Another year is… (you guessed it) IN THE BOOKS!
2023 had some major personal highlights. I traveled. I wrote a fresh manuscript. Oh, and I got married!! Though my honeymoon may have given me some time to unwind and curl up with books, I had a slightly mediocre year in reading.
Or shall I say, my year in books was very mid. My top books, while five-star reads by my standards, aren’t cracking my all-time favorites list. But my bottom tier wasn’t terrible either. I sort of plateaued this year. A lot of books were just fine.
Some of them had points I could nit-pick or areas where they lost points but had redeeming qualities in other regards. One major takeaway is that I achieved over my Goodreads goal of 50 books and felt like I read a good diversity of books (even if it still leaned heavily in romance and fantasy… but I am who I am).
But I love having this list as a reflection of my year, and to see where my reading journey may grow from here.
Without further ado, here’s my ratings and ranking of the books I read in 2023.
Bottom Tier
53. Twisted Love by Ana Huang (3 stars) Contemporary Romance
52. Gild by Raven Kennedy (3 stars) Romantic Fantasy
51. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune (3 stars) Contemporary Romance
50. The Writing Retreat* by Julia Bartz (3 stars) Suspense/Thriller
49. Witcha Gonna Do? by Avery Flynn (3 stars) Romantic Fantasy
48. Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score (3 stars) Contemporary Romance
47. Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco (3 stars) Romantic Fantasy
46. The It Girl* by Ruth Ware (3 stars) Suspense/Thriller
45. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss (3 Stars) Contemporary Romance
44. The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley (3 stars) Contemporary Romance
43. Really Good, Actually* by Monica Heisey (3 stars) Fiction
Middle Ground
42. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (4 stars) Mystery/Suspense
41. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (4 stars) Contemporary Romance
40. Just Like Magic* by Sarah Hogle (4 stars) Romance/Magical Realism
39. A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley (4 stars) Romantic Fantasy
38. Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison (4 Stars) Contemporary Romance
37. Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau * (4 stars) contemporary romance
36. Infinity Reaper* by Adam Silvera (4 stars) YA Fantasy
35. Layla by Colleen Hoover (4 stars) Mystery/Suspense
34. Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco * (4 stars) Romantic Fantasy
33. The Villa* by Rachel Hawkins (4 stars) Mystery/Thriller
32. Practice Makes Perfect* by Sarah Adams (4 Stars) Contemporary Romance
31. Take a Hint, Dani Brown* by Talia Hibbert * (4 stars) Contemporary Romance
30. Crumbs by Danie Stirling (4 Stars) Fantasy Graphic Novel
29. Maybe in Another Life* by Taylor Jenkins Reid (4 stars) Fiction
28. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (4 stars) YA Fantasy
27. Gallant* by V.E. Schwab (4 stars) YA Fantasy
26. It Starts with Us* by Colleen Hoover (4 stars) Contemporary Romance
25. Wrong Place Wrong Time* by Gillian McAllister (4 stars) Mystery/Thriller
24. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow* by Gabrielle Zevin (4 stars) Fiction
23. Infinity Son* by Adam Silvera (4 stars) YA Fantasy
22. Hotel Magnifique* by Emily J. Taylor (4 stars) YA Fantasy
21. The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber (4 stars) YA Fantasy
20. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (4 stars) YA Fantasy
19. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (4 stars) Contemporary Romance
18. The First to Die at the End* by Adam Silvera (4 stars) YA
17. Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
16. Scarlet * by Marissa Meyer (4 stars) YA Science Fiction
15. Cress* by Marissa Meyer (4 stars) YA Science Fiction
14, The Final Gambit* by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (4 stars) YA
Top Tier
13. The Night She Disappeared* by Lisa Jewell (5 stars) Suspense/Thriller
12. Kiss Her Once for Me* by Alison Cochrun (5 Stars) Contemporary Romance
11. Losers: Part I by Harley Laroux (5 stars) Romance
10. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston (5 stars) Paranormal/Romance
9. The Stranger in the Mirror* by Liv Constantine (5 stars) Suspense/Thriller
8. Hell Bent* by Leigh Bardugo (5 stars) Fantasy
7. With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson (5 stars) Contemporary Romance
6. Love on the Brain* by Ali Hazelwood (5 stars) Contemporary Romance
5. Fairy Tale* by Stephen King (5 stars) Fantasy
4. Act Your Age, Eve Brown* by Talia Hibbert (5 stars) Contemporary Romance
3. Winter * by Marissa Meyer (5 stars) YA Science Fiction
2. Cursed by Marissa Meyer (5 stars) Fairytale Retelling
1. Saint by Adrienne Young (5 stars) YA Fantasy
Books Without Rank
The following books I read but could not find the right spot for them in my rankings. It felt too much like rating my favorite fruits and putting a carrot on the list. So instead, I’m going to give them a quick shout-out here.
I decided to not include my two non-fiction reads, though both were very good. In the case of Percy Jackson, I already knew the story and it was hard to separate the nostalgia. Likewise, it felt weird to nestle Shakespeare between the books of Colleen Hoover and Marissa Meyer.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear *
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) by Rick Riordan *
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) by Rick Riordan *
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
DNF
Like always, I have an obligatory list of the books I did not finish. Most often, I start a book and then get distracted and start another book rather than a book being on this list because I didn’t like it. (I’m much more likely to hate-read a book I don’t like in hopes that it gets better or my own masochism).
This year, there weren’t too many books that fell off.
- Abandon by Meg Cabot
- The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee
- These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
- The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
A closer look at my top 5
5. Fairytale by Stephen King
I might have ranked this lower if I’d read a Stephen King book prior to this, but it was my first. It was a fantasy. And I enjoyed it thoroughly. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed that Stephen King makes a voice cameo in the book. Other highlights include several fantasy tropes that I’m absolutely trash for, as well as some clever storytelling, and an ending that is bittersweet yet satisfying.
4. Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
The final book in the Brown Sisters Rom/Com trilogy had the perfect amount of heart, humor, and heat that made this an absolutely delightful read. I accidentally read this one (book 3) prior to the second in the series, and I felt better off. It had fantastic pacing, great characterization, and an approach to topics about mental health and ableism that I found insightful. The other Brown Sisters books were enjoyable, but this one stood out.
3. & 2. Winter and Cursed by Marissa Meyer
Marissa Meyer steals the title of my most-read author of 2023 and it won’t be my last title(s) by this author. I love Meyer’s approach to fairytale retellings and I cherished these books. Both Winter and Cursed are the final books of their respective series and duology and prove that Marissa Meyer knows how to wrap up loose ends and write an oh-so-satisfying ending. Last Year, Meyer’s book 1 Gilded made my top five and though I had to wait for Cursed to come out, it was well worth it.
1. Saint by Adrienne Young
I returned back to the world of the Narrows with this prequel, and I loved this book so much more than Fable. I could feel the author’s love for the characters in the book. It was beautiful storytelling and was nice to look back at a world I already knew through a different window. There was a good amount of tension and suspense, even while knowing how things work out eventually. It is definitely a vibes book, but Adrienne Young transports you to the world of her stories.
Let me know if we’ve read any of the same books in 2023! Click HERE to check out my list from 2022!
Remember, it’s okay if we don’t have the same opinions about these books, heck I could re-rank this list 2 months from now and it could look completely different, just remember to keep on reading!
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