Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge December stats (and full 2023 stats too!)

 

 

Each month I share the statistics for the previous month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Given that we have now finished with 2023 this month's post will be all the statistics for December and then the statistics for the full year! I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I think I have visited everyone who shared a link for December. although I think I moved away from some Wordpress blogs before the comments loaded due to the pop-up they have. Even if it looks like I didn't leave a comment, I still visited I promise!!

In terms of the books, it was a good month in December for reviews with 55 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 1 participants. This is 7 more than for the same month last year.   There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 10 or just 1. 

There was just one book that was reviewed more than once this month and that was The Romantic by William Boyd, a book that was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction this year. This month it was reviewed by both Kay at What Me Read and Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review blog.

There were 2 other authors who had more than book reviewed. 

Agatha Christie who had 3 different books reviewed this month. Sleeping Murder was reviewed at Shellie Loves Books, Murder on the Orient Express was reviewed at Laura's Reviews (in graphic novel form) as was Endless Night. Interestingly, there was another book that features Hercule Poirot but by another author, which is part of a series authorised by the Agatha Christie estate.

Verity Bright's books Murder on the Cornish Cliffs and Death on a Winter's Day were reviewed at A Darn Good Read and Shellie Loves Books respectively. I do love the covers on these books.

And that's it, so let's look at the stats for the whole challenge year. Are you ready?

During 2023 there were a total 846 reviews added to the challenge. This compares to 841 reviews in 2022 and 775 reviews during 2021. The 846 reviews were for 748 individual titles written by 609 authors and submitted by 43 different reviewers.

Let's start with the month by month numbers: 

February was the month with the highest number of reviews at 91 and October was the lowest with 34.

In terms of the books, there was one book that was reviewed more than any other during 2023, with 5 reviews submitted. That book was .....

There were 3 books that were reviewed 4 times. They were

And then there were 5 books reviewed 3 times, 75 books reviewed twice and 664 titles that were each reviewed once.

In terms of authors, one author was reviewed significantly more than any and that was Agatha Christie who was reviewed 26 times, partly because quite a few of the participants were participating in the Reading Christie year long challenge. And yes, I am putting aside the discussion of whether she counts as historical fiction or not as I leave that to the participants discretion.

The next most reviewed authors, who were all reviewed 7 times were Kate Morton, D E Stevenson, Georgette Heyer, Roseanna M White and Verity Bright.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the challenge during 2023. Our highest number of reviews submitted was a whopping 70, but whether you contributed that many or just 1 I am grateful to you all for your participation.

It's not too late to join the 2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the January link post to add your reviews here.

I am looking forward to seeing what people share during 2024.

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - June - and the year so far!

 

Each month I share the statistics for the previous month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I have haven't had time to visit the reviews that have been shared. I will do better in the coming month. Given that we have just gone past the half way point of the challenge for this year, I thought I would also share the statistics for the year so far as well

First, the statistics for June.

In terms of the books, it was a quieter month in June for reviews with 64 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 19 participants. However, this is only 1 less than for the same month last year so maybe June is always a bit quieter. There were 60 individual titles reviewed, written by 55 different authors. There were 4 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 8 or just 1. 

Let's move onto the books. There were 4 books that were reviewed twice during June. Interestingly, one of these books was also on our most reviewed list for last month, which is quite unusual. 

The 4 books that were reviewed twice were

The Heiress Bride by Madeline Hunter is the third book in the A Duke's Heiress series. This book was reviewed at Laura's Reviews and also by Susan at Reading World,

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor was reviewed at What Cathy Read Next and by Helen at She Reads Novels

 

The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson was also reviewed by both Helen and Cathy.

The final book to mention is Voices of the Dead by Ambrose Parry which was reviewed by Helen and Cathy again.

In addition to these authors, there were 5 authors who had multiple titles reviewed. 

Agatha Christie

Alexis Hall

D E Stevenson

Lydia Travers

Sandra Dallas

So how about for the first 6 months of the year. Well, we have had more than 500 reviews so far which is A-maz-ing! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far. 

There are books that have been reviewed more than once, but these are the books which have been reviewed more than twice

Homecoming by Kate Morton  (4 reviews)

My Father's House by Joseph O'Connor (4 reviews)

Strangers in the Night by Heather Webb (3 reviews)

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor (3 times)

In addition to those mentioned above there are also 15 other authors who have been reviewed more than twice.

Finally, I thought I would mention the winner of the Sir Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction which was announced in June. The winner was These Days by Lucy Caldwell, which was reviewed for the challenge by Helen at She Reads Novels back in March.

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the June linky to add your reviews here.

I am looking forward to seeing what people share during July. 

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Winter to Read List

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the them

e is Books on My Summer 2023 to-Read List but it is winter here so this is my winter to read list.

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus - I have read quite a bit of this but I had to put it aside in order to read review books so I want to finish this. 

Happy Place by Emily Henry - I have a couple of hours left of the audiobook. I really want to finish it.

The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson - This is going to be my next audiobook.

The French Chateau Dream by Julie Caplin - Have had this author on my list for a while now!

Escape to Tuscany by Kat Deveraux - I am all about Italy right now!

Second Chances in Bellbird Bay by Maggie Christensen - The next instalment in the Bellbird Bay series

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy - This has been on my wishlist for a while so I was pleased when we were given it at a leadership event recently.

Homecoming by Kate Morton - My next read on a theme bookclub theme is Australian Authors so maybe this might be choice.

Food Americana by David Page  -  The next Cooking the Books collection.

Lost Luggage by Samantha Tonge - I had this out from the library and then realised that I already own it!

Have you read any of these?

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May statistics

 

Each month I share the statistics for the previous month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I have visited most of the reviews that have been linked up. Hopefully I can get to the rest over the weekend. 

In terms of the books, it was another really good month for reviews with 84 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 22 participants. This is 19 more reviews than for the same month last year. There were 81 individual titles reviewed, written by 75 different authors. There were 7 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1. 

Let's move onto the books. There were 3 books that were reviewed twice during May. Interestingly, one of these books was also on our most reviewed list for last month, which is quite unusual. 

The three books that were reviewed twice were

Homecoming by Kate Morton - This was actually one of the books that was featured last month. Seeing the same book two months in a row doesn't actually happen very often. This month the book was reviewed by Bree from All the Books I Can Read and by Helen at She Reads Novels

The Castle Keepers by Aimie K Runyan, J'Nell Ciesielski and Rachel McMillan - Whenever I am doing these statistics I am never sure whether to count books with multiple authors as one author or three in this case. I seem to have landed on one for now. This book, which follows the lives of multiple generations who live in a castle was reviewed by Davida at The Chocolate Ladies Book Reviews and by Shirley on Goodreads. Each story is written by one of the authors.

The Letter Reader by Jan Casey was reviewed by Shirley on Goodreads and also by Cathy at What Cathy Read Next. This book sounds very interesting as it features someone who worked as a censor during WWII. I have never thought about the people who did this work!

There were a number of authors who were reviewed more than once but for separate titles

I was interested to see D E Stevenson reviewed 4 times this month. Barbara at Stray Thoughts review two Miss Buncle books (Miss Buncle's Book and Miss Buncle Married).  Carol from Journey and Destination reviewed The English Air and Spring Magic. 

It will be no surprise to regular participants to see that there were multiple reviews for Agatha Christie. This month the books reviewed were Death on the Nile which was reviewed at Laura's Reviews and Towards Zero which was reviewed at Shellie Loves Books

Daphne du Maurier

The final author to have multiple books reviewed is Martin Edwards, author of the Rachel Savanake series. Bev at My Reader's Block reviewed Blackstone Fell, which is the third book in the series whilst Cathy at What Cathy Read Next reviewed Sepulchre Street which is the fourth book in the series.

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the June linky to add your reviews here.

I am looking forward to seeing what people share during June. Next month, in addition to the normal monthly stats, I will share some stats at the halfway point of the challenge for this year. I know, I can't believe it either!

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Sunday Salon: Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April Stats

 

Last year I started sharing statistics each month for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, and my plan is to continue to do this again this year. I always find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! This month I haven't had time to come and comment on all the reviews, but I will try to do that this week. I am, however, starting a new job, so time and tiredness might affect my ability to see everyone. We'll see.

In terms of the books, it was another really good month for reviews with 84 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 22 participants. This is 3 more than for the same month last year. There were 77 individual titles reviewed, written by 74 different authors. There were 7 reviewers who reviewed 5 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1. I even managed three reviews. Go me!

Let's move onto the books. There were 7 books that were reviewed twice during April. I think that is the most books we have had which have been reviewed more than once in a month!

Good Town by Mary Louise Wells was reviewed by both Susan at Reading World and Shirley McAllister over at Goodreads.

A new book from Kate Morton is very exciting to me so it is no surprise to see more than one review for Homecoming, which was released this month. Both Tracey at Carpe Librum and Shelleyrae from Book'd Out linked up their reviews. I do, however, happen to know of at least one more review which was counted to the challenge but not linked up. I am looking forward to reading this one myself.

Rivers of Treason by K J Maitland is the third book in the Daniel Pursglove mystery series which is set in the 17th century. This was reviewed at both What Cathy Read Next and at She Reads Novels.

The next book to be reviewed twice was Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie which was reviewed at Shellie Loves Books and at Laura's Reviews.

The House is on Fire by Rachel Beanland was reviewed at Becky's Reviews and also at Laura's Reviews. At first, I didn't recognise this author's name until I saw the cover and that she wrote Florence Adler Swims Forever

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson is a book that I need to read in the next couple of weeks, and I can't wait! I am somewhat familiar with the true story it is based on so it will be great to read how the author has treated the story. The book was reviewed by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out and Bree from All the Books I Can Read

The final book that was reviewed twice this month was Under the Cover of Mercy by Rebecca Connolly which was reviewed by Shirley at Goodreads and Davida at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog.

There was one author who had 3 reviews this month. I have mentioned above that Sparkling Cyanide was reviewed twice, but in addition to this, there was another Christie book reviewed by Laura's Reviews which was The Moving Finger.

There were two other authors who had two individual titles reviewed. Roberta Kagan had the first two books of her Blood Sisters series. The first book is The Pact which was reviewed at Rosepoint Publishing. The second book is My Sister's Betrayal which was reviewed by Shirley at Goodreads

Lastly, Barbara at Stray Thoughts reviewed two books by Roseanna M White. Ring of Secrets is the first book in the Culper Ring series (reviewed here). Whispers from the Shadows is the second book in the same series and it was reviewed here.

It's not too late to join the 2023 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here, and you can find the March linky to add your reviews here.

I am looking forward to seeing what people share during May.

I am also sharing this post with Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2023

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Most Anticipated Books Being Released in the First Half of 2023

Happy Place by Emily Henry -  April.

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley and Harry Whittaker - May

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson - April

The Homecoming by Alison Stuart - January

Homecoming by Kate Morton - April

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See - June

Snowy Mountains Promise by Alissa Callen - February

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune- April

Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes - February

The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick - April

April is looking like a big month for new releases! Are you looking forward to any of these?