End of the Year Book Tag

This tag was first created by Ariel Bissett. I have edited out a couple of questions that no longer make sense now that we are into winter (they were very autumnal based). I do this tag every year and its questions always inspire me to go back to my book shelves and explore. I would love to know what your answers would be?

Questions

ARE THERE ANY BOOKS YOU STARTED THIS YEAR THAT YOU NEED TO FINISH?

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
Megan Bannen

This is a fantasy retelling of one of my favourite classic movies Shop around the Corner (You’ve got Mail is also a remake of this Jimmy Stewart classic) and I started it with gusto and was loving it but then I got covid and just didn’t finish anything that month as I recovered. I need to get back to this one.

About the book:

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.
After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.
If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most – Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares – each other?

Look out for one of my Friday 5 posts for more books I would like to finish this year.

IS THERE A NEW RELEASE YOU’RE STILL WAITING FOR?

Santa Grint
Jodi Taylor

Time Police short story

Every Year Jodi Taylor releases a Christmas Themed Short on Christmas day and Every year I preorder it, refresh my kindle at Midnight on Christmas Eve/Day and read it as I welcome in Christmas Day. Its a great little present to myself from myself and it means my Husband gets his festive lie in instead of me pestering him awake from excitement from the day. Its also the only time Taylor is nice to her characters and readers and gives them all a little break from the heartache of the last few books! Its lovely to get to see the characters have some fun in all the chaos. This time its a Time police story so we get to follow some new characters as Festive chaos ensues.

 WHAT ARE THREE BOOKS YOU WANT TO READ BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR?

Nine Liars
Maureen Johnson

Release Date:27/12/22
Truly Devious #5

I know this one will be one of my favourites I have loved all the rest in the series

About the book:

Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.
Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.
The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.
Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game.

About Time
Jodi Taylor

Time Police #4

Its Jodi Taylor of course I am going to love this one

About the book:
After their heroic efforts to safeguard the Acropolis and prevent the Paris Time-Stop, the Time Police have gone from zero to hero in but a single bound.
Then one fateful mission to apprehend a minor criminal selling dodgy historical artefacts blows up in all their faces. An officer is attacked within TPHQ. A prisoner is murdered. And investigations are about to lead to the one place where no officer can legally tread.
Worst of all, trouble is brewing for Team Weird as a surprise revelation tears the team apart.
For Commander Hay, battling to keep the Time Police afloat in a sea of storms, this will turn out to be a very long day.

The Decagon House Murders
Yokito Ayatsuji

I bought this for my holiday all the way back in October but didn’t get to it. I am in a real murder mystery mood so I think this might be a star read!

About the book:

The members of a university mystery club decide to visit an island which was the site of a grisly, unsolved multiple murder the year before. They’re looking forward to investigating the crime, putting their passion for solving mysteries to practical use, but before long there is a fresh murder, and soon the club-members realise they are being picked off one-by-one. The remaining amateur sleuths will have to use all of their murder-mystery expertise to find the killer before they end up dead too.

This is a playful, loving and fiendishly plotted homage to the best of golden age crime. It will delight any mystery fan looking to put their little grey cells to use.

I will have a whole Friday Five post with five reads I am excited for but haven’t quite made it onto my TBR yet.

IS THERE A BOOK YOU THINK COULD STILL SHOCK YOU AND BECOME YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR?

All of the books above! As I expect I am going to love them. But I also hope to get to a couple of my 2023 books in particular the two below which I know are going to be some of my favourite reads.

Lost in the Moment and Found
Seanan McGuire

Wayward Children #8

eARC
10/1/23

About the book:

Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.

If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.
If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.
And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….

Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.

And stepping through those doors exacts a price.

Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels
Janice Hallett

eARC

About the book:

Open the safe deposit box. Inside you will find research material for a true crime book. You must read the documents, then make a decision. Will you destroy them? Or will you take them to the police?

Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult-like group who were convinced one of their member’s babies was the anti-Christ, and they had a divine mission to kill it – until the baby’s mother, Holly, came to her senses and called the police. The Angels committed suicide rather than go to prison, and Holly – and the baby – disappeared into the care system.

Nearly two decades later, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is writing a book on the Angels. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen and can finally be interviewed – if Amanda can find them, it will be the true-crime scoop of the year, and will save her flagging career. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and is also on the baby’s trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realise that what everyone thinks they know about the Angels is wrong, and the truth is something much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined.

This story is far from over – and it won’t have a happy ending.

HAVE YOU ALREADY STARTED MAKING READING PLANS FOR 2023?

I have. I have so many fun ARCs already but I am going to make my main focus diving into the unread books on my shelves. I know there are a lot I have not got to yet so I need to start clearing them. having a few series binges and ticking them all off of my TBR. I have also got a lot more into mystery thrillers this year so I want to add more of them to my TBR – recommendations welcome.

---

I would love to chat all things bookish with you! You can comment down below or find me on Twitter or Goodreads!

Happy Reading!