Looking back on 2023 (admittedly quite late oops), I thought it would be nice to revisit last year’s reads and reflect on some of my top surprise reads that I stumbled upon. A lot of other book reviewers and influencers tend to do the “best reads of the year” type of recaps but that’s kind of boring since you can just look at whichever books I rated highly and I would only be summarizing what I already wrote about.
Instead of that, I’ll be running through the top five most unexpectedly good reads or those that I was pleasantly surprised by. These are not necessarily my top five favorite reads of the year, but they are those that were distinctively refreshing for one way or another or managed to blow away whatever expectation I had for them initially. And with that, let’s get started!
#5) The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I debated putting this one on the list at all considering how well-known and popular it is, hence why it’s at the bottom of my list. A perfect blend of contemporary fiction drama covering dark topics through a whimsical tone, the Midnight Library has mass appeal and is a safe recommendation for most, hence why you may wonder why it’s even listed.
For some background, I actually had never heard of the Midnight Library or Matt Haig back when I read it. I was on a vacation trip in SoCal and my friend lent me it to read (we did a book exchange where I lent her my copy of This Is How You Lose the Time War). While my reading taste has definitely become more diversified now, I did not read very much character drama/magical realism books back then. Going in with low expectations and having no familiarity with Matt Haig’s work (hilarious I know considering my current goal to read his entire bibliography now), I fell in love with his introspective, reflective writing and strong character work. The fact that the book featured a sprawling library and light touches of fantasy was the cherry on top. So while this book is a predictably safe and solid read for most people, it was an unexpectedly great read for me and one of my earlier 5-star reads of the year. I liked it so much that I continued to read every other book of his that I could find, and I feel like that certainly deserves something.
#4) Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Pierce Brown’s Red Rising saga is largely considered a 21st century scifi/fantasy new-gen classic that would be even more mainstream if not for the violent content that makes it such a wild ride. Like the Midnight Library, Red Rising is another read that shouldn’t really be a surprise for most readers, especially hardcore scifi fans. This one makes the list purely from a subjective standpoint for me.
I had heard a lot about Red Rising from many scifi readers, about the intense Howler fandom, and even Pierce Brown making memes out of himself with his charming millennial cringe (you and me both good sir). Since the saga is such an expansive series and the hardcover editions costing a bit more than the norm for books, I opted to try for library rental; I should’ve known it would be good based on how long I had to wait to get a copy of it. Unfortunately when I tried to read it, Darrow’s character came in strong and his stubborn hot-headed personality was not to my taste. If you opt for the hardcover edition, Red Rising is a massive brick and I seriously considered DNF-ing it multiple times as I just did not care about Darrow and questioned if I had the patience for 500 more pages of him. It’s also not a good sign that I was ambivalent towards the hardships of the Reds in Lycos and Eo since their suffering is supposed to be the inspiration for the “rising”.
Fortunately I stuck it out and once the story progressed beyond the introductory underground mine arc, Red Rising grabbed me and refused to let go. Avoiding spoilers, there’s a major turning point and a small time jump that occurs which serves as the true start of the book’s story that’s akin to when Katniss Everdeen arrives at the Capitol for the first time in the Hunger Games. While Darrow’s personality wouldn’t quite mellow out until near the conclusion of Red Rising (a narrative highlight and another crucial turning point), the addition of more characters help water down some of his spiky personality, not to mention Pierce Brown’s relentlessly ambitious plot. By the time I finished reading the first novel, I immediately wanted to grab the second which was crazy considering how close I was to throwing in the towel multiple times early-on. The fact that Pierce Brown is now one of my favorite scifi authors and the Red Rising series is an automatic must-read is an indicator of how surprisingly good this read.
#3) You’re A Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
While the first two books on this list are well-known novels that were personally surprising to me, entry #3 goes in a completely different direction. At this point towards the end of 2023, I had recently finished watching the 2nd season of Heartstopper and dove into the closest thing I could find which was Prime’s cinematic adaptation of Red, White and Royal Blue. After both of those, I felt like there was a huge hole in my life and attempted to find a book that would be able to help fill the void they left. I don’t remember who or what book suggestion list I had seen, but someone had suggested Timothy Janovsky’s debut novel Never Been Kissed for those that loved the cute, earnest and clean tone of Heartstopper. I actually considered Never Been Kissed for this list, but realized Janovsky’s second novel was more deserving of a spot on the basis of it being more “pleasantly surprising.”
While I knew upfront based on other reviews and the synopsis that Never Been Kissed was going to be a cute and wholesome read, You’re A Mean One Matthew Prince was a true hit out of left field for me. While it’s a running joke amongst my friends that I hate the holidays and Christmas (which I most definitely do not, ahem), I will admit to not enjoying most holiday romcom movies and stories, particularly the pleasantly mass appealing yet bland Hallmark movie variety. Strike #1, You’re A Mean One Matthew Prince’s synopsis is basically a queer twist on the Hallmark movie formula of a fish out of water person falling in love with a rural small town love interest while discovering new appreciation in the small things. Strike #2, there are numerous low rating reviews that harshly criticize Matthew Prince’s characterization as being bratty, ridiculous, and impossible to tolerate. And strike #3, until fairly recently, romcoms were not my thing (how have times changed).
And yet, I really enjoyed it! As advertised and warned, Matthew Prince was a lot but I got a good bit of schadenfreude during his insufferable early chapters and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of character growth and development in the story. I went into this one expecting a cheesy, low-stakes holiday romp and while it certainly meets that expectation, it had a lot more substance and quality than needed. The post-holiday chapters covered content that are normally omitted in these types of holiday stories and Janovsky really went above and beyond what the assignment required, matching the cute qualities of his first novel while going further with the chemistry and comedic dialogue. There are also moments where the novel blatantly pokes fun at the Hallmark movie tropes and puts its own rainbow-tinted take on them. All this to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by this book and it solidified Janovky’s future works as must-try reads (I have a purchased copy of his 3rd novel in my reading queue).
#2) The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
As mentioned for pick #3, I was not a very big romance reader until quite recently and comedy can be a real hit or miss. The Bodyguard was a suggestion from a friend who primarily reads romance/chick-lit/contemporary fiction novels and insisted I give it a go despite its genre. While objectively on paper The Bodyguard isn’t the most ambitiously crafted story nor the most dramatic or spicy (this one is very clean and has zero adult content), it had me rolling and I breezed through this book in two days.
Part of the reason why this book worked so well is the fun reverse gender roles of a female bodyguard and a male client, combined with a variation of the fish out of water trope. Hannah Brooks was an absolute joy to read and Katherine Center was effective with the comedic hijinks, never ridiculing or undermining Hannah’s professional expertise and focusing on her awkward feelings instead. While most of the story falls firmly into light-hearted romcom territory, Center does close out the ending by giving Hannah opportunities to flex her professional skills and it’s so refreshing to read about the might heroine saving the big strong guy, again flipping the common gender roles while delivering even more laughs.
Entertaining and hugely accessible, this was an early romcom read that changed my thoughts on the genre and convinced me to read more contemporary fiction books (much to the detriment later in the year). Not much more to say other than it far surpassed my expectations and was a surprising read!
#1) Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Yet another novel I picked up on a friend’s recommendation that technically was supposed to be a sort of bookclub co-read arrangement (but then she ended up not even read the book herself!), again this is a book I ordinarily wouldn’t have picked up on my own. Coming of age drama is not a genre I naturally gravitate towards and early-on I found June’s teenage angst to be tiring to read, nearly DNF-ing it in the process. Fortunately though, once Uncle Finn’s funeral was held and his partner Toby is introduced, the novel hits its stride.
While the overall story is primarily a coming of age tale, it’s also very much a historical fiction story of the late 1980’s during the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It’s this content that completely made up for all of the subjective problems I had with the teenage angst and familial discourse elements. Ranging from topics of grief, coping, terminal illness, homophobia, isolation and loneliness, I found Tell the Wolves I’m home to be deeply emotional, nuanced, and often heartbreaking. Carol Rifka Brunt’s character writing for Finn was truly excellent and his complicated relationship with June was beautiful to read. The interactions aren’t always pretty and can be incredibly awkward to read, but so to are most things in real-life. June and Finn’s characters were fully realized and if you give this book a chance, you will fall in love with Finn and Brunt will proceed to rip your heart out slowly and painfully in the most humanizing way possible.
This novel takes the #1 spot on my 2023 Most Pleasantly Surprising Reads list for how it started as a rough 2-star read for me before steadily climbing all the way up to 4.5-star read. The character growth and journey along with the ending is exceptional and while it wasn’t always pleasant or my favorite read, Tell The Wolves I’m Home is a story that has truly stuck with me and one that deservingly earned its spot on my list.
Now on the other end of the spectrum, coming up soon will be the opposite kind of ranking with my 2023 Most Disappointing Reads list. Similar to this one, that list won’t necessarily be my least favorite reads of the year, but will be those that failed to meet my hopes and expectations, were executed questionably, or tragically nose-dived over the course of their stories. Some of my picks are also a bit controversial so pardon in advance!