Reader Favorites – Leslie M’s Best Books of 2023 List
Leslie is one of our long-time fellow book crew members and this is our first “Best Of” list from her since 2019! YAY US!!! I’m thrilled to present her latest!
Leslie M: Happy New Year! I managed to read 52 books in 2023 and wanted to share my faves.
R. Renee: That’s pretty similar to my list!
Leslie M: Perhaps because you are worlds best book recommender???🙂
THE BEST:
LESLIE’S M BEST OF THE BEST OF 2023
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes
LESLIE’S #1 ON HER BEST OF 2023 LIST & R. RENEE AGREES!!!
R. Renee: I finished Mrs. Nash’s Ashes and continued to love it all the way through. Favorite book of the year so far!
Rochelle: Thanks for the Mrs. Nash’s Ashes.
“…A starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love…”
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LOVED:
Hello Stranger: A Novel
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
R. Renee: I inhaled Hello Stranger by the same author over the weekend!
Maryse: Oh yeah SHE HAS FACIAL BLINDNESS!! I READ IT!!!! SO GOOOOOD. I 4-STAR loved that one! So fun and lighthearted, and there’s touch of romance drama (yummy love triangle) too! An easy read to snuggle in with, over an afternoon/evening. PLUS!!! There’s a twist or two. 😉 I LOVE when that happens!! P.S. Here’s my full book review.
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What You Wish For: A Novel
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Leslie M: What You Wish For by K. Center – emotional yet feel good story. That scene with the whale?!?!
R. Renee: Have you realized it’s all the books I recommend that you love? You just need to start consulting me before you start a book. 💁♀️😆
Leslie M: I will give credit where credit is due. And yes, you are a very good book recommender. 😜
Harper: I really enjoyed it. It was funny, insightful, and heartwarming. It lost the two stars because I wanted to shake some sense into de the h a few times, but I recommend it.
Michele G: I wasn’t sure where my rating would land for What You Wish For (because I agree with Harper…the h drove me a little nuts), I still settled on 5 stars…I felt that she pulled it all together in a satisfying way for me by the end.
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The Bodyguard: A Novel
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Leslie M: swoony/celeb heros
R. Renee (on her Best Books of 2022): …because I seem to remember hearing Josh Duhamel was Center’s inspiration for Jack and since I dream cast him in just about every book I read, it was a no-brainer!
Kathy: I loved The Bodyguard. That is on my top 10! …If you like books about a male actor and a female bodyguard you will love this one. I would definitely recommend it.
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Nora Goes Off Script
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
“…Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same...”
Leslie M: swoony/celeb heros
R. Renee: I LOVED her last one, Nora Goes Off Script! …It’s far fetched but fun. Just go along for the ride! After reading Nora Goes Off Script, I started getting up to watch the sunrise so I’ll at least have 30 minutes of calm every day. Now I’m looking at porch swings so I’ll have a designated sunrise watching spot like Nora did. If only I could find a handsome movie star to watch it with me. *sigh*
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Part of Your World
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Leslie M: Part of Your World by A. Jimenez: age gap/super sweet & swoony H/opposites attract/small town 4.5 ****
Tasha J: ...I loved it so much and about halfway through this one already, I’d say she’s one of my auto buy authors at this point. Like, along the same feels as an Emily Henry book. I was laughing so hard with their “meet the family date” that I was reiterating all the things to my daughter.
R. Renee: I’m about 50% into the audiobook for Part of Your World and loving it! The narration is fantastic too. Zachary Webber is swoonyyyy!
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DOCTOR ROMANCE!!
Yours Truly
DOCTOR ROMANCE!! ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
“…when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she can’t refuse...”
Leslie M: Yours Truly by A. Jimenez: swoony H with anxiety/fake dating/slow burn/banter via written notes/workplace romance (doctors) 4.5 ****
Tasha J: I am loving it! A real palette cleanser from my thriller streak, it’s funny and super relatable (social anxiety is so well portrayed), and the characters are so likable.
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Practice Makes Perfect: A Novel
SEXY & STOIC BODYGUARD HELPS HER WITH DATING!! ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Leslie M: 4.5 **** Practice Makes Perfect by S. Adams: dating lessons/friends to lovers/small town/virgin h/bodyguard H
“…Annie discovers there are more layers to Will’s usual stoic attitude. As the lines of their friendship become dangerously blurred, Annie reconsiders her dream guy. Maybe her love life doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be real…”
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REALLY GOOD:
TESSA BAILEY’S CHRISTMAS ROMANCE!!
Wreck the Halls: A Novel
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!!
From the book synopsis:
“...a sexy, hilarious standalone holiday rom-com about the adult children of two former rock stars who team up to convince their estranged mothers to play a Christmas Eve concert…”
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KARINA HALLE’S FAKE FIANCEE ALERT!
My Life in Shambles: A Standalone Romance
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Linda: Just started My Life in Shambles last night. 33% in and in love!!
Michele G: really enjoyed…My Life In Shambles…
“…A rugby player with a proposition for me: Come with him to his tiny hometown of Shambles and pretend to be his fiancé for a few days, just so that his ailing father can have some peace of mind.
It sounded simple enough. It was anything but...”
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BODYGUARD ROMANCE BY KARINA HALLE!!
The Royals Next Door
ON LESLIE’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST! RECLUSIVE & FINE WITH IT UNTIL ROYALS MOVE NEXT DOOR TO HER…
“…she’s happy with how things are–really–until British royals rent the property next to hers and their brooding bodyguard decides she’s a security threat. Piper quickly realizes that one person’s fairy tale is an ordinary woman’s nightmare as a media frenzy takes over the island...”
Leslie M: The Royals Next Door by K. Halle: school teacher h/bodyguard H/enemies to lovers/Harry & Megan vibes
Kathy P: …really enjoyed it. It kept me sane over the last week…
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Planes, Trains, and All the Feels
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!! STRANGERS HAVE TO SHARE A CAR & SHE HATES HIM ALREADY!!
“…Driving across the country with Luke “life can be solved with a spreadsheet” Carlisle must be a penance for some crime she committed. Because the second he opens his mouth, it’s all she can do to not maim him with her carry-on.
But somewhere between his surprisingly thoughtful snack sharing and his uncanny ability to see straight to the core of her, her feelings go unchecked...”
R. Renee: I’m currently reading Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart. Leslie recently read it and loved it and she’s PICKY! 😂 It was slow to start for me, but near 50% it got swoonyyyyyy and I haven’t been able to put it down!
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The Dead Romantics: A GMA Book Club Pick
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!! HER EDITOR WON’T GIVE HER AN EXTENSION BUT SHE HAS TO GO HOME FOR HER DAD’S FUNERAL…
“...she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories…”
Tasha J: I just loved The Dead Romantics so much last year. …It was like a comfort read for me. Sweet, a little quirky, romantic, and dealt with grief without feeling heavy.
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When in Rome: A Novel
ON LESLIE’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
FAMOUS POP STAR HEADS OUT TO A SMALL TOWN FOR A BREAK…
“…When Noah Walker finds Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he makes it clear he doesn’t have the time or patience for celebrity problems. …
…Despite his better judgment, he lets her stay in his guest room—but only until her car is fixed—then she’s on her own. Then Noah starts to see a different side of Rae Rose—she’s Amelia: kindhearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye...”
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The Things We Leave Unfinished
THIS ONE’S ON LESLIE M’S BEST OF 2023 LIST!!
Kristen: The things we leave unfinished by Rebecca Yarros. I thought I knew what the twist would be but I was so wrong.
HE’S THE ONE FINISHING HER GRANDMOTHER’S NOVEL!
“...Now back home at her late great-grandmother’s estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He’s just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she’ll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he’s the one to finish her grandmother’s final novel…even if the publisher swears he’s the perfect fit...”
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The Boyfriend Candidate: A Sizzling Slow-Burn Romantic Comedy
ON LESLIE’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Leslie: The Boyfriend Candidate by A. Winstead: grumpy but swoony politician H/sweet librarian h
“…Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’s opposite—and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras...”
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Same Time Next Summer
ON LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Leslie M: Same Time Next Summer by A. Monaghan: 2nd chance romance/flashbacks/first love/musician H
“…the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?…”
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The True Love Experiment
ON BOTH MEGAN’S & LESLIE’S BEST OF 2023 LISTS!!
R. Renee: I’m reading The True Love Experiment now and can’t put it down!
“…Sparks fly when a romance writer and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the ultimate Hollywood love story—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script…”
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Float Plan
ONE LESLIE M’S BEST BOOKS OF 2023 LIST!
Heartbroken by the loss of her fiancé, adventurous Anna finds a second chance at love with an Irish sailor in this riveting, emotional romance.
Leslie M: Float Plan by T Doller: tragic pasts/beautiful sailing & travel setting
Mony: …adventures on sail boats… …a top read. Loved all the place mentioned from Florida through Bahamas and the more southern islands e.g. Turks and Caicos (learned so much).
R. Renee: Float Plan is swoony!
Michele G: The Float Plan! I loved that one too! I was hesitant going in, but it really snuck up on me. Such a wonderful book….
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