The 7 Best Books I Read In 2023
I rated these titles a solid 5-stars on GoodReads.
And I thought 2022 was a good reading year. Psh.
2023 was the year of quality, not quantity when it came to my reading. I ended the year having completed my goal of 24 books. But to be clear, if you follow me on GoodReads, you may have noticed that I logged Where the Wild Things Are on, like, December 30th; I wasn’t cheating. I chose that book as a stand-in. My 24th book of the year was my cousin’s unpublished manuscript. It’s a novel. It counts.
Anyways, out of those 24 books, I gave eight of them a 5-star rating. I gave seven a four-star rating. The rest were 3 stars or undecided as far as a rating went. Last year, I shared a list of all my 5-star reads of 2022. I’m keeping the tradition going for 2023.
Please note, I did leave out my last 5-star. It was Christmas-specific (The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan) and I am past the holidays (she says as all of her Christmas decor remains all over her apartment). I’d still highly recommend it to anyone who isn’t done celebrating.
Without further ado, let’s get to the “good reads,” shall we?
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Forever Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$10.41, amazon.com
I picked this up early on in 2023 and was hooked from the first page. It’s about a woman named Elsie whose husband is killed in an unfortunate accident nine days after their wedding. The book follows her journey of grief, and we learn quickly that Elsie and Ben’s love story was a whirlwind; it happened so fast that he didn’t even tell his mother about Elsie. Not even after they’d wed.
I loved this book. It’s one of my favorites of all time. I cried a lot. I laughed some, too. If you’re a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s most recent titles, you likely won’t recognize her writing. This was her debut, and what a fantastic story to debut as an author. I’d like more books to feel like this one felt.
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$10.39, amazon.com
I’m not a huge Colleen Hoover fan (I’ve liked some of her books and I’ve disliked some of her books), but I devoured It Ends With Us. Trigger warning: the novel discusses physical and emotional abuse. It follows Lily Bloom, a florist in Boston who starts her own business and falls in love with a neurosurgeon named Lyle. He’s handsome and smart, but he has a mean streak, and the one person who can save her from the toxic relationship she’s found herself in is the boy who, once upon a time, she couldn’t save: Atlas Corrigan.
You’re supposed to love Atlas, and I definitely did. I felt all the things Hoover wanted me to feel from this book. Having known someone who was abused growing up, It Ends With Us gave me an inside look at what it feels like to be the victim. It’s jarring. Emotional. But gracefully and beautifully written.
Finding Chika by Mitch Albom
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$8.99, amazon.com
Do not read this book unless you are prepared to ugly cry. To sob uncontrollably. For your eyes to dry out from all of the tears that stream from them, and for your nose to stuff like you just got smacked with the flu. I’m not even joking. My husband wasn’t looking at me when I finished reading this masterpiece, and he asked me if I was congested before glancing over and finding his wife had been swapped for a snot monster with running mascara.
It’s a story about Mitch Albom and a little girl named Chika he and his wife took in in hopes of getting her the medical care she needed to slow her DIPG, an inoperable Stage IV brain tumor. It’s a familial love story that will break your heart but also mend it. Do read this book if you want your heart to swell and expand three sizes. If you’re experiencing grief, and need to be reminded that your loved ones are always with you.
On Fire Island by Jane L. Rosen
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$8.23, amazon.com
I had the utmost pleasure of interviewing Jane L. Rosen on her 2023 release, On Fire Island back in April and declared it the must-read beach read that summer, and every summer thereafter. I know I will be re-reading it every summer for the rest of my life. It’s that good. It’s that wholesome. It’s everything I want in a summertime story.
The book is narrated by Julia Morse, a 37-year-old book editor who decides not to follow the light at the end of the tunnel when she passes but, rather, follow her now-widowed husband to Fire Island. The story isn’t really about Julia. It’s about Ben (the aforementioned widower), and a man named Shep (an older gentleman who’d lost his wife, too) and how they help one another grieve. It’s also about two teenagers on the brink of adulthood, and occasionally follows Julia’s best friend, Renee, as she overcomes heartbreak and opens herself up to new love.
Read this book if you want to smile. You might cry at times, but you won’t mind. You’ll love the kooky characters at the beach, and will likely be Googling small beach towns before you reach the last page.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$15.63, amazon.com
Emily Henry nailed it with Happy Place. I loved Beach Read and Book Lovers, but I loved Happy Place even more. I took a long time to finish it, but that was on purpose. I didn’t want it to end.
First things first, Emily Henry gets an A+ in name originality. I also love how I am always able to assign a celebrity to the male lead so clearly in my mind. In Beach Read, I imagined Gus as John Mayer. In Happy Place, all I could think of, when I thought of Wyn, was Christian Slater circa The Heathers… Sorry, I’m getting side-tracked.
Happy Place follows Harriet and (you guessed it) Wyn. They were engaged, but now they’re broken up, and none of their friends know it. So when they’re invited to their friend’s summer house in Maine for a week, per usual, they go to save face and pretend everything is perfect. I bet you get the gist of where the story goes from there. But it’s written so well. It’s the rom-com we needed but didn’t deserve. I can’t wait to get my hands on her next title, Funny Story.
In My Dreams, I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$9.89, amazon.com
I was riding the contemporary romance wave for a while, but I’m happy to report, I have found my way back to thrillers. Starting with a bang, I picked up In My Dreams I Hold A Knife by Ashley Winstead, a suspense novel following Jessica Miller at her ten-year college reunion. She’s worked hard to reinvent herself; to be the picture of perfection and not the picture of suspicion when it comes to the unsolved murder of her roommate, Heather Shelby.
Unfortunately for Jessica, Heather’s little brother isn’t ready to put what happened to his sister to bed. Rather, he crashes her reunion and rallies Heather’s group of best friends to get to the bottom of what happened that night.
I couldn’t put this book down. Like Happy Place, I didn’t want it to end. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the story, nor could I stop trying to figure out who had done it. If you like mystery thrillers, give this one a read.
The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager
Photo Courtesy of Amazon
$12.98, amazon.com
I’m a newcomer to the Riley Sager fan club, but boy am I happy to be here. What a ride The Last Time I Lied took me on. It felt a little lengthy at times, but I probably would have read 100 more pages of Emma’s chilling story.
Emma never thought she’d return to Camp Nightingale, but here she is, 15 years after her bunkmates Vivian, Natalie, and Allison disappeared in the night. She’s doing this partially as a favor - the founder of the camp asked her to return as an art teacher - but also to figure out what happened to her friends. Luckily for her, she’s assigned the same bunk she resided in 15 years before, and there are plenty of clues to be found there.
I DID NOT expect the ending. It was good. Really, really good. And juicy. And thrilling. And goosebumps-inducing. Riley Sager, if you’re out there, somewhere, reading this, I would accept a sequel. (That was me asking for a sequel.)
I want to read them all!