2023 was the worst reading year I have ever had. Between burn out and chasing a toddler, I only managed to read 25 books… and like three of those were cookbooks. Of the 25 I read, I’m going to talk about 13 of them today. These books were either the best, the worst or the most disappointing. If you’re interested in any of the other books I read, you can check out my Goodreads. With that, let’s talk about some books!
The Best of the Best:
Beautiful Bad Man by Ellen O’Connell was my first five star read of the year. This is a Western historical romance about two damaged people who find their way together. You can read my review here.
I did not give Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford five stars but I still wanted to include it here. I gave it four stars because it didn’t really hook me emotionally but it was such a delightfully strange story. You can read my review here.
Deerskin by Robin McKinley was the absolute best book I read this year! It is so magical and so emotional. You can read my review here.
My most recent five star read was Ice and Embers by Melanie Karsak. This is a pretty simple story but I enjoyed the magic and romance within it so much. You can read my review here.
The Most Disappointing:
I forgot I even read House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland this year because it was so plain and boring. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded SO interesting but this is not a well written book. You can read my review here.
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is one of my favorite books so I fully expected to love House of Hunger. Unfortunately, this book is awful. I debated whether to put it in my most disappointing or worst category because it could fit in either. It’s so boring and the most unimaginative take on a vampire story. You can read my review here.
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace sounded very interesting and I did end up giving it three stars but I expected much more from it. It was just kind of bland. You can read my review here.
House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig was my most disappointing read of the year. This is the sequel to House of Salt and Sorrows and I was unimaginably hyped for it. I LOVE that book and expected to love this one but it, like the others I’ve mentioned, was so boring. I predicted every twist and the romance was… not good. You can read my review here.
The Worst of the Worst:
Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare is the last book in The Last Hours trilogy. I fell in love with the Shadowhunter world when I was a teenager. I have bought every single book and they have progressively gotten worse over the years. This one is over 700 pages of petty, boring relationship drama. You can read my review here.
From what I’ve seen, Bunny by Mona Awad is a love it or hate it type of book and I hate it. It was weird and not in a good, creative way but in a trying very hard to be different kind of way. You can’t read my review because I never posted one. I hated this book too much to bother writing about it🥴
Foxglove by Adalyn Grace is the sequel to Belladonna. Belladonna was disappointing, Foxglove was bad. When I say NOTHING interesting happens, I mean it. You can read my review here.
The award for worst book of the year goes to A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson! A retelling of the Dracula story from the POV of one of his wives sounded SO interesting to me but this book is awful all the way around. The storyline is boring, the writing isn’t great and the characters are horrible. You can read my review here.
Final Thoughts:
That is all of the notable books, for better or worse, that I read in 2023! I’d love to know if we share any opinions or if you feel differently! Thanks for reading and have a great day!
The Book and Beauty Blog 