Year in Review: My Top Reads of 2023

2023 was a great year of reading for me! I read 50 books in total (45 of these being new), and as someone who's always kept one foot firmly in Y/A fiction and rarely branched out in terms of genres and authors, 2023 was certainly a year of discovery. I read terrible books, brilliant books, and discovered some new favourites that I know I'll love for years to come. So come along with me to summarise the year, and see my favourite bookish discoveries of 2023.

Oh Olivie Blake, how I love you...

For me, 2023 truly was the year of discovering new auto-buy authors, and Olivie Blake was one of these. In April I began reading The Atlas Six, arguably her most famous book, about a deadly secret society and its six new initiates. It had been on my shelf since it released a year prior, and although I expected to love it, I didn't really know how much it would change some of my thoughts on literature. Blake is indeed an extremely talented author; I've read her Y/A novel (written under the name Alexene Farol Follmuth) and it was enjoyable, if slightly forgettable, but my oh my did I fall in love with her writing style in The Atlas Six! It's equal parts elegant and messy (much like the book itself) and both this book and its sequel, The Atlas Paradox, have given me some of my favourite book quotes of the whole year. They really raised the bar for me in what I now expect from high-quality writing.

Currently as I'm writing this blog post, the final book in the trilogy has just been released and I'm already loving it - expect a review on that very soon!

"Whether you put it there or not, this - between us - it was real for me. I am not such an idiot - I'm not so devoid of feeling, to not be perfectly aware that you and I had something rare and difficult and fucking significant, and in the end it only broke because I broke it." ~ The Atlas Paradox, Olivie Blake

More of my favourite authors from 2023 include Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & The Six, Evidence of the Affair, Carrie Soto is Back); V.E. Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue); and Chloe Gong (These Violent Delights, Our Violent Ends, Foul Heart Huntsman). Other than Taylor Jenkins Reid, these were all new authors for me this year and I really enjoyed expanding my purview - I'll absolutely be reading more from all of these brilliant women this year!

I want to live in the Secret Shanghai universe

Ok, maybe not really because gangs and war and mysterious viruses... but Chloe Gong's richly detailed world was one of my favourite fictional places to travel to last year. For those not aware, this universe comprises two duologies (the These Violent Delights duology, and the Foul Lady Fortune duology) and a collection of two novellas (Last Violent Call). This is a fantasy version of 1920's Shanghai with Romeo-and-Juliet-style gang rivalries, immortal assassins, monsters on the loose and so much more. Gong's characters are so well developed and fleshed out, and the way she writes relationships (romantic, platonic and familial) is truly something special - I really could talk about it for days!

Novellas can be truly special (if done right)

I read a total of 11 novellas last year, and these really ranged from "this was the most boring book I have ever read" to "oh my god this book changed my life". I won't mention those in the bottom spots, but I will talk about the ones I loved. Firstly, Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid (told you I loved her!) This is an 88-page-long short story about two strangers who realise their spouses are having an affair. The entire story is told through the letters they write to each other, firstly about the feelings of shock and betrayal they're both reeling from, but eventually it turns into a beautiful friendship. TJR just has the most captivating writing style, and she's so good at making worlds and people feel real, which is the thing I've always loved about her writing. This story is as emotional as it is lovely, and as it's only 99p for the digital edition on Amazon... I would seriously recommend everyone read this - it'll only take you an hour!

My other stand-out novella of 2023 was This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. This is a sci-fi novella surrounding two agents on opposing sides of the Time War (if you've ever seen the tv show Loki, think of the TVA). Blue leaves a letter for Red, who replies in turn. Their correspondence continues, but in no ordinary letters, instead they are written in the rings of tree trunks and in knots, and the relationship blossoms from taunting to friendship to love, but there is of course the ever looming danger of the war and their respective factions finding them out. The scenery is vivid and each chapter plays like a movie in your head, and the prose is genuinely some of the most beautiful I have ever ever read. Not only was this book astoundingly creative, but it was without a doubt the most romantic - the letter passages had me swooning! I need to read about more loves like this.

"I love you. I love you. I love you. I'll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets, I'll kill them all and take each ones place in turn, and every time love's written in all the strands it will be to you."

~ This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

I delved more into new genres

2023 was really the year that I began to expand what types of books I was reading. Up until a year ago, I read almost exclusively young adult fiction, afraid to venture into other genres - but 2023 was almost a 50/50 split between adult and young adult. And whilst I still have a love and appreciation for Y/A, I find in general that it's beginning to feel juvenile to me - things I would have enjoyed five years ago I have, unsurprisingly, outgrown. That age range is no longer for me, and that's ok. I have so much more to discover now.

I also read a lot of fantasy last year! I never really thought I would enjoy the genre until I read the Six of Crows duology in early 2022 (now my favourite book series of all time), but fantasy was in fact my most-read genre of 2023. Special mentions include the Grishaverse books - especially the spin-off novellas, such as The Language of Thorns: a hauntingly beautiful novel of Grimm-esque fairytales; the Secret Shanghai and Atlas series, already mentioned; and of course A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. This truly felt like a perfect fantasy book, with an incredibly cool magic system, great world-building, and a loveable cast of main and supporting characters. It was an extremely strong start to a fantasy series, and one that I can't wait to continue this year.

To end the talk of genres and branching out, I wanted to briefly mention my newfound love of literary fiction. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang and Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid were two of my favourite books I read last year, both being within this genre. I enjoy the freedom of plot in a literary fiction novel - it doesn't rely on tropes like so much modern romance does, nor do I see too many similarities like I sometimes do when reading fantasy. To me, a literary fiction book feels perfectly unique, simply because it doesn't really belong to one particular genre. It can be anything it wants to be, and I appreciate that. I'd definitely love to read more literary fiction in 2024, so if anyone has any recommendations, please do let me know in the comments!

Lastly, I'll always appreciate a foiled book

Everyone who knows me in-person knows how much I love a special edition, and I read some truly gorgeous ones this year (on the outside anyway). Smaller companies like Fairyloot and Illumicrate develop the most beautiful editions, for what I feel is a fairly reasonable price tag. In 2023 I treated myself to Illumicrate's exclusive Bridgerton series - and they truly are works of art, now sitting pride of place on my bookshelf. Waterstones, similarly, have upped their game with special editions in the last couple of years. The foiling on the Foul Lady Fortune duology hardbacks certainly deserves a special mention. I believe book collecting is a hobby as much as reading is, and who doesn't want to own pretty things?!

Thanks 2023, you've been great!

Well, those are my summarised thoughts on my 2023 reading habits. I not only read almost double the number of books than in 2022, but I also read so many great new series and authors, and it's provided me with many more recommendations to make to friends and family! But most of all, I feel like by encouraging myself to read more often and more widely, it's reignited my passion for reading. Tracking my reads, documenting them, and talking about them makes me feel more immersed in the books I read, and just makes me love them that much more. I hope this blog can become an extension of that, and provide a little community for us to talk about the books we love. <3