The 10 Best Books to Drop In 2023, According to Goodreads

We’re continuing on with the end-of-year lists, and the next one we’re looking at is books. While the New York Times may not have released its list of best books for 2023, we do have a review of the most popular books of the year, as shared by Goodreads.

This list is made up of “books most frequently added to Goodreads members’ shelves, updated weekly,” and it is made up of quite an interesting mix. We shared the top 10 titles with you here.

The best books of 2023, according to Goodreads users

Below, we’ve included the best 10 books, based on Goodreads popularity. All synopses are credited to the book publishers.

• Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) by Rebecca Yarros: Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders from USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.
• Happy Place by Emily Henry: A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
• Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) by Rebecca Yarros: “The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.” —Xaden Riorson
• Things We Hide from the Light (Knockemout, #2) by Lucy Score: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lucy Score returns to Knockemout, Virginia, following fan-favourite Things We Never Got Over with Knox’s brother Nash’s story.
• The Housemaid’s Secret (The Housemaid, #2) by Freida McFadden: “Don’t go in the guest bedroom.” A shadow falls on Douglas Garrick’s face as he touches the door with his fingertips. “My wife… she’s very ill.” As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can’t risk losing this job—not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe…
• Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

• Spare by Prince Harry, J.R. Moehringer (Ghostwriter): For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
• None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell: Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true-crime podcast.
• Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1) by Rebecca Ross: When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.
• Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood: Rival physicists collide in a vortex of academic feuds and fake dating shenanigans in this delightfully STEMinist romcom from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain.

You can check out the full list of best 2023 books on Goodreads here. And if you’d like another suggestion, check out this excerpt from How to Spot the (Star) Signs by our pal Matty Galea.