The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

Join 1,707 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death

Adele Buck Why did I love this book?

This book is so very weird in the best possible way. It’s also gritty, unglamorous, tender, and impossibly beautiful.

Death isn’t some grand, scary figure, but rather a bit of a hapless rube. And his love interest Molly is doing the best she can under very trying circumstances. Seeing them come together and carve out a life is both heartbreaking and heart-healing. 

By Maria Vale,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Molly Molloy and the Angel of Death as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


Death needs a do-over.

Azrael--Grim Reaper, Destroyer, Angel of Death--has messed up. Instead of taking Molly Molloy's soul, he accidentally saves her from death by chicken wing. Now this utterly unexceptional waitress at a New York City breastaurant can see him.

Touch him.

Talk to him.

Question him.

Make him doubt.

The Powers that Be are waiting for Death to fix his mistake. But before he can, he makes one more...

He falls in love.


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of System Collapse

Adele Buck Why did I love this book?

If you haven’t ever read the Murderbot Diaries series, boy do I have a treat in store for you.

Murderbot is an android security unit who has hacked its governor module so that it has free will. But it’s basically been doing its job ever since because…what else would it do? Over the course of the series, the sarcastic, anxious, depressed Murderbot grows and changes but never stops being Murderbot at its core.

The latest installation is a meditation on PTSD, trauma, and healing and it’s absolutely fantastic. Series narrator Kevin R. Free also deserves all the awards for his wonderful reading.

By Martha Wells,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked System Collapse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The million-copy, New York Times bestselling Murderbot series is back in another full-length novel adventure!

Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Marry Me by Midnight

Adele Buck Why did I love this book?

If “Gender-flipped Jewish Cinderella story set in London in 1832” doesn’t grab you, well… Okay.

How about the fact that it contains fascinating political machinations within the Jewish community and mostly gentile power structure, a very savvy heroine navigating incredibly difficult business and family circumstances, and a hero who is so kind and loveable that you just want to give him the world’s biggest hug?

All wrapped up in Felicia Grossman’s gorgeous prose.

By Felicia Grossman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Marry Me by Midnight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

London, 1832: Isabelle Lira may be in distress, but she's no damsel. Since her father's death, his former partners have sought to oust her from their joint equity business. Her only choice is to marry-and fast-to a powerful ally outside the respected Berab family's sphere of influence. Only finding the right spouse will require casting a wide net. So she'll host a series of festivals, to which every eligible Jewish man is invited.

Once, Aaron Ellenberg longed to have a family of his own. But as the synagogue custodian, he is too poor for wishes and not foolish enough for…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Fake Flame

By Adele Buck,

Book cover of Fake Flame

What is my book about?

To an observer, hauling a baby grand piano onto a college quad to publicly serenade an ex might seem like a romantic gesture. To literature professor Eva Campbell, it’s the latest manipulative move by a cheating jerk who won’t take a hint. Plus, she never liked that song anyway.

Setting the piano on fire might be an overreaction, but Eva’s at the end of her rope, at least until hot young firefighter Sean Hannigan talks her down. And that’s not all Sean does. Soon he’s offering to be Eva’s fake boyfriend to get her creepy ex off her back. Unexpected, maybe, but there’s something about Sean—beyond the angelic face and take-me-now body—that makes Eva say yes…