This book was so heartbreaking and yet so fulfilling all at the same time. It constantly felt like Leni couldn’t catch a break and for every sliver of hope or happiness she found, there was a storm of sorrow to follow. The writing is stunning and teleported me so effortlessly to the point where I felt like I was knee-deep in snow next to Leni as she navigated Alaska. I’m so glad I finally read this book and would definitely recommend it if you haven’t given it a try yet. However, please check trigger/content warnings first as there is a lot of domestic violence involved.
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD by Sarah J. Maas (CRESCENT CITY #1) (REREAD)
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Summary: Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life-working hard all day and partying all night-until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She'll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths. Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose-to assassinate his boss's enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he's offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach. As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City's underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion-one that could set them both free, if they'd only let it.
My Thoughts: The third book of the Crescent City series comes out later in January, so although I read this book last May (you can read that review here), I didn’t remember much and wanted to give it another go before diving into the second book. My sentiments are essentially the same as my original review. This is a thicc fantasy which requires a lot of world building, plot planning, character introductions, societal structure explaining, etc. However, weaved into all of that information are a fair share of heart-racing scenes, action-packed moments, and more. A large part of this story follows Bryce (who is half human and fae) and Hunt (who is Malakh which is essentially an angel) as they work to solve who has been summoning the demons that are responsible for recent attacks and murders in Crescent City. There are so many twists and turns that they encounter as they get closer to figuring out who’s guilty. Outside of the complicated societal structures, I literally do not have anything bad to say about this book and I’m so freaking excited to finally start the second one. Don’t sleep on Crescent City if you’ve read ACOTAR or Throne of Glass!
Well that’s a wrap on 2023!
Thank you for following along with my book reviews each month. I hope some of my recommendations have led you to find some sort of enjoyable literary journey lol. 🙂
2023 Book Count: 114
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YOUR TURN! What was your favorite book of 2023?
