It’s that time of year again! I’ll be going through the top 10 I read in 2023, revealing the Best Book of 2023 using my book bracket & also some honourable mentions from 2023. Let’s jump in!
Top 10 Books of 2023
While it took me a long time to read The Killing Code due to being in a bit of a reading slump I absolutely loved it. It was also one of those books that stuck with me. I found myself thinking about it weeks and even months later. The Killing Code is a LGBT+ Historical Fiction book set during WWII at a Signals Intelligence unit in Washington DC where a group of badass women join forces to discover who has been murdering Government Girls.
How can it be a Best Books post without a Truly Devious book? Nine Liars is the 5th and and final book in the Truly Devious series. This time Stevie takes on a case from the 90s in England. While Nine Liars is probably my least favourite book in the series it was still an amazing read. I love this group, I love the writing and I love the vibes.
Yes, I’m a little late to the party on this one as I read it well after it blew up on TikTok, but I finally picked it up in May and loved every second. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Legends & Lattes is a LGBT+ Cozy Fantasy following an Orc, who was previously a Barbarian, as she opens the very first coffee shop in her city where no one has heard of coffee. This one is a fun time. It’s a low stakes and cozy read that’s set in a high fantasy world. What more could you want??
It took me WAY too long to continue this series after reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz back in 2018. Cilka’s Journey is the incredible (based on true) story of Cilka as she survives in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, is liberated and is then sentenced as a collaborator for sleeping with (*cough* being raped by *cough*) the enemy. This lands her in a Siberian Prison Camp in which again she must survive. She’s taken under the wing of a nurse and assists in tending the ill and injured in terrible conditions including risking her life to save others. This story is not for the faint of heart. It’s horrific and brutal but so incredibly inspiring. Cilka went through worse than hell but didn’t let it break her. Heather Morris books are guaranteed to leave my in tears every time but I’ll read every one of them.
Of course we have the newest Volume of Heartstopper making it on the list. This series is just incredible and I’ll be sad when it ends. Heartstopper: Volume 5 is probably my second favourite volume of the series.
Next is an unexpected one as I picked up this series on a whim knowing nothing about it. Murder off the Books is the third book in the By the Books Mysteries which is a cozy small town mystery series following an author as she solves murders.
This is another one I left WAY too long to read. I reread The Hate U Give and read On the Come Up back in 2020 but left it three years to read Concrete Rose. To a degree I was putting it off because I knew it would be a hard read, just like THUG & OtCU, and I was right. This was an amazing inspiring read but it wasn’t an easy one. Concrete Rose follows the backstory of Stars father.
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight was another surprising one. I was hesitant picking this one up because while I enjoyed Cinderella is Dead fine enough, I DNFd This Poison Heart. So I wasn’t sure what to expect. This was a really fun and engaging LGBT+ Horrow. It went places I wasn’t expecting but I binged this in one night.
The Brothers Hawthorne is the last book in The Inheritance Games series and every book in this series has made it to the Best of the Year post for me. While The Brothers Hawthorne was my least favourite of the series it was still an amazing read and I’m sad that this series is coming to an end after the next book. Predicting that book 5, The Grandest Game, will be on my Top 10 next year!
Best Book of 2023!
Well that was 9 of the top 10 and now onto THE BEST book of 2023 thanks to my book bracket (or whatever you want to call this thing).
Three Sisters is the last book in the Tattooist of Auschwitz series and it was incredible. This one, as the title suggests, follows Three Sisters as they are taken from their home in Slovakia to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they have to do everything to survive & keep eachother safe. This one hit so hard and was just an incredible read. I ended up tearing up so many times it’s not funny. I recommend this series to everyone but it’s definitely not an easy series to read.
Honourable Mentions
Fourth Wing of course had to make it in here somwhere. While it wasn’t the best book or the most well written one I read this year it was a fun time. Beyond the Wand was an awesome memoir and I loved the narration by Tom Felton himself. The Housekeepers was a recent read that really surprised me. It’s a historical heist that was incredibly written and so well thought out. Mamo as a whole Graphic Novel Volume was such a fun LGBT+ Fantasy read. The Murder at the Vicarage is the first book in the Miss Marple series and I loved this series. Hercule Poirot was better but still really good. On a Sunbeam was such an amazing LGBT+ Sci Fi Graphic Novel. Radium Girls is such an awesome way to tell the real & tragic story of the Radium Girls. And lastly Forged by Blood which is an action-packed debut fantasy based on Nigerian Mythology and it was such an amazing read.
Well that’s it for my Best reads of 2023! Let me know in the comments what your favourite read of 2023 was!
Dusk Angel Reads 
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