everywhere in 2023

Happy new year everyone!! Another year passes and another year of some great books.

I took a little break in December because life got busy but I’m back and taking a little look at what has happened in this little space of mine over the last year. Even though this year was the year I didn’t really complete any of my goals, one of my personal goals was to not put too much pressure on myself and to let things go more, so I’m pretty chuffed that I managed to read 46 books this year and I had a lot of fun with some reading challenges along the way (which I’m hoping to catch up on this year too).

Before I look at my overall reading trends here are my top 10 books of the year, as ever it was a really tough choice…

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida | Shehan Karunatilaka

Happy Place | Emily Henry

The Dead Romantics | Ashley Poston

Once Upon A Broken Heart | Stephanie Garber

If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come | Jen St. Jude

Royal Blood | Aimée Carter

Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies | Maddie Mortimer

Queen Bee | Amalie Howard

The Hawthorne Legacy | Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea | Axie Oh

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It has been interesting to look at the changes in my reading habits between my mid year check in and now, some of these graphs have changed in an interesting way, as I said my total books this year was 46 and in the end 85% were female authors, I also only read one book by a scottish writer this year so I will have to think about that for the coming year.

I have been very inconsistent with my reading over the year, I thought it was getting better and then November and December got very busy and I just couldn’t fit much reading in but a seven book month in October is pretty impressive for me.

Well these graphs look different adult books have overtaken YA and I did manage one middle grade book, I have levelled out and read as many ARCs as books that I own which explains why I didn’t do so well on my Netgalley goal for last year but I’m glad I’m still making progress through my TBR.

I’m surprised that these have changed so much and I would like to try and get in more audiobooks next year, maybe even out that graph a little.

I’m not surprised that fantasy and romance are the big hitters again this year, although mystery has been a big one for me this year too, I’m glad that I have a bit of variety in my reading but this coming year I’d like to keep branching out and try new things. I’m also glad that even though I now have ratings under 3.5 that they are very few which means it has been a good reading year once again.

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As ever I like to see what posts are my visitors top ten of the year and it usually ends up being some interesting archive ones, so the top ten posts you enjoyed the most were…

my 20 Books of Summer 2023 challenge post

as well as these reviews (there is a theme emerging)…

The Maddest Obsession | Danielle Lori

The Darkest Temptation | Danielle Lori

The Sweetest Oblivion | Danielle Lori

One Last Secret | Adele Parks

Bound By Temptation | Cora Reilly

Five Survive | Holly Jackson

Sleeping With A Psychopath | Carolyn Woods

Bound By Duty | Cora Reilly

Twisted Pride | Cora Reilly

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So usually I would try to set myself some goals for the year ahead but to be honest I have not been so great at sticking to them, I think my main one would just be to read a little more consistently and just enjoy reading and then anything achievements are a bonus, although I have set myself the goal of 50 books but I’m not going to worry if I don’t stick to it.

I hope you have a happy year of reading and good luck if you’ve set any goals for this year.