Books I Read in 2022

Long story short (good choice of words) I am a slow reader but adore reading and buying books...especially buying. Each year I set a goal to read a certain number of books and in 2022 I tasked myself with reading 10. I finished the year having read 11! 

There was a mix of genres and authors (one in particular you might notice more than once) and I really enjoyed each of the books for different reasons. Please read on to find out which books I read in 2022 and my thoughts!

1) Heartless by Marissa Meyer 

I always kept gravitating to this book in the shops so one day I finally caved and brought it. 

The novel centres around the origin story of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. While I've never been overly interested in Alice in Wonderland I do adore a villain origin story. I like the concept of trying to understand if a character is born evil or if they become evil. I won't spoil the story for you but I will say I devoured it.  

The book is beautifully written but with excellent references to the original story. There was a wonderful mix of fairytale and mystery and I constantly found it hard to put it down during my lunch break at work. While it is a prequel to an old story, it had it's own voice and wasn't just a carbon copy of the original tales. Even though I read this a year ago I still think of it often and actually think I may revisit it and reread it one day. 

2) My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix 

This was my second Grady Hendrix book I'd read, after reading The Southern Book Clubs Guide for Slaying Vampires the year before. 

The title sums up the novel. It tells the story of two best friend's in American Highschool set during the 80's. One of them get's possessed and the other (after being ignored by everyone around her) must find a way to save her friend from eternal damnation. 

Grady Hendrix is an amazing writer. He creates these wonderful characters who are a little flawed but real. You still find yourself rooting for them even if they're not perfect. There's this dark humor aspect to his stories but you're in on the joke. He describes everything so clearly and, while I didn't grow up in the 80's and had to research a few references, he made the setting come to life. It's a fantastic read and another I struggled to put down. 

3) Sistersong by Lucy Holland

I found a signed copy of this novel in Waterstones and was really intrigued by it. 

It's a story of three sisters set in post-Roman Britain. They are under the threat of Saxon invasion and each sister is dealing with their own crises of identity, belief and trauma. It's a retelling of the folk ballad 'The Two Sisters' and while the story is old there are a lot of themes that are still relevant today. 

I did find the first half of the novel a little slow but all of it was necessary to set up the story. I didn't know much about this period in history so it was interesting reading and learning more about the beliefs of people of the time. I did find the second half more gripping and I could never figure out what was going to happen next. The ending was moving and really different from anything I'd read before. 

4) The Cat Who Saved Books by Sasuke Natsukawa 

My boyfriend bought this for me because it just sounded like a sweet and wholesome book. It certainly was! 

It follows the story of a boy who is grieving the loss of his late grandfather who bequeathed his second-hand book shop to him. He then stumbles upon a talking cat who takes him on a mad adventure to save books. 

I finished it in two sittings which is really fast for me. The story was just wonderful. The writing was beautiful and the story was as wholesome as I'd hoped it would be. I am a lover of books anyway, but it made me want to cherish books even more. Highly recommend this as a Sunday afternoon read. There's something really warm about reading this book.. 

5) A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St Clair 

This was a BookTok find (back when I had TikTok, I have since deleted the app as it was consuming my life...)

The novel is a modern day retelling of Hades and Persephone where the gods are still around but seen more as celebrities. Hades himself owns a nightclub and Persephone is a powerless goddess training to be a reporter. Persephone is tricked into a deal with the God of the Underworld but a deep desire seems to grow between them. 

Now the premise was good but unfortunately the writing wasn't for me. I knew going into it there was a lot of sex scenes but I actually found them boring to read (smut isn't my cup of tea and that's ok!). I liked the modern take on the story and the references to the gods but it wasn't really for me so I decided not to continue with the rest of the series. 

6) The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Yep, another Grady Hendrix (this won't be the last time you see him on this list). 

Another novel of Hendrix's' where the title explains the story. All the "Final Girls" that survive scary serial killers in horror films are real people in this book. Their stories get turned into major motion pictures but they are real people with real trauma. They meet regularly in a therapy group to talk about their experiences. Until one day, they start to be killed off one by one. 

This is my favourite Grady Hendrix book I've read. While it is dark there is still this element of dark humor to his writing where you actually find yourself sort of laughing. It's brilliant and so original and as a fan of horror/slasher films I loved it. He portrayed how trauma affects people differently. Some make it their mission in life to stay shut out from the world while others want to act as if nothing ever happened to them. Despite the dark concept it's not a heavy read and the characters are so layered and interesting. Loved it! 

7) The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton 

When I saw this in the shop it was described as "'Bridgerton' meets 'Peaky Blinders'" which to me sounded mad but excellent all at the same time. 

The novel is set in Victorian England and follows the story of a young woman wanting to be accepted into the Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels. A pirating club with tea meetings and assassination attempts. When the fleet is kidnapped, the heroine must go on the search with a handsome stranger to save them.

Now this fell short for me. The premise is great but I found the main character lacking at times. She was strong and independent until a strong man came along and she turned all silly. There were aspects of the writing that left out parts of exposition to the point I thought I was reading the second volume. A key part of the story is that the Lady Scoundrel pirates flew their houses like pirate ships but this was dropped in with no explanation. There was no prefix about the fantasy element so I did spend some of it confused. I struggled through it unfortunately and it was probably my least favourite read of the year. 

8) Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber

I won't deny I was intrigued by this book because of the cover but it was reading the blurb that sold me. It ended up being one of my favourite I reads last year. 

The story is about Evangeline who discovers the love of her life is about to marry someone else. She enlists the help of a Fate, the Price of Hearts, and in return he asks her for three kisses. Kisses to whomever he chooses and to happen whenever he chooses. 

Now I just discovered, upon looking up the book, that this is actually part of a spin-off for the same authors Caraval series (lucky thing I got the first book for Christmas). Despite me not knowing this I fell in love with this book. It's clear you don't need to read the original series (I didn't even realise I was missing it) and the whole story is filled with magic. It's like reading an adult fairytale with added mystery. I liked this so much I've already read the second at the start of this year. Until the third installment comes out I'm very excited to start the Caraval series. 

9) The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow. 

Three sister witches in New Salem fighting for the suffragettes?! What a fantastic idea. And it was!

I won't deny there were parts of the book than felt a bit slow but all of it was worth it for the build up. This book was really good. The story flips between each of the 3 sisters points of view but their voices are all so clearly different I didn't get confused. The descriptions were so in depth and while I had to do a little internet search on certain plants it really helped add depth to the witching aspect of the story. It was a good read but full of a lot of information so I took me a while to read it but it was worth it. 

10) Verity by Colleen Hoover

This was another BookTok book I found (before I deleted the app) that everyone raved about. 

I will preface this by saying I do understand and have read the criticisms on Colleen Hoover's work and can see the problems there. Because of that I have decided not to read any more of her books because I do agree with a lot of the criticisms of her. Having said that, I will review this novel honestly from a readers perspective.  

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was often glued to the book and struggled to put it down. Though it is incredibly dark in nature I found the mystery really intriguing. I don't often read mysteries but I enjoyed reading the story unfold. I will say the main character, however, is deeply unlikable but a part of me thinks that that was the point. A good read overall. 

11) Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Yep...you read that right...this was my 3rd Grady Hendrix read of the year. It's one of his earliest books still in print. And, just like the others I've read, it was fantastic. 

I'd completed my book challenge by the start of December but couldn't go a whole month without reading. So, chose this book because it was thin and I thought I could finish it by New Years. I finished it much earlier than that!

It's about an IKEA knock off store, ORSK, that has been having disturbances in the night with morning staff finding furniture broken or soiled. Some staff are given the task of staying overnight to discover the cause of the disturbances but little do they know it's actually...haunted! 

The novel has the same dark humour that makes Hendrix one of my favourite writers. You really get sucked into the story and at times it was quite scary. Another note is that the book itself is made to look like a ORSK catalogue which is such a genius idea. 

I really loved my reading challenge last year. So many great reads and I got to be introduced to new authors I hadn't tried before (but certainly will try again).

Let me know in the comments if you've read any of these books and what you thought of them!