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Celeste’s Top Reads of 2023

Celeste’s Top Reads of 2023

My 2023 reading year was a bit of a mixed bag.  While I read some truly phenomenal books, I also got bogged down in some that didn’t work for me.  This was also the year when I began to take a step back from reviewing quite as much, as have felt myself beginning to burn out for quite a while now.  This led me to rereading much more this year, as I didn’t owe those books anything else.  I read a solid mix of new releases and backlist books, and I believe this is the year where I saw the most new releases added to my list of favorites.  Eight of the twelve books below were published in 2023, with two more having hit shelves the year before.  The other two are modern classics that couldn’t be more deserving of the title.  

The rules for this list are as follows:

  • All books must be new to me.
  • One book per author.
  • All books must have been 5 star reads.  While I read some fantastic books that I gave 4.5 stars, none of those made this list.  

I couldn’t narrow it down to ten. Without further ado, here are my twelve favorite books read in 2023. 

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Book Review: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Book Review: Bride by Ali Hazelwood


Bride by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I received an advance digital copy of this novel from the publisher, Berkley, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t remember the last time I read a 400+ page book in less than 24 hours, but that was exactly my experience with Bride. I was pretty excited when Hazelwood announced her first foray into paranormal romance. And somewhat hesitant. While I thoroughly enjoyed The Love Hypothesis, I haven’t been able to get into any of her work since. I was hopeful that a shift in genre would change things, and I was absolutely correct. Bride had me in its thrall from the very first page. I couldn’t put it down.

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Book Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Book Review: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow


Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an advance digital copy of this novel from the publisher, Tor Books, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think I found my favorite book of the year.

Starling House was my most anticipated book of 2023. Which is saying something, as there were so many excellent books published this year. But Harrow’s debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, is my favorite standalone novel of all time, so my expectations were sky high. Those expectations could have set me up for failure. They didn’t. While the two novels couldn’t be more different, Starling House is just as powerful and beautiful as The Ten Thousand Doors of January. It just has much sharper teeth.

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Book Review: House of Odysseus (The Songs of Penelope, #2) by Claire North

Book Review: House of Odysseus (The Songs of Penelope, #2) by Claire North


House of Odysseus by Claire North
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Ithaca was one of my favorite books of 2022. However, I was thrown at the end of the book when I discovered that, unlike most Greek myth retellings, it was not a standalone novel but the first of a trilogy. I have been eagerly awaiting House of Odysseus since finishing those final pages of Ithaca, and am thrilled to announce that it lived up to its predecessor in every single way. This series follows the story of Penelope during the 20 year absence of her husband, King Odysseus of Ithaca. Ithaca presents this story from the perspective of Hera, Queen of Queens, as she observes what’s going on in Penelope’s life and how those happens overlap with the last days of Clytemnestra, Hera’s darling. House of Odysseus picks up where Ithaca left off, but now from the perspective of Aphrodite as her favorite, Helen, weaves her way back into Penelope’s story.

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Book Review: No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

Book Review: No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister


No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an advance digital copy of this novel from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“No two persons ever read the same book or saw the same pictures”
The Writings of Madame Swetchine, 1860

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I’ve read plenty of books that made my heart ache, but very few that made my heart feel seen. There is something remarkably soothing about No Two Persons, this quiet novel told in vignettes. From beginning to end, one thought rang in me, heart, mind, and soul: “Ah. There you are.” I can’t articulate how it made me feel. The feeling it inspired isn’t big or showy, but it’s a feeling I’ve been seeking my entire life. Whatever that feeling may be, I’m incredibly thankful to have experienced it. And I hope other readers will have the same healing, soothing, quiet experience of being seen by what you love.

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Book Review: Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children, #8) by Seanan McGuire

Book Review: Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children, #8) by Seanan McGuire


Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, Tordotcom, in exchange for an honest review.

One of my personal holiday traditions has become reading the newest Wayward Children novella on or right after Christmas. Tordotcom has been kind enough to facilitate that tradition for the past 6 years by sending me a galley copy of each installment before its publication, usually in January. It’s always one of my most exciting pieces of book mail of the year. Some installments have been more successful (for me) than others, but this year’s release, Where the Drowned Girls Go, brought me back to the magic of the first book. There we were introduced to the dark sister school of Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, but we also begin to see various storylines from previous novellas finally tying themselves together. Because of this, my hopes for this newest installment, Lost in the Moment and Found, were very high, and I was expecting even more of the series to come together.

Lost in the Moment and Found is nothing like I expected while still being everything I hoped it would be.

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Book Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Book Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus


Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lessons in Chemistry was so much better than I anticipated, even after hearing it so lauded by so many readers. I blame this partly on the cover. While very cute, it doesn’t do justice to the story it contains, conveying something similar in feel to a rom-com instead of what the cover truly hides, which is an empowering historical fiction novel that is by turns heart-wrenching and hilarious. And always, always, so smart. This is a feminist manifesto of the highest, most egalitarian caliber, while also telling a wonderfully compelling story with even more compelling characters.

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Book Review: A Fire Endless (Elements of Cadence, #2) by Rebecca Ross

Book Review: A Fire Endless (Elements of Cadence, #2) by Rebecca Ross


A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher, Harper Voyager, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever read a sequel that retroactively made you love its predecessor even more, to the point that you actually go back and change your original rating? I originally loved A River Enchanted but had a few issues with it. But upon reading A Fire Endless, all of those issues have evaporated. I think this might be the closest thing to a perfect duology I’ve ever consumed. The balance hear is exquisite, the writing became more and more lyrically beautiful as the story progressed, and there’s just something to be said for a tale of hope and healing; those are woefully infrequent, and I was thrilled to find such a story within the pages of the Elements of Cadence duology.

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Book Review: Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, by R.F. Kuang

Book Review: Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, by R.F. Kuang


Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.”

Every once in a while, you read a book that you can tell is something special. Not just because the story or characters are exceptional. Not just because the pacing is perfect and the prose is exquisite. Not just because it covers important topics in new ways. No, sometimes the book you’re reading is special because you know that it will go beyond standing the test of time; it’s destined to become a classic. You can see this book not only still being read a century from now, but being discussed in a classroom setting. Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translator’s Revolution is such a book. It tackles some truly weighty material, specifically colonialism and racism, in profoundly eye-opening ways. It houses a discourse on etymology and translation that is absolutely fascinating. And even while balancing all of these dense topics, Kuang still manages to create an incredible cast of characters that experience a phenomenal among of growth, as well as a perfectly paced, page-turning plot where the stakes are high and the emotions wrought in the reader are even higher. I can’t think of a superlative strong enough to adequately convey how powerful and nigh-on perfect Babel is as a piece of art.

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