10 Most Anticipated Clean Books of 2023 (January)

Want to know what my 10 most Anticipated Clean Books of 2023 are?? Join me today to see what books I am DYING to read this year and what new books are being released early in 2023!!

Who is making some BIG reading goals for 2023?!?! My goal is to put my phone away more and pick up MORE BOOKS this year. You can join me over on GOODREADS to see what I am reading and set your own reading goals too!! I set a goal of 100 books in 2023…I am VERY excited to see the numbers add up each month!! Plus, I love to see what everyone else is reading also:) I have a LONG list of books that are coming out in 2023 on my TBR, so let’s start with my most anticipated clean books of 2023!!

I actually received an advanced copy of The Enemy Across the Loch by Kasey Stockton (available January 4th) and it was my FIRST book of 2023!! This is the 3rd book in the Myths of Moraigh Trilogy and even though I think you COULD POSSIBLY jump in and read this one as a standalone, the full story is best told across all three books. Lucky for me, I had already read Journey to Bongary Spring and Through the Fairy Tree, and was able to jump right back into the Scottish clan dispute and Jacobite uprising that makes this series perfect for anyone who loves a good Scottish love story. The basic gist of The Myths of Moraigh series is that there are two feuding clans living across the loch from each other, The Duncans and the McEwans. In this third book, we get a huge battle between the clans, star crossed lovers from different sides of the loch, a bit of a Jacobite vs. Redcoat situation, and of course a ton of Scottish goodness. There is just something about a good Scottish Highlander main character that I cannot resist!!

I actually found Kasey Stockton from the Christmas Escape series that I DEVOURED this December, and I really liked her writing style. SOOOO I decided to create a SECOND reading goal for 2023, I am going to select a few favorite authors and read STRAIGHT throughALL of their books. It just makes more sense than jumping around from book to book with no reasoning. And, of course, Kasey Stockton is one of the authors from that list, so you can expect her name to come up a few more times before this year is over!!

After The Enemy Across the Loch, I was in the mood for MORE SCOTTISH ROMANCE!! Who isn’t?? So, I quickly added The Rose and The Thistle by Laura Frantz (Released January 3rd) to my January TBR. I am excited to dive back into more Jacobite Rebellion, PLUS a Scottish Laird and an English Lady, PLUS forced proximity, PLUS enemies to friends…I’m READY!!

If you are over on Instagram, you have probably already heard a little something about Esperance by Heather Frost. This one came out last month, and it is already getting SOOOOO much attention!! You know I ALWAYS judge a book by the cover…and when I spotted this cover on my Instagram scroll, I knew I wanted to read it!! Esperance sounds like if a historical romance book had a baby with a YA fantasy book. Which is 100 percent why I am adding Esperance to my MUST-READ ASAP list…well…ASAP!!

The Call of the Sea by Sian Ann Bessey is another one that came out earlier this Fall, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet…so I am adding it to my most anticipated clean books list. When I first heard this one had Vikings…well THAT is all I needed to know.

I recently discovered Sarah M. Eden, and can never turn down a good Regency Romance, so I am adding The Best Intentions to the list. Secrets, a house party, a love interest in financial ruin, and potential scandal…I’m in!!

I am also a BIG Esther Hatch fan. I have actually written about her books before HERE and HERE. SOOOO When I saw that she had a new book coming out at the very end of the year, I added it RIGHT to my list. The Earl’s Hideaway, No Ladies Allowed by Esther Hatch is book 2 in a series though, so make sure that you start with Manor for Sale, Baron Included FIRST. The Earls Hideaway sounds super cute…forced proximity to the extreme when a poor governess and an Earl end up at the same cottage by accident. The governess meets Earl, Duke, or Lord is a story that never gets in my opinion…Yeah, I’m looking at you Jane Eyre.

I believe that Melanie Dickerson is the queen of clean YA historical romance…hands down!! A few years ago, when I was searching for appropriate books for my tween/teen to read, I stumbled across Melanie’s Fairytale Romance Series and we were both THRILLED!! I was so happy to find a series of books that had JUST enough romance for a teen…but was also completely squeaky clean, still had great writing, and also contained some elements of youth…in this case…fairytale princesses. Emersyn has read EVERY book in the series and many more of Melanie’s books now…ANDDDD the best part is that I can read her books too and totally enjoy them. I actually received an advanced copy of one of Melanie’s books before I became a huge fan and wrote about it HERE.

SOOOO all that to say that Fortress of Snow by Melanie Dickerson, which released in December, is for sure one of my most anticipated clean books of 2023. It is actually book 4 in a 5-book series of re-imagined fairy tales, so I will have some catching up to do. BUT since book 5, Cloak of Scarlet, doesn’t come out until August, I have time!! I don’t think I will ever outgrow fairytales, and so a re-told Snow Queen story is RIGHT up my alley.

Ok. I cannot spend ALL of my time in the past, RIGHT?!?! So, to add a modern spin on things, I had to add Savannah Scott and the SHIPPED series. I have been DYING to join the craze of 2022 and read this SUPER POPULAR series, and January is THAT TIME!! This series seems to have it all…enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, amnesia, second chance love, brother’s best friend crush, forced proximity…you name it!! DoctorShipped was the most recent release (it came out last month) and CruiseShipped (releases in April). It seems I will be reading a few series between now and April:) I guess my most anticipated clean books of 2023 are actually my most anticipated SERIES of clean books for 2023. I think that is because it is so stinking hard to find a good clean romance…when you FINALLY find one…it is just easier to read a whole series by the same author.

Next up on my list of MUST READS is Secret of the Sonnets by Samantha Hastings. This one was a last-minute addition to the list, but when I heard this book described on Instagram as “National Treasure meets Jane Austen” with “nods to Shakespeare.” UMMMM YES PLEASE!!! Soooo… this book is about a 28-year-old spinster who decides to track down the lost manuscripts of William Shakespeare…are you intrigued yet?? Well…if you need more convincing…there is of course a love interest who needs to find the manuscripts as well…in order to save himself from debt. Yes. Yes. And YES!! Count me in.

And last but for sure not least, Martha Keyes is another author I found from the Christmas Escape series, and ANOTHER author I might attempt to binge in 2023. I recently read The Art of Victory and A Confirmed Rake and now I am waiting patiently for the 3rd book in the series, Battling the Bluestocking (available February 2). In book one we had an enemies to lovers situation and in book 2 it is a fake dating scheme…two of my favorite tropes for SURE!! Book 3 looks to be a forced proximity between a tutor and a Lady…which is basically a Lord and a governess, so BRING IT ON!!!

And there you have it, my MOST ANTICIPATED CLEAN BOOKS OF 2023!! Are there any other books I should add to my list?? What books are YOU looking forward to reading this year…there is ALWAYS room for a few more booka on my nightstand:) If you want to add a few of my past favorites to your TBR, you can find them here, here and over here. Happy New Year of reading!! —Jess