For the fourth year in a row, here is a discussion on the books I read this year that I completely fell in love with. I read a total of 51 books this year, so 20 of them making it into this list is pretty impressive. Don't worry, I promise that this will be spoiler free*, so sit back and prepare to add some lovely books to your 2023 TBR (to be read) list. At the end of this post, I'm also going to share the books that are already on my TBR just in case you read similar books to me and would like some inspiration - happy reading, friends!
*to avoid spoilers, I will sometimes use excerpts from online blurbs of the books, and these will be italicised when I do.
I've also linked my Storygraph account in the link at the start of this post in case you're interested in following along with my reads/tbr pile in real time. Feel free to follow <3
As usual, these are in the order that I read them and not in order of importance - we don't do that to our favourite books!
1. The Wrong Suitcase - Laura Jane Williams
I have read every single book by this author, and I have absolutely loved most of them - this one was no exception. It's a very short and adorable feel-good romantic comedy about a pair of strangers who are attending a wedding and accidentally end up with the other's luggage - it's an incredibly light-hearted novella and an easy read if you're looking for something short and sweet to start the new year with.
2 + 3. They Both Die at The End + The First to Die at The End - Adam Silvera
I've put these two together as they're in the same series, but I did read them at different times of the year. I absolutely loved both of these books, and I highly recommend them. I love Silvera's writing style which switches between POV's so that you have a full picture of every character's thoughts and feelings. Both books are hilarious, heartbreaking and incredibly written. They both take place in a world where Death-Cast exists, a system which has been uniquely created to let registered users know when they are going to die - and calls them at midnight to let them know that they're in their last 24 hours. In the first book, (which is actually the second book in the timeline as The First to Die at The End is a prequel), Mateo and Rufus are called and told that they're going to die, so they use the app Last Friend to find someone to spend their End Days with. I absolutely loved the prequel as well, as it showcases the creator of Last Friend coming up with the idea, and we also get to meet the characters from the first book long before their End Day, which is such a bittersweet touch. The style of it is similar to the first and yet different enough, as we don't know which of the two new strangers will be The First to Die at The End - it's heartbreaking chaos and I love it.
4. You'll Be the Death of Me - Karen M. McManus
McManus is another author of which I've read every single book, and loved them all. She will come up a second time in this blog post, which only proves my point. Her books are twisty-turny thrillers so I won't be able to say much about them other than they are always worth it - this one is about three classmates, Ivy, Mateo and Cal who used to be super close, so when they all run into each other, they decide to ditch school like old times, but they're not the only ones skipping school - they run into another classmate, Brian, who is acting suspiciously in an empty building, and find themselves straight in the middle of a murder scene.
5. Run Rose Run - Dolly Parton and James Patterson
This book was so much fun - I listened to it as an audiobook as one of my favourite singers, Kelsea Ballerini was the voice of one of the characters, and the absolutely iconic Dolly Parton also lent her voice to another. I was completely enthralled by this book and read it in two sittings, one of which ended at 2am because I just couldn't put it down. It felt like a Country album come to life and I would love to see it turned into a movie. Dolly's accompanying album for the book is also dreamy and really worth a listen even if you haven't read the book! It's a thriller again so I won't say much except that it is centered on a young singer/songwriter who travels to Nashville to make her dreams come true, yet the secrets and darkness she’s been running from soon catch up and find her.
6. Moxie - Jennifer Mathieu
This was one of the rare occasions where I watched the film before I read the book - but I did love the film so much that I decided to read the book. I finished it in one sitting on the way to a tattoo appointment, (the joy of living quite a distance from my artist!), and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an incredibly empowering and motivating book set in high school. It revolves around the main character, Vivian, who is fed up with her school's sexist dress codes, hallway harassment, and 'boys will be boys' attitude. Viv's mum was a tough-as-nails, punk rock Riot Grrrl in the '90s, and now Viv takes a page from her mother's past and creates Moxie, a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She's just blowing off steam, but other girls respond and spread the Moxie message. As Viv forges friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, she realises that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution. 7. Heartstopper Series - Alice Oseman
This was another situation in which I hadn't heard of the (graphic) novel until I saw the show, but I fell so completely in love with Heartstopper the show, and if you haven't seen it yet, it's so heartwarming that I would recommend watching it over Christmas before the fifth and final graphic novel comes out in February 2023. I as much as charged into Waterstones the day after finishing the series and picked up every single one of Oseman's books that feature Nick and Charlie, but for me, the Heartstopper series is still my favourite. It's about two teenage boys, Nick and Charlie who discover that their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love.
8. This Is How it Always Is - Laurie Frankel
This was a book that I found so incredibly different from anything else I've ever read - in the best way. It was absolutely beautiful trans and non-binary representation, and the story was so emotive and well written. I know that a lot of people don't like it as they think it's too happy and fairytale-esque, but I personally believe we need more stories which allow for trans/non-conforming joy. We need more LGBTQIA+ stories that don't end in tragedy, and more stories like this in general. This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.
9. Daisy Jones and The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
I was incredibly late to this book, despite the amount of hype that surrounded it, but the second that I managed to get my hands on it, I completely loved it. It had such a gorgeous musical quality to it, and it's the reason I chose to listen to the audiobook of it. This is a book which has a lot of mixed reviews, but I was personally very intoxicated by it, and I loved the themes of women taking nobody's shit and demanding credit where it's due. It does also cover the darker theme of addiction, but it does a good job at showing the glamourisation of addiction in the 70s, without recreating that glamourisation in the here and now. It's complete magic and I highly recommend it. A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous break up. Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the real reason why they split at the absolute height of their popularity…until now.
10. Beach Read - Emily Henry
I have read all of Henry's books and this one is my all-time favourite. It's a romance novel about Augustus and January, polar opposites who live in neighbouring beach houses for the summer, while being absolutely plagued by writer's block. They decide to attempt at swapping genres in order to lift them out of their creative ruts, meaning that Augustus must attempt a happy novel, and January is led to interviewing surviving members of a death cult. Of course. I loved every single minute. Emily Henry is a hero in the Young Adult Romance world of books at the moment, and deservedly so. Believe the hype.
11. Bargain Bin Rom-Com - Leena Norms
I've been watching Leena Norms' Youtube videos for about two years, and I love her video essays on how to be more environmentally friendly, her film reviews, and particularly her 'twenties tool kit' videos on things she wishes she had known in her twenties. I've always thought that the way she speaks and gives advice is poetic, so when she announced that she was bringing out a book of poetry, I immediately pre-ordered. It's a very quick read but there are definitely particular poems I will be returning to, to read again because they are so poignant. I found this description of it online and this would convince me to read it if I hadn't already, so here you go: this is a tongue-in-cheek look at living on a planet that is filled with both doom and glitter.
12. Everything I Know About Love - Dolly Alderton
This was a re-read of one of my favourite books, as I wanted to read the book again after watching the BBC adaptation. I still loved it as much as I did when I first read it 3+ years ago, and I have no doubt that I will return to it time and time again. It's exactly as it says in the title - it features lists and recollections of everything that Alderton knew about love, at different ages of her life. I loved this re-read so much that I decided to create my own blog post inspired by it back in July, and it's one of my favourite posts I've ever written, so feel free to read it here if you haven't already.
13. Things We Never Got Over - Lucy Score
I found this book randomly whole scrolling the explore page on Instagram and it sounded like it could be something I liked so I bought it. Oh my God. Let's just say that I need to be scrolling my explore page more often because I LOVED THIS. It literally had everything that I love, the sunshine x grumpy trope, small town romance, fake dating, an evil twin, and tastefully written sex scenes. I am completely obsessed and it's one of my favourite books that I've read this year. That's all it took to convince me to read it so that's all I'll leave you with!
14 + 15. Once Upon a Broken Heart + The Ballad of Never After - Stephanie Garber
You're probably very bored of hearing this but it's true - I've read all of Garber's books and I love every single one. They are all complete magic, and I love that the Broken Heart series features some of the characters from the Caraval series, which I have loved for years. I honestly wouldn't be able to choose which of her series is my favourite, but I am so excited for the final book in the series to arrive next year. The main premise of the first book is simple - Evangeline is distraught when she finds out that the love of her life is marrying someone else, so she turns to the Prince of Hearts to offer him anything that he wants, in exchange for him stopping the wedding. Despite knowing the severe dangers of that choice, she's desperate. He only asks for three kisses, which will result in either the greatest happily ever after or the worst tragedy of her life. The Ballad of Never After is the sequel which takes us further on the journey of the effects of Evangeline's original sin, resulting in a terrifying curse. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can...
16. You've Reached Sam - Dustin Thao
I found this book through a TikTok which showcased one of the lines in the book, and it looked so heartbreaking and sweet that I had to read the whole book. This. Book. Broke. Me. This is so incredibly different to anything that I've ever read and I'm so glad that booktok managed to convince me to read it because it only took a few short hours to read, but I will remember it forever. I'm actually about to cry just writing about it but it's a book about Julie, who tragically loses the love of her life very suddenly, and refuses to go to his funeral due to her heartbreak and fury at his death. In an attempt to hear his voice one more time, she calls Sam's number to hear his voicemail... and Sam picks up the phone. THAT'S ALL YOU GET.
17. Seven Days in June - Tia Williams
This book is completely amazing, the characters are so real and human. Their love, loneliness, and longing is incredibly palpable - it's a true love story. It does deal with some tougher topics too so definitely look up trigger warnings if you need to, (I do this on Storygraph), but it is the perfect second-chance-romance story and I completely fell for it. It's about two writers, Eva and Shane, who have found themselves at the same literary event, twenty years after their initial week-long romance. It's incredibly important to see novels featuring black joy, and this is definitely one of them. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can't deny their chemistry - or the fact that they've been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.
18. Dear Dolly - Dolly Alderton
Another of Alderton's perfect non-fiction books featuring her advice. This is a collection of some of her agony aunt responses from The Sunday Times, so you wouldn't need to read this one if you're an avid reader of that newspaper - but I am personally not planning to pay for a subscription, so I thoroughly enjoyed getting to read these as I wouldn't be able to any other way. As before, she's incredibly good at passing on her wisdom and it's another book I'll return to time and time again.
19. Nothing More to Tell - Karen M. McManus
Another of McManus' twisty-turny thrillers that I won't say much about, in a bid to avoid spoilers. I can tell you that this one is up there with the best for me, and considering that I've read them all, that's high praise. Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favourite teacher. The case was never solved, but she's sure that the three kids who found Mr. Larkin's body know more than they're telling, especially her ex-best friend Tripp Talbot. He's definitely hiding something. When Brynn gets an internship working on a popular true-crime show, she decides to investigate what really happened that day in the woods. But the further she dives into the past, the more secrets she finds.
20. Have I Told You This Already? - Lauren Graham
If you know me even slightly, then you know that I am obsessed with absolutely everything Gilmore Girls, including Lauren Graham and her books. This is her fourth book, and another one of my favourites. It's a non-fiction book where she discusses Gilmore Girls, being an actor, growing older, directing Mighty Ducks (which I'm currently watching when I'm not reading and writing blog posts *wink* and it's really cute and wholesome!) Graham's humour as well as her triumph really comes through in this one, and it was a really fun read.
As promised, here is the list of to-be-read books that I'm going into 2023 with - I'm so excited! If you've read any of them, let me know what you thought! <3
Things We Hide from the Light - Lucy Score - out February 2023
Strong Female Character - Fern Brady - out February 2023
The Kind Worth Saving - Peter Swanson - out March 2023
Happy Place - Emily Henry - out April 2023
Lovestruck - Laura Jane Williams - out June 2023
A Curse for True Love - Stephanie Garber - September 2023
One of Us Is Back - Karen M. McManus - out 2023
The Guest List - Lucy Foley
The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
The Summer of Broken Rules - K.L. Walther
Nine Lives - Peter Swanson
Every Vow You Break - Peter Swanson
So Lucky - Dawn O'Porter
No Good Deed - Goldy Moldavsky
Lord of The Fly Fest - Goldy Moldavsky
Every Summer After - Carley Fortune
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