Welcome to the first episode of 2024!

O'Dell shares his high-level thoughts on all of the books that he read in January including a few ARCS of February releases. He then shares a few books that release in February that he is looking forward to and gives a look at which books are on his February TBR.

Books reviewed include:

• The Second Chance Year by Melissa Wiesner
• The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner
• First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
• In Memoriam by Alice Winn
• House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
• Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody
• The Fury by Alex Michaelides
• Where You End by Abbot Kahler
• Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander
• Hard Girls by J. Robert Lennon
• The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill
• Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love

• Decisions to Make by Colors of Illusion (Intro)
• Forever Wild by Nahra (My Month in Reading)
• Higherberries by Oomiee (What's coming in February)
• Turn Me Around by American Legion (Play out)

We survived 2023! And I read a ton of books (168 to be exact.)

Today I'll take a look back at some of my reading accomplishments from this past year, share my top 10 4-star books and then share my top 10 (all 5-star reads) of the year and reveal my top book of the year.

I close out with my thoughts on some of the January ARCs that I've read and some of the reading challenges I'm taking part in for 2024.

Chapters:

• 00:54 - Welcome, What's Up and Changes Ahead
• 03:10 - Reading accomplishments
• 05:59 - Top 10 4-star reads
• 12:28 - Top 10 reads of 2023 and a few honorable mentions
• 21:31 - Thoughts on a few January releases
• 26:16 - 2024 Releases I'm looking forward to
• 27:16 - My 2024 reading challenges

All music used in this episode was licensed through Epidemic Sound

• Decisions to Make by Colors of Illusion (Intro)

• Burned Books by Craft Case

• Premature by Martin Moses

• Writings on the Wall by Alex Shayne

• Bedroom by Loving Caliber

• Caught in a Motion by Maiwan (Play out)

O'Dell kicks things off with an overview of this week's new releases before jumping into the reviews.

This week he shares his thoughts on Tananarive Due's The Reformatory, Sophie Cousens' The Good Part, Ella Berman's Before We Were Innocent, Erika Johansen's The Kingdom of Sweets, and Brian McAuley's Candy Cain Kills.

Chapters:

• 02:09 - New Releases
• 04:18 - Review: The Reformatory
• 10:18 - Review: The Good Part
• 15:30 - Review: Before We Were Innocent
• 20:00 - Review: Kingdom of Sweets
• 24:47 - Review: Candy Cain Kills

All music used in this episode was licensed through Epidemic Sound

• Decisions to Make by Colors of Illusion (Intro)

• Solitude in Motion by Golden Age Radio (New releases)

• Piecing Together the Past by Jon Bjork (The Reformatory)

• She Brought the Light by Heath Cantu (The Good Part)

• Life Chronicles by Francis Wells (Before We Were Innocent)

• A Winter's Night by Etienne Roussel (The Kingdom of Sweets)

• Goth Christmas by par (Candy Cain Kills)

• Ultra Chill by Imprismed (Play out)