Author Word wizard Reader Educator Life-long learner Caped crusader
The best books of 2023

This list is part of the best books of 2023.

We've asked 1,608 authors and super readers for their 3 favorite reads of the year.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

My favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Small Town Monsters

Frank Morelli Why did I love this book?

Diana Rodriguez Wallach displays a masterful grip on her third-person narrator, adeptly bouncing back and forth between the lives of her two main characters, Vera and Max, while slowly and deliciously revealing both their troubled pasts and their growing obsession with each other.

The closer they get to each other, the farther they find themselves thrust into a world from which they don’t belong, a world that is hopelessly marred by death, darkness, and the merciless clutches of evil.

This book is a headlong dive into the world of cults and the occult, armed with more terrifying twists and turns than a roller coaster ride through the actual Pet Cemetary.

By Diana Rodriguez Wallach,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Small Town Monsters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

The Conjuring meets The Vow! This is the terrifying story of a girl, a dark angel, and the cult hellbent on taking over her small, coastal town.

Vera Martinez wants nothing more than to escape Roaring Creek and her parents' reputation as demonologists. Not to mention she's the family outcast, lacking her parents' innate abilities, and is terrified of the occult things lurking in their basement.

Maxwell Oliver is supposed to be enjoying the summer before his senior year, spending his days thinking about parties and friends. Instead he's taking care of his little sister while his mom slowly becomes…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Code Name: Serendipity

Frank Morelli Why did I love this book?

Amber Smith’s first-person narrator, fifth grader Sadie Mitchel-Rosen, will warm your heart from the opening page of this book.

Struggling to grasp the impact of a newly diagnosed learning difference and a grandfather with dementia, Sadie befriends a stray pup named Dewey and quickly forms a telepathic relationship with her furry friend that helps her save his life while also strengthening her own familial bonds.

If you’ve ever formed an everlasting attachment to one of your fur babies, you’ll most definitely love this book.

By Amber Smith,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Code Name as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Fans of Katherine Applegate, Holly Goldberg Sloan, and Lynda Mullaly Hunt will love New York Times bestselling author Amber Smith’s heartwarming middle grade debut about family, friendship, and the magic connection between a girl and her dog.

Eleven-year-old Sadie’s school year is off to an awful start. Her best (and only) friend has moved away, her older brother is a jerk (as always), and her beloved Gramps is having more and more trouble keeping his memories straight. But when she comes across a stray dog, she discovers something wonderful and magical—she and the dog, Dewey, are able to communicate telepathically.…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Hundred Choices Department Store

Frank Morelli Why did I love this book?

This book provides readers with an authentic window through which they can peer into the life experienced during WWII-ravaged Korea, as seen through Miyooki.

In Miyooki, Park creates a narrator who explodes off the page as a rebellious thirteen-year-old witness and survivor of the traumas of war. Miyooki's unique perspective highlights the full range of her experience in three distinct stages, life before wartime; life under the Japanese occupation of her homeland; and life as the war ends and the Russian military moves in to collect the spoils.

The novel's concise length is another key feature that makes it extremely digestible for classroom study. This is a thought-provoking and culturally important work of literature for students in middle school and above.

By Ginger Park,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Hundred Choices Department Store as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It’s 1944. The Pangs own The Hundred Choices Department Store, a thriving business in northern Korea that caters to wealthy Japanese. Thirteen-year-old Miyook Pang has spent two years serving in the war effort on behalf of Japan during the Japanese Occupation of her country. Miyook endures exhaustion and illness, but only when she is sent to work in the dreaded dye factory – a place deemed Hell’s Chamber by her older brother, Hoon - does she experience spiritual death. It is here where she meets Song-ho, an orphaned boy, and unbeknownst to her, the brief encounter will prove fateful. When…


Plus, check out my book…

Breaking News

By Frank Morelli,

Book cover of Breaking News

What is my book about?

Things don’t usually come to a screeching halt at the RAT, also known as Ridgewood Arts & Technical School, Ridgewood City’s most prestigious institution. But that’s what happens when Headmistress Hardaway interrupts class and announces, “A scandal has rocked the fundraising committee!”

Everyone’s a suspect, and Hunter Jackson, a student council special investigator, vows to root out the student who’s heartless enough to steal donation money. He’s not alone. Ridgewood Roar news editor Anthony Ravello and indie-press pioneer Liberty Lennon plan to do some digging to scoop the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to their faithful readers.

With the story getting murkier by the day, Liberty and Anthony race to unmask the classmate responsible for the missing funds.