DK Marie's 3 favorite reads in 2023

There are many reasons to adore this book. I love the twist on the ‘Hallmark’ romance. You know the story. A big-city girl or man has to visit their hometown or a small town, and they find love, leaving behind their mean big-city girlfriend or boyfriend. In Book Lovers, the main character is the ‘mean’ power-driven girlfriend who’s dumped.

Ironically, I am writing a small-town (standalone) romance series. But like Henry, I love to have a fresh twist. Book Lovers was laugh-out-loud, funny, sweet, and sexy, with a wonderful theme. I also love her (new?) trope. Forget grumpy vs. sunshine, but what about grumpy vs. grumpy; yes, please. The banter was off the charts with these two.

Also, how could I not love a book where the main characters also adore books? Nora is an agent, and Charlie is an editor. They were people I could picture as friends. Their story had me racing through the pages late into the night, all the while wishing the story didn’t have to end.

I am a huge fan of opposites attract, and this book didn’t disappoint. Eve is what her friends and family call flakey, changing jobs every few months, searching for a place to belong. Jacob knows exactly what he wants and will follow his life plan stringently until Eve crashes into his life. They start out as enemies, then become lovers – another favorite of mine.

Besides the fun banter and excellent pacing, I adore how the author has main characters that were on the autism spectrum- one who knew and another who discovered during the story. One of the reasons I love reading (and writing) is to live (and share) how others live and love, and this was done on so many levels and so well.

It is a fun book with so much heart.

Wow, this book was amazing. The mythology stories have always fascinated me, and this retelling was excellent. The author took a story told a million times and made it original. The love story between Patroclus and Achilles was so good: sweet, smart, heartbreaking.

The author's fantastic use of prose is the other thing that put this story in my top three for this year. So many writers can write lovely prose, but the story's pacing usually suffers. That was not the case in The Song of Achilles. I couldn't stop listening to this book; the pacing was spot-on.

I adore the story and characters. They were original and so much fun to read. I will shout my recommendations of these three books from rooftops- or, in this case, from here!