100 Books in 2022

2022 books

If you know me, especially if you followed my 5 Before 50 posts, you know I’m a reader. I read a LOT! I’m in that season of life where kids aren’t interrupting me and my husband finally gets that I NEED to read. I’d rather binge read than binge watch any time.

I’ve been tracking my reading on Goodreads (tsitra) since 2013 and each year they allow you to set a personal reading challenge. For 2022 my challenge was 50 books. I managed to double that this year by reading 100 books.

Don’t get too impressed. I’ve discovered over the past couple of years that I have a guilty pleasure called beach reads. Maybe it’s all the salt air I’m breathing now but I love chick literature set at the beach. I started with southern focused beaches but now any ol’ beach will do.

If you connect with me on Goodreads, you’ll see I rarely leave a written review but I do leave a rating (standard 5 star system). When I rate books, I rate them for the genre in which they are written. For example, I may give a beach read 4 stars and a serious novel 4 stars as well. That doesn’t mean they are equal in quality, they are just good for their type of writing.

Even with my obsession enjoyment of light fiction, I read a wide range of books. I also get the Amazon First Reads list each month and have found some great authors through those books. The following are the books and authors that I enjoyed the most this past year.

If you are an Amazon Prime member and don’t get the First Reads email each month, click here for information. It’s a free program and I’ve found some great books and authors through it.

Masters of Literature

Cultural Differences

Through a couple of Amazon First Reads I found I really enjoy reading about cultural differences. Both of these authors write from a perspective of an Indian heritage. 

Other Great Authors

When I enjoy a book, I tend to seek out everything that author has written. Some of these I had read before but several I just discovered this year.

Liane Moriarty – of Big Little Lies fame. She usually has an interesting twist in her books.

Elin Hilderbrand – I read nine of her books last year. I found two more to read in 2022

Barbara O’Neal – I think I discovered her through an Amazon First Reads list. She is fantastic.

Mary Ellen Taylor – Another author I found through First Reads.

Colleen Hoover 

I was a bit late to jump on this bandwagon. Some of her stuff is fantastic, some of it I don’t really like. Below is what I read this year and my quick take on each.

  • Reminders of Him – Heart-wrenching
  • Layla – Excellent, my favorite so far of hers. I’m rarely surprised by a book (or movie) but this one got me!
  • Regretting You – A lot going on and some parts hard to believe, but still a good read.
  • Too Late – Um, dark. Turned me off a bit. For some reason it’s not on the Kindle store anymore and the paperback is stupid expensive as of this writing…so no link.
  • It Ends with Us – Thought provoking. Be sure to read why she wrote it
  • It Starts with Us – Not as interesting as It Ends with Us but it does provide some closure.

Lucy Score

I was a Kindle Unlimited member for a few months. Her name kept popping up after I read a few of Hoover’s books. She’s definitely a modern (spicy) romance writer but her dialogs are sassy. I’ve read a few more than below but you’ll get the drift of her writing.

The Beach Reads

Again, my guilty pleasure. What I’ve found I’ve enjoyed about these authors is they focus more on the female friendships and family connections than the romance aspect. I believe all of these are ‘clean’ fiction. These were all set in Florida so I guess my ‘an ol’ beach’ comment wasn’t accurate this year!

Maggie Miller

Hope Holloway

Leigh Duncan

And in case you are wondering, my goal for 2023 is 70 books. I’d like to up my fiction quality and get some non-fiction off my bookshelves so I’m going to try to choose some deeper books every now and then.

Leave a comment and let me know what’s on your to-read or already read list!

Your Thoughts?

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