This post is a seasonal installment for my blog and I both look forward to and dread it every year. While I love giving my favorite stories and authors a shout out, I hate leaving so many good books out because what’s exceptional for me might not strike a chord with you. Reading is such a personal thing with past experiences and current struggles playing a huge role in how a particular plot line, setting, or character impacts one’s heart and mind.

Disclaimer written, here’s some statistics to get you started and put my reading (and listening) year in perspective.

Total Books Consumed: 113  Read: 25 Listened: 88  Didn’t Finish: 4

And, now… Drum roll, please!

Contemporary/Action-adventure Romance

It’s Your Love by Rachel D. Russell – If you love horses and kids, you’ll love this story. It’s a return to Deep Haven and book 2 in the Fox Family series. This story hit all the points for me. It had flawed characters with deep-seated problems who tried hard to do the right thing, but events tended to backfire and they got burned. Love wins out in a beautiful way and the solution to problems feels truly God-ordained. If you haven’t read this story, you should pick it up and spend a day curled in a warm chair. You’ll be glad you did.

Fraser/Ned by Susan May Warren – The Minnesota Marshalls series contains five books and they’re all good. These were my faves though. Read them all for page-turning action, swoony heroes, tough heroines, and stakes upon stakes. You’ll be sad when you’ve hit the last page.

Fantasy/Time Travel

In This Moment by Gabrielle Meyer – love this story and can’t wait for the next books in the series. If you enjoy history paired with romance and can suspend belief to go for time-crossing, this series is for you. All the emotions are packed in here. See the review on Rebecca and Rebecca for all the info.

The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain – This time-travel story deals with helping an unborn baby with a heart problem. It’s touching and the love story falls right in line. A unique take on time travel and the effects it can have.

The Hollow Crown/The Silent Shield by Jeff Wheeler – Kingfountain series books 4 and 5. I loved Kingfountain as I love nearly every world Wheeler creates. These were my favorites however. If you haven’t read these and you enjoy fantasy, check them out. You’ll be hooked. All of these titles were in KU in audio as well as ebook. I listened to them and enjoyed every second.

Crown of Secrets by Melanie Cellier – I enjoyed this story of magical academies and princes and princesses. Lots of political intrigue and tests of loyalty. It’s YA, but not sickeningly so. Plenty of intelligent conversation and lots of difficult choices.

Thriller

Doomsday Match by Jeff Wheeler – This is a departure from Wheeler’s fantasy, but it has the same deep stakes and connected layers that we love from those stories. Not a romance, but love of family is the main motivation for the hero in the story. It takes place in South America, present day with flashbacks to the ancient civilizations. I loved it and I think you will too.

Romantic Suspense

Remember Not by Barbara Ellin Fox – horses and more horses in this story. Show jumping to be exact. And cartels and angry Brazilians and romance. It’s all here. Read it today.

Expired Return by Lisa Phillips – book 1 of Last Chance County Fire and Rescue. This one has an adorable little girl, a hero in a wheelchair, and a woman with lots of baggage and love for her niece. If you like second chances, this one’s for you.

Historical Romance

Protected by Paula Peckham – This pioneer story stole my heart with it’s heroine who dressed like a hero to protect the children of the wagon train and the hero with horrible burn scars on his face. The story showcases what happens when love wins.

Making Faces by Amy Harmon – I didn’t really know what category to put this one in. It’s a unique story (as all of Amy’s are) about a boy with a disabled boy who portrays the part of Jesus in a book that doesn’t mention God hardly at all. It’s sweet and sad and everything else. So good!

Romantic Comedy

Betsy: Miss Grumps Don’t Fall for Mr. Sunshines by Sarah Monzon – I couldn’t stop laughing, but the romance was amazing. I loved the musical aspect of this story as well. A redemption story with a lovely ending.

Authentically, Izzy/Positively, Penelope by Pepper Basham – Again, nearly constant laughter except when I was crying. Love stories were over the top good and the accents – to die for. I totally recommend listening to these. Wonderful stories of love and finding your purpose.

Dual Time

The Best Summer of Our Lives by Rachel Hauck – This story is set in the 70s and the 90s and follows a quartet of girls who were best friends until secrets broke them apart. It follows their reunion and the life of one, Summer, as she reconciles with the God she met at summer camp and opens herself to love once more.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah – This story is poignant and deep. It follows one family from the matriarch’s girlhood to her role as grandmother and deals with the effects of her trauma on each generation of her family and how they reconcile it in the end. It’s a sweeping tale of hatred and love and the messes promises can create when they outlive their time.

Nonfiction

The Power of God’s Names by Tony Evans – I read this twice in 2023. One of the only books with that honor. I learned more the second time and will likely listen again in 2024. Tony does a fabulous job of breaking down the meaning of the main names given to God in the Bible. Each can bring us closer to this familiar, yet unknowable Being as we grasp its significance. I recommend this to study. It has helped me.

Star of Wonder by Angela Hunt – This advent devotional was on point. It really upped my family’s anticipation of Christmas.

I read many other books that I enjoyed thoroughly and several I did not. I had more books this year that I began and didn’t finish than ever before. Maybe I’m getting more picky or maybe it’s that I have less time to waste on something that doesn’t strike my interest by chapter 5 or so. Whatever the case, I’m sure this year will bring more delightful stories to enjoy and I will share them with you.

Happy Reading!

Until next time, consider subscribing to my newsletter for updates on my own stories and the novel releasing sometime this summer. Blessings to all!