Best Books from 2023
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Whether you are participating in our In Case You Missed It Backlist Reading Challenge or found this post searching for the best books of 2023, you’ve come to the right place! Our list includes a mix of the best-selling novels of 2023 and highly-rated books published that year that flew a bit more under the radar.
Best Books of 2023
Don’t Forget to Write
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Marilyn wasn’t just caught making out with the rabbi’s son—she was caught by the whole congregation! In hopes of saving their daughter’s reputation, her parents sent her to her great-aunt Ada for the summer. They gave her an ultimatum: spend the summer with Ada, Philadelphia’s strict premier matchmaker, or kiss her college plans goodbye.
Based on her mother’s description, Marilyn expects Ada to be a humorless septuagenarian. Instead, Ada is sharp and straight-talking, with platinum blonde hair, a Hermès scarf, and a Cadillac convertible. As the summer goes on, Ada and Marilyn set off for the Jersey Shore, where Marilyn helps to scope out eligible matches for anyone but herself. She’s learning a lot from Ada—but not exactly what her parents were hoping for. Marilyn realizes that she doesn’t have to settle, even as her father threatens to disinherit her.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
This book caught our attention when our readers voted it as one of their favorite beach reads of all time. But don’t worry, it’s still a great read year-round with plenty of deeper topics.
After Melissa read it at our reader’s suggestion, she enjoyed it so much that she read the author’s entire back catalog.
The House is On Fire
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the middle of the 1811 winter social season, Virginia’s planters and their families gathered at the capital for the General Assembly. Just after Christmas, six hundred people packed into the theater for a show.
Newly widowed Sally is in a third-floor box. Cecily is in the colored gallery, happy to briefly escape bad circumstances at home. Stagehand Jack is backstage, hoping to earn a permanent job. Blacksmith Gilbert is on the other side of town, trying to make enough money, first to buy his freedom and then to be able to take his wife to the theater.
In the middle of the performance, the theater catches fire. The decisions by Sally, Cecily, Jack, and Gilbert will impact their futures as well as the lives of countless others.
Based on the true story of a fire in Richmond, Virginia’s theater in 1811, this compelling novel moves from tragedy to redemption as the lives of four people instantly become forever intertwined.
The Covenant of Water
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Kerala, on India’s southern coast, is a slender state with almost 373 miles of Arabian Sea coastline and beaches. Being surrounded by water makes this a popular tourist destination. But for the family at the heart of this novel, being surrounded by water has plagued three generations. In every generation, at least one person dies by drowning.
This new literary fiction epic is a tale of love, faith, and medicine in which the family is seeking answers to this strange secret. The family is part of a Christian community that traces itself to the time of the apostles, but times are shifting, and the matriarch of this family, known as Big Ammachi, literally “Big Mother”, will witness unthinkable changes at home and at large over the span of her extraordinary life.
Thoughts On This Book
This is a hefty book, at over 700 pages, but like Verghese’s past work, it deserves every rave review! With elements of magical realism, straddling myth and reality, you’ll be transported to Kerala, where you’ll experience all of the sights and sounds, including clothing, dance, music, architecture, customs, food, and so much more.
A tip, though – keep your dictionary handy if you’re a little rusty on your Latin or anatomy. Author Abraham Verghese completed his medical education in India at Madras Medical College before working as a doctor and a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His medical expertise is apparent throughout the book. But, as was the case with Cutting for Stone, some readers may find the descriptions of surgical procedures a bit too graphic.
Looking for Jane
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
It’s 2017 when Angela discovers a letter containing a life-shattering confession. She’s determined to find the recipient, and her search leads her to Toronto’s underground illegal 1970s abortion network, known only as Jane.
In 1971, before she went to medical school, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was a typical teenager. However, when she became pregnant, she was sent to a home for “fallen” women and forced to give up her baby for adoption. She never recovered from the trauma and vowed to spend her career providing women choices.
In 1980, Natalie was twenty and had just discovered a shocking family secret that changed everything. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant amid the other chaos in her life, she needs someone to turn to and finds Jane. She works alongside Dr. Turner but continues to be haunted by lies.
A Note About the Publication Date
This highly-rated novel was published in Canada in 2022 before its 2023 US release.
The Echo of Old Books
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Ashlyn Greer is a rare-book dealer who loves the smell of old paper, ink, and leather. Old volumes appeal to all of her senses, including a sense the rest of us don’t have. She is gifted with the unique ability to feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners.
When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound, unpublished volumes with no evidence of how they came to be, she gets wrapped up in a decades-old literary mystery. Each volume bears a curious inscription, as well as the emotional fingerprints of the authors, Hemi and Belle. The books tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance. The more Ashlyn learns about Hemi and Belle, the closer she comes to bringing closure to their love story and to the unfinished chapters of her own life.
Thoughts On This Book
This novel is perfect for book lovers and those who love a story within a story. It also delves into deeper historical issues, including anti-Semitism and the roles of women in society in the 1940s.
The Frozen River
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In the late 1700s, women were expected to be seen and not heard. But, midwife Martha puts what is right over society’s expectations. When the Kennebec River freezes, a man is entombed in the ice. Martha is called to determine the cause of death.
Months earlier, the man had been accused of rape, and Martha believes he has now been murdered. However, the local physician disagrees and declares the death an accident.
Over the winter, Martha continues to investigate every angle as the trial approaches. The diary she uses to log every birth and death becomes a key component and soon implicates those she loves, leaving Martha with an impossible decision.
Thoughts On This Book
This GMA Book Club Pick and NPR Book of the Year is based on the real diary of midwife Martha Ballard, who defied the legal system.
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Clover had an unusual childhood, with her Kindergarten teacher passing away during a reading of Peter Rabbit. Then, her parents passed away while traveling, and she started a new life with her grandfather in New York City. She continued to be fascinated by death and was studying different cultural traditions abroad when she received the terrible news that her grandfather had passed away alone in his office.
Clover commits to preventing others from dying alone by becoming a death doula. She only takes one patient at a time, so she can be more present for her clients than hospice workers. Whether she’s only holding their hand or hearing their regrets about life, she is present to honor them in their last moments. Her only friend is actually her grandfather’s friend, Leo, who is very concerned that when he is gone, Clover will be alone. Between his friendship-matchmaking and a fiesty new client, can Clover shift her life focus outside of work from the dying to a new life of her own?
Our Thoughts On This Book
Melissa highly recommends this book for anyone who loves the heart of Fredrik Backman and characters like Eleanor Oliphant or Albert Entwistle, who have been loners for much of their lives.
While the book’s concept sounds heavy on death and grief, the novel is very much about life. It’s a rare book that Melissa wanted to read again immediately, while also wanting to give it a hug.
Some readers have reported not connecting with Clover, but Melissa adored her and was rooting for her on every page.
Homecoming
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
93% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
On Christmas Eve sixty years ago, a deliveryman made a gruesome discovery that forever changed the small town of Tambilla. In the present day, Jess is a journalist in London when she gets a call to return home to Australia to help with her grandmother, Nora. Nora was more like a mother to Jess after Jess’s mother, Polly, left her with Nora and moved to Brisbane when Jess was only 10.
Nora fell in her attic while searching for something, and now she is mumbling about an event from her past, making it difficult to understand. As Jess tries to piece things together, she learns that Nora was agitated and restless even before the fall. She knows something is going on and is determined to figure it out. As she searches the house for clues, she finds a true crime book about the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve. But what does this cold case have to do with her family?
Thoughts On This Book
This mystery is on the longer side at 547 pages. Some readers feel like the first 400 pages could have been shorter, but most agree that you won’t be able to put this book down in the last 100 pages.
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This historical novel is based on the real memoir of a 15th-century female physician in China. Tan Yunxian was raised in the Ming Dynasty era by her grandmother, also a physician, who taught her the art of Chinese medicine. Additionally, she learned about female conditions from her best friend, Meiling, who was training to be a midwife. While Yunxian was on the path to success in her own right, she was still sent into an arranged marriage.
Her new mother-in-law was a traditionalist who forbade her from seeing Meiling and stopped her from helping the girls and women in their household. Instead, she is supposed to be a “proper wife,” learning poetry, embroidering foot-binding slippers, and staying within the walls of their compound.
How did Yunxian break free and go on to treat women from all classes of society and create remedies that are still used over 500 years later? Lisa See tells her compelling life story in this novel.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
While we both love historical fiction, we usually prefer anything from the Gilded Age to the present and usually avoid earlier settings. However, we were drawn to Lady Tan’s Circle of Women as our Book of the Month pick in June of 2023. While we were compelled by the description, the book was even better than expected and often left us awestruck as we learned about what it was like for women in the Ming Dynasty era in China.
It was fascinating to see what was “normal” at the time within a wealthy and revered family. Knowing the book is based on a real woman adds to the page-turning nature of the novel!
Go As a River
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This novel transports you to 1940s rural Colorado and the home of teenager Victoria Nash. Despite her young age, she runs the household as the sole female in a family of troubled men. One day, she meets Wilson Moon, a mysterious young drifter who has been displaced from his tribal land. Their sudden and passionate connection is full of danger and secrets.
Victoria flees to a harsh mountain wilderness in a small hut, where she struggles against impossible conditions. As the Gunnison River rises and threatens her homeland, she begins a quest to fight for all she has lost.
Thoughts On This Book
This is a great pick if you enjoy deep and descriptive, character-driven reads. While much of the book is slower-paced, the final chapters are the best.
Book Club Guide Available
Don’t miss our entire book club guide for Go As a River, which includes discussion questions, food ideas, and so much more!
The Last Love Note
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Kate hasn’t recovered from losing her husband, Cameron, two years ago. She’s back to work, but not at peak performance. Her best friend is trying to get her back on the dating scene, but she’s already overwhelmed trying to care for herself and her young son.
When Kate and her boss, Hugh, are on a flight to a quick business meeting, they have to land in Byron Bay due to a massive storm. The time away may be exactly what she needs to move into the next stage of healing.
While the title of this novel, and even the first couple of chapters, sound like a rom-com, don’t go in expecting that vibe throughout. It gets quite deep and covers some very serious, hard, heart-wrenching topics. While it’s not exactly a dual-time, some chapters take you back to Kate’s life with her husband. You’ll tear up as many times as you laugh out loud. There are romantic elements, but it’s also squarely a story about grief and loss.
Consider This Before Reading
Don’t miss the author’s note at the end of the book where she shares her personal connection to the story.
This is one of those books that contains topics that may be upsetting to readers who have personal experience with them. However, they are spoilers, and we recommend reading this book without reading any more than our description for the best page-turning experience if you can. If you find any topics distressing, we recommend reviewing GoodReads reviews for trigger warnings before picking this one up.
Chain-Gang All-Stars
Book Summary
This novel, set in the near future, is a scathing condemnation of the penal system. It follows two imprisoned athletes, Loretta and Hamara (also known as “Hurricane Staxxx”), who fight to the death to shorten their jail time. They are part of a wildly popular, gladiator-style reality show where survival means ratings and the grand prize is “freedom.”
As the women rise to stardom, their partnership and principles are tested by corporate greed, bloodthirsty crowds, and the machine that profits from their pain.
Thoughts On This Book
Readers describe this as a book you may not “like,” but that you’ll nonetheless find hard to put down!
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
When bombings began in London in 1939, 14-year-old Hazel and her 5-year-old sister, Flora, were evacuated to a rural village in the English countryside. Living with a woman and her teenage son in a charming stone cottage, Hazel comforts Flora by telling her stories of a magical fairy tale land. It provides the sisters with a fictional place to escape the fears and hardships of war. One day, while playing near the banks of the River Thames, Flora disappears. Hazel blames herself and carries the guilt into adulthood. Twenty years later, Hazel’s life looks ideal from the outside – charming boyfriend, a nice flat in London, and a good job at a rare bookstore. But on the eve of her new career at Sotheby’s, she unwraps a package that changes everything.
It’s an illustrated first edition of “Whisperwood and the River of Stars.” It’s the imaginary world that she created for Flora – one that she never wrote down and never told anyone else about. What does it mean? Is Flora still alive? And does this fairy tale hold the truth about her disappearance? Hazel embarks on a feverish quest for answers. Along the way, she’ll reconnect with people from her past and put her future in jeopardy.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Centered around the fairytale world created by Hazel for her sister, this novel blurs the lines between the real and the magical in the most wonderful way. The book focuses on the relationship between the sisters while also showing the realities of Operation Pied Piper and its long-lasting impacts on the families who were faced with such difficult choices during the war.
It’s hard to say too much without spoilers, but Angela loved the book from the first page to the last. Told in dual timelines, the mystery is unraveled bit by bit through beautiful prose.
The House of Eve
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
House of Eve alternates between the perspectives of our main characters in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Ruby’s story is told in first-person as she tries to become the first member of her lower-income family to attend higher education. However, her plans are threatened when she begins to fall for a Jewish boy.
Eleanor’s story is told from the third-person perspective as she arrives in D.C. with equal parts ambition and secrets. Like Ruby, Eleanor’s plans are changed when she falls for a man, William, at Howard University. William is from one of Washington’s elite, wealthy Black families, and his parents are picky about who is good enough to join them.
While this setup feels like a romance novel, this is a fast-moving historical fiction novel that will take you into a piece of history you may know little about. Don’t miss the author’s note at the end!
Our Thoughts On This Book
Melissa hadn’t read much more than our description of this book before jumping in, and she enjoyed the twists along the way that came from not knowing more. She recommends that you enjoy this historical novel the same way as you step into the lives of two young black women in the 1950s who are desperately trying to be their best.
The Seven Year Slip
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Clementine has been protecting her heart ever since the worst day of her life. She wants to find love, but she’s scared to get hurt. But then she meets a man with kind eyes, a Southern drawl, and a taste for lemon pies. He’s precisely the kind of man she’d fall for… if only he didn’t exist seven years in the past.
Her late aunt always told her that her apartment was a pinch in time – a place where moments blend together like watercolors. And it seems she was right. When she finds this man standing in the kitchen and realizes she’s living seven years in his future, she knows she shouldn’t let her heart get involved. But she just might anyway.
About the Author
Ashley Poston is also the author of The Dead Romantics, which we both loved so much more than we anticipated. Poston is a master of mixing romance and magical realism elements!
The River We Remember
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
On Memorial Day in 1958, the residents of Jewel, Minnesota, are shocked to discover the dead body of the town’s most powerful citizen, wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn. Sheriff Brody Dern must investigate, but he’s still carrying the physical and emotional scars of his military service, which complicate his career.
The townspeople have a prime suspect before Dern even has the autopsy report. Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran, has recently come back to town with a Japanese wife. But does the couple’s return have anything to do with this case?
The River We Remember explores mid-century life in America and highlights how countless small towns were affected by the WWII scars that remained well after the last shots were fired.
More Books by William Kent Krueger
Most of William Kent Krueger’s books are highly-rated and set in Minnesota. We also recommend Ordinary Grace, This Tender Land, and his Cork O’Connor series, which starts with a prequel, Lightning Strike.
Dust Child
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This suspenseful saga is set both during the war and in present-day Việt Nam. Trang and Quỳnh are sisters from a rural village, and like many in the region, their parents are struggling to survive. In 1969, the daughters take the desperate step of becoming “bar girls” in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money.
Trang becomes involved with a charming helicopter pilot named Dan. Decades later, we’ll see Dan return to Việt Nam with his wife in an attempt to heal from his PTSD and reckon with secrets from his past.
Also, in the present day, we’ll meet Phong as he tries to find his parents, a Black American soldier, and a Vietnamese woman. He was abandoned at an orphanage as a baby and grew up being called names because he was a “child of the enemy”. He dreams of finding a way to America in hopes of a better life for his family.
About the Author
Author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai was born and raised in Việt Nam and has a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of 20 inspiring women of 2021 after her 2020 novel The Mountains Sing was an international best-seller.
For additional books set in Vietnam in the 60s & 70s, visit our list of books to read after The Women by Kristin Hannah.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Popular podcaster Alix Summers and an unassuming woman called Josie Fair don’t know each other, but discover that they are both celebrating their 45th birthdays at a local pub. When they bump into each other again outside Alix’s children’s school, Josie pitches an idea for the podcast.
While Alix finds something unsettling about Josie, her complicated life is ideal for the podcast, and Alix doesn’t want to miss out on the story. But before she knows it, Josie is fully entangled in her life. Then, Josie disappears as quickly as she arrived on Alix’s birthday. Unfortunately, she left behind a terrible legacy, and Alix is now the subject of her own true crime podcast.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
98% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Nineteen-year-old Marion’s dreams come true when she’s cast as a member of the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall’s precision dance troupe. It’s an honor for any dancer to be selected for the role and given the opportunity to perform at the Art Deco masterpiece of a theater that is Radio City. But Marion soon learns that, behind the scenes, the days are long and the rehearsals grueling.
One night, in 1956, a bomb exploded in the theater. It’s suspected to be the work of the infamous “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been planting bombs in crowded places around the city for the past sixteen years. The police still have no leads, leaving citizens living in fear. At Marion’s urging, the police agree to try psychological profiling, a radical new technique at the time.
While the Rockettes are trained to stay in line, Marion realizes that to help catch the bomber, she’ll have to stand out.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Fiona Davis is one of our favorite authors because she has such a knack for turning historic NYC buildings into living, breathing characters in her novels. Like most of Fiona’s books, this one includes a mystery and a dual timeline, although in this novel, the later 1990s point of view is limited to several short chapters.
Before reading, the Book Girls were unaware of the real Manhattan bombings that took place during this time period. Given that history, the inclusion of mental health care at the time, and the dawn of criminal profiling, this book was the perfect mix of entertaining and educational.
Hello Stranger
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sadie is a talented portrait artist who is finally getting the recognition she deserves as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. Before her death, her mom was a finalist in the same competition, so Sadie is full of emotions about the new painting she must produce as part of the contest.
However, in one moment, everything changes for Sadie. The only constant is her beloved dog, Peanut. With both her work and her family in chaos, how will Sadie overcome the hardest period in her life?
Why We Think You’ll Love It
If you’ve been a Book Girls’ Guide reader for long, you know that we always seem to connect with Katherine Center books, and Hello Stranger was no exception! We kept our summary more vague than the publisher’s, so you can be as surprised as the main character by some of her experiences. It’s rare that a book provides a real surprise, and this one does it well.
Like Center’s other books, you get a mix of a main character with internal struggles, family drama, and some romance. However, these common pieces do not make her books predictable. They each have their own unique characters and settings. Hello Stranger is no exception!
Don’t miss the author’s notes at the end for her thoughts on romance novels and the reasons they are so delightful!
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
94% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Lucy is a 26-year-old teacher’s aide hoping to adopt her student, seven-year-old Christopher. He tragically lost his parents, but she needs to be in a better financial situation for both the actual adoption process to be approved and to take care of Christopher long-term.
She’s always found comfort in books, especially the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. The author stopped writing and became reclusive years ago, but she still regularly re-reads his work. Just when Lucy is about to give up on adopting Christopher, Jack Masterson re-emerges and announces a new book. However, it’s not a standard release. Four contestants will get to come to the real Clock Island and compete for a chance to win the single copy in existence, which is worth at least six figures.
Thoughts On This Book
This adventurous story is full of heart with a side of magic!
The First Ladies
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This historical fiction novel tells the story of the friendship between two powerful and influential women in American history.
Mary McLeod Bethune, the daughter of formerly enslaved parents, was one of the first black female activists. Through her work as both an activist and an educator, she helped lay a foundation for the civil rights movement. Eleanor Roosevelt shared Mary’s passion for education and women’s rights, and was eager to make her acquaintance. The two became fast friends and confidantes.
After Eleanor’s husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was elected president in 1932, the two women began to collaborate even more closely. She became quite a controversial First Lady for pursuing her own agenda, separate from FDR, and particularly for her outspoken stance on civil rights.
When Eleanor begins receiving threats because of her close relationship with Mary, both women use it as motivation to fight even harder for equality.
Thoughts On This Book
After reading and loving The Personal Librarian, we were so excited to see the writing duo of Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray collaborating again on this novel.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Weyward weaves together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, using a bit of magical realism along the way.
In 1619, Altha is awaiting trial after being accused of using witchcraft to murder a local farmer. She knows that she’ll need to use all her deep knowledge of the natural world if she wants to remain free.
In 1942, the world is at war. Violet longs for the education her brother receives in their grandfather’s crumbling estate, but as a girl, she’s not entitled to knowledge. Her mother was rumored to have gone mad, and the only connection Violet has to her is a locket and the word Weyward carved into the wooden floor.
In 2019, Kate is fleeing London in the dark and heading to Weyward Cottage. She inherited the ramshackle home with its overgrown garden from an aunt she barely knew. It’s given her the much-needed opportunity to escape her abusive boyfriend. However, she doesn’t know that the cottage has secrets dating back to the witch-hunts of the 17th century.
Consider This Before Reading
This book contains several themes that could be upsetting, including rape, abuse, stillbirth, and suicide.
While most readers rate this book highly, some have found the dark and atmospheric novel too heavy for their current state of mind.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
91% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Sixty-year-old Vera Wong is a self-proclaimed tea expert and a meddling matchmaker for her son.
When she wakes up one morning to find a dead man in her tea shop, she decides to add detective to her resume. She’s convinced she’ll do a better job than the police, anyway, so she might as well catch the killer herself.
Our Thoughts On This Book
We’ve discovered a love of contemporary cozy-style mysteries in recent years, and this one is especially fun. It’s perfect for fans of Finlay Donovan and Dial A for Aunties, and it will definitely leave you wanting to read more of Vera Wong’s adventures.
The Five-Star Weekend
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
This novel centers around Hollis, a popular food blogger who loses her husband to a car accident. The fight she had with him right before he drove away drives an even deeper wedge between her and her teenage daughter, Caroline.
After learning about a trend called a “Five-Star Weekend,” where one woman organizes a trip for her best friends from each phase of life, Hollis decides to host her own. But gathering her best friend from each decade, from childhood through midlife, doesn’t turn out to be the joyful Hallmark movie she’d envisioned. But it will definitely be a weekend she’ll never forget.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
Melissa loved this summer novel and agrees that it lives up to its 5-star namesake. While Elin delivers a page-turning beach read, she also provides plenty to think about in your own life. It’s the perfect mix of light reading with some deeper themes of friendship and relationships included to stop it from being too fluffy.
Tom Lake
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
89% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Set during the summer of 2020, Lara’s three adult daughters have returned home to quarantine at the family’s northern Michigan cherry orchard. As they pick cherries and go about running the family business in isolation, the sisters beg their mother to tell them the story of her long-ago romance with celebrity Peter Duke. When Lara was in her early 20s, she and Peter shared the stage during a Michigan summer stock theater run of the play Our Town.
Lara begins the story with her very first experience on stage in high school and works her way forward through her brief but eventful theater career. As the girls learn more about their mother’s life, they are forced to reconsider everything they thought they knew about her and their father.
Why We Think You’ll Love It
This beautiful novel captures the ways in which our past shapes who we become, how certain moments and experiences stay with us forever, and how certain relationships – no matter how brief – leave lasting imprints on our souls.
Ann Patchett has had some amazing narrators for her audiobooks over the years (Tom Hanks reading The Dutch House, for example), and this book is no exception. Meryl Streep’s narration is phenomenal and definitely adds to the experience of reading the book.
For a fun, light-hearted look at the cherry culture of northern Michigan, we also recommend Viola Shipman’s 2023 novel, Famous in a Small Town.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Picture-perfect couple Harriet and Wyn met in college and have been an inspirational duo ever since. But, as their annual week-long Maine vacation with their best friends approaches, they have a big decision to make. Do they finally confess that they broke up six months ago and still haven’t managed to tell their best friends?
The cottage they visit each year is being sold, and it’s the last time they’ll all be together in their sacred spot. It feels wrong to ruin the whole mood with their bad news. So Harriet and Wyn decide they can surely fake being in love for one week. After all, they’ve had years of practice.
This book alternates between chapters titled “Happy Place,” which show Harriet and Wyn’s relationship from the beginning and how it grows over the years, and chapters titled “Real Life,” which show them in their current, broken-up state.
Our Thoughts On This Book
We can always count on Emily Henry for a perfect new summer title, and this year is no exception. In Happy Place, she tackles one of our favorite tropes – fake dating. We absolutely loved the vivid descriptions of Maine that captured not only the sights but also the tastes and smells!
We both rated this one 4.5 stars. Book Lovers and Beach Read still remain our favorite Emily Henry titles, but we enjoyed every minute of Happy Place.
Holly
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
The recurring character, Holly, is on her own at the Finders Keepers detective agency. When she gets a call from Penny asking for help finding her missing daughter, Bonnie, Holly is reluctant to take the case. She’s supposed to be on leave because her partner, Pete, is out with COVID, and her mom just died. But the desperation in Penny’s voice makes Holly take the job.
Just down the street from where Bonnie disappeared, Professors Rodney and Emily Harris are hiding a secret in their basement. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But is this savvy, elderly couple really related to Bonnie’s case?
Thoughts On This Book
Our readers selected this book as one of their favorite reads of 2023. Here’s what they had to say:
“The character of Holly Gibney is an all-time great. Fully fleshed out, multi-dimensional, easy to root for.”
“Not always a fan of Stephen King (I don’t do so well with scary), but he is a brilliant writer, and I enjoyed how he tied in the Mr. Mercedes books with this one. He developed her into a new person. Was happy how he did it.” -Jane A.
Hello Beautiful
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Charlie greets the women in his family, including his wife and four daughters, by saying “Hello, Beautiful” and truly sees something special in each of them. Unfortunately, Charlie is resented by his wife, Rose, because he’s an alcoholic, which also impacts his ability to provide for the family.
Their oldest daughter, Julie, is smart and ambitious. When she meets William, whose family couldn’t be more different than her own, he’s at college on a basketball scholarship. For William, the sport has been his saving grace and a substitute for the love of family. At least until he meets Julie and her family embraces him in their family unit when they become a couple. Once that happens, the family refuses to give up on him.
Hello Beautiful follows the characters for nearly four decades. The book begins in the main characters’ childhoods, in the 1960s, and spans into their middle-aged years.
Consider This Before Reading
This slow-paced character-driven family drama from the author of Dead Edward pays homage to Little Women, including references to the classic.
Keep in mind that the themes in this book include depression and suicide.
Fourth Wing
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Violet was supposed to be a scribe, living quietly among books, but her mother ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
At twenty-two, she’s a young adult but smaller than most, and her body is brittle. Most dragons incinerate fragile humans, and others would attack her because she’s the daughter of the commanding general. She’ll have to use all her wits to survive because once you enter Basgiath War College, you either graduate or die.
Thoughts On This Book
Fantasy is not a genre that either of the Book Girls particularly enjoys, but we couldn’t possibly ignore the popularity of Fourth Wing when creating this list.
Here are some of the things our readers have told us about why they love this book and the subsequent series:
Terry S. says, “I was completely drawn into the story. The world-building was interesting, but the characters were what really made it a standout. I’m in my 60s, certainly not a TikTok-using teen, but this book isn’t just for the typical audience.”
And Lani tells us, “This is the best adult fantasy I have ever read. The world-building is done really well, and the characters are well-developed. It is the best fantasy I have read since Harry Potter.”
You are welcome to choose any book you’d like to read for the challenge, but we hope this list of books gives you a good starting point.
Sign Up for the ICYMI Backlist Challenge
Sign up for our email list below to receive a free printable tracker for the In Case You Missed It Backlist Challenge. Our weekly email newsletter helps you stay on track with friendly reminders while still allowing you the flexibility to read at your own pace. Additionally, challenge participants have an opportunity to discuss the books on this list and to provide ratings and reviews via our book logs.
Printable Version This Book List
Readers who support The Book Girls’ Guide through our Buy Me a Coffee (BMAC) membership site can access printable versions of the reading challenge book lists. As we update each book list throughout the year – following the monthly reading challenge schedule – each list will be available in a single-page printable format for our BMAC members.
We offer two membership levels. Both our BFF members and our Inner Circle members get access to the single-page printables for the year-long reading challenges. Visit our Buy Me a Coffee membership page for a full list of benefits for each level.
Our BMAC members help cover the cost of running the challenges so we can keep them free for everyone!
