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Author: Josie

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

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I re-read Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo just before reading its sequel, Hell Bent. I still love it, and you can read my review of it here. I have been waiting over two years to read Hell Bent; unfortunately, I am on the fence over whether it was worth the wait. I did enjoy reading it, but certain elements have been introduced into the series (the way that Hell Bent ends, I am sure Bardugo is turning it into a series) that I could do without.

WARNING: There be spoilers ahead if you have not read Ninth House.

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Spare by Prince Harry

Spare by Prince Harry

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I am an anti-monarchist, but I am also not squarely Team Harry and Meghan. I have a ton of sympathy for Meghan Markle, though, who does not deserve any of the racist abuse that has been hurled her way since she began dating Prince Harry. But I think that Harry and Meghan should ditch their Duke and Duchess titles if they are serious about the damage the Royal Family has caused them (It actually would make a difference, Harry). Still, I knew since the day it was announced that Harry would be publishing a memoir that I was going to read it because I am curious about what it was like for Harry to grow up in the Royal Family and because I wanted to know what happened behind the scenes to make him and Meghan relocate their lives to North America. Spare, it turns out, is a fascinating memoir about a toxic family.

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Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater

Greywaren by Maggie Stiefvater

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Greywaren is the third and final volume of The Dreamer Trilogy. I love Maggie Stiefvater’s novels, I enjoyed the first two books of The Dreamer Trilogy, but unfortunately, I found Greywaren to be an underwhelming conclusion. SPOILER ALERT: do not read further if you plan on reading The Dreamer Trilogy. Even though Greywaren is the weakest link, I still think the trilogy as a whole is worth reading if you enjoy YA novels.

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Babel by R. F. Kuang

Babel by R. F. Kuang

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Well, my 2023 reading is off to a good start. I was not sure what to expect of Babel, but it was one of Indigo’s picks for best books of 2022, which intrigued me enough to read it. I enjoyed every second of reading this novel. The novel’s full title is Babel or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution. If you do not mind a bit of magic mixed into your historical fiction, I highly recommend that you give this novel a shot.

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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is my last completed book of 2022, and the third novel by Silvia Moreno-Garcia that I have read this year, after Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night. Out of the three, I like this novel this best. If you are familiar with the works of H. G. Wells, then you will immediately realize that The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau. I have read The Island of Doctor Moreau, so long ago, though, that I cannot remember if I read it in high school or college, and I only have a vague recollection of not liking it and feeling sorry for Doctor Moreau’s hybrid creatures. On the other hand, I enjoyed reading The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, although I still feel sorry for the hybrids.

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The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

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The Hacienda is a gothic novel set in Mexico, along the same vein of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic; however, I like this novel better. It features an actual haunting, not a haunting imagined by the protagonist, that made my skin crawl (although it would have been even more creepy if I had read this novel at night instead of in the bright afternoon), and it has vibes of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

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The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

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The Devil in the White City is a well reviewed historical non-fiction book, which is why I decided to read it. It is about the construction of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer who used the fair to lure people, mainly young women, to their deaths. I realized not far into the book that it is not for me, which is too bad because Larson wrote the book in a novelistic style that incorporates direct quotes from historical records, which made it more interesting and easier to read, but it turns out that true crime is just not my thing.

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A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. Barnett

A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom by Brittany K. Barnett

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A Knock at Midnight is definitely making it onto the short list of the best books I have read this year. It is the remarkable true story of a young lawyer, Brittany K. Barnett, who takes on a racist criminal justice system and fights against the incarceration of Black people on drug charges in the US.

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The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

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I think fans of historical fiction will love Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait. One of the year’s more buzzed about releases, The Marriage Portrait is set in 1550’s Florence and is inspired by the short life of Lucrezia de ’Medici, who was married at age 13 to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, and died at age 16. The official cause of her death was “putrid fever”, but it was rumoured that her husband murdered her. The Marriage Portrait is a well written and immersive novel, but how does it feel to read a novel knowing that the main character died young in real life? I spent the entire time reading The Marriage Portrait in nervous anticipation of Lucrezia’s death, but also hoping that O’Farrell would change the fictional Lucrezia’s fate and give her a happy ending.

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