Hi friends! So ALBTALBs turns 13 this year! … The site is older than some of your children! … 😅 if the people I’m thinking of are still even checking this site/clicking links …

First of all I unfortunately am still dealing with a lot (so many 😭) health issues, so I’ve still got that GoFundMe Campaign – if anyone is willing to donate or even share the link I’d so appreciate it: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-limecello thank you!

Anyway, I did very little reading in 2023 Just a smidge over 50 books. There was that whole miserable surgery thing. Mostly I watched Chinese dramas, and if you’re curious as to what … here’s my MDL list. A few of them I watched long long ago, some I watched at the end of 2022, but the vast majority I watched last year. However near the end of the year I picked up reading again … but translated Chinese romances. And I’ve been having a grand old time.

However, I’m here to do my annual “Read in Review” or whatever – I really need to come up with an “official title” … without further ado, my 2023 reads! It was a lot of re-reads for me at first. That’s what the asterisk indicates. The “♪” means it was an audiobook read.

January
*On Fortune’s Wheel/The Tale of Birle by Cynthia Voigt
*Kincaid by Laurelin Paige
The Thief Who Loved Me by Cynthia Eden
Deck the Halls by Cynthia Eden
Division 11’s Princess Agents by Xiao Xiang Dong Er
Taken by the Horde King by Zoey Draven
Throne of the Horde King by Zoey Draven
Mine Tonight by Christina C. Jones
*The Satin Sash by Red Garnier
*Anonymous Acts by Christina C. Jones ♪
Kraving Tavak by Zoey Draven

February
Tempest by Beverly Jenkins ♪
Kiss Me This Christmas by Cynthia Eden

March
[Who Rules The World] 且试天下 (Qie Shi Tian Xia) by 倾泠月 (Qing Ling Yue)
*Downfall by Evelyn Sola
Defeat by Evelyn Sola
*Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
*The Winter King by C.L. Wilson
*Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
*Teacher’s Pet Wolf by Kati Wilde

April
Touched by Ice by Cynthia Eden

May
Do Me by Sheryl Lister ♪
The Legend of FuYao by 天下归元 (Tian Xia Gui Yuan, World Convergence)
Love Me by Delaney Diamond ♪
Show Me by Sharon C. Cooper ♪
Queen of Barrakesch by Delaney Diamond ♪
Field of Pleasure by Farrah Rochon ♪

June
Spacer’s Cinderella by Adria Rose

September
Somebody’s Wife by Robbi Renee ♪
Devoted by Evelyn Sola
Desire in His Blood by Zoey Draven
Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record of BTS by Myeongseok Kang

October
All the Feels by Olivia Dade ♪
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren ♪

November
Marriage of the Di Daughter by 千山茶客 (Qian Shan Cha Ke)
The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage by 千山茶客 (Qian Shan Cha Ke) – which I reviewed
Rebirth of a Star General by 千山茶客 (Qian Shan Cha Ke)
The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort by 千山茶客 (Qian Shan Cha Ke)

December
The Job of an Imperial Concubine by 月下蝶影 (Yue Xia Die Ying, Butterfly’s Shadow Beneath the Moon)
Greetings, Ninth Uncle by 九月流火 (Jiu Yue Liu Huo, September Flowing Fire) – which I reviewed
Don’t Be A Favored Concubine by 九月流火 (Jiu Yue Liu Huo, September Flowing Fire)
It’s Better To Be the Empress Dowager by 九月流火 (Jiu Yue Liu Huo, September Flowing Fire)
A Mistaken Marriage Match: Mysteries in the Imperial Harem by 浅绿 (Qian Lu)
The Yandere Came During the Night by 風流書呆 (Feng Liu Shu Dai, Casanovanic Bookworm)
The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband by 漪光 (Yi Guang)
After Marrying the Disabled Crown Prince of the Enemy Country by 新了个喵 (New Meow)
Xiao Qi, Wait (小七，且慢) by 悠若清风 (You Ruo Qing Feng)
The General Wants to Hug and Sleep and 千草 (Sleep by Qian Cao)
The General’s Genius Daughter by 灼华 (Zhuo Hua)
I’ll Be the Male Lead’s Sister-in-Law by by 九月流火 (Jiu Yue Liu Huo, September Flowing Fire)
The Imperial Guard’s Revenge by by 九月流火 (Jiu Yue Liu Huo, September Flowing Fire)

I also want to add in my “defense” these c-novels are hefty. I might have mentioned one of the chapters for Empress was like over 30,000 words, I believe the author’s notes for Guard said the novel was over 700,000 words … so yeah. And that was without any side stories/epilogues if there are any, which I hope there are! There’s a lot going on – AND I’M LOVING IT. In fact most these books also have extra/side stories, which are more epilogues or vignettes, and I’m really sad when translations don’t have them. Anyway I wrote the English titles, not bothering to look for the original Mandarin, but for author names I tried to do both. How it works here is I put the original Mandarin, then the pinyin (pronunciation/”romanization”), and then sometimes they translate the names and added that too. As you can see some of the titles are … interesting. Some things don’t exactly translate well, and sometimes that’s part of the fun.

Anyway if anyone is interested in c-dramas or translated c-novels, I HAVE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR YOU! 😄

I hope everyone has a lovely new year and that 2024 is the best for all of us yet! ❤️