It's the last reading roundup for 2023! At first glance, December was a lean month for reading. Only four entries for this post, although three of the four are series so multiple books are involved. I DNF'ed a lot of books in December. I've also got quite a few that I started and will go back to later to finish, but this post is all about the books I did read, so let's get to it!

Author: Barbara O'Neal

We'll start with my final One Woman Book Club pick of 2023. This book was amazing. It's the first I've read by this author but not the only book by her on my TBR list. "This Place of Wonder" was a good choice to end the year with. It was a beautiful story about how endings can pave the way for new beginnings.

Augustus Beauvais was a famous chef. He and Meadow built not one but two empires as well as a family, but their 20-year marriage did not survive Augustus's wandering attentions. Their split led to Augustus's first child, Maya, cutting ties with him altogether, resulting in a stronger relationship between August and Rory, Meadow's daughter and Augustus's stepdaughter. Despite no longer being married, Augustus and Meadow continue to work together and even rekindle their romance in the midst of a family crisis, despite Augustus now being involved with the much-younger Norah. When Augustus dies, seemingly unexpectedly, it throws all four women in a tailspin as they struggle to find their ways forward.

Author: Aisling Cousins

This was a really quick series to read. It's certainly not the best thing I've ever read, but the idea behind the story was interesting even if the execution wasn't the cleanest, especially in the conclusion, which felt too easy for the conflict.

Ember and her twin brother were stolen at birth by a human organization trying to recreate magic in the non-magic population. At the time when their powers manifested, Ember's brother was rescued, leaving her at the mercy of her captors. Eventually, she, too, is rescued and learns that she is what's called an Anchor, a rare manifestation that gives her and her bond group access to almost unlimited power. But the quickly realize that the organization that experimented on her as a child aren't the only monsters out there.

Author: Heather Long

I started this series but decided not to finish it. This isn't my first time reading Heather Long, and I find that she tends to draw out stories for longer than I want to be invested in them. That's not saying you shouldn't give them a shot. They're just really long.

Anyway, KC is a famous rock star who wants a taste of normal. So she convinces her bandmates to take a break from touring and enroll in high school. Obviously, they can't just go to any old high school so they enroll in an exclusive prep school, but it's not all fun times.

Author: Frost Kay

This series should look familiar. It made my list of 10 best books and series from 2023. This is a series of reimagined fairy tales that are much different than anything I've read before.

The first three books are a reimagining of Snow White, except there is no Snow White. Instead, the female lead takes on the role of the huntsman. Tempest is the first-ever female hound and catches the eye of the evil king. In an effort to hold him off, she accepts a mission to dismantle the Dark Court that she believes has been poisoning the kingdom, but what she finds there leads her to change her mission to take down the monarchy. In the next three books, the main character shifts from Tempest, although she's present in each. "The Beast" is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Jack and the Beanstalk mixed in. "The Hood" is a reimagining of Robin Hood with a female leader of the merry men, and "The Wolf" is a mix of Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella.