Hello and a very happy Friday to you! Welcome to damppebbles, home of #R3COMM3ND3D2023. It’s our third day of this year’s feature and we are smashing it so far! Six brilliant books have been recommended – how many have you added to your TBR?

Well, get set for three brand new additions as joining me today is a first-class book blogger. I am delighted to welcome Carla of Carla Loves to Read to damppebbles. I’m a huge fan of Carla’s blog so if you don’t already subscribe then you know what to do!

So, what is #R3COMM3ND3D2023? It’s about sharing the book love. It’s a chance for authors, book bloggers, reviewers and bookstagrammers to shout about three (yes, *only* three) books they love. They can be written by any author, in any genre and published in any way (traditionally, indie press or self-published). But there is a catch. All three books must have been published in 2023. To make things interesting there are a couple of teeny, tiny rules; 1) the book must have FIRST been published in 2023 and 2) special editions and reissues do not count. See, it wasn’t too painful. I just like to keep you lovely people on your toes 😉

Let’s find out which three books Carla recommends…

Go as a River by Shelley Read
Go As A River is a debut story that really can’t be categorized. It is historical fiction, based on true events, but also a story of racism, family dynamics, survival and more. It is set in Colorado, but has elements of Southern Fiction that I enjoy. I was hooked from the first page. One of my favourite reads for 2023.
Carla’s Review of Go as a River

Identity by Nora Roberts
I have read Nora Roberts books for years and they were getting to all sound the same, but Identity is an amazing suspenseful story. The scary thing about his story is that the general crime could happen to anyone. There is some romance, but that is secondary to the story of Identity theft and what it leads to in this one. There are several twists and this book kept me reading and listening when I should have been doing something else.
Carla’s Review of Identity

The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan
I look forward to Sarah Morgan’s Christmas release each year. The Book Club Hotel is set at Christmas, but it is a story with so much more than a festive story. Four women are at an Inn in Vermont, one is the Innkeeper, the other three are friends. All of them have things going on in their lives that they keep close to their chest. Once at the Inn, they open up to one another, where they share, help and support each other, and grow from their meeting and new friendships. I highly recommend this story of friendship, family, new beginnings all with a festive, Christmas background.
Carla’s Review of The Book Club Hotel

Thank you so much, Carla. Three lovely choices which I’m sure will be added to many TBRs.

About Carla:
I am a retired elementary school teacher/administrator/librarian and 7 years a widow. I spend a lot of time alone (I love my own company) so do a lot of reading. I am a grandmother of three and love reading to and with them. I am an eclectic reader as you can see from the books I recommended as well as checking out those on my blog. I love Christmas and read festive books all year long. I am travelling a lot more both in real life and with armchair travel. which I am enjoying very much. I am always willing to try new things, including new genres. They don’t always work out for me, but I will try.

Carla’s Blog and Social Media Links:
| Carla Loves To Read | X (formerly Twitter) @CarlaLoveToRead |

#R3COMM3ND3D will only run for the month of November this year so places are very limited. If you would like to take part in #R3C this year (and I would LOVE you to!) then please get your three choices in ASAP. If I’m unable to fill all 30 dates then any posts scheduled for the end of November will be brought forward and I will close the series early (but I don’t want to do that, it sounds miserable! 😂). Here are two different versions of the form if you fancy taking part.

If you’re a book blogger, bookstagrammer, reviewer or an author and you have three books published this year which you want to shout about then please complete the following form (or click this link: https://forms.gle/d6HbMLZJjEtUSm8FA)