Shelleyrae’s Year in Books

What did you read this year?

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2023

45,966

pages read

130

books read

Shelleyrae at Book'd Out

Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto

Shortest Book

160

pages

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence

Longest Book

567

pages

Average book length in 2023

353

pages

Most Shelved

3,729,280

people also shelved

Least Shelved

people also shelved

Shelleyrae’s average rating for 2023

3.9

Highest Rated on Goodreads

4.55 average

Shelleyrae’s first review of the year

really liked it

Australian author Katherine Kovacic delivers on a powerful and provocative premise that explores grief, guilt, justice and vengeance in Seven Sisters.

“Each one met her eye, and in each face there was grief and understanding and something else – a reflection of the bleakness she saw whenever she dared to look in a mirror.”

Struggling to cope with her feelings of rage and frustration in the aftermath of her sister’s murder at the hands of her abusiv Australian author Katherine Kovacic delivers on a powerful and provocative premise that explores grief, guilt, justice and vengeance in Seven Sisters.

“Each one met her eye, and in each face there was grief and understanding and something else – a reflection of the bleakness she saw whenever she dared to look in a mirror.”

Struggling to cope with her feelings of rage and frustration in the aftermath of her sister’s murder at the hands of her abusive partner, for which he received only a suspended sentence, Naomi doesn’t expect group therapy will be much help. She is stunned when Mia, her psychologist, introduces her to the five other members and learns that not only do they sympathise with her loss, but understand it. Like her, Gabrielle, Brooke, Katy, Olivia and Amy have each lost a beloved sister as a result of domestic violence, and similarly, the perpetrator faced few consequences.

Drawing inspiration from the classic film ‘Strangers on a Train’, the women all agree these men must be stopped, and carefully devise ways to exact justice in a manner that will seem accidental. No plan is perfect however and there are several very tense moments as each woman attempts to fulfil their task by creative, but plausible, methods. I enjoyed the suspense generated by each situation, especially when things threaten to go awry, and then a lone detective begins to grow suspicious about the string of deaths.

I sympathised with each woman, easily imagining the depth of their loss, and the anguish of knowing that the person’s responsible escaped serious repercussions. I can’t really fault them for their desire for revenge especially when the law has failed so badly at meting out justice. Kovacic addresses the moral issues thoughtfully, but honestly it’s hard to muster up any outrage for their actions. Though this is fiction, and I don’t condone murder, I indulge in a little revenge fantasy myself whenever I read in the news of yet another man who receives a ludicrously light sentence or none at all for an assault on a woman.

Compelling, bold and fast paced, Seven Sisters is a well written and exciting revenge thriller.
...more

SHELLEYRAE’S 2023 BOOKS

The Knighton Women's Compendium by Denise Picton

it was amazing

The One and Only Dolly Jamieson by Lisa Ireland

it was amazing

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

The Real-Life Murder Clubs by Nicola Stow

The Woman Who Knew Too Little by Olivia Wearne

The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams

it was amazing

An Ungrateful Instrument by Michael Meehan

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne

it was amazing

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon

Liliana's Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza

Things She Would Have Said Herself by Catherine Therese

it was amazing

The Little Board Game Café by Jennifer Page

Over the Hill and Up the Wall by Todd Alexander

it was amazing

The Wonderful Thing About Phoenix Rose by Josephine Moon

it was amazing

it was amazing

Put your Feet in the Dirt, Girl by Sonia Henry

it was amazing

Girls and Their Monsters by Audrey Clare Farley

The Invisible Women’s Club by Helen Paris

really liked it

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

Violet Kelly and the Jade Owl by Fiona Britton

Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society by Sophie Green

Many Things Under a Rock by David Scheel

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Twelve Steps to a Long and Fulfilling Death by Sarah Smith

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister

it was amazing

The Things That Matter Most by Gabbie Stroud

Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson

Shelleyrae’s last review of the year

really liked it

Having almost no interest in the subject of sports, I put off reading a book for the Nonfiction Reader Challenge category as long as I could. I had drawn up a small shortlist of titles but, as a fan of the informative and hilarious British trivia panel television show, QI, when I spotted Everything To Play For as a new release in a library catalogue, I immediately snapped it up.

Authored by two of the show’s ‘elves’ (aka researchers), Everything ...more

2023 READING
CHALLENGE

Shelleyrae at Book'd Out read 130 out of 150 books.

87%

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