Hello dear bookish friends and welcome to damppebbles. It’s so lovely to see you! It’s the weekend which sounds to me like a perfect opportunity to curl up with a good book. What’s that you say, you don’t have a good book to hand? Well, you’ve come to the right place. #R3COMM3ND3D is all about sharing the book love and highlighting the best books of the year. So far, thirty fabulous books have been selected by our highly knowledgeable panel (not really a panel, more ‘willing volunteers’ 😂). Take a look at them here and I can guarantee you’ll find a book you love.

Joining me to add to the #R3COMM3ND3D2023 vault today is a brilliant reviewer. I am delighted to welcome the lovely Davida Chazan to damppebbles on this chilly Saturday. Davida’s blog, The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog, is an absolute ‘must read’ for all book lovers, so if you don’t already subscribe then you know what to do! Hit that subscribe button.

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 😉

Without further ado, here are the three books Davida recommends…

So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
Keegan has a truly keen eye for the human condition, and a way of placing her characters in spaces that just sing with beauty. Since her stories are short, you can easily re-read them and get more and more out of them with each read.
Davida’s Review of So Late in the Day

From Dust to Stardust by Kathleen Rooney
This book touched me on a personal level, because the main character is based on the woman who built the Doll House (Fairy Castle) that sits in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago – a permanent exhibition that I visited many times as a child. But that’s not all, her story in the silent film industry was also fascinating.
Davida’s Review of From Dust to Stardust

Starring Adele Astaire by Eliza Knight
If you can get me to laugh out loud and cry at the same time in the opening chapter, you’re sure to get 5/5 stars from me. But Knight’s story about Adele Astaire, the older sister to Fred, just kept getting better throughout the book! As a lover of old musical comedy movies, this book was just a delight for me.
Davida’s Review of Starring Adele Astaire

Thank you so much, Davida. Three beautiful books which I’m sure will be added to many TBRs.

About Davida Chazan:
I’ve been book blogging since 2013 but I started writing online reviews in the late 1990s. I’m now retired, and devote most of my time to my blog and reading, when I’m not baking bread, making ice cream, or trying some other crafty thing or another.

Davida’s Blog and Social Media Links:
| The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog | X (formerly Twitter) @ChocolateLady57 | Facebook | Instagram @chocolatelady1957 |

#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)