I'd love to see a list that has some of those books that struggle for visibility! There's a real herd mentality in the lists I've seen.

As for books by friends: Some reviewers get too cute or apologetic about that for my taste. It's as though they're congratulating themselves for having a friend who wrote a book or for having received an ARC when all they needed to say was something simple like: "And finally a word for a book by my friend [name]."

But that kind of disclosure is (again, in my view) better than none. Happy reading!