2022 Wrap-Up and Welcome to 2023

Byee, 2022! It’s been a long year and it’s strange how things can feel both back to normal and completely different. It’s been a challenging year in terms of health and family issues, so here’s hoping for a better 2023!

After dedicating most of yesterday to reading novellas, I just managed to pull off my Goodreads goal for the year! It was my sixth year doing the challenge and probably my hardest yet. But it’s done and my 2023 goal is set – for exactly one more book than last year! Here’s hoping for a better reading year!

I’m not great at picking favorites, especially favorite books. Left to my own devices I’d probably make a list fifty books long and structured like a senior yearbook superlative list: “most likely to make you cry and laugh on the same page”, “most likely to make you terrified of rabbits”, etc. Since I’d rather just spend that time reading, I’m reusing my answers from Cannonball’s Best/Worst of the 2022.

Best:

Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik – Take a sci-fi romance from one of my favorite authors and add in a neurodivergent heroine, a caretaker hero, running from danger on a space station, all the found family feels and lots of cookies.
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher – Astoundingly imaginative! This retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher” has this creeping sort of unease that builds to horror, all laden with T. Kingfisher’s trademark humor. Recommended if you’re looking for excuses to be terrified of hares.
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland – This is a near-perfect enemies-to-lovers bodyguard romance set in an Ottoman-inspired setting. There are misconceptions! Political intrigue! Random swordfights! It’s just lovely, and I absolutely devoured this book.

Worst:

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren – The zany madcap treasure hunt plot line completely overwhelmed the second chance romance, and that plus some other questionable choices made this a complete dud for me.

And for a little bit of fun, my first and last of 2022. I started out with Ann Aguirre’s Renegade Love, a 5-star romp involving a bounty hunter and the human who constantly confuses him (and a snarky robot). And finishing the year, Kate Baer’s poetry collection And Yet, 5-stars of feminist anger and maternal tenderness.

I’ve already finished my first book of 2022 – Emily Henry’s Book Lovers which literally everyone has been telling me to read since it came out and I finally made time (yup, 5-stars!) – and I’m ready to start my next one, so I’ll leave this with one of my favorite poems from Kate Baer’s book.