I was a little more conscious this year of books that were new releases and really leaned into my favorite authors and new authors and I read quite a few brand new books this year!
All of my 5 star reads are historical fiction which is you asked me at any time I would say is my favorite genre. But I felt like I hardly read any historical fiction this year so when I put together this list, I was happily surprised!
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The true story of the Carpathia, the ship that came to rescue the Titanic. It focuses on two characters: Kate, a passenger on the Titanic, and Arthur, the captain of the Carpathia. I remember studying about the Titanic in school and doing a presentation and I think I've seen all of the movie but this book was absolutely fascinating and heartbreaking. I loved hearing the story from the perspective of Arthur. He was such an amazing man who really let God lead him and he was a great leader to those under him. It was amazing to watch the crew of that ship come together and work tirelessly as a team to do everything they could to save the Titanic. It's an absolute tragedy how many people were lost that day, but this story was a story of hope and heroism.
Maddie moves to Bright Leaf, North Carolina to live and work with her aunt who is a seamstress for the wives of all the executives of the tobacco plants. She soon finds that many of the women have extreme health problems but she doesn't know who to report it to since tobacco is the town's livelihood. While I was familiar with tobacco being an important crop for the South, I had never considered how it would affect the lives of those that live there. I got really sucked into this because I couldn't wait to see how Maddie handled the situation and if she chose to do the right thing.
After reading this book, I want to read the rest of Fiona Davis's books. This one takes place in 1919 following the story of Lillian Carter who was a distinguished model in New York City with statues all over including the Plaza Hotel. She is on the verge of scandal, her mother has passed away, and she finds employment as the private secretary to Helen Frick, daughter of the real Henry Frick, industrialist and art patron. It then switches forward in time to the 1970's to Veronica Weber who is trying to make it as a model. After being dismissed from a Vogue shoot taking place at the Frick mansion now turned museum, and getting caught there in a storm, Veronica and Joshua, the intern at the museum, discover some secret messages from the time that the Fricks lived there. It leads them on a hunt that unveils many secrets about the family and a murder that was never solved. So so good! I was completely enthralled with this story!!
Another famous person in history who I knew absolutely nothing about. Marjorie Post is the daughter of C.W. Post, founder of Post cereal and later General Foods. They completely changed the way we eat breakfast in America and I didn't even know who they were. Marjorie took over the company when her father passed, and her life was filled with glamour and wealth. But underneath all of that, she had her fair share of struggles, including being married four times and constantly chasing her happily ever after. I really enjoyed learning about her!
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Ruta Sepetys is an auto-read author for me. I love her young adult books that highlight some of the worst times in our world's history and share it from the point of view of young people. The dedication to her research shines through every story she writes and her plea to help us remember these hard times in order to prevent them from happening again is incredible as she influences youth and adults alike to do something in their communities to make this world a better place.
Quirky mystery that I enjoyed!
Another mystery that was enjoyable but really long. I think it's going to be a series.
Wanted to book a ticket to Positano immediately after reading this book. I love that all of it is real including the hotel! I found the mother daughter relationship a little weird but it grew on me as the book went on.
This book was fascinating but also a little disturbing about an apothecary that is used by women to get poison for oppressive men in their lives. It has a dual storyline in the present day when a historian finds a clue that helps her find the apothecary.
Everything Christina Soontornvat is amazing. This wasn't my all-time favorite of hers but it was still great. I highly recommend All Thirteen and A Wish in the Dark.
A little spicy but I loved the storyline in this one. Probably my favorite of Emily Henry's books.
I actually really liked this book but it was not as clean as I usually like to read and recommend. I skipped quite a few scenes. Also, the male love interest was such a nice, generous guy and I felt like the main character didn't treat him as well as she could have.
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I just didn't love this book as much as the first one. Still an enjoyable read though!
We read We Were Liars for book club this year and so when the prequel came out I was interested to see what it would be like. Not a favorite by any means.
I feel like this book had a lot of potential and I really liked how things wrapped up in the end but I didn't love it throughout and didn't love the language.
This was my first of her books and I was a little bit underwhelmed. It was fine but nothing to write home about. I might give one of her another shot because I know she's a pretty popular author.
A novella in the American Royals series. I just didn't feel like it added much to the story.
The third book in the American Royal series, this book was honestly kind of boring until the last 40 pages or so. I loved the first two and will read the fourth, but was a little disappointed by this one.
And here's a few on my radar for 2023:
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
Defiant by Brandon Sanderson
Happy Place by Emily Henry
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