After Reading 75 Books This Year, These Are The 10 That Will Follow Me Into 2024 Because They Were Just So, So, So Good
Hi! I'm Dannica, and I love to read. I challenged myself to read 75 books in 2023, and TBH, I really thought I was just going to have to take the L and call it a day. But thanks to some all-nighters, coffee, and just some awesome binge-worthy stories, I made it! So now, as the year closes out, I'm here to share with all of you lovely people my top 10 favorite books from this year that had me screaming, crying, and in shambles (positive).
My goal in 2022 was to read 50 books, and I literally finished book 50 on December 31st, LOL.
My favorite genre of all time is fantasy, so I very much got into my fantasy reading bag this year. However, I also explored a bunch of fiction, mystery/thrillers, memoirs, and some rom-coms! I think my top 10 is a fairly good mix of genres, so let me tell you all about the books that became near and dear to my heart in 2023, in no particular order:
This list doesn't include re-reads but just know that I re-read The Song of Achilles and sobbed just as much.
1.The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
I vividly remember being on a flight to New York in January and randomly deciding to read this book on Kindle because it was free. Tell me why I loved it immediately?!?! I'm pretty sure I finished the book while still on the flight, and to this day, I still think about it. In fact, I loved it so much that I bought a special edition physical copy. I even may or may not have fan-casted the entire ensemble of characters, so if a movie is in the works, call me.
WHY I LOVED IT: OK, let me set the scene: In 1714, Addie LaRue just wants to escape her little village in France so she can see the world, experience life, and just do girlboss things. Being the naive girl that she is, she makes a deal with a demon that allows her to be immortal. The catch? No one remembers her name or who she is minutes after encountering her. Addie LaRue is cursed to be forgotten, and though she experiences and is part of decades and decades of art, history, and being in other people's lives, she can never live in another's memory.
To me, this book explores themes of loneliness, grief, love, and everything in between so intricately well, and it especially displays just how powerful names are. Ugh, need I say more?
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Romance, Historical Fantasy, Fiction, Strong Female Leads
2.The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
I probably cried to all of the books on this list at one point or another, and The House in the Cerulean Sea is certainly no exception. This book made me feel a type of joy and happiness that helped heal my inner child, and I'm being so serious. By the end of reading this book, I felt like a freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie: warm, soft, and gooey inside.
WHY I LOVED IT: I am an absolute sucker for a found family trope, so imagine how emotional I was when the found family in question was made up of a group of magical orphaned children and a headmaster who would protect them at all costs?!
This book is set in a world where magical beings exist, so when grumpy caseworker Linus Baker is sent to Marsyas Island to report on an orphanage that harbors six "dangerous" children — a gnome, a sprite, a were-Pomeranian, a green blob, a wyvern, and the Antichrist — he finds that love, friendship, and family can be found where you least expect it. This book is charming, funny, and just a pure delight to read!
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: YA Fiction, LGBTQ+ Fiction, Comedy, Low-Fantasy, Romance, Found Family, Magic
3.Happy Place by Emily Henry
I'm an Emily Henry stan, and though I still believe that Beach Read is her best work to this day, I devoured Happy Place like no other. I picked this book up thinking it was just going to be a silly little rom-com, but then I remembered I was reading Emily Henry. Though her books are always charming, witty, and certifiably sweet and romantic (and just a little spicy), she always manages to intertwine such plots with themes of grief, family, and identity. Also, it's just a plus that everyone in this book is described as super hot.
WHY I LOVED IT: This book is set in a small town in Maine, so by law, it's immediately charming. The book follows Wyn and Harriet, a duo that was together for years — and engaged — until their untimely breakup. Every year, Wyn, Harriet, and their group of college friends go to Maine and stay in a vacation house to relax, catch up, and have a good time. But...Wyn and Harriet haven't told the rest of the group that they've been broken up for months. So when everyone comes together for the yearly vacation, Wyn and Harriet pretend to still be together so as not to ruin the vibes of what could be everyone's last summer together.
What I love the most about this book is that it not only focuses on romance, but friendship is at the forefront as well. We get to explore a lot of secondary characters and their dynamics with everyone else, which is not something I see a lot of in the rom-com sector. I also loved that Wyn and Harriet were so relatable and that Emily Henry wasn't afraid to make them infallible and human. TBH, I definitely went through something similar that happened in the book, so that's also probably why I feel so tethered to it.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Rom-Coms, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity, Small-Town Romance, Dual Timeline
4.Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent
I have to say that I was really shocked by how good this book was and how much I ended up absolutely loving it. This is the first book in a fantasy trilogy (I've yet to read the third one), and I impulsively decided to read it on Kindle after being influenced by a BookToker who described it as a book they wished they could read again for the first time. I hate to be the one to say it, but I very much do judge a book by its cover, so the 2012-coded cover didn't set up high expectations for me. HOWEVER, I was proven wrong and extremely humbled by just how immersive and creative the plot and writing were. I also realized that this is a self-published book, so major props to Carissa.
WHY I LOVED IT: One thing about me, I'm always gonna wanna read about a baddie who wants to destroy a corrupt government/monarchy for the sake of liberating their people. And that's exactly what the main character, Tisaanah, is doing! First of all, Tisaanah was a slave to this really horrible man, but she was able to escape and found her way to the Orders, which is a powerful organization for magic wielders. She then begins to train under an ex-army captain named Maxantarius (what a mouthful), so that she can hone in on her magic and eventually return to her homeland.
Of course, the Orders isn't the saving grace she expected it to be, and Tisaanah is faced with obstacles that challenge just how far she's willing to go to save her people. Like, hello?! The strong female lead, the slow-burn romance, the world-building, and everything in between is done so well. This is easily one of the best fantasy books I read this year.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Fantasy, Slow-Burn Romance, Magic, Strong Female Leads, Trilogies, Dual POV
5.On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
I typically don't gravitate toward memoirs, but On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous blends fiction and memoir in the form of an epistolary novel. Let me just say that I never, ever annotate books, but I busted out the highlighter and pen for this one because there were too many beautiful, gorgeous, and stunning moments in the book that I couldn't not spotlight. One quote that remains stuck with me: "They say every snowflake is different — but the blizzard, it covers us all the same."
WHY I LOVED IT: This book is written as a letter to the main character's illiterate immigrant mother. The main character, who only addresses themselves by their nickname, Little Dog, is a Vietnamese-American boy who paints a portrait of his life with a handful of stories addressing substance abuse, sexuality, mental illness, and class, among other themes. Ocean Vuong's prose is so gorgeous, honest, and intimate, and as someone with immigrant parents as well, it made me personally reflect on my life and my parents' lives.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Epistolary, Adult Fiction, Memoirs, LGBTQ+ Fiction, Literary Fiction
6.Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Anyone who knows me will know that I never, EVER shut up about this series. I promise I will find a way to bring this series up anytime I can because it is just SO. DAMN. GOOD. Pierce Brown, if you're reading this, this is my formal and public plea to not pull any tomfoolery in the next book like how you did at the end of Lightbringer. IYKYK. There are currently six books out, with the seventh (hopefully) coming out sometime in 2024.
WHY I LOVED IT: I wanna say this book was probably my first deep-dive into science fiction, and it's also probably one of my favorite book series ever. I read the whole series this year, and though Dark Age is my favorite, Red Rising will always be THAT girl simply because she's the one who started it all. There is so much that goes on in this book that whenever I need to quickly describe what it's about to people, I tell them that the first book is like if The Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies made a baby and blasted it off into space (the book is set in space, hundreds of years into the future).
I could ramble on and on about this book, but basically, in this world, society is ranked by color. At the top are Golds, and at the bottom are the Reds. Darrow is a Red, and like all other Reds, he works in the mines and lives below the surface of Mars. The Reds were told that their role in mining and drilling is pivotal to the rest of society so that they can help build a livable environment on the planet. But when Darrow finds out that the government, The Society, has lied to him and the Reds this whole time, his whole world is turned upside down, and he finds himself having to infiltrate the Golds. Trust me, there's never a dull moment, and you'll be on the edge of your seat the entire series.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Science Fiction, Dystopian Societies, Science Fantasy, Space, Adventure, Found Family, Morally Gray Characters
7.A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
Yes, I know, I'm late to this book. I honestly didn't really care for Nesta, the protagonist, enough to want to read a whole book about her, but alas, I gave it a chance, and I was NOT disappointed. I read the other ACOTAR books all last year, and I have to say this one might be my favorite — and not just because of the spice. If you haven't heard of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, A Court of Silver Flames is the fifth and latest book!
WHY I LOVED IT: I understand that no one was really supposed to love Nesta as a character at first because, well, she was really mean and had her own issues that she projected onto Feyre. However, the way Sarah J. Maas really fleshed out her character and showed us the consequences of the actions that took place in the previous book was done so well. I loved how Nesta's emotional (and physical) journey was so raw, candid, and messy, because that's what sorting through grief and self-hatred is really like. Also, Nesta dealing with elder sister trauma? Girl, I'm in.
TBH, I don't really care too much for spicy scenes in books, but let me just say...I did blush a few times. Again, IYKYK. Also, I cried multiple times, if that counts for anything.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Fantasy, Fae, Magic, Found Family, Slow-Burn Romance, Dual POV, Strong Female Leads, New Adult, Strong Female Friendship
8.The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
This book has been out for a long time (2003), and I cannot believe I only picked it up this year. I'm so sorry that a lot of this post is just me mentioning how much I've cried while reading something, but I swear I cried reading The Kite Runner about five times. The grim and heartbreaking backdrop of war and violence paired with magnificent storytelling and complex characters makes for an unrelenting and powerful story about friendship, family, and redemption.
WHY I LOVED IT: The book is set in Kabul, Afghanistan, and focuses on a boy named Amir who lives with his wealthy father (Baba). The book follows Amir as he grows up, and we also explore his life in California and, later on, Pakistan. We learn about Amir's extremely complex relationship with his Baba and also follow the relationship with his childhood best friend, Hassan. Hassan is the son of Baba's servant, Ali, and though Amir and Hassan basically do everything together, Amir still acknowledges their class differences and hierarchy, to the point where Amir is almost embarrassed to be seen with him by the other neighborhood kids (who are, BTW, little shits).
What I love the most about this book is how complex the characters are. As easy as it was to care and root for them, it was just as easy to judge and disdain some of them. I found myself getting so frustrated with certain characters throughout the book, then later began to understand and sympathize with them as we learned who they grew up to be and why they acted the way they did. I was absolutely blown away by this entire novel — I literally had to sit in silence for many minutes after I read the last page.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Strong Male Friendship
9.Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
This book is inspired by Chinese mythology, specifically Chang'e, the Chinese moon goddess herself. Filled with vibrant world-building, compelling characters, and a whole lot of action, Daughter of the Moon Goddess was such an engrossing and fun read. Also, can we take a moment to appreciate the beauty of these covers?! I haven't read Heart of the Sun Warrior yet, but my god, the covers are gorgeous.
WHY I LOVED IT: The main character is a girl named Xingyin, who grew up on the moon because her mother was sentenced there for stealing the Celestial Emperor's elixir of immortality. Xingyin's existence has been a secret her whole life — until her magic flares and brings the Celestial Empress to the moon to investigate. Forced to flee, Xingyin travels to the Celestial Kingdom to find a way to free her mother from exile.
This story is dreamy, whimsical, and so beautifully written that it almost reads like poetry. Also, I just love a story where the main character's unflinching determination is focally driven by their immense love for a family member. Easy five-star read.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: YA Fantasy, Romance, Mythology, Magic, Historical Fiction, Strong Female Leads, Epic Fantasy
10.Finally — Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Last but certainly not least, we have Firekeeper's Daughter. I had a feeling I would like this book because one of my dear friends recommended it to me, but I didn't think I would be so invested and emotionally attached. But then again, isn't that what great books are supposed to do?
This is a mystery/thriller book that revolves around a biracial and unenrolled tribal member named Daunis. When she becomes a witness to a horrifying murder, Daunis is thrown into the middle of a criminal investigation, where the reservation is at the front and center.
WHY I LOVED IT: This book is so engrossing and gripping, I think I read it in less than 24 hours. Daunis is a total badass character because she is smart, sensitive, caring, and extremely loyal to her family, friends, and community. She is half-white and half-Native American, and though she deeply connects with her Native American side, she isn't fully accepted by the tribe due to her proximity to whiteness. Through Daunis, readers are introduced to and immersed in sensitive topics and issues that tribes face in real life, such as substance abuse and sexual assault, which the author hands to readers with forthright yet heartbreaking candor.
Even with the criminal investigation going on (which was very exhilarating), I was still able to learn so much about Native American culture as Angeline Boulley made sure to incorporate rituals, history, traditions, and language into the story and writing. At this point, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that, yes, I sobbed. The power of community is gonna get me every time.
READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LOVE: Mystery, Thrillers, YA, Fiction, Strong Female Leads, Strong Female Friendship
And that wraps up my top 10 favorite books of the year! Thank you to everyone who managed to get through all my raving enthusiasm. I read so many amazing stories this year, and I'm so, so excited to start my 2024 challenge! I'm thinking maybe I should try for 80 books? IDK, but revisiting all these books made me fall in love with them even more, so I'm quite sure there will be some rereads in the near future.
I lent my copy of The House in the Cerulean Sea to someone, which is why it's not there in the photo, and I also don't have the physical copy of Daughter of No Worlds!
But, here's a recap of all the books on this list:
? The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
? The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
? Happy Place by Emily Henry
? On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
? Red Rising by Pierce Brown
? A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
? Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent
? Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
? Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
As someone who is always looking for more book recommendations, let me know what your favorite books of the year were, and what's next on your TBR list! What books are coming out next year that you cannot wait to get your hands on? What kind of tropes do you love? Comment below!