Hello readers! Today’s post is a bit different than anything I’ve done before. Earlier this month, I started making a very large list of the book communities favorite books from 2023. Some of these came from posts directly named Best Books of 2023 So Far and others came from the best book you’ve read so far question from Mid Year Freak Out Tag posts. Any post that mentioned favorite books or book of the year counted.
Before we go any further, I want to let you know there are affiliate ads within this post for Amazon and Books a Million (BAM).
I randomly selected 15 each from Tik Tok, Bookstagram, Booktube, and even a few from Book Twitter for this list. For bloggers, I added every post I could find to the Google Doc.
Originally, I was only going to do blogger’s posts, but we don’t all tend to read the exact same books like they do on other platforms. I had a really hard time making a list of commonly mentioned books, so I added the first 15 I could find from other platforms to help me out.
For this post, I decided to dig into the books that were mentioned most frequently and read them myself. Firstly, I came across Maame and Yellowface a lot on various lists, but I had already read them.
Two other books that caught my attention multiple times were Truly Yours and Hell Bent. Since I hadn’t read the first book of either series, I skipped over them. Among the numerous sequels that appeared on the Best of 2023 lists, none appeared quite as much as Truly Yours or Hell Bent.
Another fun fact to note is Christina Lauren. Christina Lauren appeared on the list a TON. However, no one could agree on one book! Colleen Hoover was similar. I was sure I would be reading my first Coleen Hoover for this post, but she didn’t make it.
Before going any further, I have to give credit for this idea to Books and Lala on Booktube. The link to two of her posts are in the doc with everyone else’s. I see her doing so many videos that require interacting with other members of the book community’s posts and I love that! I wanted to bring something like that here and hopefully will do more like this in the future.
Below are the 5 books that appeared on posts by the bookish community more than 5 times. I hope you enjoy this post and let me know what you thought of these books if you read them!
You guys want to know some weird coincidences about these 5 books? It’s just a few things I noticed about them while reading. 3 are fantasy romance, which might not be that weird. However, 3 of them have authors named Rebecca, 2 of them have narrators named Rebecca, 2 of them have characters who are from Indiana, but don’t live there anymore, and 2 of these books are narrated by the same person. These 5 random books were more similar than I thought. Reading 3 authors in a row named Rebecca has me confused to this day of which Rebecca is which.
Fourth Wing was by far the book that was mentioned the most, and not just on Booktok. I knew before we even started that this book would be on the list. There has been so much praise on Booktok and so much hate for it on Book Twitter. Despite how polarizing it may be, it holds a strong 4.68 rating on Goodreads.
This was a favorite of; book bloggers Past Midnight, A Take From Two Cities, Chelle’s Book Ramblings and The Book Dutchesses, Bookstagrammers Bambookgal, Samanthainfantasyworld, and tbretc, Booktubers Katie is Reading, Library of a Viking, and Olivia Reads a Latte, and Booktokers Als.bookclub, Callisreadingg, Taschclegg8, Bookishlytaryn, and Groovytas.
Synopsis: Violet Sorrengail, who is twenty years old, is forced into a new life when her mother, a strong and commanding general, tells her to join other aspiring dragon riders. Violet knows that she is at risk of being killed by dragons because she is smaller and more delicate than the others. The competition among the candidates is fierce, and many would not hesitate to get rid of Violet to improve their own chances. Additionally, she is threatened by Xaden Riorson, a powerful and ruthless leader who wants to harm her because of her mother’s influence. To survive, Violet must rely on her intelligence to outwit her enemies. Unfortunately, the war outside is escalating, the protective barriers of the kingdom are weakening, and the death toll is rising. What’s worse, Violet suspects that the leaders are hiding a terrible secret.
My Thoughts: I just knew this book would be on this list before even starting. These books are in order by popularity, not the order that I read them. This was my 2nd book out of the 5. I absolutely LOVED it, which was a relief because I didn’t like the first book I read.
While reading, I searched all over Twitter to find what exactly people didn’t like about it. I genuinely thought it was good all the way through. Does it have cliches? SURE! Cliches are not always a bad thing. They said there wasn’t enough world building or focus on dragons. That it didn’t feel like a fantasy book. I think I read a different book because I don’t agree. There is plenty of information about the world sprinkled through without being too info-dumpy, which is what I love.
I’m also kinda mad that no one talks about this book having disability rep! The MC has Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome.
Also, it isn’t okay that so many people are drawing the main love interest as white when he is not. It’s actually kind of racist.
This book does have a decent amount of smut, for those who are wondering.
If you love fantasy romance books with the enemies to lovers trope, almost bully to lovers TBH, read this book. There are also high stakes trials, dragons, and many other creatures to learn about. If you love SJM books like ACOTAR or Crescent City, I know you’ll love this, too. Book 2 comes out in November, so it’d be the perfect time to read this if you’ve been meaning to. I personally read this one through Libby, so I’m going to buy this one when books two comes out.
The second most popular book mentioned as the best book of 2023 was Happy Place, which holds a 4.18 rating on Goodreads.
Happy Place was a pick from; Book Bloggers Mind Joggle, Your Words My Ink, Lois Reads Books, Fangirl Fury and Alina’s Reads, Booktoker Als.bookclub, Book Tweeters (not sure what they are called) Moona Not Getting Through, Booktuber Gabby Reads, and Bookstagrammers _reenareads, havebookswilltravel and bambookgal.
Synopsis: Harriet and Wyn used to be a perfect couple, but they broke up six months ago without telling their closest friends why. Now, they’re sharing the biggest bedroom at their yearly Maine cottage vacation with their group of friends. This vacation has been a tradition for the past ten years, giving them a break from their normal lives to enjoy good food and company.
But this year is different because Harriet and Wyn are pretending they don’t still have feelings for each other. The cottage is being sold, so this is their last week there together. They don’t want to hurt their friends, so they’re going to act like they always do. Harriet will pretend to be a focused surgical resident who avoids conflicts, and Wyn will act like a laid-back charmer who hides his true feelings. It seems like a perfect plan, although you can only see it’s not from far away and behind sunglasses. After being in love for so long, they hope it won’t be too hard to pretend for just one week, especially in front of their closest friends.
My thoughts: This was the last book I read for the whole post. I honestly didn’t think I’d get it in time. Happy Place was so frustrating to me. Just the way that Harriet was dumped by Wyn without explanation was disrespectful and uncalled for. I know this is a 2nd chance romance, but I was rooting for Harriet to realize her self worth and kick Wyn to the curb. He is trash! If this weren’t a romance, or if the love interest wasn’t her ex-fiance, it would’ve been so much better for me.
I genuinely liked every other character and the rest of the book! Wyn, however, was the actual worst. Someone get Harriet a man who wont mistreat her like that man did!
I like how Emily Henry kind of mixed serious topics into her romances. I’ve read Beach Read from her before, many years ago, and it was the same. They are borderline literary fiction in the backdrop of a romance. I can’t wait to read more from her after this.
Divine Rivals has 4.38 stars on Goodreads, and was listed as a favorite by; Book Bloggers Your Words My Ink and Past Midnight, Bookstagrammers Havebookswilltravel and Beachesnbooks, and Booktokers Book_nerd4200, Groovytas, Bookishlytaryn, and amodelwhosread.
Synopsis: After many years of sleep, the gods are fighting again. But Iris Winnow, who is eighteen years old, only wants to keep her family together. Her mother is struggling with addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Iris’s best chance is to win the promotion to become a columnist at the Oath Gazette. To ease her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them under her wardrobe door, where they disappear—ending up in the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and attractive rival at the newspaper. When he anonymously responds to Iris’s letters, the two of them develop a bond that will accompany Iris all the way to the front lines of the battle: for her brother, the destiny of humanity, and love.
My Thoughts: This was the 3rd book I read for this project and the 3rd author in a row named Rebecca. I really didn’t enjoy it one bit. I was confused from page one and that never changed. This book felt like it was originally a historical romance set in WWII and then the author decided it would be a fantasy book and added the least amount of world building possible last minute.
This book was so slow. I think the first 20-ish chapters could’ve been a prologue and we should’ve started when Iris gets on a train to be a war correspondent. However, in the end, we didn’t get a plot. It was character driven in a way, but I also didn’t feel any connection to them. Sure, sad things happened, but we weren’t connected to any characters enough to actually care.
I know there is magic, but I was so confused as to how it worked. Can the people use magic? I don’t know. I know there is this war with gods and I’m not sure what the people are at war for. None of the characters mentioned being religiously devoted to any god. We never find out who we are fighting and why we are.
I also hated the romance. It was a rivals to lovers that just switched from these two disliking one another to loving one another without any build up. I wasn’t convinced of the romance and didn’t understand how this world worked. For anyone curious, there isn’t any smut in this romance.
I Have Some Questions For You has a pretty decent rating of 3.7 on Goodreads. This book is honestly the only one that would have I would’ve read on my own. I already planned to read this one and none of the others were on my TBR.
This one is a favorite of; Book Bloggers Ivory Owl Reads and Mind Joggle, and Bookstagrammers bookishandbored, bostonbookfanatic, marjiereads, beachesnbooks, and Electric Bokaloo.
Synopsis: Bodie Kane, a successful film professor and podcaster, is trying to move on from her difficult past, which includes a family tragedy and a challenging time at boarding school. However, the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, during their senior year continues to be a topic of online discussion. Although Bodie prefers not to dwell on it, when the Granby School offers her a teaching opportunity, she becomes more entangled in the case. She starts to question whether the authorities overlooked other potential suspects in their rush to convict Omar Evans, the school’s athletic trainer. Is it possible that the real killer is still at large? As Bodie investigates further, she begins to question her own understanding of what happened in 1995.
My thoughts: This was the only one I would’ve read without this post as it was already on my TBR beforehand. Also, it was the first book I read for this whole thing and I hated it. First of all, it’s too long. 400+ pages for a mystery book is not necessary! It could’ve been 100-150 pages shorter for sure.
We learned who the killer was about halfway through and it was separate from the MC’s perspective. It was already so slow before that, but why would I want to keep reading after the killer is revealed? I was hoping for an ending that would blow me away since we were told who the killer was so soon, but the end didn’t have much left to give us. We already knew so much before we got there.
This book does have a lot to say about the ethics of true crime for sure. We can look to Netflix as a big culprit for that one. Of course, they aren’t the only company, but they’re a big one. I heard that the Ted Bundy movie convinces the watcher that he may not even be guilty! I cannot bring myself to watch it. Also, the amount of people romanticizing Jeffrey Dahmer after that show came out is disgusting.
However, we don’t touch on the sexual assualt and student-teacher relationship issue enough. This MC just talks about being assaulted so casually like it’s normal. It didn’t explore these topics enough, even though it was such a huge book for the genre.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries holds a 4.11 on Goodreads. This book popped up so many times and was the one I hadn’t even heard of before.
Encyclopaedia of Fairies was a favorite of; Book Bloggers sfbookreviews, Female Hemingway, Journey Into Books, Booktubers Library of a Viking and Katie is Reading, and Bookstagrammers Marjiereads and Beachesnbooks.
Synopsis: Emily Wilde, a Cambridge professor, is an expert on faeries and is writing an encyclopaedia of faerie lore. Despite her social difficulties, she arrives in the village of Hrafnsvik and encounters her charming academic rival, Wendell Bambleby. As Emily delves into the secrets of the Hidden Ones, she also uncovers a mystery surrounding Wendell and must confront her own feelings.
My Thoughts: This book really was so good. It had everything I wanted from Divine Rivals. It’s set in our world (early 1900s) with a little bit of magic, which was what would’ve made more sense from Divine Rivals.
I have this suspicion that Emily Wilde is autistic after reading this one. She is exactly what an autistic person would be like in a world full of magical creatures. Autistic people have a habit of hyperfixating, which is what Emily does well. She loves learning about all the types of faeries and writing it down.
This book was very light and cozy, but did have some very dark moments. It kinda threw me off guard when something extremely violent would happen! I enjoyed it all, though. I will warn you there is a scene, not too graphic, of a person murdering his own cat.
If you really loved Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (the movie), I know you’ll enjoy this. It gave me that vibe, but a bit more eerie. The fae in this book are very devious and somewhat evil. And, there are a ton of different kinds of fae in this story!
The romance wasn’t much in here. I didn’t think the characters had that much chemistry together, but I will be checking out book 2 for sure. I don’t mind if the romance doesn’t start until later on! Also, no smut, for those wondering.
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