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A fresh new challenge for a fresh new year!
No particular theme, other than that most are books from authors I haven't read before, some are from genres other than my usual - some have been on my tbr for ages, others are newer - but all are going to get read next year.
Lots are book 1 in a series. Oh dear. LOL.
Looking forward to seeing what books you all choose, hoping to add your favourites to my towering TBR. Good luck everyone!


1. Iron Lake 4 stars
2. A Natural History of Dragons 4.25 stars - nice to read about a female adventurer, with a side of dragon.
3. Voyage of the Damned 4.25 stars. A combo of my two favourite genres - mystery & fantasy. I enjoyed the heck out of it.
4. The Suspect: Murder in a Small Town DNF - writing style was awkward
5. Shades of Milk and Honey 3.75 stars - I enjoyed this but I like her later works best
6. Moon of the Crusted Snow 3 stars
7. Magyk 5 stars - looking forward to reading the entire series!
8. The Frozen River 4.5 stars
9. Close to Home 4 stars - good story with fun twists, but I saw the twists coming, and one at least was pretty unlikely
10. I, Robot 3 stars - repetitive
11. The Stone Angel 4.25 stars
12. River of Darkness 4.5 stars - I enjoyed this so much - a new series to look forward to reading!
13. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches 3.5 stars - enjoyed it more than expected, good characters but story was a bit predictable and lacked depth.
14. Holy Island 3.75 stars good debut, but I wanted to smack the main character more than once. Good enough to read the next in the series though!
15. Every Heart a Doorway 3.0 stars
16. The Blessing Way 4.25 stars

Moon of the Crusted Snow is really good, and I, Robot is one of my rare 5* books (the only one I gave in 2023). The Blessing Way is the start of one of my favorite mystery series, but it is hard for me to say how much of that is the quality of the books and how much is from reading and enjoying them with my dad when I was still young.

I have The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and A Natural History of Dragons on my TBR, so I am curious what you will think of them.

Good luck for your challenge!

Half of these are already on my TBR; thank God!! Phew!! 🥴🥴

Good luck and happy reading!!

Excellent list, Linette. I have enjoyed Hillerman, Rennie Airth, Asimov, Moon of Crusted Snow, L.R. Wright and I have read The Stone Angel back in university. Can't remember what I thought of it.. LOL

Bill wrote: "Excellent list, Linette. I have enjoyed Hillerman, Rennie Airth, Asimov, Moon of Crusted Snow, L.R. Wright and I have read The Stone Angel back in university. Can't remember what I thought of it.. LOL"

Wow, Bill. I shouldn't be surprised you've read all those though, should I? Haha. Did you enjoy LR Wright? I'm excited to read a local author. I read The Diviners way back when, and don't remember what it was about but I liked it, so giving Stone Angel a try...hopefully it's more memorable for me, haha. Something about a grumpy old lady telling her story...so I will probably relate :D

Alondra wrote: "Half of these are already on my TBR; thank God!! Phew!! 🥴🥴

Good luck and happy reading!!"

8D haha, Alondra - happens to me all the time, too - and also relieved it's not a new addition, just a reminder to read what is already on my tbr.


Vikki wrote: "Good luck for your challenge!"

Thank you Vikki!

Anne wrote: "Moon of the Crusted Snow is really good, and I, Robot is one of my rare 5* books (the only one I gave in 2023). The Blessing Way is the start of one of my..."

Oh, that's great Anne, looking forward to them even more now.

Great list! I read First Lie Wins and really enjoyed it! I started my Dad on the Cork O'Conner series with Iron Lake last year, got him through book #4. He called me last month to tell me what he want for Christmas - only more books in that series! He said it's one of thr best he's read. So we got him him the rest of the series for Christmas.

Good luck with your challenge!!

Linette wrote: "Bill wrote: "Excellent list, Linette. I have enjoyed Hillerman, Rennie Airth, Asimov, Moon of Crusted Snow, L.R. Wright and I have read The Stone Angel back in university. Can't remember what I tho..."

I enjoyed every book in the Alberg series and was enjoying the follow-on featuring Edwina Henderson when I found out she'd died. I was devastated. I'm sure you'll enjoy, especially because of the setting if anything.

My recollections of Stone Angel are just as you described, a story about a grumpy old woman.. LOL. It didn't resonate with me during my university days. But it did introduce me to more Canadian authors. I took it as part of a Canadian Lit course, as I recall.

Linette, the only book on your list I read was I, Robot, but I really enjoyed it. I will be so eager to see what you think about the other books. Fortunately for me, many of them are already on my TBR and I'm really excited to read them!

I've read Iron Lake, First Lie Wins and The Frozen River, all good. I hope you enjoy them too and I can't wait to see what you think of the others. Of course, some are on my TBR too 😱

Ioana wrote: "I've read Iron Lake, First Lie Wins and The Frozen River, all good. I hope you enjoy them too and I can't wait to see what you think of the others. O..."

Sounds like I picked some good ones, thanks - probably from seeing what you all liked. Definitely First Lie Wins and The Frozen River are the fault of my GR friends, I so appreciate you all for finding such great books for me to read :)

Lea wrote: "Linette, the only book on your list I read was I, Robot, but I really enjoyed it. I will be so eager to see what you think about the other books. Fortunately for me, many of them are already on my ..."

Such a relief when you already have the book on your TBR, but also annoying because, why haven't I read that yet? LOL.



Lindsey wrote: "Great list! I read First Lie Wins and really enjoyed it! I started my Dad on the Cork O'Conner series with Iron Lake last year, got him through book #4. He called me ..."

Oh - wouldn't it be great if I liked it as much as your Dad does.

Nice list Linette. I have read a few of them but the ones that stand out to me are Moon of the Crusted Snow and The Frozen River. Both were recent favorites for me. Enjoy!

Linette wrote: "8D haha, Alondra - happens to me all the time, too - and also relieved it's not a new addition, just a reminder to read what is already on my tbr...."

Exactly. I have a habit of adding everything I want to read. No matter that I have over 3500 books on said list; but whatever! 😩😩😂🤣🤣🤷🏽‍♀️

Linette wrote: "A fresh new challenge for a fresh new year!
No particular theme, other than that most are books from authors I haven't read before, some are from genres other than my usual - some have been on my t..."

I loved I, Robot and The Secret Society of Irregular Victims. Hope your others are equally good.

I read I, Robot years ago & loved it. Recently read The Frozen River with a book group & we all loved it (which doesn't happen often).
Look forward to hearing your thoughts on your reads!
Happy Reading!

Great list, Linette! I love Tony Hillerman! He really knows how to describe New Mexico, one of my favorite places. The Dark Winds series on AMC is very well done and is based on his mysteries. I look forward to seeing what you like on your list. Happy Reading!

Love that your list covers a range of genres! A Natural History of Dragons and Every Heart a Doorway are both good and so different from each other. And Tony Hillerman, I remember reading the series and now I'm wondering if I should start all over again.

Looking forward to your reviews.

Have fun with your challenge!

Kudos on your progress, Linette.

Based off so many reviews of 3 stars; the Moon of the Crusted Snow is not a priority, but it looks interesting. I read that it starts off slow. It seems like everyone was reading it this year.

Alondra wrote: "Kudos on your progress, Linette.

Based off so many reviews of 3 stars; the Moon of the Crusted Snow is not a priority, but it looks interesting. I read that it starts off slow. It seems like ever..."

Thanks, Alondra! Yes, I expected to like it more, but I guess it just didn't connect as much for me as others. The Frozen River and The Blessing Way were both wonderful though, so doing okay so far.

Linette wrote: "Thanks, Alondra! Yes, I expected to like it more, but I guess it just didn't connect as much for me as others. The Frozen River and The Blessing Way were both wonderful though, so doing okay so far...."

That makes sense.

I already have The Blessing Way, so I am kind of ahead of the game. LOL

Kudos on your progress, Linette!!

11 down and 1 to go!! Woot!!

You're having a great year, Linette. I hope you enjoy the rest

Thanks guys :)
I feel like I'm behind this year, but enjoying most so far.
Hope your reading is going good too!

Linette wrote: "Thanks guys :)
I feel like I'm behind this year, but enjoying most so far.
Hope your reading is going good too!"

You are doing great!

I finished my challenge! And read a lot of good books - only 1 DNF from the list.
My two highest rated were The Frozen River , which was excellent - and Magyk - I'm looking forward to continuing that series.
Several others were first books in a series that I really like, so looking forward to continuing with those series - The Blessing Way, River of Darkness, and A Natural History of Dragons.
Overall a really successful challenge!

Congrats on completing the challenge, Linette. Lots of time to sit back and enjoy other books.

Linette wrote: "I finished my challenge! And read a lot of good books - only 1 DNF from the list.
My two highest rated were The Frozen River , which was excellent - and Magyk - I'm ..."

Congratulations Linette! Looks like you read some great books.

Congrats, Linette! You've already had a great reading year!