As you can see from my Top 10 Reads of 2022 post, I read considerably less in 2022 and I don’t think that’ll change much in 2023, especially with SPFBO in the mix. But that’s not to say I don’t have a couple of reading goals in 2023. Buckle up peeps, because this is going to be one long-ass post with a lot of books mentioned. Hey, it might help grow your TBR. It looks so abandoned and sad 😉
I will try to be more active this year and post monthly updates about how my different reading challenges/goals are going, including recommendations for prompts in The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge. I will also come back to this post in December and look at what I actually achieved in my reading goals in 2023.
GoodReads Reading Challenge
Since I failed at 50 books last year with my 40 read ones, I decided to lower my expectations. 40 sounds like a comfortable number I can achieve in 2023 too.
Womble’s TBR Reduction Challenge
This seemed like a fun challenge, so I jumped on board. I don’t think I’ll participate in each month, and definitely not doing the stretch goals, but I’ll try nonetheless. There is a theme for each month to help to reduce your TBR. I’ll try and match it with my narrowed-down TBR I’ll talk about below. If you follow Womble on Twitter, you can get handy reminders of each prompt at the beginning of the month.
You can check out Womble’s TBR Reduction Challenge HERE.
The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge
The Sound of Madness is of course back for its third year! I already got the introduction post up, but here is a quick rundown: I have 25 music-based prompts, and I’ll attempt to fill out my bingo-like card during 2023. 1 will use 1 book/prompt, and only books read in 2023 will count. I had a LOT of fun coming up with the prompts, so I hope more people will join me in this one.
Check out The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge HERE
It wasn’t exactly planned, but one day I woke up and decided I needed a narrowed-down TBR to focus on in 2023. On this list, I have books I’ve been pushing back, books that will be released in 2023, and SPFBO 8 finalists. Most of these I already own in some form, so it’d be a nice opportunity to reduce my own TBR.
At this time, I’m planning to stick around for SPFBO 9, which means there are a whole lot of books I can’t account for. And then there is something called “mood” that can totally fuck up everything. Also sales. Especially Audible ones. So, as much as I’d like to focus on the 45 books I collected (by the end of January, because of course I kept adding to the list even as I worked on this post…), it’s very likely I’ll only read a fraction of them. But hey, a girl can dream.
And this is where this post is going to get really long as I intend to list all of the books and some info about them. I will come back to take a look at this list at the end of the year and see how I fared. If you’d like to know more about the books, clicking on the titles will take you to their respective GoodReads pages. I’ll update this post once the yet-to-be-announced covers and info will be available.
2023 Releases
| Cover | Book Info | Read |
|---|---|---|
 | Title: We Dream of Gods Author: Devin Madson Series: The Reborn Empire #4 Publisher: Orbit Release Date: March 21, 2023 | CR |
 | Title: The Cleaving Author: Juliet E. McKenna Series: standalone Publisher: Angry Robot Release Date: April 11, 2023 | |
 | Title: The Square of Sevens Author: Laura Shepherd-Robinson Series: standalone Publisher: Mantle (Pan Macmillan) Release Date: June 22, 2023 | |
 | Title: The Book That Wouldn’t Burn Author: Mark Lawrence Series: The Book That Wouldn’t Burn #1 Publisher: Ace Release Date: May 11, 2023 | |
| Title: TBA Author: RJ Dark Series: Mal and Jackie #3 Publisher: Waveback Release Date: TBA | ||
| Title: Gods of the Wyrdwood Author: RJ Barker Series: Forsaken #1 Publisher: Orbit Release Date: June 27, 2023 | ||
 | Title: Between Savage Tides Author: Anela Deen Series: The Bitter Sea Trilogy #2 Publisher: Fine Fables Press Release Date: December 1, 2023 | |
| Title: The Wise Men of Gotham Author: Craig Schaefer Series: The Hungry Dreaming Trilogy #2 Publisher: Demimonde Books Release Date: TBA | ||
| Title: TBA Author: Sadir S. Samir Series: The God Dust Saga #2 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: TBA | ||
| Title: Slumdog Deckbuilder Author: Benedict Patrick Series: Card Mage #1 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: TBA | Read |
Requests
| Cover | Book Info | Read |
|---|---|---|
 | Title: Dawn Razed Author: Josh Erikson Series: Ethereal Earth #4 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: December 13, 2022 | REVIEW |
 | Title: Songbird Author: Karen Heenan Series: The Tudor Court #1 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: December 3, 2021 | |
 | Title: Empire’s Daughter Author: Marian L. Thorpe Series: Empire’s Legacy #1 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: February 18, 2015 | REVIEW |
 | Title: The King Must Fall Author: VA Series: anthology Publisher: Grimdark Magazine Release Date: May 31, 2022 | Read |
SPFBO 8 Finalists
| Cover | Book Info | Read |
|---|---|---|
 | Title: Mysterious Ways Author: Abbie Evans Series: standalone Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: August 3, 2021 | |
 | Title: A Song of the Void Author: Andrew C. Piazza Series: standalone Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: July 15, 2020 | |
 | Title: Scales and Sensibility Author: Stephanie Burgis Series: Regency Dragons #1 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: October 4, 2021 | REVIEW |
 | Title: Tethered Spirits Author: T. A. Hernandez Series: standalone Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: December 14, 2021 | |
 | Title: The Thirteenth Hour Author: Trudie Skies Series: The Cruel Gods #1 Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: September 29, 2021 | REVIEW |
Backlist
| Cover | Book Info | Read |
|---|---|---|
 | Title: The Court of Mortals Author: A.J. Lancaster Series: Sariel #3 Publisher: Camberion Press Release Date: January 18, 2020 | |
 | Title: The King of Faerie Author: A.J. Lancaster Series: Sariel #4 Publisher: Camberion Press Release Date: July 24, 2021 | |
 | Title: The House of Shattered Wings Author: Aliette de Bodard Series: Dominion of the Fallen #1 Publisher: Gollancz Release Date: August 20, 2015 | |
 | Title: Night Latch Author: Anela Deen Series: The Locksmith #1 Publisher: Fine Fables Press Release Date: October 1, 2019 | |
 | Title: The Keeper of Happy Endings Author: Barbara Davis Series: standalone Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Release Date: October 1, 2021 | |
 | Title: Double or Nothing Author: Craig Schaefer Series: Daniel Faust #7 Publisher: Demimonde Books Release Date: June 27, 2017 | |
 | Title: The Neon Boneyard Author: Craig Schaefer Series: Daniel Faust #8 Publisher: Demimonde Books Release Date: April 10, 2018 | |
 | Title: The Locust Job Author: Craig Schaefer Series: Daniel Faust #9 Publisher: Demimonde Books Release Date: January 1, 2020 | |
 | Title: Any Minor World Author: Craig Schaefer Series: The Midnight Jury #1 Publisher: Demimonde Books Release Date: April 26, 2022 | |
 | Title: Bindle Punk Bruja Author: Desideria Mesa Series: standalone Publisher: Harper Voyager Release Date: September 13, 2022 | |
 | Title: The Ninth Rain Author: Jen Williams Series: The Winnowing Flame Trilogy #1 Publisher: Headline Release Date: February 23, 2017 | |
 | Title: The Cloisters Author: Katy Hays Series: standalone Publisher: Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press Release Date: November 1, 2022 | |
 | Title: Thorn Author: Intisar Khanani Series: Dauntless Path #1 Publisher: HarperTeen Release Date: March 24, 2020 | |
 | Title: Big Little Lies Author: Liane Moriarty Series: standalone Publisher: Berkley Books Release Date: February 9, 2017 | |
 | Title: A Secret History of Witches Author: Louisa Morgan Series: standalone Publisher: Orbit Release Date: September 5, 2017 | |
 | Title: The Age of Witches Author: Louisa Morgan Series: standalone Publisher: Redhook Release Date: April 7, 2020 | |
 | Title: The Last Smile in Sunder City Author: Luke Arnold Series: The Fetch Phillips Archives #1 Publisher: Orbit Release Date: February 6, 2020 | |
 | Title: The Hidden Author: Melanie Golding Series: standalone Publisher: Crooked Lane Books Release Date: November 9, 2021 | |
 | Title: The Lincoln Lawyer Author: Michael Connelly Series: The Lincoln Lawyer #1 Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Release Date: October 3, 2005 | |
 | Title: Murder at Spindle Manor Author: Morgan Stang Series: standalone Publisher: Self-Published Release Date: October 20, 2022 | |
 | Title: Half a Soul Author: Olivia Atwater Series: Regency Faerie Tales #1 Publisher: Release Date: | |
 | Title: The Deathless Author: Peter Newman Series: The Deathless Trilogy #1 Publisher: Harper Voyager Release Date: June 14, 2018 | |
 | Title: Black Sun Author: Rebecca Roanhorse Series: Between Earth and Sky #1 Publisher: Saga Press Release Date: October 13, 2020 | |
 | Title: Age of Assassins Author: RJ Barker Series: The Wounded Kingdom #1 Publisher: Orbit Release Date: August 1, 2017 | |
 | Title: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches Author: Sangu Mandanna Series: standalone Publisher: Berkley Books Release Date: August 23, 2022 | Read |
 | Title: The Ashes of London Author: Andrew Taylor Series: Marwood and Lovett #1 Publisher: HarperCollins Release Date: April 7, 2016 |
And those, my friends, are my reading goals in 2023. Let me know if you have any goals for 2023, be it reading challenges, books you particularly want to read, or just your thoughts about my curated TBR.
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