reading YOUR BEST BOOKS of 2023🌟📚

let's read your books of 2023!! do i agree with your taste?
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[@losttoinfinity]

None of the secret projects are on audible at the moment because brandon essentially refused because of how bad the deals are for independent authors and their audiobooks on audible I think. It's a whole thing

[@charliescozycorner]

Oh I’ve heard about this, hasn’t he backed out completely from working with them?

[@losttoinfinity]

@charliescozycorner last I heard he had struck a new deal with them with some assurance for their policies but that may have changed

[@wolfme4030]

If you want more information, Daniel Greene also boycott Audible and placed his books on KZbin for people to listen to for free.

[@Anna2187_]

I’m ready for you to start your Brandon Sanderson era 🤭

[@Anna2187_]

💚

[@rebeccamarsden2128]

Same!!

[@zaravive5809]

I refuse to be wrong about the “Will of the Many” and your taste. I’m convinced you’ll rate it higher than 3 stars if you finish it. I do however agree that it starts being really good when you get to the academy. I honestly forgot that you aren’t even at the school for the first 200 pages, lol. The beginning is mostly world-building and then it’s PLOT and the last third reads almost like the hunger games with a tournament in the woods between class mates and lots of casualties. All that to say: if I’m wrong about this, I’ll take that fail, but not until you’ve given it another try. (If you ever decide to do so). Until then I’ll count it as a stalemate. 😂

[@separator94]

The Will of the Many is very easily the best book here. Not only that, but it's probably (objectively speaking) the best fantasy book to be released in 2023. Out of the 300+ fantasy books I've read, it sits comfortably in my top 10. It's not a coincidence that such a high number of booktubers picked it as their #1 book of the year.

[@KatieColson]

THAT many people said The Last Devil to Die?!?! YES! JUSTICE FOR RICHARD OSMAN!

[@KatieColson]

💚🍀🐸☘️🌿🐍🥑

[@angelawesneski5029]

I highly recommend Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. It was my favorite of Sanderson's secret projects.

[@libraryofjonna]

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is also narrated by Hoid so that would probably be a good one to read from Sanderson next🌿

[@sneums6610]

Seconding this! It was so good! And now I'm reading The Final Empire so I'm diving right into Sanderson 😂

[@KatQuackLaugh11]

Ma’am I need longer spoiler warning bc I was not fast enough lololol 😂😂

[@natcommon]

I can understand you soft DNFing The Will of the Many. It's a book that takes it's time and builds as the story progresses. I'm glad you're still interested in it and going to try again when you feel like the right time is.

[@bookishabbey]

I truly feel like the monk and robot duo-logy need to be read back to back. The first book is really just setting up the scene and then the second book comes in and just blew me away. If you ever do give the second book a chance, I really think you will like it a lot more!

[@saxybrit]

For The Will of the Many, it didn’t click for me and I didn’t get the popularity until part 2, then it just escalated from there. I ended up giving it 5 stars and it’s one of my favourites if the year. So def worth trying again when you are not in a rush!

[@zach4656]

The Will of the Many is the easiest 5/5 book I've rated in a couple years. The story, pacing, characters, world and prose are all superbly crafted. I read 38 fantasy books in 2023 (not all were published in 2023, though) and it was my pick for best book I read this year. It's honestly just that good of a book.

[@rkndmr7324]

your new hair color makes your eyes pop so much!

[@natcommon]

I'm so happy you loved Tress of the Emerald Sea. It was one of my first books I read this year and I've been thinking about it ever since. I plan to reread it next year and maybe every year?? Who knows.

[@saravincent-campbell5213]

I can't remember if I've recommended this before or not, but The Bandit Queens was my favourite book published in 2023 that I read this year. I think you might enjoy it, too!

[@danamonsees-cns]

loveee the new hair! I also haven't read any Sanderson and this made me really excited to read Tress!

[@valentineboudaud1887]

I also found book 1 of the monk and robot duology middle of the road but book 2 ? Book 2 has scenes and messages that are so important and stay with you for a long time after finishing the book. It is absolutly worth it to finish the duology, a lot of people said the same thing and that's why I continued and no regrets, it's one of my favourite of this year

[@kittymagica6408]

I've only read two of Brandon Sanderson's Secret Project books ("Tress of the Emerald Sea" and "Yumi and the Nightmare Painter"). Of those Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was my favorite! Probably my number 1 read of the whole year.

[@jamieserrano827]

If you liked Tress of the emerald sea, you should watch the movie that inspired it the Princess bride, which was also a book before it was a movie

[@heidiu2scrap]

I love your new hair colour!! Really brings out your eyes.

[@shelbiemclaughlin1570]

I just finished reading Monstrilio! It’s such a unique read! 5 stars

[@brionabookshelf]

love the hair ❤

[@TessaTeewurst]

19:43 if you enjoy talking rats, you'd LOVE the underland chronicles by suzanne collins! (yes i use every opportunity i can get to tell people to read the underland chronicles by suzanne collins)

[@charliescozycorner]

I feel like it’s been a bit of a flop year for the publishing industry with a few hits. One of the books I found in Waterstones (that’s how much it wasn’t promoted, ) never seen it talked about on booktube but “What you’re looking for is in the library” is such an incredible new release. It deserves more 💖. Oh god I hated divine rivals I had to dnf 😢. I wanted to read tress until I realised there’s a Charlie 😂. Dear god, I hate my name in books

[@amywest5158]

I agree with you I read what your looking for is in the library after spotting it in bookshop and agree it is a great book! And deserves much more hype, it reminds me of when the coffee gets cold in terms of it feeling like short stories within a book. Glad to see someone else enjoyed it ❤

[@JennaThePanda]

I heard Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (secret project 3) was also good, I have that on my TBR. Tress was just so good!

[@StrawberryLemonBooks]

Haven't read any Brandon Sanderson but adding Tress of the Emerald Sea to my tbr after watching this! Have been searching for a cozy fantasy after Legends & Lattes 💚💚💚

[@KatieColson]

“It’s a MLM for fantasy” 😂😂😂

[@danielleoliver1734]

The Will of The Many is probably my favourite of the year, fingers crossed you love it but I’m not sure it’s going to be your thing

[@TheGoofy1932]

That Grady Hendrix book is good. I really enjoy his writing style though. But the 4th one in Richard Osman's series is chef's 😘. I'm glad that you will be getting to it soon. I could tell by looking at it that The Devine Rivals was going to be a No from me. 😏 I don't like a YA book anyway for many of the reasons highlighted in your spoiler section. I might give the Sanderson a try.

[@LinnieCat]

You just made buy Tress of the Emerald Sea as a Christmas gift for my best friend haha

[@crushgoil]

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is my fav of the year. It’s the closest in style to Tress compared to all of his other books, because of having the same narrator, but the plot gives it very different vibes at the same time. I was surprised to see you pick up The Will of the Many because I haven’t seen you read another fantasy book of that type.

[@Haze130295]

I love that you loved Tress of the Emerald Sea! Probably going to be my favourite book of the year 💚💚 Tress was my first Brandon Sanderson, and because I loved Tress so much I picked up Elantris. It's over 600 pages long and took me forever to get through but omg it was so good I loved it too! Elantris is also technically a standalone right now, but apparently he will be working on a sequel in the future!

[@gabbylikestoread]

love the new hair color!! I've never read Sanderson but I've seen so many good reviews on the cosmere books from various reviewer who read different genres.

[@clarecarter9172]

Brandon Sanderson is my favorite!! But he has a lot of series 😅

[@rasatamulione5151]

My book of this year is Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang which is fantasy standalone. A masterpiece.

[@monicamerle1417]

"Rouge" by Mona Awad is my favorite book of the year. "Romantic Comedy " and "The Celebrants" are there on the top too

[@aimeesviksabray]

Yumi and the nightmare painter is also great!! I did ever so slightly prefer Tress but I did love Yumi too!!

[@natcommon]

Some of my favorite books of the year are Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride, The Serpent and the Wings of Night, and Her Little Flowers.

[@TheHexedLibrary]

I'm just here to jump on the train of you picking up Sanderson's Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. I would say you can skip the Frugal Wizard's Guide (the 2nd secret project) but Yumi was SO good. If you want more stakes and fantasy from Sanderson, I really love Elantris. It's a brick of a book, but a standalone.

[@bookishcreature8907]

I think a nice next step on your Sanderson journey would be Warbreaker, more stakes and more political, but still fun with lovely characters

[@throwbackgaming3867]

In the company of witches by Auralee Wallace is favorite this year. It's a cozy mystery where a family of witches runs a B and B.

[@ollieb.9731]

That sounds like everything I've ever wanted to read ❤

[@throwbackgaming3867]

@@ollieb.9731 There even is a sequel out. And it's quite possible a 3rd might come out next year.

[@rachelpuntel]

Oh nooooo 😅 I still have trauma from recommending the DNF you're talking about in last year's vid. Luckily I've read none of these, phew 😂💚

[@samsbookishfavs]

FINALLY someone who expresses the same feelings about Divine Rivals!!! I really felt like the warfront lacked and also dragged and the decisions both writing wise and that the characters made were unrealistic!

[@ibleedbooks]

not me forgetting you’re british and seeing you driving on the wrong side of the road and freaking out for a sec 😭😂

[@lauraspruce2023]

my favourite book of the year so far is the poppy war💚

[@gabbylikestoread]

I'm here for the Divine Rivals tea!! 🍵

[@paperteabookflowers]

Some of my favs this year were Into the Drowning Deep, A Dowry of Blood, A Marvellous Light (just read that tho so don't know if that's a lasting impression or just an I loved this in the moment kind of book), The Blade Itself and A Curious Beginning 💚 also, your hair looks amazing! Love the slight hint of red!

[@Deeee__]

I totally get you on Divine rivals I was one of the people who were very excited for reading it but it ended up with a 3.75 from me and honestly I still can’t get in the mood to pick the second book

[@katywall1898]

Here in the US, watching you drive on the left side of the road was so startling to me. I kept thinking, "Oh my gosh, she's on the wrong side! Someone's going to hit her!" 😅

[@XOmangoXO]

I’d be so curious to see the rest of the sheet of everyone else’s recs

[@_LN_]

The 3rd Secret Project, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, is different than Tress, but better from my opinion. And I feel it is still cozy somehow. I highly recommend the written version to see all the illustrations, all SP books have amazing art.

[@ThisKiwi03]

My favourite book of the year has been my first kiwi book of the month, and that was The Whale Rider - Witi Ihimaera. Probably not a book for everyone. Very heavy on Maori themes and legends, but it made me cry twice. As soon as i have a spare Audible credit i will get it 💙💚 My December TBR has some of my most anticipated for years on it though!

[@thynameisjoy]

The audiobook is great!!

[@ThisKiwi03]

Oh good! Yeah I recommended in my video for those unfamiliar with Te Reo Maori to listen to the audiobook.

[@robindbankzzzz]

knowing i was one of the people who recommended tress of the emerald sea has me especially happy that you loved it

[@teah9495]

💚💚💚

[@wolfme4030]

How dare you not love my favourite book series of all time. 😂 Skyward is perfection (well, Skyward Flight could have been better) in all seriousness, I love this video concept and execution.

[@aficklefangirl2566]

Sanderson has only really written any 'cosy' books in his secret projects, so I would recommend Yumi and the Nightmare Painter as your next read of his. It is more involved in the world of the Cosmere than Tress is, so you will miss a couple things and have some very mild spoilers, but nothing that will harm your reading experience in any real way. I do highly recommend the stormlight archives if your looking for an epic character driven fantasy series. Truly some of my favourite characters in all of literature are found in the stormlight archives and the themes and the pacing and the magic system are all fantastic. You do need to be in a fantasy mood for them, though, as they are very long - if you struggle to continue physically reading them I recommend the audiobooks, I reread them that way regularly.

[@saraackerman8019]

I haven't read Tress yet but I am obsessed with Sanderson's Mistborn series. When you are up for high stakes fantasy, do give it a shot. As for best books this year, I would say it's either Parable of the Talents or Invisible Man by Ellison. Both of those books are the opposite of cozy though so... maybe wait until you're in the right state of mind. Just bought Wrong Place, Right Time, The Man Who Died Twice and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder based on your recs, so I'm going to end this year on a mystery blitz. 💚

[@rebeccamarsden2128]

Monstrilio is amazing!! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts💚

[@ChloeFrizzle]

I'm from that Mormon university, BYU (fastest I've heard of people getting married from starting dating was about 6 months). And, even coming from that culture and perspective, I felt like the romance in Divine Rivals moved WAY TOO FAST. Like, sure, there's a little bit of romantic-ness in them jumping into commitment because they feel so strongly, but my larger feeling was that they really weren't ready for that step.

[@renata374]

i also think it was too fast but they are in a war setting, people do desperate things because their lives coud end any time

[@kitcat6352]

Agree about The Will of the Many!!! I cant figure out what people love.

[@calimero9840]

thank you i felt the exact same way about divine rivals!!! everyone is obsessed with it and i thought it was meh at best lmao. i also loved tress of the emerald sea, it was a strong 4,5 stars for me. i haven’t read anything else by sanderson with cozy vibes but he often implements that sort of humor into his writing (i especially noticed it in the stormlight archive but that series is a big commitment lol). i think yumi and the nightmare painter might have similar vibes but i havent read it yet

[@ChemicalPenguinn]

I look forward to this video every year!

[@ChemicalPenguinn]

The UK cover of How To Sell A Haunted House is trash, agreed

[@JadeJuniiper]

WAY OF KINGS WAY OF KINGS

[@indigosummers4974]

I had the exact same reaction to Divine Rivals! I liked the beginning but just completely lost interest during the second half. The romance became so overly dramatic I just couldn't take it seriously. I gave it 2.5 stars so you were more generous than me. Glad I'm not the only one!

[@JMooms3]

Agree with the other commenters. You should read Yumi (secret project #3) as well! I loved it even more than Tress. #2 and #4 can be skipped though (Frugal Wizard and The Sunlit Man)

[@racheltfisher]

The sneeze in the background 😂😂

[@XOmangoXO]

I’ll just never be a fan of covers with people on them lol

[@isabellavalentine7268]

Not you comparing my favourite book to BYU (truly crying)- but I will say that I felt the same about that whiplash of a romance

[@alainnw]

AHHHHH SHARKHEART !!!!!!

[@cherrynic]

💚

[@bumblebroxbeeblebooks5387]

💚

[@theblueiMe]

Sanderson talked about how little audible and amazon pays writers and how it is very hard to not be a part of their systems, epsecialy for audibooks. That's why he decided to release the secret projects on audio, but not on audible.

[@espionagecommitment3440]

The Nickel Boys by Colsen Whitehead has been my favorite of the year. I had always heard that Whitehead was one of the best writers of our time, and I cannot disagree.

[@warnerblair]

These are all Goodreads choices. And have a very good chance of winning.

[@PrimmsBookCave]

I just read The Will of the Many and, while I agree its an average book at best, it does get better as the book goes on. If you like the magic system (without the Roman Empire Pyramid Scheme thing) Its exactly the same as Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson AND Warbreaker is the first book Hoid makes an appearance in.

[@VeraFran]

I had the same reaction /review for Psalms.

[@t0ebeans]

Joining everyone saying Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, my fav read of the whole year. I made my bf read it and he gave it 5 stars too.

[@iriock]

🍏💚

[@LynnetteAnne]

What show are all these clips from? It looks hilarious 😂

[@jkpiowa]

I haven't read it yet, but I've heard Yumi is as good as Tress. A Wizards Guide and Sunlit Man seem to have mixed reviews.

[@camfan54lisa]

I loved the first of Divine Rivals then all the war stuff was sooooooo boring. It just went on and on. The marriage was crazy fast but the beginning romance was so great to me!

[@jenny_readss]

My favourite book this year has been Icebreaker by Hannah Grace! I'm not sure it's one you'd enjoy though

[@morrisjillc]

What is the song playing when you’re putting your books away?

[@zydecope9160]

Same, I need to know. I was looking up lyrics and couldn't figure it out. It sounds like soccer mommy...

[@zydecope9160]

Found it! No thanks, I'll pass-Kylie Dailey

[@morrisjillc]

@@zydecope9160 you're amazing!! Thank you for figuring this out and yeah definitely similar to soccer mommy!

[@maeve3007]

I liked divine rivals but did not love it. I also had a problem with the world building. It wasn't doing it for me. I wil read on i think... i did like aspects of it. But yeah i don't get the hype. And it wasn't that good. I am not even curious at how the second book is going to go.

[@Taylorfayereads]

🎄✅

[@Adharamoon]

💚💚💚

[@Chalo_Taste_Karen]

Prices?

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

I want to read Divine Rivals so bad 😭

[@kimbersgrandadventure]

It’s on KU

[@Lisa-ei9dy]

🦎

[@lisajenny9]

💚💚

[@miss.neurotika]

Im begging you to read warbreaker by brandon saderson!!!! Its a standalone and its soooo good!💚

[@amandabrow]

💚

[@bethmetcalf3447]

💚

[@shashie6824]

💚

[@xxkkl3166]

Meg, do you still plan to do journalism eventually?

[@AlisaC1992]

💚

[@brandim1230]

💚

[@avsambart]

💚

[@samdor935]

I felt the same way for The Will of the Many! I’m quite new to the fantasy genre (read RF Kuangs books.. that’s it) and was drawn into the hype for this book. I finished thinking it was aggressively “okay”, the writing was good but the plot did nothing new for me. I thought it was standard, which was saying a lot given how I just started the genre. I was waiting for the moment it would wow me that didn’t come. I sadly decided not to continue this series.

[@taylorh8430]

You know people keep saying WWII for Divine Rivals, and I felt like it was WWI inspired... Am I confused???

[@LisaK1075]

🪀🪀🪀