My First Read of 2023 (and it was a good one!)

{Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted review copy}

Was was/is your first book of 2023?

A book about how books bring us together was my first book of 2023 (which I thought was quite fitting!) and I LOVED it!

Have you heard of No Two Persons yet? I was first introduced to author @ericabauermeister when I devoured her novel The Scent Keeper back in the spring of 2019.

And I am excited to announce that spring of 2023 is looking good too, with her newest work of fiction making its arrival on May 2nd!

Book Synopsis of No Two Persons:

“One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is ‘gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.’

That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.

Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.”

The premise of No Two Persons had the potential to be complicated and hard to follow, but it was anything but and I was engrossed from the beginning. I loved starting out learning about the main character, who after a challenging young adulthood goes on to become a reclusive best-selling author. The subsequent chapters tell the story of one reader at a time, and each is done so well.

I found myself both sad to see each chapter end, as well as excited to learn how someone else was impacted by the book next. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- fiction has as much potential to impact its readers as nonfiction/personal development does (which I am a big fan of!) And this book did just that- I loved this uniquely curious and moving read and I highly recommend it!

QOTD: What was your first book of 2023? And what format was it? Audiobook, kindle or a hardcopy? I would love to hear and you can join in on the conversation over on @genthebookworm right now!

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