Winter 2023 TBR: 10 Books I Hope to Read

Happy Tuesday y’all! It’s that time again. What time is it? Time to share our seasonal TBR. Every quarter Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share a seasonal TBR. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, that means our Winter 2022-2023 TBR. For my Winter TBR 2023, I will list books I hope to read from January-March 2023.

How did my Autumn TBR go? It was a bit hit-and-miss for me, and I ended up reading seven of the ten books I listed, and I may complete an eighth before December is over. I had a few so-so ARCs to read, and I hit a bit of a slump in November that didn’t help matters at all.

For my Winter 2023 TBR, I followed a similar pattern to my previous seasonal TBR. This quarter, I have some ARCs to read and three books for the Buzzwords reading challenge from Books & Lala. So, I decided to highlight five of the ARCs. Then I used Goodreads’s random search function to help fill the rest of my TBR.

All titles are linked to Goodreads, and all synopsis are from Goodreads. The book covers are linked to Amazon.

Without further ado, here is my Winter 2023 TBR!

Maame by Jessica George

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi, but in my case, it means woman.

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced-stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare, and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flatshare, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it’s not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family and the perils––and rewards––of putting her heart on the line.

The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel

In the heart of Greenwich Village, three women form an accidental sorority when a baby—belonging to exactly none of them—lands on their collective doorstep.

Lauren and her family—lucky bastards—have been granted the use of a spectacular brownstone, teeming with history and dizzyingly unattractive 70s wallpaper. Adding to the home’s bohemian, grungy splendor is the bar occupying the basement, a (mostly) beloved dive called The Sweet Spot. Within days of moving in, Lauren discovers that she has already made an enemy in the neighborhood by inadvertently sparking the divorce of a couple she has never actually met.

Melinda’s husband of thirty years has dumped her for a young celebrity entrepreneur named Felicity, and, to Melinda’s horror, the lovebirds are soon to become parents. In her incandescent rage, Melinda wreaks havoc wherever she can, including in Felicity’s Soho boutique, where she has a fit of epic proportions, which happens to be caught on film.​

Olivia—the industrious twenty-something behind the counter who has big dreams and bigger debt—gets caught in the crossfire. In an effort to diffuse Melinda’s temper, Olivia has a tantrum of her own and gets unceremoniously canned, thanks to TikTok.

When Melinda’s ex follows his lover across the country, leaving their squalling baby behind, the three women rise to the occasion in order to forgive, forget, Ferberize, and track down the wayward parents. But can their little village find a way toward the happily ever afters they all desire? Welcome to The Sweet Spot.

Cheddar Late Than Dead by Linda Reilly

Winter in Balsam Dell is a snowy affair. To add some cheer after the holidays, Carly’s former classmate Klarissa Taddeo is hosting her extravagant bridal shower at the historic Balsam Dell Inn. That is until a double-booking throws some mold in the cheese and leaves Klarissa scrambling. With the venue moved to the maid of honor’s family mansion and Carly rinding to create a new delicious treat, it seems the group is going to pull off the shower without a hitch.

That is until a rowdy band of groomsmen crashes the event. Klarissa is furious with her groom-to-be, and when a loud argument ensues, everyone is shocked by what they hear. When the groom is later found dead at the bottom of the stairs, his drink spiked with a hefty dose of poison, Carly must put her nose to the rind and save Klarissa from being suspect #1.

Because you know what they say: it’s always the (almost) wife.

Maureen by Rachel Joyce

Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she shares with her husband after his iconic walk across England ten years ago. When an unexpected message from the North disturbs her equilibrium again, it is now her turn to make a journey. But Maureen is not like Harold. By turns outspoken, then vulnerable, she struggles to form bonds with the people she meets, and the landscape she crosses has radically changed. And Maureen has no sense of what she will find at the end of the road. All she knows is that she has to get there.

In Farm’s Way by Amanda Flower

Even the best-laid plants can go awry…

After solving a murder and getting her organic farm ready to overwinter, Shiloh Bellamy still expects the next few months to be busy with repairs, spring planning, and networking with local businesses. She might even be able to broker a new partnership with Fields Brewery and its organic brewer’s association. Well, she could if the owner wasn’t found murdered at the county Ice Fishing Derby.

Once again, Shiloh gets tangled up in the investigation when the police ignore an entire crop of suspects to blame one of her friends. She’ll have to dig deep to find the truth, reel in a killer, and convince her city-slicker pug to wear his winter boots. But with Bellamy Farm still struggling, can Shiloh spare the time to look into the town’s fishy characters? Or will her dream farm be the next thing floating belly up?

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

A.J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic Knightley Press sales rep who refuses to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him.

And then, a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, though large in weight—an unexpected arrival that gives A.J. the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew.

Woman Enters Left by Jessica Brockmole

In the 1950s, movie star Louise Wilde is caught between an unfulfilling acting career and a shaky marriage when she receives an out-of-the-blue phone call: She has inherited the estate of Florence “Florrie” Daniels, a Hollywood screenwriter she barely recalls meeting. Among Florrie’s possessions are several unproduced screenplays, personal journals, and—inexplicably—old photographs of Louise’s mother, Ethel. On an impulse, Louise leaves a film shoot in Las Vegas and sets off for her father’s house on the East Coast, hoping for answers about the curious inheritance and, perhaps, about her own troubled marriage.

Nearly thirty years earlier, Florrie takes off on an adventure of her own, driving her Model T westward from New Jersey in pursuit of broader horizons. She has the promise of a Hollywood job and, in the passenger seat, Ethel, her best friend since childhood. Florrie will do anything for Ethel, who is desperate to reach Nevada in time to reconcile with her husband and reunite with her daughter. Ethel fears the loss of her marriage; Florrie, with long-held secrets, confided only in her journal, fears its survival.

In parallel tales, the three women—Louise, Florrie, Ethel—discover that not all journeys follow a map. As they rediscover their carefree selves on the road, they learn that sometimes the paths we follow are shaped more by our traveling companions than by our destinations.

Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean

Every family has its secrets. When you commit acts of arson during Christmas dinner, attempt to start a life of crime by shoplifting a lipstick or sink your false teeth into the forbidden pleasure of corn on the cob, it’s hard to come clean. But Stuart McLean has got the goods on Dave and his family. Morley, for example, is reluctant to talk about her beauty parlor betrayal and that other man in her life—Mathieu—while Dave tries to avoid mentioning his assault on an innocent dentist. These are the things they wouldn’t tell you themselves: lies, white and otherwise, aliases, double lives, and all manner of petty crimes and everyday transgressions. These are the Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe.

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues are some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car—strange for a frigid night. Her World War I veteran husband and her daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away.

The puzzle of those missing eleven days has persisted. With her trademark historical fiction exploration into the shadows of the past, acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the center of such murky historical mysteries.

What is real, and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?

Agatha Christie novels have withstood the test of time due in no small part to Christie’s masterful storytelling and clever mind that may never be matched, but Agatha Christie’s untold history offers perhaps her greatest mystery of all.

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting

Talk about an embarrassing introduction. On her first day of law school, Kailyn ran quite literally into the actor she crushed on as a teenager, ending with him sprawled on top of her. Mortified to discover the Daxton Hughes was also a student in her class, her embarrassment over their meet-cute quickly turned into a friendship she never expected. Of course, she never saw his betrayal coming either…

Now, eight years later, Dax is in her office asking for legal advice. Despite her anger, Kailyn can’t help feeling sorry for the devastated man who just became sole guardian to his thirteen-year-old sister. But when her boss gets wind of Kailyn’s new celebrity client, there’s even more at stake than Dax’s custody issues: if she gets Dax to work at their firm, she’ll be promoted to partner.

The more time Kailyn spends with Dax and his sister, the more she starts to feel like a family, and the more she realizes the chemistry they had all those years ago is as fresh as ever. But will they be able to forgive past mistakes, or will one betrayal lead to another?

And that concludes my Winter 2023 TBR! Hopefully, I’ll be reading more books than these. Why do I say that? Because I currently have access to these books. And that means I can read them when I’m ready!

How did your Autumn 2022 TBR go? What books are on your Winter 2023 TBR? I would love to know!

Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other bookish lists, book reviews, and monthly reading wrap-ups.