Jen sent everyone this link- myyearinbooks.com – so I happily merged in my Goodreads profile and to see what my totals were. As you can see, I am a hopeless romantic who also loves Fantasy and Science Fiction.
My favorite Contemporaries:
You, with a View by Jessica Joyce: See review here.
Come As You Are by Jess K Hardy: See review here.
Happy Place by Emily Henry: See review here.
The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren: See review here.
Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey: See review here.
My favorite Fantasy/PNR/Science Fiction Romance:
The Hanging City by Charlie N. Holmberg: See review here.
Cypress Ashes by Kai Butler: See review here.
Magic Claims by Ilona Andrews: See review here.
The Carnivale of Curiosities by Amiee Gibbs- Check it out on Goodreads here.
Craving in his Blood by Zoey Draven: See review here.
My favorite Historical Romance/Mystery:
In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra Vasti: See review here.
How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julia Anne Long: See review here.
Knockout by Sarah MacLean: See review here.
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles: See review here.
Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller: See review here.
Who Cries for the Lost by C.S. Harris: See review here.
And this one that I’m not sure how to categorize:
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston: See review here.
In between review books I like to dive into Kindle Unlimited and read alien/science fiction romance. Here are a couple of series a glommed this year that I really enjoyed:
Happy New Year’s everyone! Here’s to a wonderful 2024, full of good books, fabulous adventures, and swoony HEAs.
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.
I love year end wrap-ups of favorite books. I also see a couple of books here that have become my favorites after you recommended them. I particularly loved the Zoey Draven book, and am eagerly anticipating the next book in the series. Thanks for another year of great reviews.
That was a fun post, Angela! Here’s to a good year with some great books.
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.