A Look Back at 2023

by Donna Huber

Here we are on the last day of 2023. It's Waltz Day - 123123! I don't plan on any dancing tonight. I plan to spend the day reading and will probably be asleep by 9:30 pm. Whether you are looking for something to read tonight or want to see what books you might have missed, here is a look back at 2023 at Girl Who Reads.

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As of this morning, I had read/listened to167 books. Of those, 75 were audiobooks. I read/listened to 120 books for review but I still did not get to all the books in my 2023 review pile. The other 47 books I read/listened to were for fun, my two book clubs, or the Amazon Kindle Challenges.

According to my Year in Books at Goodreads, the first book I finished in 2023 was Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke (read my review). Yesterday, I finished Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, my review will be published next week. So unless I finish the book I'm currently reading tonight that will be my last finished book of 2023. Today, I'm reading Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss.

What I'm reading on New Year's Eve
Buy Meet Me Under the Mistletoe at Amazon

Most Viewed Posts

#10 My review of cozy mystery audiobook A Midsummer Night's Scheme by Harper Kincaid

#9 My review of Halloween-themed cozy mystery Nine Lives and Alibis by Cate Conte

#8 My review of the science fiction mystery Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty

#7 My review of Christmas cozy mystery Murder at the Charity Ball by Helena Dixon

#6 Susan's review of 3 Books Featuring Brave Women in World War II

#5 My review of the historical fiction audiobook The Snow Hare by Paula Lichtarowicz 

#4 Susan's review of the historical fiction novel A Castle in Brooklyn by Shirley Russak Wachtel

#3 Susan's review of the women's fiction novel The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis

#2 My list of 5 Books with Groundhog Day (Time Loop) Plots

#1 MK's review of the magical realism novel The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox

Most of these are from earlier in the year because they've had more time for social media shares and discovery. But there were plenty of great books featured each month so let's look at the popular reviews (other than those on the top 10) from each month.

January:

MK's review of The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

February:

Susan's review of The Rosse of Washington Square by Pat Wahler

March:

Susan's review of Luck of the Draw by Frank Murphy

April:

Susan's review of The School Trip by Miranda Smith

May:

My review of Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline

June:

Susan's review of Famous in a Small Town by Viola Shipman

July:

Susan's review of The Forger of Marseille by Linda Joy Myers

August:

Susan's review of Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

September:

My review of The Golden Gate by Amy Chua

October:

My review of West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman

November:

MK's review of Snowed In by Catherine Walsh

December:

My review of Murder on the Cornish Cliffs by Verity Bright

Discussions, Lists, Excerpts, Interviews, and Guest Posts

Reviews aren't the only thing we did this year. We had a few authors write guest posts and the staff also did a few discussions.

Rose D. Patruno, author of Hidden Heir discusses her views on Alpha Men and the type of men she wanted in her books. 

Historical fiction author Christina Lynch shared what she wrote on summer vacation.

I interviewed Meredith Berlin about her debut novel Friends With Issues.

I created a list of 5 Spooky Books for Friday the 13th Reading.

To celebrate Ground Hog Day, I came up with 5 popular time loop novels (like the movie Ground Hog Day.

Susan created a list of must-reads for Women's History Month focused on women in American history.

I created a list of WWII fiction that's based on real women for Women's History Month.

I featured 3 books of poetry for National Poetry Month.

MK featured an excerpt with her review of The Bride Wore White by Amanda Quick.

I discuss 5 Memorable Mothers in Fiction.

MK featured an excerpt of The Revenge List by Hannah Mary McKinnon

I suggested free ebooks to pack your eReader with for summer.

I recommended 5 audiobooks for your summer road trips. 

I found some free historical fiction ebooks for the Fourth of July

I shared the 11 books my post-apocalyptic book club is reading.

We came up with 10 Boks to Read for Hispanic Heritage Month.

We compiled a list of books we reviewed that were nominated for a 2023 Goodreads Choice Award.

I created a list of best 2023 reads to give as gifts in my annual Holiday Buying Guide.

We created a list of Holiday Romances to read for Christmas.

I compiled a list of holiday cozy mysteries that I read.

I checked out what my Goodreads friends were reading for Christmas and made a list!

I made a list of top-selling holiday books.

I discussed the holiday classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

I shared a little peek at my 2024 reading list with the books I'm most excited about.

We did a whole 25 Days of Christmas Reading feature where we featured Christmas reviews, Christmas recommendation lists, free Christmas ebooks, and more. Some of the posts are above, but you can check out all the posts at this link.

That's a wrap!

We would love to know what you loved this year. Did you discover a favorite book or a new author because of our posts? 

We will kick off 2024 tomorrow with all new reviews. Thank you for visiting Girl Who Reads for all your reading needs this past year.

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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