Mid year book freak out
It’s been a couple of years since I did this quiz, so I thought it would be fun to do again. I originally found it at Maxxesbooktopia in 2017.
Just to be clear, I’ve excluded all re-reads. So this only covers books read for the first time in 2023.
Best book you’ve read so far in 2023?
Brute by Kim Fielding
Set in an alternative world that has magic but no technology, this is a story about a man who doesn’t fit in because he’s ‘seven and a half feet of ugly’. He has no friends, and is treated very poorly by the people who live in the village with him. They call him Brute. One day Brute saves a prince but is nearly killed in doing so. The prince is so grateful that Brute saved his life, nearly at the cost of his own, so he takes Brute away from the village for medical treatment and tries to give him a better life. Brute is assigned to guard a prisoner in the dungeon. It’s a cushy job because the prisoner is behind bars and Brute is only required to give him food and water. However, Brute, being the kind of gentle giant he is, befriends the prisoner. And from there unfolds a wonderful story of adventure, heroics, friendship and romance. This is an MM romance.
Best sequel of 2023 so far?
I’m going to have to go with Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop.
I read the first book in this series, Written in Red, in 2018 and loved it. Easy five star read. However, it was an immersive read, the kind of book it’s easy to get lost in, and while I enjoyed it a lot, I was in the mood for something lighter and fluffier. And then I never went back to it. I’ve done the same thing with TJ Klune’s Green Creek series. Such fantastic books, but I want to be able to devote time and emotion to them. Anyway, my husband very kindly gifted me Murder of Crows and the remaining six other books in this series for Christmas, so over the Christmas break, while I was on holiday, I read them. Soooooo good.
This is not a romance. There is a slowly developing MF relationship between the two main characters in the first five books, but it is the slowest of slow burns and is not the focus of the books. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but there is zero heat to these books. Gore and violence, yes, but no steam.
The series, set in an alternative world that has shifters, vampires and other non-humans (collectively known as the Others), follows Meg who is a blood prophet. She escapes from the facility where she was kept, and ended up in an area run by the Others. The Others dislike humans and vice versa, but there is a level of necessary interaction between humans and Others for business and survival, and Meg manages to find a role in that halfway margin between both groups. As the series progresses, we see greater conflict between the humans and Others, but also greater cooperation, burgeoning friendship and trust. It is an amazing series. I highly recommend it.
My ratings so far:
Written in Red:
Murder of Crows:
Vision in Silver:
Marked in Flesh:
Etched in Bone:
I haven’t yet read Lake Silence, Wild Country or Crowbones, which I think move away from Meg and Simon and focus on other characters in the same world, but I will definitely read them. Anne Bishop has an amazing talent for storytelling.
New release you haven’t read yet, but want to read?
These are some of the 2023 releases that I haven’t bought yet but are near the top of my wishlist:
Everything I Didn’t Know by Nicky James
He’s The One by Barbara Elsborg
Dragon’s Magic by Nora Phoenix
Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall
Blaze by RM Neill
This Will Hurt I and This Will Hurt II by Cara Dee
Most anticipated release of the second half of 2023?
Okay, I’m going to cheat and do two here…
Tisak by Michelle Frost and Michele Notaro. This is the second book in the Kingdoms of Pelas series. I read the first book in 2021 and I have been waiting impatiently for the sequel! Set in an alternative world, it is an MMMM romance with a lot of gore and violence. The second book follows the same characters as in the first book. There is a human, a half-orc, a tiger shifter, and a gargoyle. In the first book they’re imprisoned and forced to fight for their lives in an arena. This is the blurb for the second book:
The mage magic that saved them could also be their undoing.
Theon and his men escaped House Natas, only to face suspicion and unrest from the Shifter Resistance. Shifters don’t trust mages, even ones who freed an entire House from their bonds.
As tensions rise, Theon’s tenuous control on his magic slips further, until one outburst leads to an amount of damage Theon can’t bear. He must learn to control his magic before someone else he loves is harmed or the fire growing inside him burns him alive.
Luckily, Florin knows where to go. Unfortunately, going to learn control means leaving some of his men behind.
They may survive the battle of Tisak, but can their love survive mage fire and the difficult choices in their path?
The horrors of House Natas may be behind them, but the fight of their lives still lies ahead.
Tisak is due to be released at the end of August. I believe it ends in a HFN, so presumably there’s another book yet to come after that one.
And then there’s also the next book in the Magi Accounts series by Michele Notaro. I’m actually re-reading one of Michele Notaro’s other series right now - she’s such a fantastic author. So the Magi Accounts is set in an alternative world with magi, humans and shifters. In that world, humans are top of the heirarchy, then shifters, then magi are basically treated like garbage. The series follows Mads (a magi) and Cos (a shifter) (so the first book is an MM romance and then we follow the characters through the series). The book coming out at the end of August is A Ruse To Unchain Us, which is the fourth full-length novel in the series. There have also been five novellas as well, some of which have focused on friends and family of Mads and Cos. Mads and Cos, and most of their family, are soldiers. They fight a kind of alien dragon, but also evil humans who use magic (but are not magi if I remember rightly). At the beginning, none of the magi have ever experienced anything good or any form of positive relationship (friendship or otherwise) except amongst themselves and even those have been few and far between due to the circumstances under which they were kept. As the series progresses, the magi learn to like and trust some of the shifters and human they come to know, and the humans and shifters learn the truth about the treatment of magi and start to fight for magi rights. It sounds complicated, but it’s an easy read. Lots of action, lots of gore, lots of feels. Every book ends on a HFN.
Here’s the blurb:
It’s time to fight back, and by the goddess, I will help free my people.
The Cloaked Freeway is finally in a position to effect real change, and I want so badly to be a part of it. Since I was a little kid, it’s been my dream to free my people from under the human’s rule. And now I have the chance to make that dream a reality.
But helping them means giving up so much. I have a family now-a pride-and I don’t want to put them at risk. Luckily for me, my mate wants to be a part of the revolution, too, but that still leaves everyone else.
The world is turning into chaos around us and our family is being pulled in different directions, but I know one thing for sure. The Ono-Nais are fighters, and we’ll do everything in our power to keep each other safe and help those around us.
Biggest disappointment?
To be honest, my biggest disappointments were when I started reading books and then found out they were either incomplete or short stories. The incomplete one, My Alpha’s Secret by Rosa Swann, really pissed me off. Who the fuck releases books in ‘episodes’? It seems like such a money grab. Like, instead of buying a whole book for $5 or whatever, you buy eight ‘episodes’ which add up to more than $20. The first installment in this particular bunch was only 69 pages. The final one is 72 pages, but there’s no way I’m buying any more. What a rort. The first installment was definitely not good enough to make me want to pay more than $20 for the whole story. I suppose it’s my fault for not reading the fine print and realising it was the first installment in an episodic, but I hadn’t come across such a thing before. A series with novels, novellas or even short stories, yes, but not a series where each purchase was just a chapter. So annoyed.
Biggest surprise?
Although I enjoyed the other books in the Hit and Run series by E M Lindsey, I was wary of this book. Hervé is pretty much the bad guy from the series and I didn’t like him at all going into this book. I was surprised, therefore, when I finished Double Play to rate it four stars. A real redemption book.
Favourite new author (debut or new to you)?
Tavia Lark. While it looks like Tavia has been publishing books since 2016, I only discovered her this year. I thoroughly enjoyed her Perilous Courts series and will definitely be getting the rest in the series as they’re released. I’ll have to check out her other series too.
Newest fictional crush?
Daromir from Prince and Bodyguard by Tavia Lark
Newest favourite character?
Whisper from Prince and Assassin by Tavia Lark.
Book that made you cry?
The Sound of Us by Jen Samson is a heartbreaking read (with a happy ending). Axel is trapped in an abusive marriage, a fact known only to two other people. When Eli comes to town, he and Axel meet and fall in love. But Axel is married. And leaving his husband isn’t an option. As a reader we are in the same boat as Eli - desperately wanting Axel to find a way to leave his abusive husband and find his happily ever after with Eli, but unable to take that step for him. This is not an easy read, but compelling. And yes, it does have a happy ending.
Book that made you happy?
An Embrace to Hearten Me by Michele Notaro. This is a novella (404 pages) in the Magi Accounts series. It is very definitely a feel-good story where Jude (who we adore from earlier books) finds love with River and Kulani. This book has some decent representation in it because Jude is demisexual and River is non-binary. Because of Jude’s demisexual nature, the relationship between these three has actually been building up over the course of the series, so this isn’t really a standalone.
Favourite book to movie adaption you’ve seen this year
None yet, but I’m really looking forward to the release of the Red, White and Royal Blue adaptation. That was a great book.
Favourite review you’ve written this year?
To be honest, I haven’t written any reviews this year. I know, such a slacker.
Most beautiful book you bought or received so far this year?
Hmm, maybe this one:
I haven’t read it yet.
What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
There’s no ‘need to’, but here are some of the ones I want to finish (that I’ve already started):
Taking Charge of Adult ADHD by Dr Russell A. Barkley
A Gentle Way to Love by Abrianna Deanae
How Much For The Whole Night by R J Scott
Finn’s Fantasy by KC Wells