Top 5 Tuesday: series I will start in 2023

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
Today we will talk about some pretty cool book series I want to get started on this year. Well, if you read my post about bookish new years resolutions, you’ll know that I said there I don’t want to start any new series that aren’t concluded yet. For some of the ones below, the final book hasn’t been released yet, but according to Goodreads, they are all supposed to drop this year. So, hopefully, by the time I make it to the final novels, they’ll be available.
Of course, I haven’t read any of the books/series below yet, so let’s take a look at the blurbs from Goodreads together, so we can figure out what’s going on!

#1 Book of Night

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgängers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

Book of Night on Goodreads

#2 Fractured Fables

It’s Zinnia Gray’s twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no one has lived past twenty-one.

Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia’s last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate.

Fractured Fables on Goodreads

Top 5 Tuesday: books I will definitely read in 2023

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
Today we are looking at some books I’m definitely, for sure, 100% going to read this year!
The first one is the last installment of the Wheel of Time series, which I really want to finish. Numbers 2 and 3 are the second parts of duologies that I started a while ago. And finally, 4 and 5 are just some cool books that have been living on my tbr for a while and I want to get to them. But since I obviously haven’t read any of the 5 books below, I’ll leave you with the blurb from Goodreads!

#1 A Memory of Light – Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

When Robert Jordan died in 2007, all feared that these concluding scenes would never be written. But working from notes and partials left by Jordan, established fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson stepped in to complete the masterwork. With The Gathering Storm (Book 12) and Towers of Midnight (Book 13) behind him, Sanderson now re-creates the vision that Robert Jordan left behind.

Edited by Jordan’s widow, who edited all of Jordan’s books, A Memory of Light will delight, enthrall, and deeply satisfy all of Jordan’s legions of readers.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass.
What was, what will be, and what is,
may yet fall under the Shadow.
Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

A Memory of Light on Goodreads

#2 Untethered – KayLynn Flanders

Although King Atháren’s sister, Jennesara, saved Hálendi from the Gray Mage, the reprieve came at a steep price–the life of their father. Now Ren rules over a divided kingdom, with some who want him dead, and a Medallion that warns of worse trouble brewing in the south.

As second born, Princess Chiara is the perfect Turian royal–perfectly invisible. She longs to help restore peace on the Plateau, but with no magic and no fighting skills, she doesn’t stand a chance against a mage. So when a member of the Turian royal family goes missing and Chiara finds a clue about the rumored resting place of the mages’ long-lost artifacts, she decides it’s time to be seen.

As Ren’s and Chiara’s paths cross, they find the depth of the mages’ hold on the Plateau is more powerful than anyone suspected, and that they must learn to trust themselves, and each other, before the mages retrieve their artifacts and become too powerful to ever defeat.

Untethered on Goodreads

Top 5 Tuesday: bookish resolutions for 2023

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
As is fitting for the new year, we need to talk about some bookish resolutions I have for 2023!

#1 Finish Wheel of Time

I started reading the Wheel of Time books in January of last year. After a great start, this series put me into a pretty big reading slump and it’s taking me so much longer to get through it than I had anticipated. Yes, the books are very long but I still didn’t think I’d only be halfway through after an entire year. So, I really want to finish this behemoth of a book series in 2023!

#2 Be better at keeping up to Date

I’m quite terrible at keeping track of upcoming releases and I really need to change that. There is this website/app that I track the TV shows I watch with and they have this little calendar that informs you when a new season or episode drops. I wish there was something like that on Goodreads. I always get excited about books that are supposed to come out in some distant future, I put them on my tbr list, and then I simply forget about them. That even happens for some of the book series I started a while ago, which brings me directly to my next point!

Top 5 Tuesday: anticipated reads for Jan-Mar 2023

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
For this year’s very first T5T post we are going to talk about some upcoming releases that caught my eye. Since I obviously haven’t read any of them yet, I’ll leave you with the blurb provided my Goodreads, so we can all get an idea what the books are about!

#1 City of Nightmares – Rebecca Schaeffer (expected publication: January 10th, 2023)

Gotham meets Strange the Dreamer in this thrilling young adult fantasy about a cowardly girl who finds herself at the center of a criminal syndicate conspiracy, in a city where crooked politicians and sinister cults reign and dreaming means waking up as your worst nightmare.

Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear.

Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that’s monstrous only in appearance, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the city, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a questionable organization that may or may not be a cult.

But being a member of maybe-cult has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organization—only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, now Ness and the only other survivor—a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her—must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack, even as the horrors of her past loom ominously near.

City of Nightmares on Goodreads

#2 All the Dangerous Things – Stacy Willingham (expected publication: January 10th, 2023)

One year ago, Isabelle Drake’s life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.

Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.

Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.

All the Dangerous Things on Goodreads

Top 5 Tuesday: books of 2022

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
For this year’s final T5T post, we’re going to talk about my favorite books of the year. To be honest, I didn’t read many books this year as I’ve mostly been going through the Wheel of Time series, so slim pickings. 😅

#1 A Court of Silver Flames

I was so looking forward to this coming out and then I forgot to read it. Well, halfway through the year I took a little break from WoT and binge-read a couple of books including this one. I enjoyed it for the most part but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I liked it but I still need to think about it for a bit.

ACOSF on Goodreads

#2 NOS4A2

This is another book I had meant to pick up for the longest time. It was actually the very first thing I read this year! I loved it from the first to the last page.

NOS4A2 on Goodreads

Top 5 Tuesday: new authors of 2022

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
Today’s topic is all about new authors of 2022. I only read books from one new to me author this year, so I’m sharing some 2022 authors who published their debut novels this year that are on my tbr pile!

#1 Sue Lynn Tan – Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.

Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the emperor’s son, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the prince.

To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. But when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor for her dream—striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves or plunging the realm into chaos.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess begins an enchanting, romantic duology which weaves ancient Chinese mythology into a sweeping adventure of immortals and magic—where love vies with honor, dreams are fraught with betrayal, and hope emerges triumphant.

Daughter of the Moon Goddess on Goodreads

#2 Sequoia Nagamatsu – How High We Go in the Dark

Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.

Once unleashed, the Arctic Plague will reshape life on earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects—a pig—develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.

From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resiliency of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.

How High We Go in the Dark on Goodreads