Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
I hope you all had a wonderful New Year’s Day. I sincerely wish you a Blessed 2024, in which you are surrounded by love, peace, and joy. Below are my top ten books of 2023. These are traditionally published. I’m going to do a separate Indie list later. Click on the covers to read my reviews and learn more about the books.
10. Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose
9. Hotel Laguna by Nicola Harrison
8. The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
7. The Good, The Bad, and The History by Jodi Taylor
6. The All American by Susie Finkbeiner
5. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
4. At The Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber
3. Inheritance by Nora Roberts
2. Spare by Prince Harry and J.D. Moehringer
Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich
How about you? What were your favorite books of 2023?
This is an opportunity to look back over the year of reading and recall some of our favorites, and even some not-so-favorites. I’d love to see your answers to some of the questions in the comments
Here’s my 2023 Year-End Survey. If you click on the covers, it will take you to my reviews of the books.
2023 READING STATS
Number of books you read: 154
Re-Reads:
Most Popular Genre: For me it’s Historical Fiction.
BEST IN BOOKS
Best Book You Read In 2023? Kinfolk by Sean Dietrich
Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Exchange by John Grisham. Wow, what a disappointment! This was supposed to be the further adventures of Mitch McDeere from The Firm, but turned out to be a book that any character could have been plugged into. I felt like Mitch was used for sales and nothing more.
Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? Fourth Wing. It has much stronger language than I usually read and too many sexual situations, so I was surprised that I loved it. But I loved it because: DRAGONS!
Favorite new author you discovered in 2023? Sean Dietrich. He’s not new, but new to me! He’s written over 30 books, and after reading Kinfolk, I plan to read everything he’s ever written!
Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. I don’t read horror, and this was a cross between magical realism and horror, but it was beautifully written and also an important book because it was based on real-life murders of African American boys at a school that actually existed in Florida.
Most beautifully written book read in 2023? Also The Reformatory. Absolutely beautiful writing.
Most memorable character of 2023: Andarna in Iron Flame
Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2023 to finally read? Fourth Wing
Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2023? The shortest was 7 pages and the longest was over 800 pages.
Favorite Book You Read in 2023 From An Author You’ve Read Previously? The Good, The Bad, and the History by Jodi Taylor, the most recent book in her amazing Chronicles of St. Mary’s series (Not counting the Christmas short story, which was also amazing).
Best Book You Read In 2023 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure? Also FOURTH WING. I read it because everyone was RAVING about it. I loved it too.
Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose
The Enola Holmes books are so much fun. Enola’s quirky personality and her banter with Sherlock always make me smile.
Hidden Gem Of The Year? The Audiobook of Spare by Prince Harry. Listen for yourself as Harry reads it. Don’t rely on biased media accountings of what he said. He does an amazing job.
Most Unique Book You Read In 2023? Also Spare. The Audiobook of Spare was unique as it was read by a Prince and gave us more real insight into royal life than the tales spun by the media.
YOUR BLOGGING/BOOKISH LIFE
Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.) Other than a local author signing, I didn’t attend any events in 2023, but I plan to do that more, especially author signings.
Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2023? Went over 500 reviews on Netgalley. I also became a Co-Editor for Historical Novels Review, the magazine of the Historical Novel Society. Was on the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year panel for the first time.
Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? The only challenge I really entered this year was the Goodreads Challenge, and I did complete that.
Bonnie Reads and Writes 
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