1. BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2023?
This is a tough one for me because I’ve read a lot of good books this year but I would have to say Alchemy of Moonlight by David Ferraro but I would have to give a shout out to A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel and Goodnight Punpun Volume 1 by Inio Asano.
2. BEST SEQUEL OF 2023 SO FAR?
I could say any secondary volume of Demon Slayer, Wotakoi or Sweat and Soap but that feels like cheating so I am going to go with Tales from the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. I choose this one because even though it wasn’t outstanding like the first one it presented a lot of connections between characters that I hadn’t even considered.
3. NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT WANT TO?
God, so many! Some of the top ones for me would be Chain of Thorns and Rhythm of War although they aren’t brand new releases. If we are talking about brand new releases I’d have to say One of Us is Back, A Game of Gods or Bonesmith.
4. MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF THE SECOND HALF OF 2023?
I don’t really keep up with new releases that often but I’d have to say the new Anita Blake book, Slay or Empire of the Damned although that doesn’t come out until 2024.
5. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT?
There have been a couple so far this year but I’d have to say A Guide to the Dark because it wasn’t horror despite being labelled as that, Lore because it was essentially a copy and paste of every other Greek mythology retelling and Obsession by John E. Douglas because it just wasn’t what I was expecting and didn’t provide any information I didn’t know from my own research into Criminal Psychology.
6. BIGGEST SURPRISE?
The biggest surprise for me was the autobiographies and memoirs I have read this year. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, Madly, Deeply the Alan Rickman diaries and Six Days in Detox by Dianne Corbeau which were all heart-breaking looks into the lives of the authors and I honestly sobbed at the end of Madly, Deeply.
7. FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)?
There were quite a few manga authors that were new to me that were absolutely outstanding but I have to give this to C. M. Nascosta even though these smutty books didn’t get 5 stars from me there were completely addictive and I will read anything Nascosta writes in the future.
8. NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER(S)?
Denji, Power and Aki from the Chainsaw Man manga. I genuinely cannot pick between them but the story line in part 1 of the manga with Aki reduced me to tears.
9. BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY?
Sweat & Soap Volume 11 which was everything I wanted to finish off the series but at the same time I never wanted it to end.
10. MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU BOUGHT/RECEIVED THIS YEAR?
I am not one for buying special editions but there were a few covers that got me to read or buy the books without knowing anything about them. A few books that I own but read purely because of the cover would be Reboot by Amy Tintera and Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. Some I brought for the covers would be Empire of the Vampire and Daughter of the Moon Goddess.
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