I have no idea how this year got away with me. They say that the older you get, the faster years seem to fly by and if that is the case then I am literally on death’s door with my PJs and Horlicks demanding to be let in.
In any case, I set myself the goal on Goodreads to read 75 books which was achievable and meant that I wasn’t too stressed out about meeting it.
I met it and blew past it. I read 165 books this year which wasn’t as many as last year but I did have several months of reading slump where all I wanted to read was Draco/Hermione or Darcy/Bucky Barnes Fanfiction.
So I did.
First and Last
My first book of the year was Manners and Mutiny by Gail Carriger, which was a re-read, and my last book of the year was Adrian Tchaikovsky’s And put Childish Things Away. I enjoyed both.
My Top Ten Reads for 2022
I read some really great books this year and two of my faves were ones sent to me by the publisher. The Kaiju Preservation society and Lost In Time were fantastic Fantasy/Sci-Fi books I have been raving about to everyone who will listen.
I also read the final Clare Sager book where we say goodbye to Vice and Knigh but DAMN did it end well.
I listened to Skin of the Sea on Audible and the lyrical voice of the narrator really bought across the story of the mami wata.
I found Juliette Cross’ series about sister witches falling in love in cosy little paranormal mysteries and I am obsessed.
My Most Disappointing Reads
Books I DNFed
After one book put me in a 3-month slump, I promised myself to finish even after a few pages if I wasn’t grabbed, which meant 14 DNFs this year. Two of them, however- Cage of Souls and Beasts of Prey -I will try to read again. Those were more “I’m not in the mood” rather than “This is appalling”.
Honourable mentions
In a good way
A lovely series based on a group of witch sisters who fall for paranormal men in their town. This was such a cosy, delightful paranormal romance series with amazing characters, a great plot and delicious love scenes. Can’t wait for the next one in the series.
in a bad way
I don’t normally review Picture books unless they are exceptional so it is very off-brand for me to go on about his one. But it pissed me off. I know it was written by an award-winning poet but children under the age of 6 (picture book age) do not understand words like proxy, simile and cadence and many parents in socio-economic areas would be hard-pressed to explain them to their child. But what really irritated me is the insinuation running throughout the book that there is little representation for “marginalised” groups in children’s books. WRONG. Step into a library sometime.
This reminds me of a scene in Modern Family where Cam and Mitchell think they’re writing the only book about gay adoption only to go to a store and find a plethora of every kind of situational book from Bi-sexual adoption of an Asian baby to trans-adoption of a disabled baby.
Were they all that?
They were…ok. Mostly 3s and 4s which are solid reads but didn’t necessarily get me too excited. Whether I became more discerning (or picky), there were nowhere near as many 5-star reads as last year.
Where did I get books this year
I pretty much seemed to live on my kindle app this year. Ebooks were so much easier to read because they were very portable, I could read the same book at breakfast, on the bus and at work. ARC site is either Netgalley or Booksirens and I got through quite a lot of the books I had requested, but I still requested more so my NetGalley amount hasn’t really gone down.
I did receive more ARCs either from publishers or from Independent authors. Kay Moody was one whose books I loved this year and was given ARCs as ebooks.
I hopefully aim to read more physical books next year. I have a plan.
What Genres did I read?
Am I reading too much Fantasy Romance?
Is my TBR getting out of control?
Do I spend too much time on EverMerge and not enough time reading?
Do I need to read more proper grown-up adult books that aren’t set in a magical land with hot fae/vampires/wolves?
Do I want to end of the world to happen quite quickly?
Yes.
The Books!
KIDS AND MIDDLE GRADE
GRAPHIC NOVELS
FANTASY ROMANCE
ADULT BOOKS. FANTASY, SCI-FI. CRIME, SHORT STORIES AND THRILLERS
YA THRILLER
YA FANTASY
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
NON-FICTION
There you go, that is everything.
I think next year I will amalgamate all fantasy together because there is a crossover between YA and Adult now and you cant really tell which is which.
My main goal for next year is to get my Netgalley down. but I’ve said that before.
Hope you enjoyed it and have a great new year.
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