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 Angels Within

Sally Berneathy Why did I love this book?

This book begins with the compelling, captivating story of a woman accepting that she is gay and dealing with the turbulence this causes in her life.

That’s enthralling…but then the character falls in love with a woman who has some strange traits. Turns out she has eight different personalities!

However, if the characters were not gay, this would still be a compelling, captivating story of human interactions. I laughed and cried and rejoiced with the characters.

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My 2nd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of The Vapes of Wrath

Sally Berneathy Why did I love this book?

This is the 8th book in a series, and I love every one of them. Nora Black is funny and charming, and if she were a real person, I would love to be her friend. Well, except for all those dead bodies that keep turning up!

In this book, the girls are having a fun bachelorette weekend until they trip over a dead body! The action kept me turning the pages, and the characters kept me laughing all the way through this book.

By Renee George,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

My name is Nora Black, and I’m celebrating my BFFs midlife matrimony!

Gilly is engaged, and I have invited a couple of friends to help us celebrate her bachelorette vacation in wine country. We are leaving work behind for three days of good food, good friends, and good fun.

Or so I thought. When the youngest of our group, Tippy Davenport, gets flirty with a local musician, his girlfriend is less than pleased. Some might even call her reaction homicidal. But when the woman turns up dead during a vineyard tour, our vacation turns into an investigation.

It doesn’t take…


My 3rd favorite read in 2023

Book cover of Murder Under A Western Moon: A 1930s Mona Moon Historical Cozy Mystery Book 11

Sally Berneathy Why did I love this book?

Book 11 in a series set in the 1930s. Mona Moon is intelligent, charming, sassy…and rich! A combination guaranteed to get her in trouble in the ‘30s!

The action is set in the background of a fascinating era in America, and I am pulled into that setting, though the history is always given as part of the story.

If you like the Miss Fisher Murder Mystery series, you will love Mona Moon! 

Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Death by Chocolate

By Sally Berneathy,

Book cover of Death by Chocolate

What is my book about?

Lindsay’s only secret is the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies, but she is surrounded by people with deadly secrets. Suddenly, she finds herself battling poisoned chocolate, a psycho stalker, and a dead man who seems awfully active for a corpse. She will need more than a chocolate fix to survive...but that’s always a good start.

She gets help from her mysterious neighbor, Fred, an OCD computer nerd. Fred also has secrets. In spite of his mundane existence, he possesses tidbits of knowledge about such things as hidden microphones, guns, the inside of maximum security prisons, and how to take someone down with a well-aimed kick to the chin. 

Come for the Cookie Chip Cookies, and stay for the murder, mayhem, and fun!

My book recommendation list