2023 Book Recommendation Tag

The first book is The One by John Marrs. This is a cool mixture of sci-fi, thriller, and romance! It follows 5 couples who have all signed up for a dating app that takes your DNA to set you up with your scientifically proven soulmate. There are so many points of view and short chapters which keep you on the edge of your seat! I love how much drama occurs throughout this book and I always recommend it to be and say it’s my favourite!

The only reason I’m picking this series is that it’s a little bit taboo. It’s a dark romance following a woman named Cecelia who moves in with her rich dad for the summer to work for his company. She ends up meeting a few men who are all friends and very mysterious, and they all want to date her. The atmosphere of the book gives off Twilight vibes, only without the vampires, and adds in some smut and polygamy! I really loved this series and I plan on reading it again soon!

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle was one of my lowest-rated books in 2022. This book follows a woman named Katy who was supposed to go on a trip to Italy with her mother Carol, but she suddenly passes away and has to go on the trip alone. She goes to feel close to her moms’ roots and self-reflect but ends up meeting her mom from when she was her age. This is known as magical realism which Serle does a lot in her books and I typically love it!

I have one series and one stand-alone that I’d like to mention. For the series, it has to be the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman. I read all 4 graphic novels in 2 days and they were incredible! I feel like everyone knows what this story is about, but in case you don’t, it follows two young men in high school, Nick and Charlie, as they experiment and discover their sexual orientation. Out of any graphic novel I’ve ever read, these were by far the best and I read them so quickly!

I am really excited about this book recommendation tag prompt because I rarely see people talking about this book and it deserves to be read more often! It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake by Claire Christian is an amazing book about a woman named Noni who is going through a mini-life crisis. She doesn’t feel much passion for her life and decides to travel across the country to gain perspective and open her eyes to romanticizing her life more!

By the time this blog post is out, this tv show will have already been released, but it was one of my favourite books of 2022 so I have to share it regardless…Daisy Jones and The Six!!!! This is such an incredible story that makes you feel like your reading real people’s lives from the 70s. 

I really enjoyed how this book was split into two sections; one section provides tips for productivity and perseverance, while the other section teaches you about the importance of rest and preventing burnout! If you’re looking for a non-fiction that provides scientific facts combined with a witty writing style, this one’s for you!

I don’t think I need to say much about this series, but the A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series deserves all the hype that it’s been receiving since it was released in 2015. When reading became huge again during COVID, this series blew up again, and rightfully so! 

If you’re a fan of fantasy romance series with an incredible plot, spicy scenes, and found family, then this series is for you!

The book I’d recommend to someone looking for a thriller recommendation would be In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead (she also has a newer release called The Last Housewife that I’ve heard good things about, but haven’t read yet).

This book follows a group of friends from college who go back to their school for a 10-year anniversary. 10 years prior, one of their friends was mysteriously murdered and they’re trying to figure out who did it and why. It has multiple points of view, crazy plot twists, and a pinch of romance!

The first book is Hopeless by Colleen Hoover with the characters Sky and Holder. This book has a lot of trigger warnings, but it follows these two 17/18-year-olds who are about to graduate but have a lot of childhood trauma they need to work through. Sky and Holder are such complex characters based on their pasts, and the way they handled conflict at such a young age was intriguing to me!

I wanted to choose a fantasy book, but I just know I wouldn’t handle wars and magic very well. In a perfect world, I would probably choose ACOTAR and live in Velaris, but the realist in me decided to choose Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score instead!

The main character Maggie travels across the country renovating homes and sharing the process on her YouTube channel, and honestly, that life sounds incredible to me! So I suppose the dreamer in me would choose ACOTAR, but the realist in me chooses Maggie Moves On!

This series was the only thing that came to mind because I wasn’t sure if it would be too young for me since it’s a YA romance, but I ended up loving The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han. Prior to picking it up a lot of people mentioned that the main character, Belly, was very immature and annoying, and while this was partially true, I ended up really enjoying the story about the parents, the love triangle, and the friendships.

I could’ve chosen so many different books for this, but I decided to go with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book follows a writer named Monique who interviews a famous actress named Evelyn Hugo about her career and the seven husbands she’s had throughout her life. 

I think I’m going to go full circle with this last prompt and say Flock, which is the first book in the Ravenhood Series! This book was my favourite from the series and it really opened my eyes to the different sub-genres within romance.