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Honestly, it was rather difficult for me to pick a list of ten books for this list. My Most Anticipated Books for the whole year is usually the list I try to prioritize the most so I want these books to be ones where I’m genuinely like jumping up and down begging for an ARC and then (and here’s the key) actually read the ARC before release date. And so, these are the books I’ve come up with.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano

Synopsis: I’m going to keep this one vague because it’s the third book in a series. Basically, back in book one, Finlay gets mistaken for a hit woman and throughout a lot of… issues, winds up having to deal with this guy who is a Russian mobster dude. It is intense. But also hilarious. And do not going in expecting reality.

Why I’m Excited: Well, technically, I’ve already read this one and thought it was absolutely brilliant. Shout out to Netgalley and the publisher. But also, I just really can’t wait for everyone else to read it so that I have other people to talk about it with.

Release Date: January 31, 2023

Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller

Goodreads Synopsis: It’s ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She’s not going to let anything get in her way – not her parents’ three-decade-long affair; not seemingly-random attacks by masked assassins; and especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who’s saved her life two times already. No matter how luscious his mouth is.

Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them, and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. He has one lead – a letter the culprit sent from a Viennese hotel. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes, and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos – and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows.

Why I’m Excited: Honestly, I didn’t even read the synopsis when I copy and pasted it from Goodreads. I have no idea what this book is about beyond it’s set in Vienna, but my love of Diana Biller knows no bounds so I can’t wait to devour this one. (Okay, yes, I have an ARC, but it’s just NOW 2023!)

Release Date: March 28, 2023

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Goodreads Synopsis: Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass” scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,” and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But 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.

Why I’m Excited: Honestly, I’m mostly looking forward to this one as much as I am because of how much I fell head over heels for Part of Your World. I’m really hoping that Yours Truly has that same amount of magic for me, because Part of Your World truly hit.

Release Date: April 11, 2023

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Goodreads Synopsis: Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?

Why I’m Excited: First of all, it’s Emily Henry. And secondly, this one is like a relationship is trouble paired with fake dating and WHAT could possibly be better than that for me?

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Resonance Surge by Nalini Singh

Goodreads Synopsis: There isn’t one here, tragically, but like, does it matter?

Why I’m Excited: I mean, literally, how could I not be? I’m so invested in this world and I cannot wait for whatever Nalini has in store for us.

Release Date: July 25, 2023

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

Goodreads Synopsis: Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor forseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.

But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets. Matilde has tried for decades to cover the extent of her husband’s infidelity, but she must now confront the true state of her marriage. Pastora is typically the most reserved sister, but Flor’s wake motivates this driven woman to solve her sibling’s problems. Camila is the youngest sibling, and often the forgotten one, but she’s decided she no longer wants to be taken for granted.

And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own: Yadi is reuniting with her first love, who was imprisoned when they were both still kids; Ona is married for years and attempting to conceive. Ona must decide whether it’s worth it to keep trying—to have a child, and the anthropology research that’s begun to feel lackluster.

Spanning the three days prior to the wake, Family Lore traces the lives of each of the Marte women, weaving together past and present, Santo Domingo and New York City. Told with Elizabeth Acevedo’s inimitable and incandescent voice, this is an indelible portrait of sisters and cousins, aunts and nieces—one family’s journey through their history, helping them better navigate all that is to come.

Why I’m Excited: I love Acevedo’s writing so, so much so honestly I would have read her adult debut regardless. But then she gave me a family saga and I said, OMG, YES PLEASE. Basically.

Release Date: August 1, 2023

The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

Goodreads Synopsis: It’s the middle of the night in the middle of Paris and a woman just woke up with no memory.

She only knows three things for certain:

1. She has a splitting headache.

2. The hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen is standing over her, telling her to run.

And oh yeah…

3. People keep trying to kill her.

She doesn’t know who. Or why. But when she sees footage of herself fighting off a dozen men there’s only one explanation: obviously. . . she’s a spy! 

Except, according to Mr. Hot Guy, she’s not. She’s a spy’s identical twin sister.

Too bad the only person who knows she’s not the woman they’re looking for is this very grouchy, very sexy, very secret agent who (reluctantly) agrees to help her disappear.

That’s easier said than done when a criminal organization wants you dead and every intelligence service in the world wants you caught. Luckily, no one is looking for a pair of lovesick newlyweds on their honeymoon. And soon they’re lying their way across Europe–dodging bullets and faking kisses as they race to unravel a deadly conspiracy and clear her sister’s name.

But with every secret they uncover, the truth shifts, until she no longer knows who to trust: the twin she can’t remember or the mysterious man she can’t let herself forget…

Why I’m Excited: Listen, Ally has specifically said that this is not a Gallagher Girls book, but like, can a girl pretend? I think so. Also, this sounds like the funnest!!

Release Date: August 8, 2023

B.K. Borison’s New Book

This is the fourth book in the Lovelight series and I absolutely cannot wait! I think all we know is that it’s supposed to be Charlie’s book. And Beckett’s sister the tattoo artist whose name I’m blanking on. Regardless, I cannot wait!!

Release Date: Allegedly October 3, 2023

Next book in Guild Hunters by Nalini Singh

We have really no information about this one yet, but I presume it’s coming and I can’t wait for whatever it is!!

If Only You by Chloe Liese

I’m really pumped for this one, though who knows which sibling it’s about… Or really when it’s coming. But I can’t wait!!

And there you have the books I’m most excited about! Feel free to share with me the books you’re looking forward to this year down below!

xx