I love hearing from readers about their top reads! It’s always great to see the different authors and genres. Paula sent me a short list of her favorites for the year so I get to share them here!

Paula’s top 2023 reads
[image error]The Heart of the Mountains by Pepper Basham: Following the Great War Cora Taylor escapes a forced marriage in her native England, traveling to the Blue Ridge Mountains where her brother is a minister. Cora hopes to use her nursing skills to help the people of Appalachia but their superstitions, traditions and stubbornness make acceptance difficult.

Jeb McAdams is an emotionally shattered young war veteran who needs to be a hero as much as he needs rescuing. He and Cora develop a relationship in spite of the issues around them and within them.

The novel is suspenseful with unexpected twists. Ms. Basham’s prose flows easily and will captivate the reader.

[image error]Wish You Well by David Baldacci: David Baldacci is an accomplished thriller writer who occasionally pens a touching novel proving the depth of his talent. Wish You Well is a coming-of-age story of Louisa Cardinal. Her family lived in New York City ,enjoying her father’s success, until an accident kills her father and leaves her mother an invalid. Louisa, her mother and brother Oz move to her great-grandmother’s farm in the Virginia mountains.

Louisa struggles in her new world while grieving the loss of all things familiar to her. The people of the community rally around the Cardinal family as they face another tragedy, court battles and uncertainty for the townspeople. (Also at kobo)

[image error]Worthy McGuire by Tim McGee: Worthy McGuire intends to keep a promise he made during the horrors of the D-Day invasion. Worthy is too old to travel to France alone and reluctantly asks his grandsons to join him. Strained relationships and family dysfunction won’t stop Worthy from his mission. Worthy’s story of the war and the promise he must keep add to the urgency of the story. In KU.

I read this novel just before the Memorial Day holiday and was reminded again of the sacrifice of our military.

[image error]I also listened to several light-hearted legal mysteries in the Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt. Andy would rather spend time with his golden retriever and family, but occasionally takes on a murder case. Laced with humor, suspense and well-mannered dogs, Andy Carpenter is always winner. These audiobooks are less than eight hours and are narrated by Grover Gardner who has an amazing voice. Note: I believe some of the audio in this series is available in Kobo Plus–the audio, but not the ebooks.

Thank you for sharing your reads, Paula!

Don’t forget to tell us all your great reads for the year!!! Leave us a comment with your best books!