I can’t believe 2023 is just a day from being over! With the end of the month, it’s time to look back at our December reads. We’ll also be looking at our favorite books of 2023 and there’s a link to download the January 2024 Read With Lindsey Reading Challenge prompt graphic!
This month, I was working to read ahead in preparation for the 2024 challenge, so I read fewer books than normal. I read 9 books this month – 5 audio books and 4 print. Let’s take a look back the reviews of those books – click below to visit the reviews:
5 Stars
- The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
4 Stars
- Cage of Nightingales by Elizabeth Hopkinson
- Countdown to Pearl Harbor by Steve Twomey
- Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh
- My Side of the River by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez
- Still Me by Jojo Moyes
- The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
The Heiress was a surprise for me – I really wasn’t sure what to expect and it was so good! I am not usually one for thrillers, but this one was just perfect and deserves that 5-Star rating. It releases January 9th, but you can preorder your copy today!
As for the top books of 2023 – there were so many great 5-Star reads this year! My top four (in no particular order) are:
- Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
- The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise by Colleen Oakley
- While You Were Out by Meg Kissinger
- When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
There were so many other great books we read this year like Wild Dances by my friend William Lee Adams and Book Lovers by Emily Henry. It was hard to choose a top 4 list! I loved each of these top 4 for very different reasons – Take My Hand opens the reader’s eyes to the struggles of low class citizens in rural America; The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise was so funny but also so much about gripping tight to your life when it all falls apart; While You Were Out is such an honest story about mental health and the impacts on the family; and When You Trap a Tiger is a beautiful story about generational love, history, and folktales. What were your favorite reads this year?
January Reading Plan
As we move into 2024, I’ll be sharing new graphics each month for the weekly reading prompts. Here’s the prompts for January:
There’s a lot of upcoming holidays that inspired these prompts like New Years Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Lunar New Year (2024 is the year of the dragon!). I’ll give you ideas for each prompt in the Sunday weekly agenda entry.
Beyond the RWL 2024 Challenge, I’m also completing the US States reading challenge and adding in a few other books along the way in January:
States:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
Other books:
- 1. ARC – Love, Naturally by Sophie Sullivan
- 2. Nonfiction – not yet selected
- 3. ARC – Long After We’re Gone by Terah Shelton Harris
- 4. TBR Stack – Same Time Next Year by Tessa Bailey
- 5. ARC – not yet selected
I can’t wait to read these great books with you – keep an eye out for the weekly previews on Sundays for what I’m reviewing each week!
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