It’s the end of 2022 so I thought I would look back at my year in books!
I read 93 books this year! I didn’t really track how many ebooks vs. audiobooks though. Sometimes I’m not great about accurately tracking them in goodreads. Partially because I HATE the new goodreads book page. HATE IT. I started using Storygraph App. It’s ok. It’s more clicks to see my recently read books and I’m not sold on the overall design. But, PR companies and publishers still want goodreads links. Did I mention I hate goodreads? I just want to be clear on this point.
5 star reads
- His Song in Her Heart by CL Stone
- The Reluctant Bride by Monica Murphy
- Storm Echo by Nalini Singh
- Abandoned in Death by JD Robb
- A Perfect Equation by Elizabeth Everett
I realized that of these 5, I only actually reviewed 2 for the blog! His Song in Her Heart by CL Stone is from the Ghost Bird series which I ADORE and buy the book and the audio book as soon as they release. Same with the In Death series. The Reluctant Bride was an audio I snagged and loved it, so I read the rest of the series in like 3 days. Books that I receive for review, I always review on the blog. But, I think I need to be better about reviewing those books I purchase! So many of them are books I adore and don’t shout about enough.
I knew I didn’t have many 5 star reads this year, but to have only 5 was really surprising. I did give a lot of books a 4.5, and my average rating this year was a 4, so I read a ton of books I enjoyed, but only a few that really wow’ed me I guess. I do think it takes something extraordinary for me to give a 5 star rating.
Most Read Authors
This year, my most read author was Lani Lynn Vale. If I haven’t convinced you to read her books yet, just wait. I will keep reading everything she writes and will share it all!
My 2nd most read author didn’t have a new release this year. I finally started, and promptly binged, the Dark Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. The audio is fantastic! Again, another series I don’t think I blogged about as much (maybe the first book or 2).
What I’m Looking Forward to in 2023
- Continuation of the Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert
- A new K. Bromberg series, the Redemption Series
- More Eve Dallas books
- Hopefully another Ghost Bird Book
- The final book in the WITSEC series by Ashley Rostok
- The next Psy-Changeling book
Life in Review
This year has been a huge challenge for me. January-August I was in grad school full time and teaching full time. In May, my coteacher got fired and I had to do all that alone for the last 3 weeks of school. I started my internship as a School Psychologist. My beloved dog Yoda passed away and we adopted a puppy, Ranger. I went to Spokane WA for the first time.
2023 will hopefully see me graduate with my Ed.S in School Psychology (I have to defend my thesis and portfolio). My husband and I would like to go to Universal Studios in 2023 as well. He has never been and I haven’t been in a VERY long time.
What did your 2022 look like?
This is such a WONDERFUL recap of 2022!!! I actually like the cleaner interface of the goodreads book page. But if you don’t like it, if you clear your browser cache, that might revert it back to the original book page, it did that for me. The only thing I am not like about the changes with goodreads, is them removing content and stuff. I don’t like that. I really think users should be able to choose what they want to use at least until they get all the bugs and fixes done on it. I like storygraph, my favorite aspect is how easy it is to add a book to shelves, and their reading challenges section. Personal I think Literal Club has the best aesthetic out of any of them haha Its newer, and still has some glitches but I really love the layout the most. So maybe check that one out and see if you like it more.
I blame you for getting me into Lani Lynn Vale and yes I am grabbing up book 2 in her newer series soon haha I adored the first book,. I see why you love her writing so much. She is definitely underrated. And she has an amazing backlist. So you should tell me where to start!
Thanks for sharing Samantha. Storm Echo and Abandoned in Death were also great reads for me. I also despise the new page. Somehow when I went into the beta, said I hated it and went back to Classic. Now it has stayed the old way for me. I’m just hoping the new version never catches up with me. You had a busy but very productive year.
I want to read my first Lani Lynn Vale book this coming year.
My year was a bit rough, I think it has been for just about everyone.
I read some great books, I have some great book friends and I definitely was entertained this year.
Wishing a great, healthy and happy new year to you and everyone!
I am super stingy with my 5 star ratings. I don’t hand out 5 stars to every book I really liked; I save those for the true stand-outs. So I had maybe 2 or 3 in 2022, which is about my norm. Hope you get to Universal this year! That’s always fun. I live about two hours from Orlando so it’s easy for us to pop down there now and then.
I’m with you on the hate for GoodReads. I still use it but I’ve moved to Storygraph (I agree on the too many clicks… it isn’t intuitive to navigate) and I also use Literal which I much prefer but find it frustrating it doesn’t always have the version of the book I’m reading. I’ll one day find the perfect reading app but until then I update my books in 3 places.
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation. And, I hate the new Goodreads page too. I don’t know why people need to mess with a good thing!