Hello!
Well, this is my final post for 2023 and of course, it’s all about books.
This year I dared to dream about reading 60 books–I am close to the finish line, but I feel like I’m back at school and just have enough room to think about Christmas break and I’m barely passing my tests and trying not to fall asleep in class on those really boring days where we did absolutely nothing, but watched movies or talked our heads off in small groups around the classroom. Thankfully, there were some teachers who were fine if I preferred to be in the library in a quieter space to read my book.
Anyways, I didn’t necessarily rate them 1-10, I just picked my favorites throughout and talked about them below. If you’ve read any of these books, leave a comment to tell me what you thought about them.
WARNING: I do talk in detail about certain things in some of the books. Also, some of the content below can be a trigger for people as well.
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
One of my reading goals (in general) is to read more classics and kid books. I’ve talked about this many, many times over the years, I was not a reader as a child, so I am really making up for lost time. I’ve created a bucket list of various books and I managed to knock out several fairy-tale stories in 2023. The first book I decided to read was The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
I am a lover of the Frozen films (second is my favorite!) and they were inspired by the story Hans wrote in 1844, but it is very loosely based. The main thing that is the same in the story is the bond between the characters Kai and Gerda. Instead of being related, they are neighbors, and Kai goes off alone and Gerda journeys to find him, which sounds like when Elsa took off after her magic became out of control and scared everyone in the castle, but her sister Anna chose to look past everything and rescue her anyways.
There was one quote that I fell in love with at the start of the year and I decided to use it as inspiration for the second theme in my reading journal. I used what I already had in my room, like I went with both Elsa’s colors blue and purple and Ann’s green and pink, but I bought three rolls of blue and purple snowflakes to tie it all into together, and it was an easy and fun theme to do.
“When we get to the end of the story, you will know more than you do now…
Shield-Maiden: Gambit of Swords by Melanie Karsak
After a few other fairytales, I decided it was time to move on and Melanie Karsak released the final story in The Shadows of Valhalla series. This would see the end of the characters mentioned in her original Viking series The Road to Valhalla and this spin off books and I was somewhat ready for it.
The ending to Gambit of Blood was troubling. It left you as a reader wondering what was going to happen to all of these characters. Loptr stayed in the Myrkviðr with his sister Ervie and it was nice to see these two characters together. Loptr lost his love, an arm and the one person who could get him back to his old self was his sister’s boyfriend, King Omarr.
Once winter came at last, it made everyone look for shelter and they trained their asses for when the ice thawed, it would be time to fight Prince Hlod and the rest of the Huns, but Princess Ervie becomes a married woman, a Queen and a mother, but it wasn’t just about finding her place, you had princes Loptr and Angantyr, the next generation of Vikings with these old Vikings mentioned in the first series hoping to get a seat at Odin’s table.
There were a lot of heart tugs, especially concerning King Hofund’s feelings towards his grandson Prince Angantyr, and of course he’s proud of Blomma’s children and how they found their way in their lives, but the moment Hofund, Jarl Leif, King Gizer, shield-maidens Klara and Sigrun and her husband Trgve joined the younger crowd and their warriors, it was bittersweet. I barely made it through those chapters.
It was a great way to finish out the series. In all, there are a total of 10 books including Under the Strawberry Moon and Winternights Gambit which are both prequel novellas. If you are worried about getting into multiple books, I highly suggest trying these out first.
In My Mother’s Footsteps by Mona Hajjar Halaby
I am a huge fan of nonfiction but can find it difficult. I like reading about people’s lives, and this one appeared around the same time of Ramadan, the Muslim holiday of renewal. The author Mona talks about her experiences working in Ramallah just outside of where her mother and her relatives lived in Palestine and were forced to leave during the first Nakba in 1948.
The story discusses Mona and her mother living in the Palestinian territories at separate times and the yearning of discovering and remembering their roots, Mona actually convinces her parents to come back to a place where they were taken from their homes. It is one thing to move out of a neighborhood peacefully to being forced out by the military. Family members were even taken prisoners in order to confiscate homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
In certain chapters, Mona explains about her work–she’s there to help the teachers deal with their students’ behaviors, you hear more and more about the student’s home life and why they are fighting their classmates and teachers. How they delt with the checkpoints and the Israeli Occupation in general. What you need to remember this wasn’t conducted recently, this was in the early 2000’s, and attempting to wrap your mind on the trauma these kids were (and STILL!) subjected to on a daily basis is heartbreaking!
Nobody should be forced out of their homes with no place to go. Nobody should ever bomb neighborhoods in the hopes of killing hundreds of innocent families. Israel is pushing Palestinians people to their breaking points with refusing them food, water, electricity, medicine, etc. Every part of Gaza is a war zone, and it is absolutely gut-wrenching to see young and old carrying out for their families and finding them burning or buried alive under the rubble.
I am not anti-sematic; I do not hate Jews! I don’t support Hamas or any other terrorists, I am a lover of learning about people and their cultures. These people, these children are losing their places of worships, schools, playgrounds, markets, hospitals for nothing! I felt for Mona and her mother Zahara’s pain for the people in Palestine back then and more importantly the people who are going through it now.
I’ve always felt as though I left a piece of myself in all the places I’ve lived. Do our stories remain alive, trapped in our houses’ walls?
One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake
This book is the second in the “Three Dark Crowns” series, I started it last year I think, and I fell in love with it instantly! You have these three sister Queens, each with their own powers and places of representation. The are forced to kill each other until only one remains, and if you haven’t read the first book, skip this next section.
You find the answers to how Katharine gets out of the well. I loved Katharine, I liked how meek and misunderstood she seemed during the first, but she is fierce and out for more blood than she or anyone else realizes!
Her sister Arsinoe deals with the consequences of the Quickening. She has to wear a mask now and her friendships are somewhat strained as Jules has issues with Joseph and his one-night stand with Mirabella. Jules is also suffering her own power troubles, yeah, that was a twist! The other part is when Billy is sent to Queen Mirabella to be her royal taster after Katharine’s failed attempt to poison her.
Mirabella was considered the “best” Queen as she had perfected her powers of controlling the elements, but she kind of falters halfway through the middle of the book. She is tired of being fed all of these lies and hopes that her sisters can love for each other again, and despite the sad ending, Mirabella somewhat gets that wish with one of them.
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
I am forever trying to find another series that is like the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I haven’t finished all of those books, but I loved learning about that era in rural America. I honestly, I don’t remember how I found this book, I do remember wanting another audiobook to listen to before bedtime, and it has been my favorite thing to do night now.
I was obsessed with this story. It was refreshing to hear about this girl Ántonia through her childhood friend Jim and neighbor in Nebraska of all places! We get from the time Antonia and her Bohemian (or gypsy) family arrive in America to when they have grown up and had families of their own. I was thoroughly upset that I had finished with it, and my mom will tell you, I practically mourned over this book.
I have O Pioneers, which is the first in Willa’s series The Great Plains trilogy. This is the third and the most popular for Willa, I was so into My Ántonia that bringing more characters wasn’t working out for me, but I did find it as “free” on Kindle and I know if I’m in the mood for something a little different or have those old Midwest vibes, I have it and I’m sure I can listen to the audiobook as well.
“As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass.”
The Raven’s Widow by Adrienne Dillard
By the end of summer, I was looking for something else entirely and I found these next two simultaneously, they each come from the same worlds, but three generations separates them.
The Raven’s Widow is about Lady Jane Parker, the wife of George Boleyn, younger brother of Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn. She is also arrested and convicted of treason by concealing the affair of fifth wife and Queen Catherine Howard.
Jane has always been a curious person in history, she married into the scandalous Boleyn family at the peak of their greatness, most people assume we know her role from the show The Tudors, but what I really liked about this book was how Adrienne was able to basically strip away those accusations and assumptions and look at the woman underneath all of it.
I definitely changed my views of Lady Jane as the book went on. At the beginning of each chapter, you hear about her life as she is arrested for treason and is being sent to the The Tower after Catherine Howard and her lovers have been taken as well, and then Jane tells us the story of when she is asked to become a lady-in-waiting for Queen Catherine of Aragon with the hopes of working her way up to the Queen’s good gracious and find a suitable husband for herself.
Now whether or not she and George had a better relationship and marriage is a bit harder to find out. I believe George was a hard-working person, but he had to be wary of his position as well as the king was highly paranoid and lost interest with everything, not just his wives… Others would be willing to do anything to get a spot into the king’s ear. They were all at the mercy of Henry VIII and Jane was a victim in both ordeals, but you have to wonder if she wasn’t done with life by the time when she became a lay-in-waiting to Catherine. She’s seen every side of the King’s anger and degradation. She was just a bad position all around, she couldn’t say yes or not to anyone or anything, but one thing you were always sure about was you could feel the love she felt for everyone–even her own husband!
Penelope – Tudor Baroness by Tony Riches
Now with this story, you are introduced to a new person within the Tudors. Penelope was the eldest daughter of Lady Lettice Knollys and William Devereux, Viscount Herfort. Both Adrienne and Tony play on the assumptions her grandmother Lady Catherine Carey would have been the illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII, which means she would have been a first cousin to Queen Elizabeth I.
While I knew some things about Jane Parker, I wasn’t aware of Penelope until she is barely mentioned in Adrienne’s book Cor Rotto, but still I wasn’t familiar with her, so I thoroughly enjoyed reading more about her in this story. Penelope talks about her siblings, most noted Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, who was an on-and-off ‘favourite’ to Queen Elizabeth I. At one point he rebelled against her and had him convicted for treason and was ordered to be hanged at The Tower where so many other family members were killed.
She was married to Robert Rich, Baron Rich and practiced being a Purtitan, and raise their three children in the religion. What is awfully interesting about her is that she had an affair. Technically she had two of them, but I’ll let you discover that on your own. Anyways, Charles Mountjoy was a lovable character, and was known to be a great father to his children, so much so, that after he married Penelope, he fought for his son Mountjoy to inherit his titles since he was born at the time Penelope was still with her first husband after his death.
I thought it was ironic that she would have engaged in an affair–especially since she was rumored to be a great-granddaughter to the Queen’s father. And the fact there is proof of the relationship with Baron Mountjoy cracked me up! Another interesting fact I personally enjoyed was the number of children that were produced between Catherine Carey, Lettice Knollys and Penelope Blount. King Henry VIII had accused his wives for not giving him a son, but yet these ladies and possible members of the Tudor family, had many sons and daughters and were influential members of court life.
‘Be proud of your Boleyn blood. There are few enough of us left.’
It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
I like books that discuss some holidays, Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas mostly., but I tend to have issues with seasonal reads. I don’t exactly know why I was so committed to Jenny Han’s Summer series, but I guess it was what I needed at that moment. I’ve read Jenny’s books before, in 2020, I was able to finish her To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before series and it was my first ever trilogy. I was thoroughly proud of myself on the accomplishment of finishing a book series.
I found these books to be more emotional, and older with its target audience. As much as I fell hard for Jeremiah, I was definitely Team Conrad. I loved the fact Jenny included his narrative into the second book. He was antsy and overrun with raw emotions over the loss of his mother, memories at the beach house but Belly was at the heart of everything too. As much as he tried, he couldn’t let go of her.
One of my favorite parts, was when Belly’s mom came to help Conrad and Jeremiah. Oh, that was such a great scene! Beck was such a sad character in the beginning, but her best friend had died, and it was so awful to see her like that. I felt Susannah in every chapter though, and she knew they would fight for her sons’ backs on almost everything.
The scene at the hotel and Conrad and Belly have the fight and he finally gives up, broke me. I’m sure a lot of people felt like they were going to lose it once they got through those chapters. I cried so hard for Belly and Conrad. This was the moment I wanted to smack him upside the head honestly.
Antoinette’s Sister by Diana Giovinazzo
Back in September, I was in a nonfiction mood, and thought this would be a good book to continue the spree, but I quickly realized it was fictional, but it didn’t matter though I read it anyways.
This is about one of Marie Antoinette’s sisters, Maria Carolina,. You will figure out quick is that their mother Empress Maria Teresa and father Frederick, Duke of Lorraine liked to reuse names for their 16 children. There were multiple daughters named “Maria Carolina” and “Maria Christina”. The ten that survived were married off to various Kingdoms to strengthen alliances with other countries. Charlotte, as she is known in the book, was sent to Naples to be married to King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily.
It was an interesting story. I enjoyed Charlotte as a person and her life in Naples was a nice trip. The one thing I was sad about, was the author had to title the book “Antoinette’s Sister”. Charlotte had three other sisters and whether or not they all had an excellent relationship, I think Diana should have renamed it “The Austrian Queen of Naples” or something like that. She was a strong woman in the book and real life, and deserved to be out of the shadow of her younger sister’s shadow.
“What I’m sure you know is that people in our position do not have the luxury of marrying for love. It is strictly a business transaction.”
Holly by Stephen King
The final book.
The one I did not think would be on this list. My very first Stephen King book ever.
I found it on YouTube as an audiobook with an odd narrator. It reminded me of how Siri or Alexa talks, but this was a male voice. It was a male for both SK books I read this fall, and it was choppy, but somehow, I made it.
I’m not into horror, but I wanted something to celebrate Halloween, I actually read quite a few Halloween-ish books, but this was my favorite of the bunch. I just thought I’d listen for one chapter and see what happens. I almost didn’t go for chapter two because I was so confused about the first chapter. It didn’t click in my brain that it could be an epilogue. Thankfully the next day, we are introduced to Holly, and I thought she was a terrific character, she reminded me of someone I use to know back in the day, and I built her in my mind off the person I knew, and it was much easier to understand her as a main character.
What shocked me the most was, and it seems so wrong to say this out loud, were the older couple, they were the most intriguing to me! The ruse they used was absolute genius. They believed in cannibalism, and they harvested it and one thing that scared me the shit out of me, and I thought was so amusing–was when they were using fat and bone morrow as like a “natural” lotion. It was sick and twisted but I loved it to pieces! No pun indented.
If anyone made it to the bottom of this post, I congratulate you on that accomplishment!
I didn’t mean to make this post so long (I should get a shirt with this written on it!) I just had a lot to say about each of these books. I mainly write this post for you, my audience. I know a lot of people love to see what I’m reading lately, and I hope something her captures your attention. I just hope I hadn’t spoiled any of the endings though.
I may not finish out the year with 60 books, but I gave it a shot and can always try again next year. I hope you were able to pass your goal for 2023.
What was your favorite book(s) of 2023? Did you make it to your yearly goal or not?
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