Top 6 Reads of 2023!

So 2023 was an....interesting year. The second year of doing proper reviews, my first ARC that was directly to me, the book club getting bigger. It's been a big year for the book club. Unfortunately, it hasn't been a great book-reading year for me. 

Still, we're gonna look back at some of my favorite reads of 2023 because these books deserve their moments in the sun!

 Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

I've openly talked about my love of Ally Carter. As a Gallagher Girls graduate, she's been a longtime comfort read. If I had to pitch this book, it would be Romancing the Stone meets Legally Blonde meets The Identity. I love how Carter writes women characters who fully embrace the Elle Woods way of strength and I think she's outdone herself with this one.

Our FMC wakes up in the snow in Paris with no memory and soon meets up with Sawyer, a spy (He prefers the word "Operative" but whatever) and they go off, taking turns saving each other. A fun read and I highly recommend the audiobook because the narrators absolutely nailed it. 

TW: Gun violence, violence, kidnapping, brief drug use, panic attacks, and details of injuries and blood.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

Here's my full review of the arc but TLDR, it's just a delight? It's a book that I had a blast reading it and screaming about it. It's a book that just had me, giggling and kicking my feet up about the book. Quippy, steamy, and at times frustrating, Stein gave me a book that makes me want to grab the nearest person and yell at them about this book and I mean that in the best way. 

Mabel is an English ghostwriter tasked with assisting famous footballer Alfie Harding with his upcoming autobiography. The problem soon reveals itself was Alfie communicates mostly with intense stares, grunts, and the occasional insult. After their disastrous first meeting (and a bad second meeting....And a pepper-spray incident), they both realize they might have more in common than they originally thought. It comes out on February 6, 2024! 

TW: Alcoholic parents, abusive parents, fatphobia, fandom culture, sexual content

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

  

THE AWKWARD ICON WE NEED IN THESE POST-RONA TIMES!! Murderbot is one of those things that you probably heard about it but only in vague terms and never what it's actually about. I think that's partially why it took me so long to finally read it but I get it.

In the future, exploratory teams must be accompanied by a security android from The Company as their security detail. This book follows one such android, who has hacked its governing module so it can watch its backlog of soap operas and has begun to refer to itself as Murderbot....For reasons. The book is under 200 pages but Murderbot just wormed itself into my heart and I love it.

TW: Death, prejudice, goo, gun violence

A Scandal in Brooklyn by Lauren Wilkenson

I don't know if Lauren Wilkinson will ever run across this but if you're planning on making this a series, I would greatly appreciate it, please and thank you. A short story in collaboration with Amazon, A Scandal in Brooklyn is only about 40 pages but has enough worldbuilding in it that I'm dying for a follow-up. 

The short story is about California attorney Tommy Diaz meeting up with college friend Irene Adler for a favor: her finally divorcing her Elon-shaped abusive ex. The meeting quickly sweeps the two into a locked door mystery. The mystery is satisfying and I loved the characters. 

TW: Death, mention of Police brutality

Gloves Off by Louisa Reid

So this book was a hard read but it was amazing. If this book interests you, please pay attention to the trigger warnings.  Written in prose, the book follows Lily, a fat 16-year-old girl getting horrifically bullied, and her mother, Bernadette, who after being wrongfully terminated from her job slowly becomes agoraphobic. Lily eventually gets into boxing but this book isn't the "Then the fat person hates themselves, decides to lose weight and all of their probably disappear" book. I don't think I would have respected this book if it had.

This book is about two fat women who spent so much time trying to hide from a fatphobic world and working through their trauma. This book made me cry and cheer. I just wanted to swaddle up my girls and fight the monsters who tried and failed to destroy them 

TW: Blood, violence, bullying, body shaming and fatphobia, medical trauma, physical and emotional abuse, toxic friendship, Homophobia (Particularly against WLW), panic disorders and brief mentions of sexual coercion and suicidal thoughts.

Whan a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare 

It's the classic love story. Girl makes up fake fiancee because she's incredibly awkward, girl writes letters to said fake fiancee who is a Scottish soldier fighting in the current war. Girl then kills off fake fiancee. Girl is at her castle in Scotland when a man shows up with her fake fiancee's name and letters and blackmails her into marrying. You know, that old classic!

This book is another read that had me giggling and yelling in Bri's DMs. (Thank you, Bri!) If you want to get into historical romance, I highly recommend Tessa Dare. She never misses. I loved everything about this book. I love how it walks the line between absurd and realism, I love the side characters, and I love the lobsters. Highly recommend! 

TW:  Abandonment, sexual content, panic disorder, PTSD, brief violence and injury, blood, blackmail, off-page deaths, mentions of war and battle

Welp, those are my faves of 2023. Here's to more reading in 2024, gang!!