Once again, I challenged our reviewers to pick their favorite (only one!) book they read this year. However, Sarah changed the rules up and said everyone’s favorite read had to be a 2023 release, but that they can have two bonus pick for books not released this year.
Here are our favorites of the year! We’d also love to hear about your best read of 2023!
Since Sneezy is recommending webtoons, I’ll drop them here. Everyone else’s picks are listed below.
Sneezy: I am made of webtoons this year, so naturally I shall attempt to propagate like a vampire. NOM!!! (That’s you bitten.)
My favourite webtoon published this year is Bittersweet Con Panna. (Yes, yes, it was first published in 2015, but the English translation didn’t come out until this year, so shush!!!) It started off like a strip comic about a pair of lesbians being super fucking adorable and horny for each other. It quickly deepened from episodic strips into an ongoing narrative about their backstory, their communities, and what it’s like for them to be a lesbian couple in modern day South Korea. So far there are two queer secondary couples, and I’m here for it!
This slice of life drama works really well with the art style, which is the kind that comes across as simple at first glance, but is clearly drawn by someone or a team that knows their shit. With soft, simple lines and often minimal blocks of colour, the artist (artist team?) embraces the medium they’re working in. There’s a particular fluid quality that makes the comic feel like you’re flipping through a friend’s sketchbook. The colours remind me of watercolour with how soft and clear they are. All together it’s a very endearing art style telling an endearing, and at times poignant, story.
It means a lot that not only was this kind of story told with this kind of art published, but that it was also translated. I don’t need nor want all stories to reinvent the wheel every time. It’s necessary that there’s space for smaller stories and quieter art. Everytime a story like this is published and translated, unicorns have amazing sex and then give birth to twins, it’s scientifically proven.
Bonus Picks
My Mother’s Contract Marriage is another webtoon that stood out to me this year. It’s about a girl, Lyrica, who suddenly finds herself going from pauper to princess overnight when her mother up and marries the emperor. If you’re familiar with isekai and regression tropes, this will read like candy to you. It’s really refreshing seeing the route plot points from the perspective of a child, an actual child, who doesn’t know what happened, and is only privy to so much. If you’re familiar with isekai and regression stories, what we see and hear through the main character tells us everyone we need to know about what the mother is up to. It made me feel giddy and naughty, like I was glossing over and skipping a bunch of plot points to go on different adventures with Lyrica instead. For the uninitiated, you will not be lost!!! The art is absolutely FABULOUS!!! There’s often a pastel like quality and the artist(s?) goes HARD at expressing the mindscape of a child. Some scenes are conveyed with a dreamlike quality, where opulent things are blazingly bright, adults and palaces are larger than life, things like that. The art is so creative and evocative without sacrificing clarity and narrative, it just makes me want to cry.
Content warning for substance abuse, child abuse, and child neglect though, particularly in the beginning. Also content warning for attempted murder of children and death of parents. My only critique so far is that the substance abuse, child abuse, and child neglect weren’t necessary to the plot, and so far were never properly addressed.
…
Guardians of the Lamb. Um. What the fuck am I doing here? Who am I? WHO LET ME ON THE INTERNET UNSUPERVISED??? So, Guardians of the Lamb was one of those stories that’d been lounging in my TBR for ages and ages. The English translation is now at 152 episodes, and honestly, I almost wish I fucking waited for it to be finished. It’s a thriller mystery with a sloooooow burn romance, and NO smut, ALL OF WHICH ARE NOT SNEEZY FLAGS!!!! WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT??? I was going to squee about Baked by the Baroness again, but I spent all of this weekend ignoring all of my responsibilities and now I have a massive book hangover and I HAD to talk about it. Like Bittersweet Con Panna, the art style appears simple at first, but Guardians of the Lamb is the acrylic to Bittersweet Con Panna’s watercolour. The colours are opaque and dense, sometimes stark. Juns, the artist and author, gives a fucking masterclass of how to bend reality while maintaining narrative clarity on a webtoon format. There’s a lot of surrealist interludes and internal conflict told in chilbies and TENSION!!!! THE TENSION!!!! Juns is extremely adept at using subtle details like leaning into the discomfort of having a large hue contrast between the line art and colours or leaving out backgrounds to suck the air from your lungs. A lot of the things Juns does artistically are things that had ruined webtoons for me, and this is my first time seeing how ‘bad’ technique can be used intentionally to such astounding effect.
The story is ongoing and I haven’t read all the chapters, but… just… all the content warnings. Juns fleshes out all the characters into full, complicated humans, and one of the central characters is categorically NOT a good person. There’s too much to say about this story here, but suffice to say I fell into this rickety roller coaster and I’ll be hanging on to the very end, screaming so polar bears and penguins all know I’m still alive.
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System Collapse
Author: Martha Wells
Released:
November 14, 2023 by
Tor.com
Genre:
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #7The million-copy, New York Times bestselling Murderbot series is back in another full-length novel adventure!
Am I making it worse? I think I’m making it worse.
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back.
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.
But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!
Yeah, this plan is… not going to work.
Sarah: The Murderbot series is among my very favorite re-reads, and I’m so happy to have a new novel to think about. And re-read. And listen to. And re-listen to. Kevin R. Free’s narration is truly stellar (pun intended).
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The Thursday Murder Club
Author: Richard Osman
Released:
September 22, 2020 by
Penguin Books
Genre:
Mystery/Thriller
Series: Thursday Murder Club #1In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
Sarah’s bonus pick: I listened to the audiobook and it was absolutely terrific. This was an audiobook I invented chores for so I could keep listening and puttering around my house. Charming and absorbing and extremely entertaining.
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Rest is Resistance
Author: Tricia Hersey
Released:
October 11, 2022 by
Little, Brown Spark
Genre:
NonfictionFar too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace of work –– feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its virtuous benefit. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy.
From the founder and creator of The Nap Ministry, Rest Is Resistance is a battle cry, a guidebook, a map for a movement, and a field guide for the weary and hopeful. It is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action and manifesto for those who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.
Sarah’s bonus pick: It gave me a lot of mental weaponry to combat the constant messages to grind myself into exhaustion, which are so pervasive and relentless! It also gave me an interest in what I think of as ‘chill out’ nonfiction, so I know that Dr. Devon Price has a book coming out in 2024 called Unlearning Shame.
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You, Again
Can they stop hating each other long enough to fall in love?
A commitment-phobe and a hopeless romantic clash over and over again—until heartbreak and unexpected chemistry bring them together in this clever enemies-to-friends-to-lovers debut romance.
When Ari and Josh first meet, the wrong kind of sparks fly. They hate each other. Instantly.
A free-spirited, struggling comedian who likes to keep things casual, Ari sublets, takes gigs, and never sleeps over after hooking up. Born-and-bred Manhattanite Josh has ambitious plans: Take the culinary world by storm, find The One, and make her breakfast in his spotless kitchen. They have absolutely nothing in common…except that they happen to be sleeping with the same woman.
Ari and Josh never expect their paths to cross again. But years later, as they’re both reeling from ego-bruising breakups, a chance encounter leads to a surprising connection: friendship. Turns out, spending time with your former nemesis is fun when you’re too sad to hate each other—and too sad for hate sex.
As friends-without-benefits, they find comfort in late night Netflix binges, swiping through each other’s online dating profiles, and bickering across boroughs. It’s better than romance. Until one night, the unspoken boundaries of their platonic relationship begin to blur…
With sharp observations and sizzling chemistry, You, Again explores the dynamics of co-ed friendship in this sparkling romantic comedy of modern love in all its forms.
Amanda: I feel so bad I didn’t talk about this book enough on the site! (More on this with my podcast episode with Sarah this Friday!). But I loved this one and it’s thoughtful, slow burn. We really get to see several stages of two people meeting and I just really enjoyed it.
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When a Scot Ties the Knot
On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shyly pretty and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.
A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter … and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.
Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He’s wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters… and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.
Amanda’s bonus pick: I’ve been on such a hunt for a book that feels similar. Sadly, nothing compared, so I thought I should just revisit the real thing. I’m happy to report that it still gives me Good Book Noise and retains a spot on my keeper shelf.
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The Perils of Pleasure
A rescued rogue . . .
Scandal has rocked the city of London. Colin Eversea, a handsome, reckless unapologetic rogue is sentenced to hang for murder and, inconveniently for him, the only witness to the crime disappears. Then again, throughout history, the Everseas have always managed to cheat fate in style: Colin is snatched from the gallows by a beautiful, clever mercenary.
A captivating captor. . .
Cool-headed, daring Madeleine Greenway is immune to Colin’s vaunted charm. Her mission is not to rescue Colin but to kidnap him, and to be paid handsomely for it. But when it becomes clear that whoever wants Colin alive wants Madeline dead, the two become uneasy allies in a deadly race for truth. Together, they’ll face great danger—and a passion neither can resist.
Amanda’s bonus pick: I was on a bizarre historical romance kick this year. I haven’t read anything by Julie Anne Long and decided to fix that, picking up The Perils of Pleasure on audio through my library. Super delightful and I may slowly make my way through the whole series.
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The Marquis Who Mustn’t
One good fraud deserves another…
Miss Naomi Kwan has long wanted to take ambulance classes so that she can save lives. But when she tries to register, she’s told she needs permission from the man in charge of her. It would be incredibly wrong to claim that the tall, taciturn Chinese nobleman she just met is her fiancé, but Naomi is desperate, and desperate times call for fake engagements.
To her unending surprise, Liu Ji Kai goes along with her ruse. It’s not that Kai is nice. He’s in Wedgeford to practice his family business, and there’s no room for “nice” when you’re out to steal a fortune. It’s not that the engagement is convenient; a fake fiancée winding herself into his life and his heart is suboptimal when he plans to commit fraud and flee the country. His reason is Kai and Naomi were betrothed as children. He may have disappeared for seventeen years, but their engagement isn’t actually fake. It’s the only truth he’s telling.
Carrie: The bad news for me is that I was going to list the same books that Elyse chose, as well as Rest is Resistance. The good news is that means I can pick more books, right? I loved The Marquis Who Mustn’t by Courtney Milan.
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The Invisible Woman
Author: Claire Tomalin
Released:
August 29, 2012 by
Vintage
Genre:
NonfictionCharles Dickens and Nelly Ternan met in 1857; she was 18, a hard-working actress performing in his production of The Frozen Deep , and he was 45, the most lionized writer in England. Out of their meeting came a love affair that lasted thirteen years and destroyed Dickens’s marriage while effacing Nelly Ternan from the public record.
In this remarkable work of biography and scholarly reconstruction, the acclaimed biographer of Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys and Jane Austen rescues Nelly from the shadows of history, not only returning the neglected actress to her rightful place, but also providing a compelling portrait of the great Victorian novelist himself. The result is a thrilling literary detective story and a deeply compassionate work that encompasses all those women who were exiled from the warm, well-lighted parlors of Victorian England.
Carrie’s bonus pick: This was a masterful biography of Nelly Ternan that brings a forgotten woman’s life into view.
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Forever Your Rogue
“One of the most utterly gorgeous character transformations historical romance has offered up in some time.” – The New York Times
He was her last chance. She was his first certainty.
Cora, Lady Dane, gave up her dreams of happily ever after a long time ago. Now newly widowed, the young mother is determined to finally live on her own terms…until a devastating betrayal shatters her hopes for the future. Faced with the prospect of losing her beloved children to overbearing relatives, Cora needs the help of the one thing she swore she’d never have again: a husband.
Nathaniel Travers hasn’t a care—or responsibility—in the world. Content with his wayward lifestyle, the charismatic rogue has no interest in marriage or duty. That is, until the earl cuts off his bank accounts. No stranger to wild escapades, Nate is game for any scheme that keeps him afloat…even a madcap ruse with a stubborn viscountess.
A fake engagement should be a straightforward solution to both of their dilemmas. But a summer at Cora’s estate tests their arrangement, and it isn’t long before their simmering attraction escalates to a feverish crescendo. When they are forced to confront the real complications of their faux betrothal, Nate has to make the first worthy gamble of his life…if only Cora can risk her guarded heart.
Forever Your Rogue is a swoony, sexy, and heartfelt Regency romance that can be enjoyed as a standalone.
Claudia: This managed to feel fresh and yet comfortably familiar at the same time. And triple bonus points for a very clever epilogue!
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The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Author: Shannon Chakraborty
Released:
February 28, 2023 by
Harper Voyager
Genre:
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Amina al-Sirafi #1“A thrilling, transportative adventure that is everything promised–Chakraborty’s storytelling is fantasy at its best.” — R.F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and The Poppy War
“An exhilarating, propulsive adventure, stitched from the threads of real history, Amina’s adventures are the reason to read fantasy.” — Ava Reid, internationally bestselling author of Juniper & Thorn
Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.
Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.
But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.
Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
Elyse: The main character, Amina, is a retired pirate who is blackmailed into doing one last job and has to get her old crew back together. This book has everything: romance, adventure, fantasy, and lots of heisty shenanigans. The audio book is also excellent in terms of narration.
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Legends & Lattes
High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.
Elyse’s bonus pick: This has been my go to comfort re-read or re-listen. Viv, a half-orc former adventurer, is hanging up her greatsword to open a coffee shop. It’s extremely cozy and has a found family theme.
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The Favourite
Alisander de Balon, fifth Viscount Bardulf is a lot of things. Ambassador. Diplomat. Spy. He is also bored as hell at the Argent King’s court. His only diversion these days is tormenting staid Jane Cecil, the Queen’s favorite Lady-in-Waiting. Seeing her vexed amuses him more than any royal entertainment.
Jane has finally found her place at Court, and it is among the Queen’s retinue. All she wants to do is faithfully serve Her Majesty, something she could do in peace if it was not for the Queen’s countryman, Viscount Bardulf, who seems to delight in baiting her!
Neither Bardulf nor Jane could have foreseen the sudden tragedy that leads to their hasty union and certainly, neither of them could have anticipated that they would fall so easily into different roles… that of husband and wife.
The Favourite is a stand-alone novel of over 143,000 words and is set in a medieval style landscape in the fictional kingdom of Karadok. Please do not purchase if you are offended by strong language and or sex scenes.
Kiki: I did a lot of comfort reading this year and thus didn’t have a ton of books from 2023, but one of my favorites that I did get to was, fittingly, The Favourite by Alice Coldbreath. It’s the latest in the Brides of Karadok series, which takes place in a fictional medieval setting and is the story of the queen’s favorite lady-in-waiting and the queen’s favorite ambassador. Both characters have been around for a long time in the series (it’s the sixth in the series and the ninth that takes place in that setting), and I think their pay off was a lot of fun. Their relationship is based on a lot of teasing from the male lead and the female lead not realizing that he’s purposefully trying to needle her. That dynamic doesn’t always work for me, but here it’s a fantastic exploration of finding that balance between two very differently tempered people.
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A Substitute Wife for the Prizefighter
Plain, respectable Lizzie Anderson is in the devil of a fix. After catching sight of something she was not supposed to, her whole family is torn apart by the ensuing scandal. Lizzie’s steadfast principles means she cannot deny the evidence of her own eyes and as a consequence finds herself thrown out onto the street! Her only ally in her time of need, comes from a very unexpected quarter indeed…
Benedict Toomes has long thought Lizzie a thorn in his side, but after seeing her staunchness in the face of adversity, he finds himself picturing her in a totally different role in his life. A stand-in for the betrothed he no longer wants to marry… Find out how this unlikeliest of couples navigates life together after a rocky start and find their preconceived notions about the other could not have been further from the truth!Kiki’s bonus pick: As for new-to-me reads of 2023, I LOVED A Substitute Wife for the Prizefighter, also by Alice Coldbreath! This book was all about the setting for me. A Victorian era former prizefighter ends up married to his intended’s cousin and pulled back into his family’s prizefighting show at a series of traveling fairs. This was an incredible backdrop—it brings delightful circus performers (who the narration treats with a lot of respect) and is a setting I hadn’t come across in historicals. Come for the magic of the fair, stay for the hero, Benedict, who is really trying to communicate, even when miscommunication is easier—swoon.
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The Arrangement
A mesmerizing story of passionate awakening and redemption, Mary Balogh’s new novel unites a war hero consigned to darkness with a remarkable woman who finds her own salvation by showing him the light of love.
Desperate to escape his mother’s matchmaking, Vincent Hunt, Lord Darleigh, flees with his valet. Blinded by a cannon blast on the Napoleonic battlefields, Vincent needs time alone to heal and reflect, away from the well-meaning meddling of his family and those who run his vast estate. But anonymity proves impossible even in the rustic reaches of a country inn, and soon another marital trap is sprung. Luckily, he is saved in time by a stranger with a captivating voice that stirs something deep inside. And when Miss Sophia Fry’s intervention on his behalf finds her unceremoniously booted from her guardian’s home, Vincent is compelled to act. He may be blind but he can see a solution to both their problems: marriage. Yet he never imagined a wedding of convenience would open his heart to a love he never expected.
Quiet, unassuming Sophia may be invisible to nearly everyone, but even a woman unflatteringly called “mouse” isn’t going to stay silent when an unsuspecting gentleman is about to be trapped into marriage. At first, she rejects Vincent’s proposal. But when such a gloriously handsome and heartbreakingly vulnerable man persuades her that he needs a wife of his own choosing as much as she needs protection from destitution, she agrees. Her alternative is too dreadful to contemplate.
But how can an all-consuming fire burn from such a cold arrangement? As they conspire to help each other find a new place in the world, friendship and camaraderie lead to sweet seduction and erotic pleasure. Dare they believe a bargain born of desperation might lead them both to a love destined to be?
Kiki’s bonus pick: I would be remiss if I didn’t note that the books that carried me through several months this year were all by Mary Balogh. A lot of them were rereads, but a new-to-me this year was The Arrangement. I think I’ve listened to this book twice since that first time in February, and I remain struck by the way Vincent and Sophia really grow in tandem. I feel as though they move through the story always with the question: “how can I help you become who you’re meant to be?” They are so giving of themselves and I am so proud of these two pretend people.
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The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies
A high society amateur detective at the heart of Regency London uses her wits and invisibility as an ‘old maid’ to protect other women in a new and fiercely feminist historical mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman.
Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus,” is determinedly unmarried, bored by society life, and tired of being dismissed at the age of forty-two. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. One soon presents itself: to rescue their friend’s goddaughter, Caroline, from her violent husband.
The sisters set out to Caroline’s country estate with a plan, but their carriage is accosted by a highwayman. In the scuffle, Gus accidentally shoots and injures the ruffian, only to discover he is Lord Evan Belford, an acquaintance from their past who was charged with murder and exiled to Australia twenty years ago. What follows is a high adventure full of danger, clever improvisation, heart-racing near misses, and a little help from a revived and rather charming Lord Evan.
Back in London, Gus can’t stop thinking about her unlikely (not to mention handsome) comrade-in-arms. She is convinced Lord Evan was falsely accused of murder, and she is going to prove it. She persuades Julia to join her in a quest to help Lord Evan, and others in need—society be damned! And so begins the beguiling secret life and adventures of the Colebrook twins.
A rollicking and joyous adventure, with a beautiful love story at its heart, about two rebellious sisters forging their own path in Regency London
Lara: My favourite book of the year is The Benevolent Society of Ill-mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman. It was an absolute revelation to read and from that point on I have actively sought out books with older leads.. I am counting down the moments to the next book in the series.
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Wed by Proxy
Thrice wedded, but never bedded, Mathilde Martindale has long lived in the shadow of her indomitable mother, and meekly done as she was told. Until one day she decides to become mistress of her own destiny and leave the royal court to find her own path.
Married by proxy, Lord Martindale has never even met his bride of three years. Wed as part of a peace treaty, he bitterly resents the mercenary wife who cares only for wealth and prestige. And then he meets her…
Wed By Proxy is a stand-alone novel of over 111,000 words and is set in a medieval style landscape in the fictional kingdom of Karadok.
Lara’s bonus pick: My favorite book not published in 2023 is Wed by Proxy by Alice Coldbreath. It revisits old school tropes and archetypes and updates them. I’m slowly working my way through this series because I really want to savour them!
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Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute
Author: Talia Hibbert
Released:
January 3, 2023 by
Joy Revolution
Genre:
Romance, Young AdultFrom the New York Times bestselling author of the Brown Sisters trilogy, comes a laugh-out-loud story about a quirky content creator and a clean-cut athlete testing their abilities to survive the great outdoors—and each other.
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption—yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)
These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.
Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?
Shana: I’m not even a YA romance fan, but this grumpy/sunshine romcom was just too adorable to resist. The audiobook narration is top-notch too.
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Taken to Nobu
Kiki
There’s no way I’m letting this alien who calls me his Xiveri mate claim me as his. He may say the right things and stir emotions in me I never expected to feel again for any male, but his kind has already taken too much from me as is.Trapped now on his harsh, snow-consumed planet waiting to be hunted, with no way of escape, I’ll do the only thing I can. The one thing I’ve been training for since the aliens first came to the human moon colony to hurt us. I’ll fight.
But when our enemies become one, will I be able to leave my prejudices behind and fight, not against, but alongside him?
Va’Raku
She hates me, my human mate, but she honors me all the same. Nobu has never seen a queen before who is able to wield sword and staff, fist and tongue. A warrior queen, and mine to claim in the ceremony of the Mountain Run.But when she fights me, it is not out of honor. She fights out of fear. She has been hurt before and views me as she does him. As a monster. Perhaps I am, because the one who harmed her will suffer torture upon torture at my hands.
I will need to catch him first and unfortunately, he has plans of his own and allies off-world. My queen and I will need to fight together to bring him to his knees and bury him once and for all… Trust, first, is what I need from her.
Taken to Nobu is a full-length (95k words), standalone, interracial, SciFi romance complete with an alpha alien overlord, warrior heroine, fated mates who are also enemies-to-lovers, world building and extra steamy bits. All Xiveri Mates books can be read as standalones, each one with a guaranteed HEA. NO cheating, harem or love triangles. Some dark themes, illusions to abuse, and debatable consent due to intergalactic cultural misunderstandings may be trigger warnings.
Shana’s bonus pick: I just discovered these imaginative alien romances and I gobbled up a bunch this year. The series is set in a small racially diverse colony of humans who are struggling to survive when they’re found by some nice, and not-so-nice aliens. There’s some dubious consent at the beginning of the books because of cultural differences so this was a bit darker than the romances I usually read. But the heroines are funny and tough, and I fell hard for the creative worldbuilding. Taken to Nobu is my fave because the heroine is deliciously angry, the hero is the sweetest, and I liked how the book handles a fated mates trope when the heroine is a sexual assault survivor.
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What Moves the Dead
From the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones comes a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
Shana’s bonus pick: Since Sarah snuck in a second older book, I’m going to try to be sneaky too. I rarely read horror but I loved What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher. It was so creepy, weird and fun!
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The Salt Grows Heavy
From Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth , comes The Salt Grows Heavy , a razor-sharp and bewitching fairy tale of discovering the darkness in the world, and the darkness within oneself.
“This brilliant novella is not to be missed.” — Publishers Weekly , STARRED review
“With this brilliantly constructed tale…Khaw cements their status as a must-read author.” —Library Journal, STARRED review
You may think you know how the fairy tale a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes.
On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three “saints” who control them.
The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive.
Susan: My favourite book that was published this year is Cassandra Khaw’s The Salt Grows Heavy. It’s a sequel to their short story “And In Our Daughters, We Find a Voice,” a horror take on The Little Mermaid. In The Salt Grows Heavy, we get to see the mermaid return to who she was before her prince, and who she is in a story where she isn’t the biggest monster around. It’s so good and so creepy, and I love the relationship that builds between her and the doctor! The end chapter doesn’t quite hold up for me, but apart from that it’s gorgeous and horrific in equal measure!
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Magdalene Nox
Magdalene Nox doesn’t cast wishes upon stars… She simply makes them happen. But for this particular wish, she had waited for thirty years. Her retribution against those who discarded her three decades ago should be swift and simple.
Except a chance encounter and an unforgettable night turn her entire life upside down. Torn between vengeance and lust, Magdalene is forced to re-evaluate everything.
Can the Home of Dragons and lonely math teacher Sam Threadneedle—who finds herself stranded amidst longing and fury—withstand the storm that is Magdalene Nox, or will any and all be consumed by the flames of revenge?
Not everything is as it seems, and as Magdalene returns to the place that left her wounded and lost all those years ago, she realizes that old oak and stone hide more than secrets and pain. They also hold forgiveness and love.
Tara: Unfortunately I didn’t read a lot this year, but VERY fortunately, one of my favourite authors released a new book at the end of November! Magdalene Nox is by Milena McKay is a sapphic romance that tells the other side of the story of one of my all-time fave romances, The Headmistress. I had a really high bar for this one, so I was thrilled that it delivered what I needed. I especially adored getting to see into my favourite ice queen’s interior life.
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Gender Queer
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be non-binary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity-what it means and how to think about it-for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
Tara’s bonus pick: My favourite book that wasn’t published this year was Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. I’d somehow missed it when it was published and then suddenly it was the most banned book in America and this Canadian wanted to see what the fuss was all about. It’s a beautiful, complicated memoir and I’m so glad I read it, because it’s going to stick with me for a long time.
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