Happy weekend book pals and welcome to damppebbles! As always, it’s so good to see you! What are your plans for the weekend? A spot of Christmas shopping perhaps? Or just curling up in the warm with a good book and a fluffy blanket? Yes, that sounds much less stressful than my first suggestion 😂 Always go with the book option, I say! It’s day twenty-five of #R3COMM3ND3D2023 and after today there are only five more days of this year’s #R3C left. It’s flown past so quickly. But what brilliant books we’ve had so far, with more to come before the end of the coming week.

I am over the moon to welcome an absolutely brilliant book blogger to the damppebbles sofa today to chat about three favourite 2023 releases, it’s the fabulous Babs Wilkie of Book Escapes with BabsW67. If you like to think of yourself as an avid reader and you’re not following Babs’s blog then you are definitely doing it all wrong! I’m a huge fan myself and can heartily recommend that you head on over there and check it out (but make sure you come back here afterwards otherwise you won’t find out which three books Babs recommends!).

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 😉

Here are the three books Babs recommends…

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
If found this story to be engaging and truly beautiful. I adored a previous book of Laura’s – I wanted you to know – and it totally broke me. I cried with this one, but the tears came from a much happier place.
Babs’s Review of The Last List of Mabel Beaumont

The Weekend by L.H. Stacey
I have followed Lynda’s writing for some time and I genuinely noticed a shift in style with this book. It was hauntingly atmospheric and held my attention. It has made me excited to read more books from her.
Babs’s Review of The Weekend

The Memory of You by Samantha Tonge
The one resonated with me for very personal reasons. I think that most of us have been touched by dementia and it can be a very difficult subject to read about. Samantha Tonge managed to create a positive and ultimately uplifting story without trivialising the real challenges of the disease.
Babs’s Review of The Memory of You

Thank you so much, Babs. Three really great sounding books to add to the #R3COMM3ND3D2023 vault!

About Babs Wilkie:
I’m a fifty something blogger who reads digitally as a result of arthiritic hands. That doesn’t stop me from collecting selected physical books by favourite authors, which sit proudly on my bookcase. My main interest falls between Romantic Fiction, Womens Fiction and Thrillers. I’ve been blogging since 2019 and genuinely believe that it saved my mental health during lockdown.

Babs’s Blog and Social Media Links:
| Book Escapes with BabsW67 | X (formerly Twitter) @BookEscapesBlog | Facebook | Instagram @BookEscapesBlog | Threads @bookescapesblog | Bluesky @bookescapesblog.bsky.social |

Sadly submissions for #R3COMM3D3D2023 are now closed. Shortly after the last post I will be inviting you to attend the virtual after-show party, which should be fun. We’ll get to gaze upon the marvellous and majestic beauty of 2023’s books and also crown 2023’s winner, if we have one (they’re all winners, right?). Until then stay tuned as we have lots more bookish gorgeousness heading your way.