A week into 2023 and I’m still wrapping my head around the mess that was 2022.
I got COVID, lost my job while sick with COVID, and spent all of December in a hospital waiting room while my dad recovered from heart surgery (that ugly green wallpaper is seared into my memory and will haunt me forever).
What do you do when life hands you a bag of overly ripe avocadoes? Simple, I read. Reading has been my go-to coping mechanism since I was a kid. No one asked you to the school dance? No prob, here’s a twelve-book fantasy series to sink your teeth into. Broke up with your boyfriend? Why this dystopian trilogy has your name all over it. Falling into a story allows my brain to rest until I’m ready to deal with the messy real-life stuff again.
This year I read around 70 books, more than ever before. For the most part, I gravitated toward stories with happy endings, with the occasional more complicated read thrown in. Some were good, some were not, and a few made it to my coveted “would re-read” list. Take a look, hopefully, you’ll love them as much as I did.
I devoured both Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation so I was hyped for this release, luckily it did not disappoint. A story about two people who live and breathe and probably mumble about books in their sleep? Check. A fresh spin on the small-town romance trope? Check. A multi-layer heroine and top-tier love interest? Check and check. Henry has a real gift for making you believe in the chemistry and connection between her characters, and cutthroat literary agent Nora and surly editor Charlie are my favorite pair yet.
How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
On the surface, this is a story about an up-and-coming Hollywood starlet and reclusive A-lister who enter into a fake relationship to save their careers. Underneath all that however is a story about two people who have to confront their complicated and traumatic pasts in order to move forward and heal. The dual POV really made this one a standout for me, it’s honestly the reason it edged out the wonderful Nora Goes Off Script (which is also celeb-adjacent and worth the read).
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Meet jaded romantic Florence Day, a ghostwriter for a popular romance author who just happens to see ghosts. Is that not the best plot summary ever? It’s an unusual and quirky premise that shouldn’t work as well as it does. Add in a trip back to her hometown (full of rich, vivid characters) and a new editor who is quite literally haunting her, and you have just a fraction of what makes this book such a joy to read. I have to confess that I’m still in the middle of this one but I’m enjoying it so much that I can’t imagine it disappointing me in the end.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
I don’t know how to succinctly explain this novel but I think this official summary does a pretty good job, “A novel about art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.” As always Mandel’s prose is top-notch, and if you’re a fan of the excellent Station Eleven and stories about humanity that span space and time, you should give this one a shot. And really, the fact that both myself and former President Barack Obama loved this novel should be enough of a selling point, don’t you think?
Book suggestion for you The Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine. I think you might like it and the Merlin series by Mary Stewart - The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and the third ones title I've forgotten.
Great suggestions- I read Dead Romantics since you mentioned it, and what a treat! I have Book Lovers in the queue and now I think the rest of these belong on there as well. 💖