2022 Wrap-Up

Weirdly, today is the very last day of 2022. It’s been a ride… there have been some amazing things that happened and simultaneously my heart’s been kind of ripped open. Reading wise the year has kind of reflected that, I only read 40 books but I’ve had weeks where I was just too upset to read.

Having said that, it meant a lot of books that are now ones I consider special to me, by all account. There were a few that managed to whisk me away to fantasy lands where I didn’t have to be sad anymore, and some had me crying over the characters too much I didn’t really think about the real world at all, escapism is pretty neat like that).

So, bearing that in mind… I can’t really do a “top 10” as such, so I figured I’d do a wrap-up of my 4- and 5-star reads instead!

Read on below if you’re interested 💜

Overall Ratings

5-stars:

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson
Castles in their Bones by Laura Sebastian
The City of Dusk by Tara Sim
A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee
A Magic Steeped In Poison by Judy I. Lin
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen
Mindwalker by Kate Dylan
Private Label by Kelly Yang
The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Strike the Zither by Joan He
Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan
A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao (2023 release)
Godkiller by Hannah Kaner (2023 release, review to come very soon!)

4.5-stars:

The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker
Message Not Found by Dante Medema
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
Hide by Kiersten White
This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede
Land of Sand and Song by Joyce Chua
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard
Jujutsu Kaisen Vol 0 by Gege Akutami

4-stars:

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin
The Darkening by Sunya Mara
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

I know what you’re thinking, it’s a lot out of the 40 read. But… I don’t normally get much time to read (I had to save most of my time off for this month just in case we moved, and then I’ve ended up being ill the entire time; think I could be cursed), and I’m a happy little DNF’er. I like being positive about books I’ve loved, so I focus on them.

I also really struggle with sticking to one book at times, so there are some I’ve mostly finished but not quite…

Duologies

Three of my favourite duologies were completed this year (and it’s likely four, I just haven’t got round to The Empress of Time by Kylie Lee Baker yet), so I just wanted to highlight them because they’re beautiful inside and out!