My Best Reads of 2022

I read a lot of books this year, but these were the ones that I loved the most. As usual, I'm separating them into genres. This year it's fantasy, urban fantasy, mystery, thriller, romance, sci-fi/space opera, and I'm also adding a classic and a horror this year. Yes, there is a horror one on here, a genre I rarely read. This list doesn't include any of the rereads I did this year, because if I did that, I would be repeating some winners from previous years.

 

First up, Fantasy:  

I couldn't choose between The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson and Dragonfall by David Estes. I enjoyed them equally, so they are both going on the list. And although I wouldn't say these are the best books in either of those series, they were still really good reads and better than anything else I read this year in the fantasy genre.

I thought The Lost Metal was slower paced than the other second era books in the Mistborn series, and although I enjoyed it, it didn't compel me to pick it up the way the others did. I also think I would have enjoyed it more if there hadn't been such a long wait between books. Still, this is one of my favorite fantasy series and I'm looking forward to reading the third era. I think what really made me enjoy this one the most was the way it ended. It was somewhat bittersweet in a way, but very appropriate. I'm sad that the second era is over, but also looking forward to reading the third era books.

I unexpectedly ended up loving the first book in the Kingfall Histories series. I had no expectations when I started reading it, but after a beginning that seemed a tad bit too dark for me, I was pleasantly surprised. Needless to say I was looking forward to continuing on with the series. Dragonfall didn't disappoint, and although everything didn't go the way I was hoping, it didn't matter, because the book was so good. I especially loved Peony's story line. See my review here.

 

Urban Fantasy: 

 

Soul Taken was a little slow to get going for me, and it didn't really advance the overall plot of the series, but there were still plenty of good things about it. Plus most of the time I'm going to enjoy reading a Patricia Briggs book more than anything else. Her writing always ends up grabbing me, and after a slow start I ended up not being able to put this book down. See my review here.

 

 

Mystery: 

 

I read a lot of mysteries this year, particularly a lot of Hercule Poirot mysteries, and it was a little hard to narrow it down to just one, but I think my very favorite mystery I read this year was The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It was masterfully done! See my review here.

Thriller:

 

I loved this little unexpected, self published gem, The Fortuna Coin by Karen Ann Hopkins. It made a big impact on me, and after I finished it I thought about it for a long time. See my review here.

 

Sci-fi / Space Opera:

 

The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn. I read quite of few books in this genre that I thought were really good, but this series was the one that I loved the most, and although the whole series was good, I immediately knew that this book was the one I had to put as my favorite. See my review here.

  

Romance:

I've been loving The Birch Creek Ranch series by B. E. Baker. She released the first book in the series last year, and it made my best book list last year. This year she ended up releasing three more books in the series, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading each of them. I really can't pick just one of them to feature here, so I'm going to just add all three of them, The Vow, The Ranch, and The Retreat. They go together as one continuous story, so why not?  

See my review for The Vow here.  

See my review for The Ranch here.

See my review for The Retreat here. 

 

 

 

Classic:

 

I read several classics this year, and out of all of them, I loved the completion of Sanditon by Another Lady (AKA Anne Telscombe) the most. While it wasn't perfect, I thought it gave good closure to the story. See my review here.

 

Horror:

Ok I'm shocked that I enjoyed this book so much. It isn't something I would have picked up for myself, but it was one of our book club reads this year, and I was so surprised at how much I liked this book. I was so glued to it! It's a blend of horror and post apocalyptic fiction, two genres that I don't typically care for all that much. If I'm doing creepy, then I like creepy ghost stories the best, but this was creepy in a different, but good way. See my review here.

That's it! I hope you all had a good reading year, and I look forward to 2023 and all the great books I'll get to read.

 

Book Mail!

I read Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson a few years ago and loved it. I have an ebook copy of it, but I've wanted a hardcover copy for a long time. I recently found out that I could buy a copy on Brandon Sanderson's website and couldn't resist ordering one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cool thing about this hardcover copy, is that when you flip it over you get the cover for another short story by Sanderson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's like the book has two front covers.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't read Dreamer yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

 

 

 

 

A Bramble House Christmas by C.J. Carmichael

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance
Content: Off page lovemaking

 

Finn Knightly a.k.a. Finn Conrad wants to know why his recently deceased father left his nurse fifty thousand dollars after knowing her a mere six weeks. So he travels to Bramble House B&B in Marietta, Montana to find answers.

But Willa Fairchild is not the conniving woman he expects to find. Before he knows it, Willa-and her six-year-old son Scout-are stealing his heart. And that’s before he finds out Scout’s secret and the real reason this Christmas is so important. 

 

After seeing the Hallmark movie version of this book and loving it, I decided I wanted to read the book that inspired it. To me this is one of the best Hallmark movies I've ever seen. It wasn't cringe worthy or cheesy like a lot of them are. It had more substance. The story tackles some heavy subjects, like cancer and losing a parent, but in the end it left me with such a heartwarming feeling. It's one of the only ones that I've watched more than once, and it had me tearing up a bit each time. 

I ended up enjoying this book almost as much as the movie. I have to admit that the actors brought the characters to life and added just the right amount of emotion to their roles. I felt a little more connected to the characters on the screen than I did while reading the book, but the book is still very good. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the movie stayed pretty true to the book. There were a few things left out, or changed of course, but most of the book, and the same lovely message, was there. 

This is actually part of a companion series, but works fine as a standalone. It did get me mildly interested in reading about some of the other couples in the book though. If you're looking for a holiday romance that isn't as cheesy as a lot of them can be, then give this one a try. I recommend the movie and the book.

 

 

 

 

 

November 2022 Reading Challenge

 

This is the George Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins University. I think it's so beautiful and it's been the background on my desktop for years.

That brings me to the reading challenge for November. It was all about library books and was titled- 

Library Archives- Challenge: clean up your library wish list. 

After some discussion we decided that we could also include books on other borrow lists, like Hoopla, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible Plus.

Sadly, I didn't do so well on this challenge. The book club read, Devolution was a library book, but it wasn't really sitting on my list until last month, so I probably shouldn't include that one. But, a couple of the books I had planned to read were from my KU list, and a couple of them were from my Hoopla list so I'm including those. I just don't feel very accomplished because I was planning on reading them anyway.

These are the ones I knocked off my lists:

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

A Wick Conceit by Anna Lee Huber

Colonyside by Michael Mammay

 

December 2022 Reading List

Here are the books I have planned to read in December:

 

A few of us on Goodreads are doing a pick it for me challenge where we put up a list of books we want to read, and we let a friend pick the one we will read each month. This is the one that got picked for me for December.

 

The last of the published Lady Darby books. There will be more, but it worked out that we got to this one at the end of the year so we can start on something new in January for our Mystery Book Club.

 

I'm super excited to read this latest Innkeeper book! I plan on starting it the day it's released.

 

I've been waiting for a third book in this series for ages. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy from NetGalley. 

 

Our Fantasy Book Club book for December. I actually started this one a couple of days early. I wanted to get an early start on it because it's really long.

 

The last two published Tracy Crosswhite books. There's another one coming soon, but just like with the Lady Darby series, we are trying to get this one up to date by the end of the year so we can start a couple of new series in the Mystery Book Club.

 

 

That's it. I think that's a lot for December with the holidays and all. Hopefully I will have time to spontaneously read some other holiday themed books as well.

November 2022 Wrap-Up

I had nine books planned for November and I ended up reading all by one of them. I didn't get to Son of Shadows by Juliet Marillier. That one is a buddy read I'm doing with a couple of other ladies on Goodreads, and it got pushed back until January. It's a long and emotional type read, and I think we all realized we didn't have the time to dedicate to it right now.

Here are the books I did get to and my ratings and brief comments for them. I'll post reviews for some of them later, if I haven't already:

 

 

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong Language 

A good entry in the series. I liked the relationship stuff in the story with Tracy and Dan and there are a couple of new characters introduced that seem to be staying.

 

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 

Category: Adult

Genre: Horror, Sci-fi, Fantasy

Content: Strong language, Gory deaths

See my review here.

 

Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Clean

See my review here.

 

 

Empire of Exiles by Erin M. Evans

This was one from October that I needed to finish up in November. It ended up being a DNF.

See my review here.

 

Spaceside by Michael Mammay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera, Sci-fi
Content: Strong Language

This was a good sequel to Planetside. The end had me wanting to start the third book right away!

 

A Wicked Conceit by Anna Lee Huber

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong Language

For me, this was the weakest book in the series so far. It was slow to get going and I got bored at some parts. It finally picked up after the murder finally happened, well into the book. Also, Kiera's sister annoyed me so much. Thankfully that's finally resolved.

 

 

 Mistborn Secret History by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

See my review here.

 

 

A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language

As with all the books in this series, I found this book to be a very engrossing read. I liked that Dan's case plays a big part in this one. The story illustrated how torn Tracy was to go back to work now that she's a mother. There was some needless relationship drama that could have been resolved much sooner if they had just talked. I especially liked the author's note at the end of this one. It tells about the person this book is dedicated to.

 

 

Death at the Falls by Rosemary Simpson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Content: Strong Language

See my review here. 

 

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson 

I'm still reading the Lost Metal. I'm reading the hardcover and it takes me a lot longer to get through those because I don't have as much time to just sit and read. I am enjoying this one very much though, and I'm ok with taking my time with it.

I also squeezed in a few other reads this month. I love these spontaneous ones! 

 

 

Colonyside by Michael Mammay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Space Opera, Sci-fi
Content: Strong Language

I had to read this one after the way Spaceside ended! I've enjoyed all three of these books. I think the author has plans to write more in this series, and when he does, I'll definitely read them.

 

 A Bramble House Christmas by C. J. Carmichael

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance
Content: Off page lovemaking

After so much mystery and fantasy, I needed a romance. This one was perfect for the holidays. Plus I had seen the Hallmark movie version of this and wanted to read the book that inspired it. To me this is one of the best Hallmark movies I've ever seen. It wasn't cringe worthy or cheesy like a lot of them are. It had more substance.

 

Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Memories of abuse and rape are discussed by one of the characters

I started a reread of this series a couple of months ago. This time reading all the Mercy-verse books in chronological order with the hubby. This novella is the second story in the timeline.