My Top Books Of 2023
In 2023 I feel like I either read books I absolutely loved or books I hated there was very little in-between. These are the books that ABSOLUTELY gripped me from the start and that I couldn’t stop thinking about. These are the books that I would go on Snapchat rants about to one of my friends and books that I gave to friends for Christmas or Birthdays. These are the books that when I’m asked for recommendations I give out before the “Have you read anything good lately” is finished. Most are books I would reread, I think there’s just one I wouldn’t reread and I think you’ll find the reasoning behind that pretty obvious once you go through the list. There shouldn’t be any spoilers here, if there are they’re very minor. There is no reasoning behind the order of the books. I hope you find something here you want to read, I don’t think you’ll regret reading most of them!
Happy Reading
“For someone who loved words as much as I did, it was amazing how often they failed me.”
― M.L. Rio, If We Were Villians
Content warning: Murder, Death, Violence, Suicide, Drug Abuse
This is an Adult Thriller
This was a recommendation from my brother and honestly I’ve got to start listening to him more because this book is SO good I don’t think I have the appropriate vocabulary to articulate it. You’re left guessing from the beginning who committed the murder and even who was murdered. I flew through this one so I'll probably do a reread soon to catch anything I missed!
If We Were Villains opens with the release of Oliver Marks from a 10 year prison sentence for a murder he may not have committed. The detective who put him there is retiring and wants to finally get the truth about what happened that night. The plot flashes back and forth to Oliver as a student at an elite performing arts school specializing in Shakespeare ( you will want to read Shakespeare after reading this). It becomes clear very early on that the seven main characters have pretty set roles in every play they perform : hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. However, when this suddenly changes tensions rise and someone dies everyone else has to try to convince the police that they had nothing to do with it.
can almost guarantee that if you choose to read this book you won’t regret it, you may be slightly emotionally devastated by the end of it but you won’t regret it.
Ok, so this technically isn’t one book it's six but I couldn’t pick just one from this series. I came across Indigo Ridge, which is the first book in this adult romance series, and I was HOOKED. These are all standalone, interconnected novels so while you can read them in any order you will run into spoilers if you read them out of publishing order. There are so many different tropes sprinkled throughout this series for example, Indigo Ridge (the first book) is romance novel meets crime/thriller while Jasper Vale (book four) has the fake marriage trope. None contain a third act breakup which is a trope I don't usually care for. All the Eden books have a cozy, cute, small town in Montana vibe.
I had to actively stop myself from trying to move back to a small town in Wyoming after reading these. This series CONSUMED my life while I was reading them! It is a completed series as well the final book, Sable Peak, was released in December of 2023. Devney Perry, the author, also has a multitude amazing books that I’m starting to work my way through, I'm currently working my way through the Jamison Valley Series, because the book hangover after being immersed in Quincy, Montana is real. Do yourself a favor and read them! These books do contain sexually explicit scenes.
“Boys can break your heart and betray you, but not in the same stinging way girls can.”
― Riley Sager, The Last Time I Lied
Content Warning: Mental illness, Death, Toxic friendship, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Suicide attempt
This is an Adult Mystery/Thriller
The Last Time I Lied is the first book I read by Riley Sager, I've also read, The Only One Left, I plan read more of his books in 2024. My advice, don’t stay up late at night reading this because then you might not be able to sleep. Learn from my mistakes!
The Last Time I Lied focuses primarily on Emma and what happened at a summer camp she attended 15 years ago when her three cabin mates went missing and were never found. Now a successful painter, Emma uses art as a way to almost try to work through was happened incorporating elements from that summer into her paintings. Her paintings are noticed by the same woman who owns Camp Nightingale, who invites Emma to return as the painting counselor ? , teacher? however you would classify it Emma returns to Camp Nightingale and has to confront what happened 15 years ago as history repeats itself and three more girls go missing.
This book really had me theorizing and retheorizing the entire time I was reading it, it also had me jumping whenever my dog made a noise. There’s just something about a summer camp where campers go missing that is just inherently more creepy than some of the other thriller books that I’ve read. This book is creepy, while I would classify the other Riley Sager book I read as dark. He is great at painting these descriptive scenes and moments that make you feel like you’re being pulled into the story. Which is my favorite, I love a book that pulls you in and almost makes you forget that you’re reading and not living it.
“The face you give the world tells the world how to treat you.”
― Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects
Content Warning: Self harm, Child death, Murder,Sexual assault
This is an Adult Mystery/Thriller
I’m so late to the Gillian Flynn party and I honestly don't know why! Somehow I still haven't had Gone Girl spoiled for me, I need to read that soon before it is! I'm pretty sure I said “What in the actual fuck” 12 times while I read this book. Sharp Objects has a really unsettling vibe which makes it all the more creepy.
Sharp Objects opens with the main character, Camille, right after she's been released from a short stay at a psychiatric facility. Camille is a reporter unfortunately receives an assignment to cover an unsolved murder of a young girl and the disappearance of another in her hometown. Her editor hesitates to send her back due to her fragile mental state and her less than ideal relationship with her neurotic mother. There are a lot of moments in this book where Camille trying to come to terms with her upbringing and events from the past. This is an integral part of the plot that adds to the already dark atmosphere. I was quite literally kept guessing until the very end, whenever I thought I had finally figured out what was going on I was thrown another curveball that made me start from scratch.
“Is evil something you are? Or is it something you do?”
― Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho
Content Warning: Murder, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Rape, Animal Cruelty, Racial Slurs, ect
This is an Adult Horror/Thriller
First of all, there aren’t enough content warnings in the world to properly prepare you for the content in this book. I'm talking things I wouldn't have imagined in my darkest dreams. Due to the exceedingly dark nature of this book I recommend reading with caution. I was horrified the majority of the time I was reading it.
American Psycho. I read this without watching the movie. Literally knew nothing about the book and I did not do any research before reading. Don't be like me. I took notes the majority of the time I was reading this book, so if you want to know more of my thoughts and read a more detailed review and evaluation look for that post coming soon. There is so much to unpack from this book
American Psycho follows Patrick Bateman, a 26 year old man, who is described to be charming, attractive, sophisticated, successful, intelligent person. He’s also a psychopath, which you could infer from the title of the book. This book… I am still thinking about this book MONTHS after reading it. Due to its nature I would hesitate to say I enjoyed reading it or even liked reading it, because like I said above I was horrified most of the time I was reading it. American Psycho I think affected me and the majority of other people who read it so strongly because it is so well written. You really are put into the mind of the main character and there are moments when you don't know what's real and what's a delusion, adding to the overall disturbing nature of the book. I had to put this book down and take a break multiple times while reading because of the content. I still think about so many of the scenes in this book almost every day, and a lot of times at night which is unfortunate for my sleeping habits. Overall I think the book is fascinating and there's a lot that can be learned from it!
“One of these days I may join you for a run… That is a blatant lie.”
― Janice Hallett, The Appeal
Content Warnings: Cancer, Murder, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction,Sexual assault, Rape
This is an Adult Crime/Mystery/Thriller
This book was another gift/recommendation from my brother. I wasn’t kidding when I said I need to start taking more of his recommendations. This is an epistolary novel, so the story is told primary through documents and written communication. Like texts, transcripts of conversations, emails, etc.. This isn’t usually a style of book I like but this one was really captivating.
This book is essentially two law interns acting as a fresh set of eyes in the days leading up to a murder trial, trying to read between the lines of all of the communication that happened in the days prior to a murder. The characters are all members of a theatre troupe. They’re in the middle of rehearsals when the directors very young granddaughter is diagnosed with cancer. Immediately everyone involved with the play comes together to help raise money for experimental treatment. However, as we continue some people start asking questions about the diagnoses, treatment, and the intentions of the people involved. Tensions rise until someone turns up dead. After an initial arrest is made the legal team involved start questioning if they arrested the right person, or if the murderer has been hiding in plain sight the entire time.
Due to the fact that this story is told through written communication and not actual dialogue it is incredibly difficult to really get the the full picture of events, especially the ones told from different point of views. There really isn’t a reliable narrator in my opinion due to this. One thing to know about me is I love an unreliable narrator. I was jumping to conclusions left and right as I was reading, every time I got a new nugget of information I thought I knew exactly what happened. This is the only book I’ve read by this author but I’m excited to read more this year
“Wild birds die in cages.”
― Katherine Arden, The Bear And The Nightingale
Content Warning: Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry ,Misogyny, Child death, Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape
This is an Adult Fantasy/Retelling
This was my first book by Katherine Arden and it definitely won't be my last! The Bear and the Nightingale is a retelling of a Russian folktale/fairytale. I just found this one so refreshing, I feel like recently when I go to read a retelling it’s kind of the same three retellings, either Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Beauty and The Beast, and while I love those this was a nice change of pace. This is a trilogy and I haven’t read the other two yet but I am absolutely going to this year.
The Bear And The Nightingale is set in what is essentially the edge of the Russian wilderness. Just far enough away from the main cities that the people here still practice the “old ways” such as leaving out offerings for household spirits that do things like keeping the embers from dying out on a cold winter night or keeping milk or food from spoiling. Vasilisa, our main character loves nothing more than curling up in front of the fire with her siblings and listening fairytales told to them by their nurse. When Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. She prevents Vasilisa’s family from honoring their household spirits and while her family and soon enough the entire village complies, Vasilisa fears taking this away will cause more harm than anyone knows. Soon enough she finds out she was right to be afraid. It soon falls to Vasilisa, the only one left who really believes to save everyone from a threat straight out of her nurses most horrifying tales.
I was absolutely bewitched by this book. There's just something so magical and so almost back to basics fantasy about it. This book reminds me of the fantasy books I originally fell in love with when I was younger so there was also something almost nostalgic about it. It would be a great book to read in the winter. I read it in the summer which probably made it a little less magical, it’s one of the reasons why I haven’t read the other two yet, but I absolutely plan to now that it’s cold out
Well, that's it! These were the books from 2023 that really stood out to me and that I couldn't stop thinking about! If you choose to read one I hope you love it as much as I did!
Happy Reading!
