Before I was a full-time author, I was a voracious reader. Even now I miss the blissful abandon of curling up on the couch with a good book and losing myself between the pages. I don’t get as much time to read as I would like, but this year I’m making a concentrated effort to enjoy some fun reading as a reward for reaching my writing/publishing goals.

Fortunately for me, I have a ton of author friends who have AMAZING books for me to choose from. I wish I could post them all here, but I have to keep my list organized…for my own sanity (LOL). So I’ve made a short list of the books I’m looking forward to reading in 2023! There will be more, I’m sure. But here are a few I have on my radar and in my pre-order basket.

Without further ado…here are my most anticipated reads for 2023…

When a career-ending injury and a messy breakup send prima ballerina Daniela Verdi back to Queens, New York, she fills her days with countless distractions: meaningless sex, pinot grigio, and video games.

It takes a chance meeting with her brother’s best friend, Vincent LaBate, for her to remember who she was before the stage lights and distractions of the Upper West Side. She’s convinced that Vincent could never love a girl like her: broken, insecure, and stumbling her way through life. What Daniela didn’t count on is that Vincent is as scarred as she is after divorcing his cheating wife and going through an equally messy child custody fight. Soon enough, old vulnerabilities rear their ugly heads, opening a crack in Daniela’s perfectly imperfect romance.

As Daniela and Vincent’s relationship develops, will Daniela learn to accept that a dream life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

The devil has moved in next door. The devil has seen me naked.
The devil has the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.

God-fearing Rebecca Briar was raised to believe that her community, her parents, and her church know best. That if she follows the rules, one day she’ll be able to choose for herself. Yet after an irresistible stranger moves in next door, she begins to suspect that the rules she’s lived by weren’t there to keep her safe. They were there to control her.

Hardened and lonely James Walton has five rules for a reason—he has promises to keep and ambitions to move to San Francisco to become a rockstar. But when he notices prim and proper Rebecca Briar’s quiet anguish through his window, he is tempted to break every one of his rules to help her, consequences be damned.

Their connection is undeniable, but with God watching her every move and secrets belonging to a past James never got to learn, all they can hope for are a few months of fun before it’s all over.

Except nothing is ever that simple.

A Song of Sin and Salvation is a steamy, slow burn romance that will mercilessly pull on your heartstrings. It’s a story about freedom, choice and first love, all set to a raucous 80s soundtrack. It features two lonely teens who despite their differences, represent each other’s chance at salvation.

Farren puts on a good front, feigning confidence despite literally not fitting into society’s narrow ideas of beauty and success. Inside, she’s stuck, afraid to put herself and her ideas out there, especially the board game design she’s kept a secret. She keeps things light and temporary-both at work as a substitute teacher and in her relationships.

Overworked Sebastian abhors anything that gets in the way of his goals, including procuring the perfect pastry. The two meet when Sebastian accuses her of stealing his pastry in an amusing and awkward café incident. When Farren gets in the way of his coffee order with her huge personality she turns out to be even more than he bargained for.

Instead of shrinking beneath his usually intimidating stare, Farren issues a challenge back: take a second away from his phone calendar with its down-to-the-minute scheduling and play her for it-live a little. If Sebastian wins the board game battle he gets to keep his precious croissant, if she wins he has to join their game night next week.
Just who will be the victor in this game of love?

He snatched me from the jaws of death for one reason—to be his.

I was a dead king’s sacrificial bride, until his murderer claimed me as his. Zabriel invaded my country of Maledin on the back of a monstrous, fire-breathing dragon and took me prisoner.

The lethal Zabriel towers over me in steel plate armor, and he could easily crush the life out of me—but the Flame King isn’t interested in harming me. Instead, he destroys everyone who has hurt me in a storm of fire and vengeance.

There’s malignant rot deep within my country. My family has vanished along with whole villages of people. As I desperately try to find those who are missing, my body and heart awaken under a powerful and alarming force.

Zabriel sets my soul ablaze every time he growls, “Mine.” He calls me Omega. The rarest. The most vulnerable. The one he craves to possess and protect.

When evil forces in Maledin threaten everyone I know and love, there’s only one person who is strong enough to help me defeat them, and the only place where I’m safe from an ancient foe is in the arms of the Flame King.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The Flame King’s Captive is a slow-burn non-shifter MF omegaverse romance set in a fantasy world of magic and dragonriders. Zabriel is a jealous and possessive Alpha, and Isavelle is a sweet but strong virgin Omega heroine. This is the first book in the Fire and Desire trilogy. It contains steamy content that increases with each subsequent book and ends on a cliffhanger.

The fates of two bitter enemies with opposing magical abilities are swept together in The Hurricane Wars, the spellbinding debut in a fantasy romance trilogy set in a Southeast Asia-inspired world ravaged by storms, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and R. F. Kuang.

The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, Talasyn has found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, Alaric has never been bested. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. In a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

Talasyn and Alaric both know this war can only end with them. But a greater threat is coming, and the strange new magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Thrust into an uneasy alliance, they will confront the secrets at the heart of the war and find, in each other, a searing passion–one that could save their world…or destroy it.

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters, sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance, and richly drawn worlds, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.

Rival archaeologists must team up on a secret Aztec expedition, or it could leave their careers—and hearts—in ruins.

Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía has a bone to pick. Literally. 

It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the long-lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. But when she is invited to join an all-expenses-paid dig to do just that, Corrie is sure it’s too good to be true…and she’s right.

As the world-renowned expert on Chimalli, by rights Corrie should be leading the expedition, not sharing the glory with her disgustingly handsome nemesis. But Dr. Ford Matthews has been finding new ways to best her since they were in grad school. Ford certainly isn’t thrilled either—with his life in shambles, the last thing he needs is a reminder of their rocky past.

But as the dig begins, it becomes clear they’ll need to work together when they realize a thief is lurking around their campsite, forcing the pair to keep their discoveries—and lingering attraction—under wraps. With money-hungry artifact smugglers, the Mexican authorities, and the lies between them closing in, there’s only one way this all ends—explosively.

Meet Alexander Chen, one of the most talented chefs to ever grace the culinary world. Now meet Eden Monroe, his newly hired sous chef who may or may not have (definitely) embellished a lot on her resumé to land herself the job.

Alexander rules his kitchen with an iron fist and fiery temper. Mistakes simply won’t be tolerated. It’s no secret that if you can’t handle the heat, he’ll gladly toss you out with the trash. As one of the very first Chinese-American chefs to claw his way to the top of the world of French haute cuisine, he has a lot to prove and a massive chip on his shoulder.

But he wasn’t always like this. Eden knew him back when he still went by his real name, Shang. He used to be sweet and helpful and definitely not the second coming of the devil himself.

Eden won’t say anything, though, no matter how hot her curiosity burns. Especially not if it could cost her this job. She needs to save as much as she can if she wants any hope of hiring a private detective to find something she lost long ago.

All she needs to do is fly under the radar. It’s just a shame that she and her new boss butt heads more often than they fulfill orders. What will happen when things finally boil over, and they discover that things between them are spicier than they first ordered?