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 The Do-Over

Kathleen Basi Why did I love this book?

Sharon M. Peterson’s The Do-Over is hilarious, and don’t we all need hilarious?

Perci has an overbearing ex-beauty queen mother and a boyfriend who’s “meh” enough about her to dump her on live radio in exchange for a pair of concert tickets. Perci responds with a New Year’s Un-Resolution list: no dating, no trying to please her mother.

In The Do-Over, we join Perci on a rollicking ride from one New Year’s Eve to the next. It’s sweet and hilarious, and heartwarming all at once. If you don’t walk away from this book feeling like there’s hope for humanity, well, I guess it takes all types to make the world go round! 

By Sharon M. Peterson,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

“Look, you’re a nice girl but I don’t think we should see each other anymore.” The voicemail ends and I freeze in the dentist’s chair as I realize… I’ve just been dumped on live radio.

It took the most humiliating break-up for me to see that my life is in serious need of a do-over. Cue my anti New Year’s resolutions that even I can’t fail at: Stop dating. (Men are the worst.) Stop trying to lose weight. (I’m never giving up chocolate.) Stop working so hard. (Selling mortgages is not my dream career.) Stop trying to live up to…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Firekeeper's Daughter

Kathleen Basi Why did I love this book?

My sister-in-law recommended this book to me, and I fell headlong into its pages.

It took me deep into a world and culture I knew nothing about and made me feel like I’d lived there my whole life. And in the process, it opened my mind to see the problems faced by people in that world, the complexities and beauties of it all. It is the best kind of education in social justice.

By Angeline Boulley,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked Firekeeper's Daughter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER!
A MORRIS AWARD WINNER!
AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK!

A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

Soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.

“One of this year's most buzzed about young adult novels.” ―Good Morning America

A TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection
Amazon's Best YA Book of 2021 So Far (June 2021)
A 2021 Kids' Indie Next List Selection
An Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Line Between

Kathleen Basi Why did I love this book?

I’m not usually a thriller reader, because I figure my life is tense enough as it is!

But Tosca Lee’s premise was so arresting—the combination of escaping a cult + pandemic—it resonated so deeply with our times, I had to read it. I’m so glad I did.

Wynter struggles with the same questions I do, but the stakes were exponentially higher for her. So it had the advantage of affirming me while also reassuring me that really, my own life and times aren’t so bad!

By Tosca Lee,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Line Between as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this frighteningly believable thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tosca Lee, an extinct disease re-emerges from the melting Alaskan permafrost to cause madness in its victims. For recent apocalyptic cult escapee Wynter Roth, it's the end she'd always been told was coming.

When Wynter Roth is turned out of New Earth, a self-contained doomsday cult on the American prairie, she emerges into a world poised on the brink of madness as a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia spreads across the nation.

As Wynter struggles to start over in a world she's been taught to regard as…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

A Song for the Road

By Kathleen Basi,

Book cover of A Song for the Road

What is my book about?

A year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers. Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When she stumbles across a smart phone app written by her lost daughter--an app directing a "flip-a-coin" road trip across the U.S.--Miriam is determined to take this trip her children planned for her. Armed with her husband’s guitar, her daughter’s cello, and her son’s unfinished piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker Dicey whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter and forces her to look harder at what she had rather than what she’s lost.

Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship… ready or not, Miriam’s world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she set out on this journey in the first place, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.

Hopeful, honest, and tender, A Song for the Road is about courage, vulnerability, and forgiveness, even of yourself, when it really matters.

Praise for A Song for the Road:

“Basi’s exquisite, gut-wrenching debut is filled with loss, hope, and secrets that fans of Julianne Maclean’s A Curve in the Road will enjoy.”
—Booklist

“I thought it was going to be an emotional read (and it is) but it also had me laughing out loud within the first few pages. This book has so much heart and warmth and music!”
— Lynn Liao Butler, author of The Tiger Mom’s Tale and Someone Else’s Life

“In a novel filled with music, heartbreak, and surprising laughter, Basi takes us on a journey that encompasses both unimaginable loss and the powerful resilience of the human heart. A book club must read.”
—Kerry Anne King, bestselling author of Whisper Me This and Everything You Are

“An emotionally complex story about reconciling love with loss, and the healing power of music…I loved every scene from the first to the last.”
—Barbara Claypole White, bestselling author of The Perfect Son and The Promise Between Us

“A must read! Basi’s insights into the human experience make A Song for the Road an unforgettable journey. She introduces us to life, loss, love, and the resurgence of hope—she introduces us to ourselves. The beauty of her prose and this adventure will linger long after the last page.”
—Katherine Reay, national best-selling author of The Printed Letter Bookshop

“A nuanced grief journey whose final moments will push [our heroine] to face the depths of her shame and loss—and, scarier, the love that may help her emerge stronger on the other side. A truly panoramic view of human frailty and resilience.”
—Kathryn Craft, award-winning author of The Far End of Happy and The Art of Falling

“A heartachingly beautiful book about grief and guilt, family and friendship, love and loss. Readers will be swept awaywith the lyrical descriptions and charmed by the characters. I wanted to race through the book to see what happened at the same time that I wanted to savor every page.”
—Orly Konig, author of The Distance Home and Carousel Beach

“Lyrical prose propels this story about coming to terms with past choices and irreconcilable grief. A great read for anyone who finds themselves mired in guilt and unable to move forward.”
—Marie W. Watts, author of The Cause Lives: Warriors for Equal Rights

Book cover of The Do-Over
Book cover of Firekeeper's Daughter
Book cover of The Line Between

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