Hello everyone,
This is it, I am finally reaching the end of this project that has taken almost two years to complete!
When I reached five years of book blogging I decided to have a lengthy A-Z look back at all the books I have read during that period between the start of 2018 and the end of 2022, highlighting the most notable titles, authors, characters, and settings I have come across. I am not going to lie, it is a relief that it is finally over.
So naturally we end with the final three letters of the alphabet, with a handful of things for each. A few characters happen to begin with ‘X’, book titles starting with ‘Y’, and some random titbits start with the letter ‘Z’. For the last time, on with the list!
Xander Hawthorne
The youngest of the four Hawthorne grandchildren in the Inheritance Games trilogy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Perhaps the most personable and endearing of the quartet, he throws himself into everything but despite his mega-rich family and upbringing, he is still searching for his place in the world.
He also has an aunt called Zara who lives with him and the family at Hawthorne House, but she is generally quite aloof and appears infrequently in the story.
Xingyin
The title character and narrator in Daughter Of The Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan, Xingyin ventures to the Celestial Kingdom with the mission of rescuing her mother, who has been exiled from the moon. She eventually becomes companion to Crown Prince Liwei and a member of the Celestial Army, where she meets General Wenzhi, another love interest. One of the monsters they battle together is the fearsome Xiangliu.
A thoughtful and always conscientious protagonist, she is one of my all-time favourite fictional characters. I love her and her voice.
Xiomara
Also known as the Poet X! Xiomara is the main character of Elizabeth Acevedo’s groundbreaking debut novel, which is written in the first person in poetic verse, serving as a coming of age story both for her and twin brother Xavier.
Yelena
A character in The Huntress by Kate Quinn. In the past timeline, Yelena is a female Russian fighter pilot who trains alongside protagonist Nina Markova ahead of the Second World War. They eventually develop a romantic connection.
Yohaira
Another Elizabeth Acevedo character, Yohaira is one of the two protagonists in her third young adult novel Clap When You Land. She lives in the United States and loses her father in a plane crash. In the aftermath, she learns of a sister in the Dominican Republic that she did not know she had.
You
A famous thriller by Caroline Kepnes about an obsessive stalker called Joe who goes to extreme lengths to gain the love of a woman he encounters in his bookstore. Told from his second person point of view, it is rather graphic and unsettling does not cover it, despite the fact it is an undeniably impressive piece of work.
This was my first ever buddy read back in 2018 and despite giving it a four-star rating, I was so disturbed by the content of the book that I disposed of my copy. I do watch the Netflix series though and have mostly enjoyed that, especially the most recent season.
You Sent Me A Letter
I read this one not too long after You and to be honest it is a lot less memorable. The premise was exciting though, about a man who threatens a soon to be married woman with revelations about her fiancé. It remains the only book I have read by Lucy Dawson.
You Should See Me In A Crown
The debut novel by Leah Johnson which I read in 2020. A light young adult contemporary romance, it tells of a shy girl called Liz Lighty who vows to be the homecoming queen at her high school prom as she falls in love with another girl, Amanda.
You’ll Be The Death Of Me
A young adult mystery thriller by Karen M.McManus, which I read late in 2021 as part of a blog tour. Of all her books it is possibly the one I remember the least about, yet I did enjoy reading it. The plot is about three friends who skip school and end up witnessing the murder of one of their classmates.
Your Turn To Die
The third young adult thriller by UK author Sue Wallman, but the first one I actually read, and I have picked up all of her work. This is about three best friends who spend a family holiday in an old house with their families, but one of them turns out to be a killer. I disliked the ending, but there was lots to like in terms of writing style and setting.
Zach Chen
One of Pippa Fitz-Amobi’s group of friends in A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder by Holly Jackson and its sequels.
Zach Crystal
A famous rock star whose alleged crimes of sexual abuse are the subject of a Six Stories podcast in Deity by Matt Wesolowski. Presenter Scott King speaks to six people connected with Crystal, who had a treehouse and spoke of a creature that haunted the grounds of his mansion, to see if there is any truth to the accusations.
Zara
One of the main characters in How To Disappear by Gillian McAllister. A shy and bookish teenage girl who witnessed a crime, she and her mother are put under witness protection and given new identities by the UK authorities, but they both struggle to adjust.
Zeus
The ruler of the Greek gods. Zeus is mentioned in a lot of Greek myth retellings I have read, perhaps most notably in Circe when he banishes her to the island of Aiaia.
Zoe Morley
The mother of an adopted daughter called Evie who goes missing in The Stolen Child by Sanjida Kay, which I read back in 2018. Written in the third person, the book is told from her perspective and she becomes a suspect herself, but her determination eventually leads her to finding out what actually happened.
Zofia Boguska
One of the group of main characters in the Gilded Wolves trilogy by Roshani Chokshi, and my personal favourite. Zofia is into explosives, is loveably aloof and counts everything around her when anxious. She is looking to reunite with her lost sister and there are hints of a romance with historian Enrique which never really comes to anything. She is such a great character to read though.
Zoya Nazlalensky
Introduced in Shadow And Bone, Zoya is a significant character in the Grishaverse. A student of the Small Science who shows extreme resentment towards the Sun Summoner Alina Starkov, they come to an unwilling alliance when the fight the Darkling together in the Ravkan Second Army.
Zoya’s personality is icy as you can get, but there are many layers to her as we discover in future Grishaverse novels.
Let’s Chat
And that is a wrap!
Have you come across any of these books, settings, authors, or characters? Let me know in the comments!
Happy reading 🙂
Previous A-Z of books posts
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