For my final post of 2023, I’m going to be looking through all of my posts from the year and selecting my favourite review from each month! These are selected from my pride in my review, my love of the book or most likely a bit of both.
My top list of books will be coming in early January as well.
For January, I picked This Book Kills by Ravena Guron. I adored this book and got to meet Ravena in person at YALC, sharing my thoughts on how incredible it was with her and the Usborne team.
For February, I had to go with One For All by Lillie Lainoff. This book just hit such a sweet spot for me.
Enter The Body by Joy McCullough was a riotous reclaiming of the narrative – told through exquisite verse and deft handlings of Shakespeare’s heroines, villainesses and other women consigned to the narrative shadows.
It has to go with this bizarre, beautiful and haunting horror collection that has stayed with me since: Eyes Guts Throat Bones by Moira Fowley.
Where The Light Goes by Sara Barnard was a book that hit very close to home for me and this review was difficult but so impactful to write.
For June, I went with Black Heat by Bex Hogan. This was a masterclass in characterisation, twists and tension from an underrated voice in YA fantasy.
July was one of the toughest months for me to choose between, but as I did fifteen reviews that month I’ll allow myself two here: Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington and Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong.
I still think about several of the books I reviewed in August, but I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea just stitched itself into a dark and gnarled corner of my heart.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid nearly took it, but my September review pick has to be my love letter to the Secret Shanghai series. It all culminated in the wonderful Foul Heart Hunstman by Chloe Gong.
For October, I had to go with my heart and the fabulous The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett. This festive followup to one of my all time favourite mysteries just made me fall in love all over again with Hallett’s distinctive style.
For November, I went with the slick, stylish and shocking Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng. This just oozed atmosphere and tension.
Hands down, my favourite review of December was for Catch Your Death by Ravena Guron. She bookmarks the year, rounding it out by cementing her status as one of my new favourite authors.
A Short Book Lover 
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