It’s finally time to share my Best Books of 2023, and I couldn’t be more excited to shine one last light on my favorite reads of the year! (I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday.) As usual, I will start with my top 5 books, followed by everything else I loved, broken down by genre. Yes, it’s more than ten, but it was a really good year for books. Here we go! (clicking on the titles will take you to my reviews)
This first category is always the hardest to figure out. I gave twelve books a full five star rating in 2023, and having to narrow my top five down from twelve was extremely difficult. I finally narrowed my list to five books that surprised me, entertained me, made me cry and most importantly, books that reminded me why I love to read:
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus. The nitty-gritty: A heartbreakingly beautiful story with an unrelenting sense of danger, Whalefall surprised me in every possible way.
The September House by Carissa Orlando. The nitty-gritty: Beware the month of September, when the ghosts come out and the walls bleed, in this outstandingly creepy and heartfelt story about coping with all of life’s challenges.
Dreambound by Dan Frey. The nitty-gritty: A skillfully constructed story-within-a-story full of emotion, tension and magic, Dreambound is one of my favorite books of the year.
Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison. The nitty-gritty: An unexpected and bloody homecoming awaits the protagonist of Black Sheep, Rachel Harrison’s latest, a thoroughly entertaining surprise of a story.
The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird by Louisa Morgan. The nitty-gritty: Ghosts, family trauma and close-knit relationships make Louisa Morgan’s latest a delightfully nuanced and layered story.
And the rest of the best…
Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine | Lone Women by Victor LaValle | Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig | Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi | How To Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix | Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie | Maeve Fly by C.J. Leede | A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher | Schrader’s Chord by Scott Leeds
The Endless Vessel by Charles Soule | The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei | Descendant Machine by Gareth L. Powell | Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey | These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs | Hel’s Eight by Stark Holborn | The Ferryman by Justin Cronin | Calamity by Constance Fay
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett | Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher | Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree | Gods of the Wyrdwood by R.J. Barker | The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers | Salt & Broom by Sharon Lynn Fisher | Claws and Contrivances by Stephanie Burgis | Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
We may have only one common book among my Top 10, but there are many of the books I enjoyed on your list
Weyward was so good. The two T. Kingfisher books were wow. Bookshops and Bonedust was a joy. I’m so glad some of our tastes align though I rarely read horror unlike you
I did read a ton of horror this year, now that I look back on my reading!
Fantastic lists Tammy. We have a lot of cross overs.
I loved Black Sheep. Hopefully my review will be up soon.
Fingers crossed for a great reading year in 2024.
Lynn 😀
Thanks Lynn. I’m looking forward to your review of Black Sheep.
We share Claws and Contrivances on our lists 😉 I clearly need to get on The Deep Sky. Your list the second I’ve come across it.
Annemieke @ A Dance with Books recently posted…My 23 of 2023 | Best Of | Top Ten Tuesday 413
I hope you get to read The Deep Sky:-)
I’m currently reading A House with Good Bones and am loving it so far! And very excited to read How to Sell a Hunted House this year.
Oh cool, I just love T. Kingfisher:-)
I also loved How to Sell a Haunted House, Fourth Wing, Weyward and What Lies in the Woods!
They were all amazing:-)
The Ghosts of Beatrice Bird looks great.
And Fourth Wing has been by far the most popular pick this week from what I’ve seen!
Lydia recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books of 2023
Fourth Wing is on so many lists!
We have several in common this year! Whalefall made my best of the best list too — just so weird and unlike anything else, and impossible to forget. Seeing your list makes me realize that I forgot to include Black Sheep, which is purely an oversight — I did love it! So many great books in 2023… here’s hoping for lots more in 2024!
It’s hard to remember everything, especially with the amount of books you read!
Such a great list! I loved A House with Good Bones and Fourth Wing, and I’ve got several other titles on my TBR too. And I really, really want to read The September House! Love that it’s on your top five!
Haze @ The Book Haze recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday | Favorite Books of 2023
I hope you get to read The September House, it’s going to stay with me for a long time:-)
I loved so many books on your list. Episode Thirteen made it to my list of favorites of the year. I also enjoyed How to Sell a Haunted House, A House with Good Bones, The Seven Year Slip, Thornhedge, Bookshops and Bonedust, and Fourth Wing.
Here is my TTT post
Sofia @ Bookish Wanderess recently posted…The Best Books I Read in 2023
I’m glad we had so many books in common!
You have a lot of great ones on your list. It’s so cool to see Episode Thirteen make your list – it definitely deserves all the love it can get!
Yes, it was so good!
Whalefall is one I have got to read! Heard so many good things! I liked The Seven Year Slip as well. And that Maeve Fly cover is always so creepy when I see it!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…Top 10 of 2023 – Best of the Best (Favorite Books)
I wish more people would read Whalefall:-) I think because it’s a smaller publisher and didn’t get enough marketing.
I’ve read or plan to read some books from all of your categories except horror. I’d love to have you share your list with our Top 10 last week since you have more diverse genre without a romance focus.
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Top 10 Your Choice #Top10of2023 #Top10 @SnyderBridge4 @sophiarose1816
As you know I linked up with your Top 10, thanks Anne:-)
It made me smile to see The Ferryman on this list! I really liked it too, and haven’t seen it in many places.
Kristi recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Top Reads from 2023
I haven’t either, but I thought it was so unique:-)
I am so happy that Fourth Wing, Emily Wilde and What Lies in the Woods are on your list Tammy!
Me too, they were all SO good:-)
I really enjoyed The September House , What Lies in the Woods and Fourth Wing, too! Great list! Here’s my TTT:
https://wavesoffiction.blogspot.com/2024/01/favorites-of-2023-part-1.html
I’m glad we had so many good books in common:-)
I also loved Fourth Wing and The Seven Year Slip. They were so good!
They were so good! I’m looking forward to Ashley Poston’s next book, although I’m not sure if there’s one coming out soon or not.
I haven’t read any of these but a lot of them sound amazing! I’m glad you loved them so much! Happy 2024!
Jenni Elyse recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #43
Thanks Jenni, happy 2024!
Like my TBR wasn’t already long enough 😉 Think my favourite of the year was maybe … urm… hmm. There’s a question!!
calypte recently posted…2023: A year in tv
LOL I know what you mean;-)
I can’t believe that I’ve only read one of these books so far. Emily Wilde and Fourth Wing are must reads for me this year though. And I really hope to check out some of T. Kingfisher’s work too. I’m glad you found so many favourites within 2023, hopefully 2024 will bring even more your way.
Definitely check out Kingfisher if you can. She has so many great books!
So many good looking books here, 2023 looks to have been a great reading year. I’ve only read one of them but there are a number of others I hope to, and I just started the first Baldree book.
I’m looking forward to your thoughts on Legends and Lattes. I’d love to get to it this year, but as of now it’s not on the “list.”
Fantastic criteria, of your top give I completely agree with that for The September House and Dreambound and Black Sheep. Each of those books had something very special that surprised me!
Exactly, I love being surprised in a good way, and those are the books that usual stick with me:-)
Black Sheep and Encyclopedia of faeries are two I can’t WAIT to read.
Greg recently posted…The Sands of Time 70
I hope you get to read them. Black Sheep is WILD.
Excellent selections!
Thanks!
Fun list! Looks like you had a lot of great reads!
Stormi recently posted…Week in Review #65 ~ Happy New Year!
It was a really good reading year:-)
Again, I find myself just wanting to bookmark your post so I can come back and read straight from it. So many great sounding books. Many of these are on my wish list or TBR. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries made my list too. I really love it and look forward to reading the second book. I hope you have a great year in books this year!
Thanks Wendy! I’m currently reading the Emily Wilde sequel and loving it too:-)
I’ve heard good things about THE DAUGHTERS OF BLOCK ISLAND. I’m definitely going to check it out!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I think you’d love it, Susan, enjoy!
Wow, so many amazing books!! I loved These Burning Stars and Fourth Wing, and I hope to read Infinity Gate this year!!
The sequel to Infinity Gate comes out this year so you can catch up!
Looks like you had some great reads in 2023.
Seeing Salt & Broom reminds me I have that on my TBR list, and I’d like to read The Daughters of Block Island too 😀
I hope you enjoy it!
I want them all! LOL Whalefall has me so curious.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Canada’s Kiddie Geography And History In ABC’s… by Marena Woodsit ~ Exclusive Excerpt And Giveaway
It’s so good, I hope you can read it!
I need to recheck these scifi, though The Ferryman was a big disappointment for me.
Here are my 3 posts (you will see the 2 other links at the top of this one):
my favorite books, my stats, and fun with titles:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/01/01/year-of-reading-2023-part-1-my-top-26-books/
Happy New Year of reading!
Emma @ Words And Peace recently posted…Year of reading 2023 part 3
Happy 2024, Emma!
Oh man. There are so many on your list I’d like to read this year, so fingers crossed that I get to Whalefall, Lone Women, and These Burning Stars. I’m still working through Gods of the Wyrd Wood.
All three of those are excellent, but Whalefall and Lone Women you need to read for sure:-)
What a fantastic list and group of books! The only one of your top five that I’ve read The September House and I also loved it, and I’ve been really wanting to read all of the others, so this is only encouraging me to get to them, haha. Maeve Fly and A House with Good Bones were also excellent, as well as Thornhedge and Emily Wilde! It looks like you had a really great year with all of these on your list, and I can now use this to help me fill out my 2024 TBR, lol! 🙂
It was a really good year:-)
A few of these are on my TBR list, so I’m glad you liked them. I’m looking forward to reading more fantasy this year.
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…Best Books Of 2023
Good luck with your reading!
I just posted my top 23 in 2023 on instagram last night and we have several books in common. The Seven Year Slip, On the Savage Side, and Fourth Wing. I also really enjoyed Bookshops and Bonedust and Black Sheep.
Glad you found so many wonderful books and ones that affected you so much! I love the cover for Dreambound, and I like tension, emotion, and magic, so maybe I should try that one!
Kit @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Review: Half Wild (The Half Bad Trilogy Book 2) by Sally Green [Audiobook]
Whoaaaaa you got a lot of comments on this post!!! I’m not surprised at all to see Dreambound in your list. I remember your review for it and could tell how much you really liked it. I even requested it on NG after your review, though I later retracted it because I just had too much other stuff to read. Cheers to a good year of reading!
Celeste | A Literary Escape recently posted…Anticipated First Quarter Book Releases in 2024
I love that T Kingfisher has top reads in both fantasy and horror! NETTLE & BONE was one of my favourite reads of 2023 but perhaps those two would have made the cut as well if I’d read them 🙂 I hope to check out both of those titles in 2024. THE SEPTEMBER HOUSE is one book I’m taking away from a few folks’ wrap ups as a must read, so I’ll have to prioritize that as well in 2024.
Jenna @ Falling Letters recently posted…The Bellwoods Game by Celia Krampien [MG Review]