「 ✦ noel ✦ 」༝༚༝༚’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

5,117

pages read

books read

「 ✦ noel ✦ 」༝༚༝༚

Shortest Book

pages

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Longest Book

541

pages

Average book length in 2023

341

pages

Most Shelved

11,565,180

people also shelved

Least Shelved

90,438

people also shelved

「 ✦ noel ✦ 」༝༚༝༚’s average rating for 2023

4.7

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.48 average

「 ✦ noel ✦ 」༝༚༝༚’s first review of the year

it was amazing

5/5 stars!

Firstly, I'll start by saying the Leigh Bardugo has a phenomenal way with story-building. I always have trouble understanding the new worlds that are created within fantasy series', but Bardugo did great easing difficult concepts into the minds of the readers.

Characters:
Alina Starkov was a great narrator; she was trustworthy and self-aware. Bardugo grappled with the harsh reality of inner darkness and how Alina struggles to come to te ...more

「 ✦ NOEL ✦ 」༝༚༝༚’S 2023 BOOKS

it was amazing

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han

it was amazing

「 ✦ noel ✦ 」༝༚༝༚’s last review of the year

it was amazing

Um WOW... just wow. I'm absolutely blown away by this book and I'm so excited to read crooked kingdom. This book had such a shift in its pace and energy in comparison to the shadow and bone trilogy, and I absolutely loved it. I was engaged the whole way through. I love the inclusion of all the character's POVs, it made the story so much more interesting, and it helped me become attached to every single one of them and their backgrounds.
I was def Um WOW... just wow. I'm absolutely blown away by this book and I'm so excited to read crooked kingdom. This book had such a shift in its pace and energy in comparison to the shadow and bone trilogy, and I absolutely loved it. I was engaged the whole way through. I love the inclusion of all the character's POVs, it made the story so much more interesting, and it helped me become attached to every single one of them and their backgrounds.
I was definitely a little confused while reading the whole heist scene, only because I had trouble imagining some of the actions that the characters were doing, but I still enjoyed whatever my mind could procure while reading.
I want to go through the characters and some of my favorite things about them-

Inej: I put Inej first because she is my absolute favorite out of the whole crew. Her storyline is phenomenal, and her strength is inspiring. Her talent makes her the strongest member of the crew without a doubt, and I only say this because there are so many things she can do that the other members can't, even if she's not the most 'physically' strong. I think the only other member who comes close to her strength is Nina, and their friendship is one I greatly appreciated reading. Inej is also incredibly kind to those around her, even when she didn't need to be. She puts a lot of faith into those around her, but also has a level-head, and can accurately judge what can and cannot be trusted. Her relationship with Kaz has tons of angst, which I loved, but sometimes I just wished they could have had more in-depth conversations instead of trying to assume what the other is thinking. Amazing character, I'm so sad at the way she was treated at the end of the book, being used as leverage to hurt Kaz, but I'm excited to see how she bounces back from those struggles.

Kaz: Wow, Leigh created such an intelligent character. Anytime I was reading about Kaz all I could think about was how amazing he would be at chess. He has the ability to think 20 steps ahead of everybody and I could never guess his next move. All I have to say is well done Bardugo because I'm super excited to see more growth in his character as the story continues.

Nina: Ugh, I love Nina. She's such a bright light even during the hardest of times. I was impressed by how persistent she is, never giving up on anything or anyone. A great example of this strength is her relationship with Matthias. He was an extreme asshole to her so so often throughout the story, yet she always took it and rolled with it. She didn't let him break her. She saw the good and him and cared enough to stay and see the good surface. I was incredibly worried when I thought Matthias betrayed Nina during the heist, but my hopes were answered when we saw how his care for Nina caused him to fight against the one thing he loved the most... his country. I'm loving Nina's growth with her powers, and I'm curious to see how she comes back from her first taste of the parem.

Matthias: Agh, I hated him most of the book because of his treatment towards Nina. I could tell early on that he would develop into a more compassionate person though, and I'm glad Nina had a huge part in that change. There's not much I really care to comment on about Matthias, other than how impressed I am at his growth because I feel as though it was arguably the most compared to the other characters.

Jesper: Jesper has a similar love from me that I have for Nina. He was a bright and bubbly character with struggles of indulgence. I think I can speak for many people when I say that being addicted to something is hard, It causes you to become ashamed of who you truly are. Jesper is addicted to gambling and fighting, and he expresses how that scares him sometimes. I was impressed by how self-aware this character is, and I'm expecting to see lots of growth from him. I never expected the fact that he somewhat betrayed the team's plan to commit the heist, but I can overlook that mistake through the love I have for his ability to take responsibility for the things he does wrong and his intense care for his crew... he obviously didn't mean to hurt those around him, and this is a great way to express how hard addiction can be and how it can very negatively impact yourself and the people around you.

Wylan: He didn't leave much of an impact on me... and I know exactly why... we don't have any of his POVs!!! Why is that? I'm still trying to figure out the reasoning behind Bardugo choosing not to walk us through the mind of Wylan. I would have loved to learn more about his background. Was it possibly because of his illiteracy? Did Bardugo want us to be unable to predict this ailment? I hope my questions are answered in the next book because I would love to learn more about Wylan, especially his relationship with Jesper! I appreciate the lgbtq inclusion and they have such a great witty way of flirting.

I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend reading it! If anyone wants to talk about it with me my dms are open and we can gush on our favorite parts together!

"No mourners, no funerals." ...more

2023 READING
CHALLENGE

「 ✦ noel ✦ 」༝༚༝༚ read 15 out of 12 books.

125%

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