Our Favorite Books Read in 2023: Taylor, Christy, Ashley

 Since it’s the start of a new year, the Bristol Public Library and Avoca Branch Library staffs were asked to name their favorite books read in 2023. There were no other restrictions: the books could be old or new, adult or juvenile or YA, picture books, non-fiction books, long books, short books, audio books, ebooks, whatever.  We’ll be running the responses over the next week or so.

 

Taylor:  My favorite I read last year was Notes from a Sickbed by Tessa Brunton. It's a YA graphic novel about living with an undiagnosed chronic illness that really resonated with me.

 

Christy: All Hallows by Christopher Golden (neighborhood drama/light horror)

 

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller (gothic romance with a ghost side plot)

 

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murders by Jesse Q. Sutanto (heart warming, cozy mystery)

 

The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb (noir/thriller)

 

Heartwood Hotel by Kallie George (very cute children's book about hotel for woodland creatures)

 

Forever Home by Jenna Ayoub (sweet graphic novel about a young girl who makes friends with the ghosts in her house. surprisingly funny!)

 

Ashley:  My favorite book of 2023 was Weyward by Emilia Hart.

I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it.  I'm typically not keen on multiple timelines in a story,  multiple POVs often lose me, and there were a few content warnings that had me uncertain.  In other words, from what I’d heard there were a lot of things working against it when it comes to my preferences! But I ended up just absolutely adoring it and going through it rather quickly! 

  

I will admit that I almost gave up on it once; I found it decent enough by the end of the first section, but the next day  I couldn't decide if I wanted to bother with picking it up and finishing it. I'm remarkably glad I decided to, as that second section was when the book absolutely picked up for me. 

 

I immediately recommended it to two friends, one of whom later messaged me to thank me for nudging her toward it because she had enjoyed it as well~ (I'm not certain the other friend has gotten around to it yet, haha)

 

Overall, I found the characters fantastic and I adored the subtle magic weaved into the worldbuilding. Each of the storylines were unique and interesting, and each wrapped up in a way I found out remarkably satisfying.