Best of 2023

As the year comes to a close, I am thinking about all the books I've read this year. While there were a lot of excellent books this year  one of my incentives to read this year is that I adopted a rescue dog named Gizmo who loves to cuddle, which makes reading time even more enjoyable.  I thought I'd share some of my favorites books of 2023. Most if them are books that came out in 2023 but there are some goodies that are older. As I am posting this I've read 201 books this year, there are so many good ones! These are just the ones that really stood out to me!

Horror Fiction

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Bluebeards Castle by Anna Billards

Haunting of Alejandra by V Castro

Conjuring the Witch by Jessica Leonard

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Yellow Face

You series by Caroline Kepnes

Other Fiction

Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson 

Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Red Flags by Skye Warren

Romantic Agenda by Clare Kann

Non Fiction

It's Not All Your Fault by Shaton Podonik

101 Books to Read Before You're Ge Murdered by Sadie Hartmann

Hey Hun by Amy Lynn Paulson

Momfluenced by Sara Peterson

Over My Dead Body by Jeffery Archer

Gospel of Wellness by Rina Raphael

Other bookish things of note:

I've been using audiobooks more this past year for a variety of reasons. I've tried multiple platforms but have found that Audible is the most user friendly even though I try to minimize my use of Amazon. LIbby comes in second place for me (you can't beat the cost of a library card)

Nightworms and Feminist Book Club remain my favorite subscription services. However I discovered Romance Happy Hour when I met Dylan Crush at Word Play this year (and have binged her cowboy romance books) Romance Happy Hour is my favorite service I've ever tried for romance novels.

And I feel super spoiled that Other Skies Fiction is close to home for me. It had been in business for a little over a year and is my new favorite bookstore as it specializes in collectable horror fiction.

Concluding thoughts:

Of course, I have a large TBR. I was hoping to read Demon Copperfield, this year's Pulitzer before the year came to an end. I also have many unread books from various places--from Stoker Con, Word Play and bookstores atound the Twin Cities. I swear i am just as addicted to buying books as I am reading them. While working full time sometimes holds me back from taking my literary pursuits even further, freedom with my paychecks to spend money on books is my favorite fringe benefit of working. So many books, so little time!