Im starting a new series on the blog- Friday Favorites! Each month I will pick a different set of favorites to highlight. This month’s theme is the best books of 2023. I LOVE to read (I majored in English in college,) and I always make a list of my top 10 books from each year. The only rule is that I have to have read it for the first time in the current year. The books from 2023 ended up being mostly fantasy with a lit-fic, horror, and an essay from one of my favorite authors thrown in. Keep reading and maybe you will find a new favorite book! I’ll also add that these are in no particular order, choosing only 10 was a challenge enough.
One Dark Window
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig was a book that really surprised me. It had one of the most interesting magic systems that I have ever read. It’s fast paced with a few different plot lines running through the whole thing, the writing is beautiful, and the second book in the series is just as good! I feel like it is best to go into this not really knowing much, so that is all I will say. But if you like any form of fantasy book at all, you will love this!
The Priory Of The Orange Tree
The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon was a book that was on my to be read list for a while because I loved her book The Bone Season! It lived up to the hype for me. You follow Ead, Tané, Loth and Niclays as their stories weave together as they gear up for the return of The Nameless One. It has politics, dragons, an amazing magic system, and I fell in love with every character by the end. I really can’t say enough good things about this book.
If We Were Villains
If We Were Villains by ML Rio is another book that had been on my list ever since I read The Secret History and loved it. It is a lot like The Secret History, but also nothing like it at all. The short summary is a group of theatre students kill one of their friends and show you all the ways they justify it. The story is told through flashbacks from Oliver, the kid who was accused of the murder, and the detective who put him in jail. This book had me hooked from the beginning, and had to be on my best books of 2023 list.
A Room Of One’s Own
A Room Of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite essays I have ever read. That’s not totally surprising because Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite authors I have ever read. If you are a creative person who appreciates the level of concentration it takes to create art this should be on your list of books to read in 2024 if you haven’t already read it.
Masters Of Death
Masters Of Death by Olivie Blake was another surprise of the year. When I saw that it was about a vampire trying to sell a haunted house I was obviously intrigued, but it ended up hitting me so hard I instantly added it to my favorites list. The writing is beautiful, and it really made me think about life and how quickly things can be given and taken away.
The Idiot
The Idiot by Elif Batuman is about Selin’s freshman year at Harvard. I had such a good time reading this book because it felt kind of like my first year at college. Selin doesn’t really know what she is doing, and she really just makes decisions without really thinking them through. She learns to be an adult in the process of making all of these random decisions. Selin is hilarious, and even though our life experiences are wildly different, in a way they also feel very similar.
House Of Earth And Blood
It is no secret that I love Sarah J Maas. I push all her books on my friends. I was putting off this series for some reason, and ended up reading the first and second book in 2023! To say I loved it was an understatement. I am a sucker for a good murder mystery, and that is basically what the first book was. You do need to read the Throne Of Glass series AND A Court Of Thorns And Roses first. But I PROMISE it is worth the commitment. I don’t want to give a ton about the plot away. It is better to just go into this book with an open mind!
Legends & Lattes
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree was my introduction to cozy fantasy. And, if you like being happy, you should read it! An Orc named Viv moves to Thune to open the first ever coffee shop, but no one in Thune knows what coffee is. The book is full of found family, and cozy coffee shop vibes. Not a lot happens, but it is a joy to read about the character’s friendships and newly relaxing life. If you are a business owner, you are sure to get some laughs too.
Tress Of The Emerald Sea
Tress Of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson was my FAVORITE cozy fantasy of the year. I can’t wait to read this again once I have read The Stormlight Archives series because there are easter eggs for the Cosmere throughout this book. I read Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series a long time ago, and it is one of my favorite series of all time, so I wasn’t surprised that I loved this book. But Tress inspired me to read the rest of the Cosmere Universe books this year. Tress Of The Emerald Sea is about a girl named Tress who goes on an adventure to save the man she loves. There are pirates, a great magic system, and a talking mouse, what more could you ask for in a book?
I hope that you enjoyed my list of favorite books from 2023! And I also hope you add some of them to your reading list for 2024.
You can follow along for more of my reviews on my Goodreads or Storygraph
And as always, keep me in mind if you need a photo session done!
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