Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good start to 2023 (and maybe even read some good books already). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will be a better year, even if only a little bit. And that’s especially true when it comes to reading. Last year was not my best. But I’m hoping this is the year I get a lot of great reading in. It might be a tall order, but I’m nothing if not overambitious.

This month, I put together a great reading list that I am very excited about. I’m trying to find a good balance between new releases and backlist books, while still getting to all of the books I meant to read last year and didn’t get around to. I think I did a pretty good job of that with this list. Send happy “finish your reading list” thoughts my way.

Enough of my rambling, let’s talk about the books!

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

The seventh book in this series, Where the Drowned Girls Go, made my favorite new releases of last year, so obviously I’m reading book eight as soon as it comes out next week. If you aren’t familiar with the Wayward Children series, it’s about the children who go through doors and end up in fantastical worlds (kind of like Narnia). But these kids somehow end up back in our world. Each book follows a different story or character, but they all tie together somehow. This one is a bit different in that it is not about characters we’re already familiar with.

I love that this series just keeps expanding and leaving me wanting more. I’m sure as soon as I finish this book, I’ll want to know more about the characters we meet I this story. This series is so much fun. And all the books are really short, so they’re perfect when I need to finish a book in a few hours and feel more accomplished in my reading. I fell very behind on my reading goal last year, so maybe reading short books and trying to get ahead is a good way to go.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

This is one of the many books I didn’t get around to reading in 2022. But it’s at the top of my list, because I love Celeste Ng. Even though her books make me cry. I’m a bit skeptical as to whether or not this one will elicit tears, but I still want to read it. It also helps that I’ve been doing better with audiobooks lately, and this one is read by Lucy Liu, so I’m pretty sure I’m going to go that route.

Our Missing Hearts is about a boy named Bird living with his father, a former linguist and now librarian. They live in a world governed by laws written to preserve “American culture”. So Bird has grown up disavowing his Chinese American mother and her poetry. He doesn’t know what happened to her after she left her family when he was nine. One day, he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, and is pulled into a quest to find her.

I honestly can’t quite tell what the tone of this book will be, but I am definitely curious. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’m always interested in books about books. And this one seems very interesting.

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

Yet again, I am participating in Kayla from BooksandLala’s Buzzword Reading Challenge this year. It’s basically a challenge where each month, you get a word or theme and read a book that has one of those words in the title. This year’s theme for January is “life” or “death” – so basically pick a book with one of those words in the title. I like to try and read some of Kayla’s recommendations, and this one has been on my shelf for a bit, so it’s perfect. I also really enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation when I read it last year. Even though I kind of hated the main character and it was not at all relaxing. So I’m curious to read more Ottessa Moshfegh.

This book is about an elderly widow who, on her daily walk in the woods, finds a note. “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body.” And the story unfolds from there. It’s support to be a blend of horror, suspense, and black-comedy. Which sounds so fun! Hopefully it’s the quick, exciting read I’m craving this month.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

I was not intending for this month’s reading list to be this heavy, but we’ve got another horror book. This one is a collection of short stories that blend magical realism, horror, and sci-fi. Which sounds awesome because I love all of those things. It’s also a translated work by a Korean author, and I’ve learned that I really love Korean horror. They just do it better, every time.

This synopsis for this book says it addresses real issues like patriarchy and capitalism, but with surreal horror. I’m excited to read it. I have a good feeling about this one.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano

Finally, I had to add a fun book into the mix. Even though this one is also about murder. I don’t know how that became a theme for January, but I’m not mad at it. Especially because I know this book is much more comedy than horror. I was kind of looking for a cozy mystery, and then I remembered I have an early copy of this book, which is perfect.

This is the third book in a series about an author who writes romantic suspense novels. Until one day, when she’s discussing the plot of her new novel with her agent in a Panera and gets mistaken for a contract killer. Things go hilariously awry. I really enjoyed the first book and I liked the second one, though slightly less. Even if I don’t love them, they’re still so much fun. And I’m looking forward seeing where book three fits in my ranking.

I am hoping to read more than this in January, but I want to leave some room for mood reads. Or maybe a couple books without any murder. I’m planning on a more relaxed reading year, and hopefully that’ll help me read more. I just don’t want to get behind on my reading goals in month one of the new year, so that’s really all I’m shooting for in January.

What’s on your reading list this month? Anything you’re excited about?

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