It’s that time of year again. The time where we come together and look over the books that we’ve read over the course of 2023 and list our favorites. Today’s list will include all of our favorite books of 2023. Join us for a week of reflecting on our favorite books, authors, and series.
Casee
Pretend You’re Mine (Benevolence #1) by Lucy Score: This book was everything to me. It was so angsty, but it didn’t go over the top to where I felt like I couldn’t read it. Harper and Luke were just everything I love in a romance. It was spectacular.
A Trial by Blood (The Thornheart Trials #3) by Sherilee Gray: This book is part of one of my #1 series of 2023. I love the witchy aspect of these books. Rose and Ronan had to fight so hard for their chance, but they got it.
Winter’s Awakening (Warlords of Empyrea #2) by Georgia Lyn Hunter: Honestly, I don’t remember much about this book, just the good feeling that you remember when you do think of it. I do remember the hero was really amazing.
When He’s Sinful (Olympus Pride #3) by Suzanne Wright: Oh, Camden. I adore Camden. I adore Aspen and Camden. I could literally read this book (or listen to it) over and over again.
Omens (Dark in You #6) by Suzanne Wright: Khloe was so annoyingly lovable and I just adored how Keenan handled her and all her craziness. Honestly, I could also read this one (or listen to it) over and over again.
Honorable Mentions: The Price of Scandal by Lucy Score, Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout #1) by Lucy Score, Burn (Dark in You #1) by Suzanne Wright.
Holly
The Faceless Mage (Legends of Abreia #1) by Kenley Davidson: This was a new-to-me author that I found via Kindle recommendations. I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of The Bridge Kingdom. I was invested from page one.
Protecting What’s Mine (Benevolence #3) by Lucy Score: I really loved everything about this book; the small town setting, the trauma both MCs were dealing with, the found family aspect. I liked the rest of the series, but this is my favorite of the three.
Magic Claims (Kate Daniels: The Wilmington Years #2) by Ilona Andrews: It’s a Kate Daniels book by Ilona Andrews. Need I say more? Of course not, but I will anyway. I’ve been waiting for Kate to take the gloves off for years. I CANNOT WAIT to see where things go from here.
Body Check (Blades Hockey #4) by Maria Luis: This was another new-to-me author. Unfortunately, other books I read by her after this didn’t work for me, but I really loved this reunited lovers story.
Guardian of Torment (Nyx Fortuna #4) by Michelle Manus: This is such a great series. I came to it late, but I still feel like I had to wait forever for this book. I love the direction things are heading and I really love Nyx.
Honorable Mentions: When He’s Torn (Olympus Pride #5) by Suzanne Wright, The Price of Scandal by Lucy Score, Hunted (Dark in You #9) by Suzanne Wright.
I divided my list of favorite books of 2023 into two categories: books published in 2023 and books published in a prior year but that I read for the first time in 2023. Regardless of publication date, a beautifully written emotional-nuanced journey with angsty complications and a splash of melancholy will get me every time.
Favorite books published in 2023:
DIAMOND RING by KD Casey: beautifully written m/m baseball romance about a pitcher and a catcher who fall in love their first season playing together in the major leagues but then fall apart when a misplaced pitch/catch loses their team the World Series. Ten years later they are reunited. Is the spark—professional and romantic—still there? An absolutely lovely book about baseball, love, and life.
TEN THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED by Alexis Hall. Hall’s best book since FOR REAL is full of snarky English humor, big feelings, sharp-eyed asides, found family, Christmas preparations, falling in love, and facing the sadness of a past that cannot be changed. Marvelous on every level.
I’M YOUR GUY by Sarina Bowen: m/m romance between a professional (and closeted) hockey player and the interior designer he hires to decorate and furnish his new house. Smoothly written with recurring characters and themes that eventually come full circle. Not since Cait Nary’s SEASON’S CHANGE has there been a book that so thoroughly addresses the complexities of coming out in a professional sport.
SOMETHING WILD & WONDERFUL by Anita Kelly: lovely and lyrical story of two men who meet and fall in love while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail; but each man will have to decide how much to risk their heart. Gorgeous descriptions of the trail terrain and perceptive insights about loss, love, and life.
ROLE PLAYING by Cathy Yardley: a cozy, warm hug of a book, despite addressing some serious topics, about two older people who initially meet on-line as players in a video game, but then progress to friendship and love.
REBEL AT HEART by Zoe York: lovely and melancholy story of regrets and missed opportunities as a mechanic who once had aspirations to be a race car driver discovers that he was never divorced from the woman he’d impulsively married years before. York writes a seriously hot book that still faces squarely how we have to let go of the past in order to move forward.
CINDERELLA AND THE OUTBACK BILLIONAIRE by Kelly Hunter: a man whose self-piloted helicopter crashes during a dust storm is rescued and kept alive by a botanist who was in the area documenting native plant species. One of the best-written books of the year, with vivid descriptions of the Australian Outback and nuanced character development. Multiple cuts above the standard HP.
Favorite books published in a prior year:
SEASON’S CHANGE by Cait Nary (published in 2022): slow-burn between professional hockey players whose relationship develops over a season while they are both teammates and roommates. Excellent mental health and bisexuality representation.
UNWRITTEN RULES by KD Casey (published in 2021): Incredibly well-written m/m baseball romance about a professional player who feels isolated by his religion (Judaism), his hearing loss, and his deeply closeted sexuality, and what happens when he falls for a teammate. Casey’s beautifully weaves the intricacies of baseball into the fabric of a romance with meticulous finesse.
Happy new year all! Some of my favorites ~
— Lucky by Gigi DeGraham
— To Shape a Dragon’s Breath: The First Book of Nampeshiweisit by Moniquill Blackgoose
— Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
— Some of It Was Real by Nan Fischer
— Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
— Divinity 36: Tinkered Starsong by Gail Carriger
Some favorite rereads included The Book of Firsts plus Four Kings by Karan K Anders; the Touchstone series by Andrea K Höst; Michelle Diener’s Class 5 series; books by Nathan Lowell; Linesman series by S. K. Dunstall; The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison; and more.