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824 items found for "very favorite 2023"

  • Review of Swift the Storm, Fierce the Flame by Meg Long

    The first book in this series from Meg Long was Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves.

  • Review of Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger

    Book two of the series continues to be playful, mischievous, wonderfully detailed about Victorian life I loved the first book in Gail Carriger's five-book (plus a prequel short) Parasol Protectorate series I also included it in the Greedy Reading List Three Offbeat Series I Just Started and Love. affords her a certain power, and she is also the Alpha female of her husband's pack, which affords her a very Carriger is the author of many series; this is the only one I've dug into so far.

  • Review of Pines (Wayward Pines #1) by Blake Crouch

    The two other titles in the series are Wayward and The Last Town .

  • Review of Fugitive Telemetry (Murderbot #6) by Martha Wells

    full of more wonderfully grumpy Murderbot, flummoxed by humans' behavior and saving their skins at every decision-making and astute threat assessment; and retreats from overwhelming interactions to watch its favorite Was it when I reviewed books 1 through 3 of the series?

  • Review of Herrick's End (The Neath #1) by T.M. Blanchet

    I received a prepublication digital edition of this book (published spring 2022) courtesy of Tiny Fox I can't wait to read the second book in the series, Herrick's Lie, which is scheduled for publication in spring 2023.

  • Review of The Shadow of the Gods (The Bloodsworn #1) by John Gwynne

    Spoiler: a dragon appears at the very end of the book, laying the groundwork for more dragon page time More from John Gwynne: Gwynne is also the author of book two in this series, The Hunger of the Gods , the series Of Blood and Bone, and The Faithful and the Fallen series.

  • Review of Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller

    I’d forgotten that there was a second book in this series, American by Day, which I now recall that I very much want to read. He also wrote a very different book, The Girl in Green, about a British journalist and an American private #nordic, #heartwarming, #series, #fourstarbookreview

  • Six Book Club Books I Loved in 2021

    us, establish when an intriguing book is likely to be generally widely available from the library, vary Here are my personal book club favorites from last year. I also enjoyed two of my favorite authors' newest books, Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet and Matt Haig's The For my favorite book club reads of 2020, check out the Greedy Reading List Six Book Club Books I Loved Three days later, she was recovered in a miraculous series of events that ended up with her rescue and

  • Review of The Ink Black Heart (Cormoran Strike #6) by Robert Galbraith

    Rowling) Cormoran Strike series. The women who are of romantic interest in Cormoran's life are, as in prior books in the series, emotionally Click here for my reviews of books one through four of the Cormoran Strike series. Check out my Bossy review of Troubled Blood, book five in the series.

  • Review of Harrow the Ninth (Locked Tomb #2) by Tamsyn Muir

    Trapped in the eerie space station with three grumpy, unwilling teachers trying to prepare her for the For my review of the first book in this series, Gideon the Ninth, check out this link. Gideon the Ninth was also mentioned in my Greedy Reading List Six More Postapocalyptic and Dystopian Favorites The third book in the series, Nona the Ninth, was published in 2022, with the fourth book, Alecto the Ninth, to follow in fall 2023.

  • Review of The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1) by Robert Jackson Bennett

    A leviathan lurks in the ocean, threatening destruction on a grand scale, while an unorthodox, brilliant investigator and her stalwart new assistant work to solve a murder mystery that reaches into the highest levels of society and government. “Civilization is often a task that is only barely managed. But harden your heart and slow your blood. The towers of justice are built one brick at a time. We have more to build yet.” In Robert Jackson Bennett's novel, The Tainted Cup , he blends a rich, historical fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy and steampunk elements into a captivating story. In a mansion in Daretana, an imperial officer lies dead--with a tree growing out of his body. Brilliant, grumpy, extremely high-ranked detective Ana Dolabra and her inexperienced, staid, intuitive apprentice, Dinios Kol, aim to use their magical enhancements to get to the heart of what seems to be a murder--one that might threaten the whole Empire. I was fascinated by the tone of The Tainted Cup . There's a constant looming threat of enormous ocean-dwelling leviathans threatening to break the significant walls erected to keep them out. The leviathans are grotesque, and their natures and motivations are a mystery. Human civilization has built its cities in reaction to the perceived danger from the beasts. And we find out late in the book that the monsters may be able to speak! Eeeks. The partnership between impatient, extremely intelligent Ana and the closed-off, steady, intuitive Din was a standout. Ana is Sherlock Holmes-esque in that she holds many of the answers to the mysteries that abound--but she doles them out on a need-to-know basis. We did not talk any more of what we’d witnessed, he at the walls and I in the city. The things we’d seen and done now felt too big for words. Silence was a better language. The Tainted Cup explores issues of class, wealth and privilege, duty, the power of nature, handicaps and gifts, and betrayal and loyalty. I loved this book and the extended story that Robert Jackson Bennett has begun here. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Robert Jackson Bennett is also the author of the Founders Day trilogy and the Divine Cities trilogy.

  • Review of A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1) by Hafsah Faizal

    The first installment in Faizal's Blood and Tea series offers intriguing secrets, a swirling mystery, In the first book of Hafsah Faizal's Blood and Tea series, A Tempest of Tea , Arthie Casimir collects cared about, funny gems, tantalizing moments, and an intriguing build-up to the books to come in this series

  • Review of Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs #1) by Jacqueline Winspear

    aftermath of World War I in this irresistible first installment of Winspear's 18-book historical fiction series Maisie Dobbs begins Winspear's series as a thirteen-year-old servant in a Belgravia mansion, taken in

  • Review of My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

    of a famous Jane's story) are published, so there will be no impatient waiting for the others in the series an oddball fantasy element in which the life-and-death conflict is not religion, but the rights and very This book is part of the Greedy Reading List Three Offbeat Series I Just Started and Love. #historicalfiction, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview

  • Review of Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

    This is the second in Schwab's first series for adults, Villains. I very much enjoyed Schwab's young adult Shades of Magic series; the first title is A Darker Shade of As of August 2020, there's no publication date for a third in the Villains series. #fantasyscifi, #series, #threestarbookreview

  • Review of The Golden Enclaves (Scholomance #3) by Naomi Novik

    A Deadly Education is the first in Novik's Scholomance series, which begins the story of a magical high Danger and darkness lurk around every corner for grumpy, powerful El and her classmates. fight in The Golden Enclaves meant that I didn't get to spend extended page time with some of my most favorite But I'm fully invested in this series. I feel compelled to also mention that Novik has a series of nine books about dragons, the Temeraire series

  • Review of Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott

    In her novel for young readers--from my favorite publishing company for young people, Peachtree Publishing The next book in this series is Pretty Rude for a Girl. Elliott is also the author of the Owl Diaries series and over twenty picture books.

  • Review of Light Changes Everything by Nancy E. Turner

    There are two other books in Turner's Sarah Agnes Prine series that I haven't yet read, but they look very promising. #historicalfiction, #Western, #series, #threestarbookreview

  • Review of Bull Moon Rising (Royal Artifactual Guild #1) by Ruby Dixon

    and her most likely candidate is a grumpy minotaur (who's also her teacher, oops) who also needs a favor

  • Review of Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) by Leigh Bardugo

    Ninth House, fiction for adults, is the first in Bardugo's Alex Stern series. (I'll review Hell Bent, the second installment in the series, tomorrow on the blog.) It's intriguing, and I was definitely hooked for the second book in the series. I mentioned Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone series in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series.

  • Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Cookbooks

    Don't forget to check my past Bossy gift idea lists for quirky books, perennial classics, modern favorites 2023 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Science and the Natural World Shhh! collects some of the family's favorite recipes, as well as banter between Stephen and Evie. ...from Party flavor-packed meals for busy lives." 04 The Great British Baking Show: Kitchen Classics: The Official 2023 In The Great British Baking Show: Kitchen Classics , recipes by Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, and the 2023

  • Review of Soulless by Gail Carriger

    I loooved this witty, romantic, action-packed steampunk novel--the first in a series--from Gail Carriger Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series takes place in Victorian London, and the immensely appealing Professor Lyall is one of my favorite characters, as is Lord Akeldama, a fantastic, over-the-top, preternaturally This book was part of the Greedy Reading List Three Offbeat Series I Just Started and Love. #historicalfiction, #fantasyscifi, #LGBTQ, #series, #fourstarbookreview

  • Review of The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

    When she discovers that the kingdom is in peril, our favorite fourteenth century teenage heroine must All three books in this series held up for me in a big way. The Bear and the Nightingale is the first in the series, and The Winter of the Witch is the final book #fantasyscifi, #russia, #youngadult, #series, #fourstarbookreview

  • Review of A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk and Robot #1) by Becky Chambers

    Chambers is also the author of the Wayfarers series; click here to read my review of The Long Way to

  • Six 2020 Mysteries for You to Check Out

    There's a book within a book here, and the fictitious author of the stories has explored every different The mystery stories within the story are intriguing, and I loved paying attention to their varied structures Long Bright River was also one of My Twelve Favorite 2020 Books. what loyalty means, and to face how dark the path ahead might become when the bad guys are truly evil, very This book was also one of my Six Favorite Summer 2020 Reads.

  • Review of The Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power #1) by V. E. Schwab

    Schwab returns to the world of the four Londons in the first of a wonderfully paced new series featuring job of reinforcing characters from prior stories while introducing new ones; in this first of her new series in progress--which are sweet yet barbed, full of acceptance and imperfection, and never cloying or verging The first two books in the Shades of Magic series are A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows

  • Six Books I Want, Bossy Holiday 2022 Edition

    The Book of Delights. 03 Strange Gods by Alison Kimble In Alison Kimble's Strange Gods (published in 2021 Until the End of the World #1) by Sarah Lyons Fleming A bookish Instagram friend is in love with this series

  • Review of The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy #1 by Nora Roberts

    recommendations so that I could beef up my Dragons shelf on Goodreads and put together a post of my favorite , several people asked if I'd read Nora Roberts's Dragon Heart Legacy series. So, things are upended for Breen in every way. Dragons are very much a side note in this book, alternately soaring in the sky and carrying Keegan to I'm in for the second book in this series, fall 2021's The Becoming, but I thought that the series was

  • Review of The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes by Xio Axelrod

    These were my favorite elements. I received a prepublication copy of this book, published May 4, 2021, courtesy of Sourcebooks Casablanca The author plans to write more books in The Lillys series.

  • Review of Daughter of the Pirate King (Daughter of the Pirate King #1) by Tricia Levenseller

    The fun first book in Tricia Levenseller's trilogy about a teenage female pirate captain sets up a long game toward obtaining a key treasure map and handling hard-to-please fathers--and it lays the groundwork for a forbidden romance between enemies. Alosa is a seventeen-year-old female pirate captain who didn't secure treasures or rule a ship of motley crew members by being a fool. So when she gets captured by her enemies, it's on purpose. She's got to search their ship and find the treasure map to end all treasure maps, and she's confident that she's clever enough to do it. The one complicating factor is the equally clever--and distractingly handsome--first mate on the enemy ship, Riden. Alosa is playful and sassy, and her banter with Riden is fun. The cross/double-cross setup and forbidden-love tension is intriguing. Alosa doesn't subsume her strength or powers unless she's doing so for a deliberate reason. She's also got a sneaky-thief ability that's a slam-dunk for me. Not until halfway through the book does it become clear that a possible power alluded to early on is in fact present, and its existence and use becomes a key plot point. The timing of this revelation surprised me; we had been privy to most of Alosa's inner dialogue, and this had been omitted from all of it. The book is clearly set up for a sequel--the ending felt abrupt enough that I paged forward in my Kindle to try to find more story, only to find that the book was over. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Daughter of the Pirate King is the first in a trilogy from Levenseller and is her debut novel. The second book is Daughter of the Siren Queen, and the third will be Vengeance of the Pirate King.

  • Review of To Shape a Dragon's Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1) by Moniquill Blackgoose

    Moniquill Blackgoose offers a wonderfully layered first installment in her series (I can't wait to read I cannot wait to read the next installments in this series. I love books about dragons (check out some of my favorites).

  • Review of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

    In A Court of Thorns and Roses, the first of five books in Maas's series of the same name, young Feyre (in the audiobook this is pronounced very emphatically as "FAY-ruh") and her spotty success with hunting I've been told that the series strengthens over time, so I plan to take a breather and then read the next in the series, A Court of Mist and Fury.

  • Review of The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2) by Maureen Johnson

    ICYMI: The second in Johnson's young adult mystery series offers growing friendships, determined sleuthing This is the second in Maureen Johnson's Truly Devious series (the first is Truly Devious). Maureen Johnson is also the author of Truly Devious, The Hand on the Wall, and the fourth book in the series Johnson also wrote the young adult Shades of London series, which is based on Jack the Ripper's crimes newest book, Nine Liars, which also features Stevie Bell, is scheduled for publication December 27, 2022

  • Review of The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

    lurks in the night, threatening the stability of the hard-fought status quo of the Tearling and placing every I very much enjoyed harking back to the childhoods of the Fetch, Row Finn, and Jonathan Tear to better The elaborate escape plans and rescue plots in the book were one of my favorite elements. I already miss my favorite characters from the series. read this ending to the trilogy before delving into the prequel because I'd read the others in the series

  • Review of A Murderous Relation (Veronica Speedwell #5) by Deanna Raybourn

    The fifth book in the Veronica Speedwell series offers more of Raybourn's magic: witty dialogue, an unorthodox Throughout her Veronica Speedwell series, Raybourn proves herself an expert in providing a captivating In this fifth book of the series, Veronica and Stoker become involved in a mystery involving a house I listened to this as an audiobook, which is wonderfully narrated, as the rest of the series has been (There are currently eight books in the series, with a ninth scheduled for publication in 2024.)

  • Review of books 1-3 of the Murderbot series by Martha Wells

    I tore through the first three books in this series with glee and am saving the other two that are already #robots, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview

  • Review of The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

    detail and thrills and chills of Viking-era Norway held so much promise, I'll give the next book in the series I gave this first book in the series three stars, which for me meant it had promise but didn't knock chills of the story held so much promise, and the next two books show positive reader reviews, this series #nordic, #Vikings, #series, #fantasyscifi

  • Review of Exit Strategy (Murderbot #4) by Martha Wells

    In this fourth installment of her Murderbot series, Wells provides another short (176 pages) book in little lighter on delightful Murderbot introspection than the previous books, but I'm all in on this series Have you read this or others in the Murderbot series? Are you as taken with this series as I am? #robots, #series, #fantasyscifi, #fourstarbookreview

  • Review of The Traitor (Alias Emma #2) by Ava Glass

    Emma Makepeace returns in the second book in the series, The Traitor, and when one thing leads to another

  • Review of The Boy on the Bridge by M.R. Carey

    But bringing back their surprising findings might very well mean the wholesale rounding up and destruction #postapocalyptic, #dystopian, #fantasyscifi, #series, #fourstarbookreview

  • Review of The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

    This book was a little darker than the previous two in the series. I felt like this book was a little darker than the previous two in the series. Have you read this series? Maureen Johnson also wrote the young adults Shades of London series, which is based on Jack the Ripper's #series, #youngadult, #mysterysuspense, #threestarbookreview

  • Six Captivating Nordic Stories

    spent showing the tasks of daily life (and almost-claustrophobic interconnectedness) within a tiny, very very much want to read. #nordic, #heartwarming, #series, #fourstarbookreview 05 We, the Drowned ​ I own this book. Therefore I have not read it, despite wanting to, because I am a very greedy person who has too many #nordic, #series, #historicalfiction What are your favorite Nordic-set or -focused books?

  • Bossy Holiday Book Gift Ideas: Sports and Recreation Nonfiction

    212 and a Tour de France Obsession by Ned Boulting (2023) The Formula: How Rogues, Geniuses, and Speed Bossy gift idea lists for quirky books, perennial classics, modern favorites, nonfiction must-haves, 2023 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! Bossy Book Gift Ideas: Science and the Natural World Shhh! Bossy Nonfiction Book Gift Ideas   2021 Bossy Book Gift Guides Shhh! shocking lengths the drug lord and his biggest rival were willing to go to in order to control their favorite

  • Review of A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1) by Sherry Thomas

    This first book in Sherry Thomas's gender-flipped Sherlock Holmes mystery series offers not only an irresistible listened to the audiobook of Sherry Thomas's A Study in Scarlet Women, the first in her Lady Sherlock series Then a series of unusual events lead to Charlotte's assuming the identity of a made-up detective, Sherlock I can't wait to read more in this series! Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? books in the Lady Sherlock series, with the seventh, A Tempest at Sea, scheduled for publication in 2023

  • Three Books I'm Reading Now, 6/14/21 Edition

    in which people aren't always what they seem; and a young adult mystery with heart, the second in a series established characters of Maeve, Nate, Phoebe, Bronwyn, and Knox from book one, along with other old favorites

  • Review of In the Serpent's Wake (Tess of the Road #2) by Rachel Hartman

    irresistible, hardheaded, wonderfully faulted Tess as she broke from rigid medieval gender roles in favor We're reintroduced to the story with an introductory poem written in verse that is funny, poignant--and Click here to check out my review of the first book in this series, Tess of the Road.

  • Review of Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

    In the second installment in Leigh Bardugo's Alex Stern series, Alex is as brave, scowling, and unapologetic for adults whose story line is not connected to the Grishaverse, is the first in Bardugo's Alex Stern series I mentioned Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone series in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series. and the King of Crows duology discussed here, which is expected to be the end of the interconnected series

  • Review of Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

    I'm all in for the Cormoran Strike series. In the fifth installment of the mystery series by Robert Galbraith (J.K. I'm all in for this series. For my reviews of books one through four, check out Review of the Cormoran Strike Series books 1-4.

  • Review of Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder #2) by Holly Jackson

    all, last time around, all kinds of horrible things happened as she dug into (and solved, thank you very A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is Holly Jackson's first book in this series.

  • Review of Steelstriker (Skyhunter #2) by Marie Lu

    In Steelstriker, the second and final book in the series, the last free nation in the world has been Lu, a former artist in the video game industry, has written multiple young adult series (Legend, Warcross

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