It’s time for one of my favorite stats to track–my most-read authors of the year. I started tracking this a few years ago, and continue to find it interesting.

Ali Hazelwood – I actually predicted my first-place author, with 4 books read, last year. I was, however, disappointed with the 3 novellas that put her into the #1 spot; they were too repetitive for me, and not nearly as strong as her longer works. Luckily, Love on the Brain redeemed Ali Hazelwood for me with a solid 4.5 star rating.

Anita Kelly – In second place are 5 authors that I read 3 books each from. Anita Kelly is an author new to me, so I love that they were able to make it so high in the rankings and that I’ve discovered an author that writes excellent LGBTQIA+ romance. They have a new 2023 release coming out, but not a deep backlist, so probably won’t be making my list next year.

Katee Robert – 2 novels and 1 novella from her Dark Olympus series got Katee Robert into a solid spot on this list.

Juliette Cross – I loved that Cross had 2 new great installments in the Stay a Spell series come out this year; I liked her backlist PNR, Forged in Fire, much less.

Skye Kilaen – a new-to-me author writing LGBTQIA+ contemporary romance novellas; I kept gravitating towards these feel-good reads throughout 2022.

Alexis Hall – Although the 2 new releases I read of his didn’t work for me as much as his older titles, he still makes this list with a re-read.

Elena Armas – I really enjoyed The Spanish Love Deception, enough to pick up her 2022 release The American Roommate Experiement, although both titles were slow to start for me.

Catherynne M. Valente – a past favorite author, I picked up 1 novella and 1 novelette in 2022.

Ilona Andrews – They’ve been a favorite of mine for many years, and I’m sad to see Catalina’s great trilogy end this year.

T. Kingfisher – I loved both books from this new-to-me SFF author, and am excited to discover more from her in the future.

Tessa Bailey – I actually haven’t had the best history with Tessa Bailey, or at least a shaky one, but Window Shopping was a surprise hit for me at the very end of 2022.

Julie Tieu – I ended up picking up 2 books from this new-to-me author after they were send to me by the publisher for review, and enjoyed both.

Timothy Janovsky – I rated both of these audiobooks 3 stars; both were somewhat entertaining but ultimately disappointing. I may still give him one more chance, though, because his 2023 release sounds interesting.

 

Predictions for Most-Read Author(s) of 2023 – Last year was easier to predict, since my most-read authors tend to be romance writers with either multiple new releases or a deep backlist. 2023 is more difficult, since only one of my favorite romance authors (Katee Robert) has multiple releases scheduled, and I’ve exhausted the backlists of a lot of the others. So this year’s most-read authors field is very much open–maybe it’ll be someone entirely new to me, or maybe I’ll make more progress on certain series than expected (I have a lot of books on my TBR that are next in series, but I suppose it’s possible that I’ll pick up more than one book in a series within a year).

Olivie Blake – I’ve only read one book from Blake previously, which ended up on my favorites list for 2021 (The Atlas Six), but now I have two of her 2022 releases already on my shelf and a 2023 release scheduled. She writes fantasy and has a very particular writing style, which I absolutely love but am not sure how much I can read of in a single year, but because she has 3 available books for me to pick up, she’s first up on my predictions list.

Rachel Harrison – I read and loved Cackle in 2022, and luckily this new-to-me (and local!) author has a new 2022 release and a backlist thriller for me to check out. I also enjoyed Cackle on audio, and found both of these available through my library’s Libby app, which makes reading them seem like an easy decision in 2023.

Katee Robert – As I mentioned, this is my only past favorite romance writer with more than one new release expected in 2023. Katee Robert is putting out 2 new installments in her Dark Olympus series, which I love and tend to devour as soon as the preorders hit my Kindle.

Jayci Lee – This one is a little out of left field, since I’ve never actually read any of Jayci Lee’s books. However, they all have premises that appeal to me, and I do love finding new-to-me romance authors with significant backlists. Is it possible that I dislike her writing and none of these will be finished in 2023? Sure, but I have a good feeling about her.

Tessa Dare – Yes, I barely read any historical romance in 2022 (4 in total). And yes, none of these were Tessa Dare books. But I still really like her, and since I’m a mood reader, you never know when I’ll be up for delving back into a past favorite, even if she’s been on the shelf for awhile (that was a historical romance pun).