I can’t believe it took me until 2022 to finally pick up a book by N.K. Jemisin. I’ve owned both The Fifth Season and The City We Became for what seems like years, yet hadn’t bothered to pick either of them up. I think it was a case of me overhyping both of them in my head with how much people loved them. I finally caved and read The Fifth Season and it was, perhaps, the easiest five star I’ve ever given 😂 I’m so excited to continue with the Broken Earth series and more of Jemisin’s work!

Firekeeper’s Daughter was everywhere for quite awhile after it came out. It kept popping up on my radar and I found the premise was interesting, so I bought it. Then it languished on my bookshelf for far too long. Finally, at the beginning of the year, I decided to pick this up. I’m so glad I did because this book was absolutely incredible! The writing sucked me in and I felt immersed in the tale. I’m so excited for this author’s new release in 2023, Warrior Girl Unearthed.

Within These Wicked Walls was one of the oldest e-ARCs I had on my Netgalley shelf at the beginning of the year. Thank goodness I finally picked it up because I freakin’ loved this book! Lauren Blackwood’s writing is so vivid and captivating that you can’t help but fall head first into this tale. It made it so easy to visualize everything she described, which made me connect with the book and its characters on a deeper level. I now have her next release, Wildblood, as an e-ARC and I will most definitely not let it languish on my shelf!

Roshani Chokshi is an author that has been on my radar for ages. It started with The Star-Touched Queen, and continued when I learned about her middle grade Pandava series. Then, I kept hearing about the Gilded Wolves series and that’s what caused me to finally give this author a try. Y’all, I loved this book so much! Talk about immersive and atmospheric writing! I felt like I was walking the streets of 1889 Paris. And her character work is just out of this world. I’m so attached to the found family in this book and I can’t wait to read more.

I have to admit that I wasn’t aware of Peng Shepherd until I joined a blog tour for her newest book, The Cartographers. I’m so glad I took a chance on her, though, because I devoured this book! It ticked off so many boxes for me (there’s a library involved and a hint of magic and SECRETS) and I was all in from page one until the end. Half of what kept me so captivated was the incredible writing. Shepherd doesn’t have a ton of books out, but I know I want to read every one!