With 2023 coming to a close, this list summarizes some of the best titles of the year ranging many genres and topics including historical, romance, mystery, political activism, and mythology. Most of these books are available now, however, some are coming soon so make sure you put a hold on the ones you want.
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute is a romance in which two friends whose relationship has turned sour find themselves in a survival course as partners and must learn to work together. They may even become more than friends in the process. Imogen, Obviously is about Imogen visiting a friend on a college campus and navigating new social relationships and her sexuality, while Borrow My Heart explores questions of honesty and forgiveness in dating featuring a catfish situation.
There are a few books that feature mythology, gods, and magic. Threads that Bind is a reference to the fates of Greek mythology and a girl who is one of their descendants trying to solve a murder. Champion of Fate follows an enclave of mythological female warriors navigating their sense of duty, and Divine Rivals romantic relationship unfolding between two journalists amidst a battle between gods.
Several books take place in the courts and fields of kingdoms. Holly Black’s new novel The Stolen Heir, have two characters on a quest to fight monsters made of sticks and snow while navigating court politics. The King is Dead by Benjamin Dean is a story about the first black king of England who must withstand unforgiving and unrelenting media scrutiny. In Queen Bee, Lady Ela Dalvi must choose between romance and revenge while she is undercover as an heiress amongst London’s elite.
Interestingly there are two novels that take place around the same time. The Davenports follows a wealthy black family in Chicago 1910, while Into the Bright Open is a queer retelling of The Secret Garden which was originally published around the same time in 1911.
There are several Canadian books that explore the pressures of living in society and navigating individual sense of self and outward appearances. This negotiation between individualism and conformity is especially prevalent in Say Yes and Keep Smiling whose main character is a social media influencer learning to question her notions of success and happiness. Badass(ish) follows three teens considering and participating in political activism while protesting the oil industry and pipelines. Dragging Mason County is a comedy about people putting together a drag show in a small town and the bigotry they encounter.
One of the most prevalent themes is family: both the family that you are born into and the family that you find. The Space Between Here & Now is about a young woman who can time travel using her sense of smell and uses this power to uncover her family’s history in Korea. Hopeless in Hope has a main character who has a difficult family life. The children are in and out of foster homes and hospitals, amidst this chaos, Eva Brown learns to understand and forgive her mother by reading her diary. Iz the Apocalypse also explores the foster care system following a musician who wants to join a school band.
This list encompasses an extremely wide breadth of material and whatever your preference, hopefully there are some titles that you can sneak onto your end of year reading list or save for 2024!
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