Hello!

Is it too late to still be talking about Christmas? Probably, but I wanted to do a little wrap up of all the new books I got to add to my collection before the New Year rolled over! I was very lucky to have received lots of book gifts so I wanted to share them.

From my husband, I received a beautiful box set of Sarah J Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses (so far) – the ACOTAR series has received a lot of hype online and I already know I’m going to love it based on what I’ve seen other people saying and the responses I’ve seen to it, so now I have literally no excuse not to read it! Though I know there are more books to come so I can only hope that future editions match the set I’ve got.

From my mum, she went purely off my Amazon wishlist which is almost exclusively filling in gaps in my shelves – I seem to have a talent for accidentally buying a later book in a series without realising, so she gave me Chasing Embers by James Bennett, the first book in the Ben Garston series to which I already own Raising Fire. And then I made a mistake on my wishlist by including book 3 of The Cornish Village School series by Kitty Wilson instead of book 1 (I don’t think this is popular, I think it must be popular in garden centres because that’s where I accidentally bought book 2 and just recently I saw book 2, 3 and 4 in a different garden centre – frankly rude they didn’t have book 1!), so I now have The Cornish Village School: Summer Love!

(though I am doing a ‘Book Reward Chart’ for myself this year as an alternative to a book buying ban, where for every ten books I read I’m allowed to buy a new one and I’ve already decided I’m going to buy book 1 to actually mean I can start this series!)

Then my sibling went all out on my bookish gifts this year – they’re the best at getting me presents because I think we’re far more similar than either of us care to admit! So from my sibling I received:

Murder at the Theatre Royale by Ada Moncrieff – a festive theatrical crime I will be saving for next Winter!

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

The Witch is Back by Sophie H. Morgan

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

And my personal favourite, the sequel to the Luminaries (which I already have, yay!) The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard with absolutely beautiful sprayed edges that I am absolutely obsessed with.

Along with picking up Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson, The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon, Galatea by Madeline Miller and a non-fiction book called The Autists by Clara Törnvall when I popped in to the Waterstones half-price hardback sales on Boxing Day (and Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola, Enemies to Lovers by Amelia Jones and The Nanny by Lana Ferguson in the Works 3 for £6…) I definitely got a good selection to add to my ever growing tbr list!

But in my defence, I have been into The Works in Hull and my local Waterstones this month and I didn’t buy anything! Granted, knowing The Atlas Complex is now out, I don’t know if I’ll be able to resist (which I really should considering I didn’t enjoy either of the first two books in the series, but I’m too much of a crowd follower to resist). So far, the concept of a reward chart is working well both to resist buying new books and incentivise me to read as much as possible so I can buy a new book sooner… but if Waterstones has the special edition of The Atlas Complex when I go into town tomorrow I cannot be held responsible for my actions.

And with that, I think I’ve done all the wrap ups, tier rankings and look backs on 2023 that I can muster – it was definitely the most bookish year I’ve had (so far); I read more, bought more and made more bookish content than I have before and I’m looking forward to continuing that into 2024.

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx