Top 3 Reads of 2023
My Favorite Books of the Year
It’s that time of year to reflect on the old and anticipate the new. As for the new, I’m planning on teaching myself to pressure can. Here’s hoping I don’t blow off my head. And as for the old, I reviewed my list of books I read in 2023. What were my favorite 3 that you should add to your list of new? Read on, my readerly friend.
Oathbound
Volume I of the Royal Rose Chronicles
Victoria McCombs
My Review:
This book took me totally by surprise. I mean, yeah, pirates are always a great read, so I knew I was in for a treat. But let's talk about the writing and character development, shall we? I can sum them both up in one word: wowie. Really. Fast-paced adventure with sweet romance and fantastically creepy villains. Be prepared to pick up the second book in this series immediately because trust me on this . . . you're going to want it.
Backcover Copy:
Beware the waters. The dangerous deep brings ruin to all.
Emme has spent her life avoiding anything to do with pirates. But the fates are cruel, and now a hidden sickness leads her to partner with pirates for the one thing that can save her—a cure on an island none are certain exists.
The pirate captain’s secrets are darker than the deep and threaten to kill them all. His obligations are tinged with betrayal, for his oathbind must be fulfilled. To ignore it is to invite peril of unimaginable destruction.
As the adventure unfolds, the sea takes more than she expects and the sea gives more than he wants.
The Second Life of Mirielle West
By Amanda Skenandore
My Review:
Riveting. Haunting. Shocking. This story is not only a history lesson to a very frightening past but a clear commentary on the prejudices we all have, whether we admit to it or not. I mean, who isn't creeped out by just the thought of leprosy?
At first I wasn't a huge fan of the Mirielle. In fact, for most the book I didn't like her but I couldn't stop reading this train wreck of a character, and doggone if the author didn't pull off a complete turnabout for the woman by the end. Same for Sister Verena. Frank, though, now he was definitely da man! What kind yet complex soul.
If you're looking for a read that grabs you and doesn't let go, then this is the book for you.
Back Cover Copy:
For Mirielle West, a 1920’s socialite married to a silent film star, the isolation and powerlessness of the Louisiana Leper Home is an unimaginable fall from her intoxicatingly chic life of bootlegged champagne and the star-studded parties of Hollywood’s Golden Age. When a doctor notices a pale patch of skin on her hand, she’s immediately branded a leper and carted hundreds of miles from home to Carville, taking a new name to spare her family and famous husband the shame that accompanies the disease.
At first she hopes her exile will be brief, but those sent to Carville are more prisoners than patients and their disease has no cure. Instead she must find community and purpose within its walls, struggling to redefine her self-worth while fighting an unchosen fate.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
By Shelby van Pelt
My Review:
Okay, to be fair, I haven’t actually finished reading this one but I’m very close. I’ve definitely read enough to gush about the poetic writing, the stunning descriptions that catch you off guard, the quirky characters that you’ll come to love, and a story that makes you go “how are all these things related?” Don’t panic. They are. And what I especially love is that one of the points of view is from an octopus.
Back Cover Copy:
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.