Welcome to another fabulous edition of My Favourite Reads.

What a year of reading!

82 books in total. Which is a bit disappointing, to be honest. That’s sixteen fewer than last year, but still, not a bad effort.

The main thing is that lots of wonderful stories were enjoyed and many favourite reads were had. Things were learned and quite a few new authors discovered. Plenty of Australian authors were read, and joy and sadness and every emotion in between and beyond were experienced. In other words, all the good things about reading.

And we shared! My favourite reads to you, and yours right back to me and all the others who enjoy this blog series. A massive and heartfelt thank you for that. With so many out there, discovering new books and authors can be hard sometimes. Friends like you make it easy and fun. Naturally I’ll be continuing this series into 2024. I’m not sure I can give it up!

As for December, that proved to be one of my best reading months. So much so that I’m not going to choose an overall favourite. They were all cracking books.

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The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Oooh, this was clever!!

I adore a gothic suspense, and The Only One Left had both the atmosphere and the tension done perfectly. Twists and misdirection galore, brilliant characters, and a precariously perched house that only adds to the sinister air of the place, all melded to form an excellent read.

Caregiver Kit is the star of The Only One Left. She’s brave, curious (perhaps too curious?) and harbouring her own dark past. But the other characters are fascinating too. It seems every single one of them has a secret. And it seems every single one of them at Hope’s End is desperate to protect Lenora Hope, the now invalid, mute lady who, as a young woman, apparently brutally slayed her family.

Except no one knows the truth of that night. And now Lenora wants to reveal her story to Kit.

A fantastic, roller-coaster thriller of a ride. I am definitely going to read more of this author.

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Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Iron Flame is the much-anticipated sequel to the blockbuster (and a favourite read of August) romantasy Fourth Wing. I thought this was going to be the end, but apparently The Empyrean series will now be five books. Which is a bit wowsers because these books are looooong.

Anyway, on to Iron Flame.

It was good. Not quite as good as Fourth Wing but hard to put down and chock-a-block with action and tension and life-and-death drama. Plus Xaden being sexy, Violet being clever and brave, and the rest of the gang being cool. And dragons. Sigh. I do love the dragons.

The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger. Guess I’ll have to wait for the next instalment to find out if Violet et al can sort out the mess.

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The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James

I read St James’s The Sun Down Motel back in January, 2021 (check that out here), and really enjoyed it and The Haunting of Maddy Clare has been on my wishlist ever since. So when the ebook recently came on sale, I snapped it up.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare was another terrific read. Despite the title, it’s not really a horror. For me, both The Sun Down Motel and The Haunting of Maddy Clare are more supernatural thriller-mysteries. Very good ones.

This story is set in 1920s England, with the country still recovering from the tragedy and horrors of the Great War. Sarah Piper is living a poor and lonely existence when her temp agency sends her to Alistair Gellis, a wealthy war veteran obsessed with documenting (and sometimes debunking) hauntings. His usual assistant is busy and the ghost Alistair is chasing will not tolerate men.

The haunting is no hoax, and when Sarah is forced to engage the ghost, it unleashes its full rage.

This was wonderfully written, with great characters (Sarah especially), a well-crafted atmosphere, and a great sense of place. I think my favourite bit though, was the romance. It was subtle yet quite moving and a nice break from the rest of the drama.

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Ledge by Stacey McEwan

I enjoyed this fantasy a lot. Ledge had brilliant characters, plenty of twists and turns, and the conflict was huuuuge.

Dawsyn exists on the Ledge, a place of violence and no hope, bordered by sheer mountain on one side and a giant chasm on the other, and forever entrapping its people. Once a year, a cull occurs, with winged monsters called Glacians flying in and snatching a select few. What happens to them? No one knows but when Dawsyn is grabbed, she soon finds out.

I loved Dawsyn. She was super tough, clever, and a skilled and ferocious fighter who never backs down. A great heroine. I also loved the world-building. The bleakness of existence on the Ledge was excellently done, as was the Glacian palace and other lands.

Monsters, passion, magic, action, bravery and loyalty… Ledge was fantastic page-turnery fun. The ending was a bit of a shock though. I knew it was a series but that was a total cliffhanger. Ah well, I’ll just have to buy book two, Chasm, to see what happens.

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Christmas by Candlelight by Karen Swan

Another cracking Christmas tale from Swan. Not as adventure laden as previous Christmas books of hers that I’ve read, but with a fabulous setting in an historic English country house, in which a bunch of old university friends become trapped after a dramatic snowstorm.

I’m a bit partial to a forced proximity story, and Christmas by Candlelight was a good example. The group at first seems normal and happy but as time wears on the secrets and tensions of their pasts create cracks. Then strange things start happening…

Romantic, dramatic, Christmassy, and very enjoyable. Swan’s yuletime books remain auto-buys for me.

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Take Me Home by Beth Moran

Well, there was lots of sniffling from me at the end of Take Me Home, let me tell you. This book really tugged at my heart.

Constantly moving around, never settling or forming strong relationships, Sophie runs a business helping people deal with loss while never facing with her own. When famous artist and art therapist Hattie contracts her services and Sophie comes to stay at historic Riverbend, life changes.

Take Me Home was a wonderfully emotional read. Both Sophie’s and Hattie’s journeys were real and heartfelt, but I think what gave the story extra poignancy were the histories and hardships of the Riverbend women.

Good stuff.

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The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall by Benedict Brown

I picked up The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall because I was in the mood for something Christmassy but not necessarily romantic, and it fitted the brief perfectly.

The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall is part of Benedict Brown’s Lord Edgington Investigates series, a string of cosy mysteries featuring an elderly (but sprite and adventurous) former detective and his (not so adventurous) teenaged grandson. Think Sherlock and Watson, with Lord Edgington as Sherlock and young Christopher as Watson, but with much more humour and quirk.

This was book four in the series. I might have to go back to the start. It was a lot of fun.

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The Alewives by Elizabeth R. Andersen

Described in the subtitle as “a plague-era tale of murder, friendship, and fine ale”, I thought The Alewives sounded interesting. And it was!

This had so much atmosphere. I could really feel the hardships the women of Les Tanneurs suffered. Such a thankless life, and yet somehow the alewives manage to somehow keep their humour and hope.

The Alewives is a sort of historical cosy murder mystery, yet it’s really about female friendships, courage, and the appalling misogyny and hypocrisy of the time.

Highly recommended. The next in the series, Sleight of Hand, releases in April. Yay!

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Fatal Reunion by J. Robert Kennedy

Another blast of a read from Kennedy and his James Acton thriller series.

Fatal Reunion sees the professors in Thailand after being invited to an archaeological dig. Something has been found, something important, and valuable. Something that has attracted the interest of a local gang member.

Naturally the professors get caught in the drama and are once again running for their lives, except this time it’s not only themselves they have to save, but a bunch of innocent schoolchildren.

So. Much. Fun.

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What have you read lately that’s thrilled you?

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