Favorite Books of 2023

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Favorite Books of 2023. Below you will find the top 10 books that I read in 2023 categorized by genre. Let me know if you've read or are interested in any of these books!

Fantasy

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - there is nothing better than reading a book and knowing you are reading one of your favorite books of all time. That's exactly how I felt all the way through The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. Every word was perfect and this was my favorite of the year.

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson - What a lovely gift! Tress of the Emerald Sea is the first book in Brandon Sanderson's "secret projects". He wrote this one as a gift to his wife and thankfully she wanted the world to have it. Tress is a beautiful fairy tale inspired by The Princess Bride - one of my favorite books of all time - and there's pirates to boot!

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - I'm so glad the mood struck me this year to dive into Words of Radiance! This series is epic in every way and I'm pumped to try to catch up before Stormlight 5 is released in December!

Horror

Chlorine by Jade Song - This. Book. I loved this book. It's a literary fiction with some definite horror elements. The horror is slow to emerge, but it does emerge! I had to put it down and take a few deep breaths. It's a coming of age with great character development, and what a debut!

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle - This book was such a surprise for me. It subverted all of my expectations, and I can't wait for Chuck Tingle's next novel later this year.

Science Fiction

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel - Sea of Tranquility is a well crafted time travel/mind trip type of story, and it really worked for me. It was a great book club pick.

Thriller

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall - I love everything Kate Alice Marshall writes. Middle grade, young adult, adult - give me the books! What Lies in the Woods is her foray into adult thrillers, and I loved it. I have her new one coming out this month, and I can't wait to read that one as well!

The Only One Left by Riley Sager - Yay! Riley Sager is hit or miss and this was a hit for me! It was twisty and fun and set on the cliffside.

Literary Fiction

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt - What a wonderful book club pick this turned out to be! I highly recommend this to everyone regardless of what genres are your favorite.

Romance

Book Lovers by Emily Henry - I was in my cozy era when I picked up Book Lovers. Thank you endlessly to reviewers for stating what sets Emily Henry apart from other romance writers. I learned a lot last year about what I do and don't like in romance. Maybe this will be a category that stays!

Final Thoughts

I'm sad that I don't have any children's books on this list. I just didn't read very much kid lit last year, and I really did long for it. I'm hoping to have a better year in that regard this year. Other than that, I had favorites in all of the fiction genres that I read and even added a romance category! I think that makes for a great reading year.

Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Ten Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf. Below are some of my latest purchases. Have you read any of these?

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree - Bookshops & Bonedust is the prequel to Legends & Lattes. I'm so looking forward to another cozy fantasy set in that world.

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall - I am such a big Kate Alice Marshall fan. This is her follow up thriller to last year's What Lies in the Woods.

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver - No One Can Know and A Winter in New York were my December Book of the Month selections.

I have the leatherbound edition of Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, but I really wanted to have this edition as well for reading and annotating. This book is a new favorite!

Three cheers for my book club for picking Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt! It gave me an excuse to finally buy and read it. We all loved this one!

I finally bought a copy of The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin - This was my Book of the Month pick for September. A social media influencer buys a murder house and thrillery things start to occur. This is a debut novel and I'm excited to read it.

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger - I also picked this up from Book of the Month. I loved Ordinary Grace by Willian Kent Krueger, and I think I will love this standalone novel as well.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - I hear the movie adaptation is cute, too!

An Immense World by Ed Yong - My friend Teresa read this and said it was really interesting. It sounds amazing. I'm looking forward to spending some time with the animal world and their senses.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter - I'm still exploring my taste in romance, and this one is centered around movie quotes (I think) so may be a great fit for me. I've heard such cute things so I'm happy to give it a try.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center - I really want to check out Katherine Center's books as well. I know this is much more woman's fiction than romance, but I've heard a lot of great things about this one.

Backlist Titles We Should Be Talking About

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is backlist titles that need to be talked about more. I loved all of these gems. Go read them and talk about them!

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis

Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

The Midnight Lullaby by Cheryl Low

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

Favorite Books of 2023 So Far

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is supposed to be my most recent DNFs, but I don't want to talk about those so I'm posting my favorite books of 2023 so far instead! Let me know if you've read or plan to read any of these!

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Chlorine by Jade Song

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Below by Laurel Hightower

One Piece, Volume 9: Tears by Eiichiro Oda

Books With One-Word Titles

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Books With One-Word Titles. These are some favorites (and one currently reading)!

Chlorine by Jade Song

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Sundial by Catriona Ward

Later by Stephen King

Below by Laurel Hightower

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall

Horrid by Katrina Leno

2023 Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag

Whew - this year is flying by! According to Goodreads, I'm behind in my reading, and this is not a surprise to me. I've read some amazing books this year, though, so hopefully I have enough to share in this tag today. I love the mid-year freak out tag so consider yourself tagged, and please leave me a link if you have posted yours or come back to me and give me a link after you've posted!

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2023?

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - I can't imagine this book will be topped this year. It's wonderful.{My review of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi}

 

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2023?

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire - This is book #4 in the Wayward Children series and a reread. I really need to get back to my reread of the series! {My reread review of In an Absent Dream and my original review of In an Absent Dream.}

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to?

Ugh! My list of books I haven't read just continues to grow. Here are a few highly anticipated books I still haven't read.

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo - I really enjoyed Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo and even reread it at the beginning of the year so I would be ready to read Hell Bent, but I still haven't read it!

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire - I'm planning to read this as soon as I finish my reread of the Wayward Children books which I just mentioned I need to get back to!

Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig - This was just released the last week of May, and I can't wait to read it!

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of 2023?

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - I think Black Sheep is probably the release I'm most looking forward to reading!

5. Biggest disappointment?

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune - Oof. This one hurts because it just didn't meet my expectations. I know there is an audience for this. T.J. Klune is such a great writer, and I love the messages in his books. I just don't personally like the types of tropes that were used in In the Lives of Puppets. {My review of In the Lives of Puppets}

6. Biggest surprise?

Chlorine by Jade Song was the biggest surprise for me. It's a literary fiction/horror novel which is absolutely what drew me in, but the structure and the experience was such a surprise for me. The horror was late to emerge, and the way the story disturbed me and captivated me made it such a great read. {My review of Chlorine}

7. New favorite author?

I'm going to have to say Emily Henry. I've read two books by Emily Henry that I loved this year and I plan to read more!

8. Newest fictional crush?

Once again I have no idea how to answer this one! Most of the books I read have characters that I shouldn't be crushing on.

9. Newest favorite character?

I struggled with my answer to this one because I've read several amazing books with amazing characters this year, but I'm going to go with Luffy from One Piece. I honestly need to devote a lot more of my reading time to One Piece. Luffy's dream is to be the King of the Pirates, and he's out in the world being a pirate, gathering his crew, and living his dream. His loyalty to his crew is something I love. (This is the third pirate book on this post 😆)

10. Book that made you cry?

Both of these! I don't have a clue how Emily Henry does it, but she made me cry reading both Book Lovers and Beach Read and I don't think they are supposed to be sad!

11. Book that made you happy?

The The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty made me so happy. So, so happy. Every word was perfect for me. {My review of The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi}

12. Favorite book to movie adaptation you’ve seen so far this year?

I'm cheating because this was a video game not a book before being adapted, but it's so good! I'm obsessed with The Last of Us.

13. Favorite review you’ve written this year?

Not a review, but my favorite post so far this year is my Most Anticipated Debut Novels of 2023 post.

14. Most beautiful book you bought this year?

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson is absolutely the most beautiful book I have bought so far this year.

15. What books do you really need to read by the end of this year?

I think my goal right now is to not have any need to read books. I want to get back to extreme mood reading and using my TBR jar. No review copies, no new releases pressure... Just me and a stack of books that sound good at the moment.

And that's it for my 2023 mid-year freak out! I can't wait to read yours if you post one!