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 Run Girl Run

Lynn Griffin Why did I love this book?

It’s a harsh world for Tracie. She reacts and behaves just like any teenager who thinks they know everything while the rest of the adult world around her is stupid. Then the horrible truth dawns. It is almost too late to discover she doesn’t know everything. Stakes are high. I’m glad she ran, and the ending. Well, no spoilers. Great story. Highly recommended.

I love to read stories with strong characters who develop and grow into their final destination. My passion is also to write novels that deliver believable, loveable, heroes along with villains who shine and who readers love to hate. When reviews say they can’t wait to read the next book, it is the best feeling ever.

Run Girl Run is a fast-paced young adult novel that delivers. Anyone reading this, and who has not experienced in some small part Tracie and Jason’s family life, should be grateful. I believe this novel should be shared and debated in schools. It should be on the shelf in the libraries.

Teachers should be alerted to read, and direct youngsters to read. Teachers undoubtedly know these things exist but are often, and through no fault of their own, too overwhelmed, or too busy to identify these issues. Those who do, and manage to support, I applaud. The only thing I would like to see at the back of the book is a list of options – how to get support. It would be immeasurably helpful.

By Ellen Y. Mueller,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Run Girl Run as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sixteen-year-old Tracie lives in a house divided by fear and a family secret she has yet to discover. Her grandma provides a hint and the tools to unearth the past. Are the clues the answer to her prayers? If so, she’ll take her younger brother, Jason, and split.

One night, when her dad is in one of his violent rages, opportunity pounds on Tracie’s door. Cal, a male friend, offers an escape. But there’s a catch. She can’t sneak Jason out with their parents watching, and her father demands Cal leave immediately. On a whim, she goes, too. After all,…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Whispers Through Time

Lynn Griffin Why did I love this book?

I truly loved this storyline. Rosetta Diane Hoessli has penned a wonderful, powerful tale of the Indigenous people of America. I love history and learning.

Ms. Hoessli has managed to encapsulate not only the beauty, mystery, and legends of these wonderful nations, but the awful, shameful truths of their treatment. Whispers Through Time takes on its own unique stance with a romance, blending the impossible to possible. It is poignant, heart-warming, and brutally honest. A highly recommended read.

By Rosetta Diane Hoessli,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Whispers Through Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The only man Sierra Masters has ever loved appears with a proposition that could alter her future. She turns him down, but then after experiencing a foretelling dream, decides to take a risk in order to uncover the truth. Hunter Davenport realizes the evidence he's shared with Sierra could indeed destroy her--but it could free her as well. The decision is yanked from her hands when the past and present collide through a historical portal on sacred Native American land. Will she take the gift that is offered? And will Hunter do what he didn't do twelve years earlier--stand by…


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My 3rd favorite read in 2023…

Book cover of Rewrites of the Heart

Lynn Griffin Why did I love this book?

Sometimes I need a book that gives me a kick-off my shoes moment, then smile, and smile, and smile some more.

Author Terry Newman has certainly captured the very essence of a rom com but with a difference. I really like the premise of this book with the characters literally falling off the page and into the real world. Author Newman seamlessly pulls the two worlds together blending it into a beautiful, heartwarming romance that makes you smile from start to finish. So kick of your shoes, find a comfy chair and be prepared for a good read.  

By Terry Newman,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Rewrites of the Heart as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

JJ Spritely, romance author, writes characters that jump off the page. Figuratively, that is. She never expects them to make a literal leap smack dab into her world. But Alex Zurich and Blake Teesdale do just that. And they're on a mission to help JJ write her own personal love story with a man she recently met, Kennedy King Cooper. A history professor, Cooper doesn't see the value of romance novels and he has even less regard for those who write them. Until he meets a woman who haunts his thoughts. There's only one small snag in Alex's and Blake's…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Book cover of The Twenty-One-Year Contract

What is my book about?

Only a simple shoebox, but with life-changing secrets…

Fourteen-year-old Kathleen Gray—talented, a little wild, at times rebellious, but always popular—has a fun, easy life in rural Somerset, with a doting family. Suddenly, they are gone, she has only Uncle Jack. Try as he might, he cannot be father and mother to her. Kathleen takes a chance and becomes Kate Westfield, fending for herself in London, with a new life built on her hopes and dreams and new friends. She could hardly have imagined that one of those friends has a shoebox full of answers.