My Top Five Books I Read in 2023

I have decided to do a little recap and choose my top five books that I read in 2023. They are in no particular order and from different genres.

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

This is the fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series. It is probably best to read the others so that you get to know the characters, but each story is different. I think this was the best yet and really enjoyed it.

The Thursday Murder Club are a bunch of Elderly people who solve murders in their housing complex. But they seem to get embroiled in real murders, and end up in some very complex situations and danger. The stories also have a lot of humour but this one had some incredibly emotional scenes too.

Definitely my favourite this year.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake was a different kind of book to what I normally read but I really enjoyed it. It’s an epic story that spans the decades and the history of a young Caribbean woman and the things that happened throughout her life. The story is told on tape as she has already passed away. She is talking to her two children Byron and Benny and calls them B&B, it got me started thinking of two of my children as C&C 🙂

The story had a bit of everything, adventure, sadness, grief, love and the characters were all so well depicted. I truly enjoyed this book and will probably read it again sometime.

What July Knew by Emily Koch

What July knew has harrowing events of abuse which put me off reading it at first, but I’m so glad I did, it is a brilliant story.

Little July, aged 10, lost her mother at a young age and is keen to know more about her, even though her father won’t talk about her. She goes on a mission to find out as much as she can but is she in danger? The story is told from the child’s perspective but an adult insight is added with letters, talk from neighbours and July’s grandmother and even passers by, who help to paint the bigger picture.

I really enjoyed this book, it’s definitely one of my top five.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Now for something completely different. The Invisible Library is a fantasy story with mythical creatures like fae, dragons and vampires. The main character and her sidekick have to travel to different dimensions to gather books for the library.

I read this book earlier in the year and fully intended to read some more of the series but I haven’t yet. There are six books altogether in the series.

I do like a good fantasy book but I like it even more if there is a library involved.

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

None of This Is True is a very dark thriller which starts quite innocently but becomes really quite harrowing. The story of two women with birthdays on the same day but couldn’t be more different. Some people really are not who they seem to be and trusting a stranger can be a dangerous thing.

I listened to this on Audible and it had to be one of my favourite listens with Nicola Walker and Louise Brealey narrating. The whole thing was put together perfectly and I really enjoyed it.