Author Ghost survivor Lake lover Hiker Former PIO
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 The Winter People

Julia Ash Why did I love this book?

I love books where the answers to a contemporary, supernatural mystery need to be unearthed from the past.

McMahon is gifted in this approach to storytelling. The Winter People is a great example. The tragedies which plagued Sara Harrison Shea were documented in her discovered 1908 diary, minus some crucial missing pages.

Despite Sara being taught by a sorceress how to raise the dead, violent death struck her own loved ones like a rabid evil curse. Today, a new family lives in the farmhouse which was once Sara’s. Now, Ruthie’s mother can’t be found. With time running out, can Ruthie find Sara’s lost diary pages, rescue her mother, and satiate the evil before more lives are lost?

Count on avoiding closets at night! Caves, too!

By Jennifer McMahon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Winter People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of The Invited will shock you with a simmering psychological thriller about ghostly secrets, dark choices, and the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters. • "One of the year's most chilling novels." —The Miami Herald

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter.
 
Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her…


My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Daughters of the Lake

Julia Ash Why did I love this book?

Webb uses dreams and ghosts to bridge a historical mystery with present-day events.

Take recently divorced Kate Granger. Her life is a mess, so she is recuperating at her parents’ waterfront home on Lake Superior. While there, a perfectly preserved woman, with her baby tucked in the folds of her gown, washes ashore. Kate shouldn’t recognize her, but she does.

She’s been dreaming of the woman who lived 100 years ago. Not only that, but the woman’s unsolved murder is connected to Harrison’s House which Kate’s great-grandfather built; it’s now her cousin’s bed and breakfast.

Will Kate’s dreams and the secrets hidden within Harrison’s House solve the mystery before Kate completely unravels?

Count on being afraid of the fog!

By Wendy Webb,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Daughters of the Lake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The ghosts of the past come calling in a spellbinding heart-stopper from the "Queen of the Northern Gothic."

After the end of her marriage, Kate Granger has retreated to her parents' home on Lake Superior to pull herself together-only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed into the shallows. Tucked in the folds of the woman's curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She's seen her before. In her dreams...

One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of The Haunting of Ashburn House

Julia Ash Why did I love this book?

Coates uses rituals carved in wooden furniture and penned on walls to intertwine the past with the present.

In this nail-biting story, 22-year-old Adrienne is nearly homeless. When her deceased Great Aunt Edith, whom Adrienne didn’t even know existed, wills her a dilapidated mansion, Adrienne thinks her prayers have been answered. Turns out, the carvings inside Ashburn House aren’t idle etchings.

If the rituals spelled out aren’t followed, the evil which slaughtered an entire family will awaken. Unfortunately, Adrienne’s learning curve isn’t helping.

Will she catch on before she and her beloved cat fall victim to what lurks in the darkness.

Count on buying a supply of candles and covering your mirrors!

By Darcy Coates,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Haunting of Ashburn House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From USA Today bestseller and rising queen of atmospheric horror Darcy Coates comes a haunting story of intrigue, misery, and fear. There's something wrong with Ashburn House...
Everyone knows about Ashburn House. They whisper its old owner went mad, and restless ghosts still walk the halls. They say it's the dwelling place of something cruel and sinister. But when Adrienne-desperate and in need of a place to stay-inherits the crumbling old mansion, she only sees it as a lifeline... until darkness falls.
Strange messages are etched into the walls. Furniture moves when she leaves the room. There's something here-something powerful,…


Plus, check out my book…

Find Them

By Julia Ash,

Book cover of Find Them

What is my book about?

Find Them appeals to fans of Jennifer McMahon, Wendy Webb, and Darcy Coates. Through diaries, ghosts, and etched messages, the mystery behind Isabelle Taylor’s 1955 disappearance might finally be resolved. 

The story centers around lot 16, which was never to be sold. Generations pass, and the estate’s directive is finally overturned. The rural 30-acre parcel is perfect for Nora and Dex. They’ll escape city life, work remotely, and start a family. Only, their idyllic sanctuary becomes anything but. Isabelle’s ghost haunts the land, refusing eternal rest until Nora finds clues to her unsolved mystery. Clues, hidden for 70 years. Will Nora find them before the ghost’s vengeance turns deadly?

Count on sleeping with the lights on and buying a supply of salt!