Well, 2018 is over and as we go into 2019 I hope this year is going to be a fabulous year for spec fiction reads.

As I look back on my first year as round up editor, I have to say that I have really enjoyed it and I’ve loved reading all your reviews and finding new books to read myself.

We had 231 reviews logged for 2018, which I think is pretty good, but is 2 reviews down from the previous year.

Here are the figures broken down:
140 books written by 105 authors
79 books were adult, 38 were YA, and 23 were children’s fiction
Ashleigh Meikle @ The Book Muse and myself linked the highest number of reviews throughout the year, followed closely by Eleni.

There were 7 books that came out as the most read:

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend – 10 reviews
Terra Nullius by Claire G Coleman – 9 reviews
Beneath the Mother Tree by D.M. Cameron – 7 reviews
Hive by A.J. Betts – 6 reviews
A Superior Spectre by Angela Meyer – 6 reviews
Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington – 5 reviews
The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross – 5 reviews

The top authors reviewed were:

Angela Slatter with her Verity Fassbinder series
Amie Kaufman with her YA series
Tansy Rayner Roberts with her YA series
S.D. Wasley with her Incorruptibles series
Athena Daniels with her Beyond the Grave series

Let’s take a quick look at December before we leave 2018 behind:

There were 12 books reviewed for December.

Brona’s books reviewed Inheritance by Carole Wilkinson which she says:
Wilkinson weaves in indigenous issues, women’s rights and early settler history into this engaging yet thought-provoking time travel story.

along with:

The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars by Jaclyn Moriarty (Book #2 Kindoms and Empire): “I love this series for mature 9+ readers a lot and I hope that Moriarty has many more books planned for the Kingdoms and Empires. Due to the different time frame and setting in this book, it could be read as a stand-alone story, but you’ll want to go back to see how Bronte came into the story in the first place. It was a savvy move by Moriarty to expand the horizons and history of this series to include the entire kingdom and I look forward to seeing where and when we end up next.”

Nadia King reviewed the classic Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, which she has inspired me to revisit as I vaguely recall reading it in school. Nadia says: “I enjoyed the vividness of Park’s Sydney and adored the romantic thread throughout the story. Park’s themes of relationship, friendship and family are just as relevant today as they were back in the 1980s. I found Playing Beatie Bow to be a deliciously wonderful and warm read, and I sincerely hope YA readers will enjoy this foray into the past (the 1980s and 1870s!).”

And finally, I reviewed Annie Seaton’s Come Back To Me (Book #1 Love Across Time) which is a time travel romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. You can read my review here.

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Thank you to everyone for your reviews this year, it’s been fabulous sharing them with you all and I’m looking forward to seeing what you all read in 2019.
You can check out all the other books reviewed in 2018 here.

To link your reviews for #aww2019, visit us here.

See you next month!
Claire Louisa xx