As we're winding down to the final days of 2023, I thought it would be fun to look back at the books we read this year and list our favorites. I tasked Hellie and Santa with giving me the titles of their five favorite reads then tried to do it myself and - wow - not easy! There were some great books this year that touched me in a variety of ways. But that's a good thing, right? I hope you all had a similar reading experience.
Here are the books that made us smile during 2023. If a book listed was reviewed here at The Romance Dish, the title will be highlighted. Click on it to read the full review.
Hellie:
Three Holidays & a Wedding: This one and Much Ado About Nada, same author (Uzma Jalauddin), are probably my favorite-favorites of the books I read this year. The author is just perfection. Lots of laughter and all of the feels.
Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalauddin
Read on my own, which features a lot more mysteries than I review on site:
A Sinister Revenge: The Veronica Speedwell series (Deanna Rayborne) is my favorite find of 2022 and the newest episode delivered as much as the rest.
All the Victoria Thompson Gaslight mysteries: so once I ran out of Veronica Speedwell, I floundered in a desert of reading material until I found these—and then I read them (there are like 25+) all too fast. Very depressing reading-wise (back in the desert), but what a wonderful set of stories. LOVE! (I believe the newest one is Murder on Bedford Street, but I read them all this year so I'm counting them as one item.)
All the Victoria Thompson Counterfeit Lady mysteries: I wasn’t sure I’d like these (though I already loved the author) because the heroine is a grifter—and I don’t like my heroines to be too…flawed (if you will). Not a fan of heroes who are cat-thieves either, come to think of it. Anyway…I was wrong. This series is HILARIOUS, filled with lots of historical detail, always a compelling mystery, and possibly even better than the Gaslight mysteries. Newest one is City of Fortune, I think, but again, read all of them this year, but they're a set and you need to read them all.
Santa:
Here are my favorite books of 2023, They are not in any specific order except for the first one and, surprising no one, most of them are historical!
How To Tame A Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long. Stellar.
A Kiss In The Moonlight by Cathy Maxwell. She never misses.
Never Seduce A Duke by Viviene Lorett. Banter on point always.
PJ:
Okay, I tried to narrow it down to five but, I'm sorry, it was impossible. And I had to include some honorable mentions because they were just that good. This was a very good year for books! My favorite book of the year was How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long. The other titles are listed in no particular order. They were all fabulous.
Julie Anne Long paints pictures with words like no other author I have ever read. Composers create stunning, immersive, soul-stirring masterpieces that send our souls into flight. Long does it with words. They challenge, entice, anger, seduce, empower, excite. They swirl her characters - they swirl me - into an emotional maelstrom then deposit all of us, still, spent, changed, in the gentle swirl of waves lapping the shore in sunset's lambent light. That is the power - and the beauty - of this book.
This story is, in a word, enchanting. Other words also come to mind: immersive, uplifting, magical, welcoming, all-encompassing, romantic, transformative. I lost myself completely in these characters and their story, especially Harlow. I'm firmly convinced the Hacienda Estrada is in full bloom south of the border. J.C. Cervantes brought it, and her characters, vividly to life with exquisitely detailed descriptions that encouraged layers of visceral feelings within me to the surface. This was not just a reading; it was an experience.
An intensely compelling thriller that kept me reading into the wee hours of the night. With intriguing characters, edge-of-the-seat suspense, impeccably placed humor, emotional depth, and more twists than a two-lane mountain road, there was no way I was going to be able to put this one down until I turned the final page. If you enjoy twisty suspense, action, heart-tugging romance, quirky characters, and unexpected laughter, add this book to your reading list.
I gobbled up this book like a bag of Peanut M&M's after a 40-day fast. Would I want to be part of this dysfunctional (dare I say, murderous?) family of con artists in real life? Absolutely not! But, in the capable hands of HelenKay Dimon, and a fictional story I happily immersed myself in, I couldn't get enough of them. Moorewood Family Rules is quirky, twisty, cringey, laugh-out-loud fun.
Royal Caleva: Gabriel by Nancy Herkness
If you enjoy fast-paced books brimming with danger, emotional turmoil, mystery, heart-tugging romance, and complex characters you can't help but root for, do not miss Royal Caleva: Gabriel, book one of a new series by Nancy Herkness. I couldn't put it down and these characters - especially Gabriel - are still lingering in my mind months after I turned the final page.
Sleep No More may be the title of this Jayne Ann Krentz novel but it was also what happened to me once I turned to the first page and began reading. Krentz plunged me straight into the heart of the pulse-pounding action of this story and had me completely hooked before I reached page ten. And then she kept me hooked, guessing how it would all turn out, through unexpected twists and turns right up until the final scene. There would be no sleep for me until all of my questions were answered!
Honorable Mention:
Because they're too good to not be mentioned and I still think about them...
What were your favorite 2023 reads?
Three randomly chosen people who post a comment by 11:00 PM, December 30 will each receive a print book from my giveaway stash.
*U.S. only
*Must be 18
