Hello!

I like to think of myself as a fairly generous reviewer when it comes to books – I go in open minded, I very rarely don’t finish books (which may not be a good thing, tbh) and I do generally enjoy most of the books I read, but I don’t seem to be having much luck with the books I’ve read this year so far!

I’ve read 10 books so far – which Storygraph is very passive aggressively reminding me is two books behind schedule to hit my reading goal – and having just looked at my stats from last year, I had three five-star reads in the first ten books I read in 2023!

I do have an ongoing theory that the more a person reads, one of two things will happen – it’s harder to give out higher ratings because stories may start to become repetitive or predictable, or finding books to read becomes more difficult because you get to know your own tastes better and know which books you’re not likely to enjoy. I don’t think I’m at this stage yet, I think I’ve just been particularly unlucky with the books I’ve been reading so far this year.

This has it’s own benefits in a way as it means my pile of books to give away or donate is getting bigger and slowly but surely my tbr is (just about) going down, but it’s also not really incentivising me to read, y’know?

The book I’m reading at the moment – A Game of Retribution by Scarlett St Clair – is the second book in a companion trilogy that I knew pretty much from the beginning I would rate 3 stars; I didn’t love book 1, but it’s one of those where I’ve read the original trilogy and there was a dual perspective conclusion to both trilogies that I’d preordered and I wanted to make sure I was up to date on everything before that sequel came out.

But the sequel is now out and my copy has arrived, but I’m still on book 2 of this series. There’s a bunch of reasons for this – one is I was determined to read it without coreading with the audiobook to prove to myself I still can (which I can, but right now I’m kinda burnt out and sleepy and denying myself the support of an audiobook was just me being stubborn), two is that because I was being so stubborn about reading it just with my eyes, I was reading it in very small chunks which made it harder to feel any connection to the characters or story at all and thirdly, this book is way longer than it needs to be. I know it’s ‘trendy’ for books to be long at the moment, especially on Kindle Unlimited where (I think?) authors get paid based on how many pages are read, but 465 pages for a story which is the same story told from another perspective? Absolutely unnecessary.

With all that said, a 3 star rating is still a mostly enjoyable read for me – there are things that annoy me about this book but there are plenty of things I enjoy too, particularly that it’s a Greek story retelling, bloody love me some Greek mythology.

And this is what I’m trying to remind myself of – it’s not all about ‘finding the 5 star book’ or ‘the perfect read’ – at the end of the day, if I’m (mostly) reading books I enjoy, then that’s alright. Even if I read books I don’t enjoy, I clear a little bit of room on my shelves which I definitely count as a win too!

Am I a little bit worried I won’t find a book I like enough to give 5 stars for the whole year? A little bit, yes, but also – it’s only March. We’re not even 25% through the year yet so there’s plenty of time!

Basically, I need to chill!

I’m working on being more present and taking things a bit more slowly in all aspects of my life and it applies to reading too – I still look forward to snuggling into bed with my Kindle or setting off on a long drive with my audiobook and when I don’t feel that excitement anymore is when I get to be a little bit concerned.

That said, I’d love to hear the books you’ve rated 5 stars so far this year or any 5 star recommendations you have! I definitely don’t need to make my TBR any longer but if there’s any that I already own I may boost them up the list!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx