2023

You can view my live, up-to-date progress on Goodreads.

Rating System: all books are rated out of 5 stars. 5 star books are perfection, brilliant, unique or unforgettable. 4 stars are for great books with a few issues, or for a good book I just didn’t “love”. A 3 star is generally reserved for books that need more work – plot, editing or such. Books rated 2-1 stars are books that made me angry, either due to issues with LGBT, disability, sexism, inclusivity issues, or because of shocking/unexpected content.

💔 = it broke my heart . . . . .💚 = perfection! . . . . .🥇 = best of the year

🚫 = DNF’d and Do Not Go Back! . . . . .🙈= Everyone raved about it, but I just didn’t get it!

~

Reviews

  1. Wolf Mate: Outcast Pack, Book 4 ~ T.J. Nichols (5)
  2. Sloth and other Desires: Mytho, Book 5 ~ T.J. Nichols (5)
  3. Wolf Lust: Outcast Pack, Book 5 ~ T.J. Nichols (5)

Netgalley

  1. Murder at the Open ~ Angus MacVicar (1) 🚫
  2. Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore ~ Matthew J. Sullivan (2) 🙈
  3. The Silent Patient ~ Alex Michaelides (5) 💚 🥇
  4. Seven Minutes Later ~ Bonnie Kistler (5)
  5. Two Days Gone: Ryan DeMarco Mysery, 01 ~ Randall Silvis (4)
  6. Guess Who ~ Chris McGeorge (4)
  7. The Night She Died ~ Jenny Blackhurst (3)
  8. The Body Reader: Det Jude Fontaine, 01 ~ Anne Frasier (5) 🥇
  9. The Body Counter: Det Jude Fontaine, 02 ~ Anne Frasier (5) 🥇
  10. The Body Keeper: Det Jude Fontaine, 02 ~ Anne Frasier (5) 🥇

Paperbacks

  1. Ain’t Got Time to Bleed ~ Andrew Shaffer (5)
  2. Adrian and the Tree of Secrets ~ Hubert, Marie Cailou (3)
  3. Prince & Knight, Book 1 ~ Daniel Haack, Stevie Lewis (5)
  4. Four for the Road ~ K.J. Reilly (1) 🚫 🙈
  5. Coyote, Vol. 3 ~ Ranmaru Zaria (5)
  6. Coyote, Vol. 4 ~ Ranmaru Zaria (5)
  7. A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, Vol. 5 ~ Momochi, Misaki, Sando (5)
  8. A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, Vol. 6 ~ Momochi, Misaki, Sando (5)

TBR

  1. My Love Mix-Up, Vol. 6 ~ Wataru Hinekure, Aruko (5)
  2. Wolf Heart: Outcast Pack, Book 1 ~ T.J. Nichols (4)
  3. Wolf Blood: Outcast Pack, Book 2 ~ T.J. Nichols (4)
  4. Wolf Soul: Outcast Pack, Book 3 ~ T.J. Nichols (5)
  5. His Favorite, Vol. 01 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  6. His Favorite, Vol. 02 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  7. His Favorite, Vol. 03 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  8. His Favorite, Vol. 04 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  9. His Favorite, Vol. 05 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  10. His Favorite, Vol. 06 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  11. His Favorite, Vol. 07 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  12. His Favorite, Vol. 08 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  13. His Favorite, Vol. 09 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  14. His Favorite, Vol. 010 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  15. His Favorite, Vol. 011 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  16. His Favorite, Vol. 012 ~ Suzuki Tanaka (4)
  17. Blue Period, Vol. 01 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  18. Blue Period, Vol. 02 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  19. Blue Period, Vol. 03 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  20. Blue Period, Vol. 04 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  21. Blue Period, Vol. 05 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (5)
  22. Blue Period, Vol. 06 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  23. Blue Period, Vol. 07 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  24. Blue Period, Vol. 08 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  25. Blue Period, Vol. 09 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  26. Blue Period, Vol. 010 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  27. Blue Period, Vol. 011 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  28. Blue Period, Vol. 012 ~ Tsubasa Yamaguchi (4)
  29. A Strange and Mystifying Story, Vol. 01 ~ Tsuta Suzuki (2)
  30. A Strange and Mystifying Story, Vol. 02 ~ Tsuta Suzuki (2)
  31. A Darker Domain: DCI Karen Pirie, 02 ~ Val McDermid (4)
  32. The Skeleton Road: DCI Karen Pirie, 03 ~ Val McDermid (4)
  33. Out of Bounds: DCI Karen Pirie, 04 ~ Val McDermid (5)
  34. Broken Ground: DCI Karen Pirie, 05 ~ Val McDermid (4)
  35. Still Life: DCI Karen Pirie, 06 ~ Val McDermid (4)
  36. 55 ~ James Delargy (3)
  37. Molten Mud Murder: Alexa Glock, 01 ~ Sara E. Johnson (2) 🚫
  38. Rabbit Hole ~ Mark Billingham (1) 🙈 🚫
  39. GIVEN, Vol. 01 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  40. GIVEN, Vol. 02 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  41. GIVEN, Vol. 03 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  42. GIVEN, Vol. 04 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  43. GIVEN, Vol. 05 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  44. GIVEN, Vol. 06 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  45. GIVEN, Vol. 07 ~ Natsuki Kizu (5)
  46. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 01 ~ Shou Harusono (4)
  47. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 02 ~ Shou Harusono (4)
  48. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 03 ~ Shou Harusono (5)
  49. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 04 ~ Shou Harusono (5)
  50. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 05 ~ Shou Harusono (5)
  51. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 06 ~ Shou Harusono (5)
  52. Sasaki and Miyano, Vol. 07 ~ Shou Harusono (4)
  53. Only One Coffin ~ A.J. Truman (2)

My Editing

▶️ is used for books I’m writing from scratch, while ⏸ means I’m completing edits or working on an older Work-In-Progress.

  • Surviving Vihaan, Book 3 – extensive rewrites, after deciding to change the entire first 1/3 of the book ▶️⏸
  • Surviving Vihaan, Book 3 – editing the rewrites, only to realise it needs a few more tweaks. *sigh* ⏸
  • Surviving Vihaan, Book 3.5 ⏸

For the first writing job of the year, I picked a doozy. Not only was I *supposed* to be doing final edits on Surviving Vihaan Book 3, but I decided to completely rewrite the beginning, possibly the middle, and tweak the end. Which meant a HUGE job. I’d read and edited *all* the books in the series before Christmas 2022, but found I didn’t like parts of Book 3, and since I happened to think of a way to fix it very quickly after realising that, I got to work. Only, I also got sick for 4-5 weeks, which meant I could only write for about an hour a day before exhaustion killed the creativity.

Challenges & Lists

In March, I made the executive decision to remove We All Fall Down, by Rose Szabo, from my TBR list. Though I’d bought the hardback upon release, I recently discovered the author – and the content of their books – is supremely racist, and the story has a hugely problematic white-girl-saviour complex, while vilifying the single black male. I won’t tolerate this in life, and I certainly won’t tolerate it in my books, so I’ve decided to donate my copy of the book to a charity shop, and remove it from my TBR.