Christine Kelly Reads and Writes

I wanted to share my favorite reads of 2022. It was my best reading year so far. I say this for a few different reasons.

The first is that I read for different reasons that in the past. While I still read for joy, I also read to learn. I paid attention in a different way than I have before.

The second is that I learned a lot about what I enjoy. I don’t always love what others recommend on social media platforms, even though I still fall for marketing schemes they use. Book-influencers, you are SO good at your job! I also leaned into being a mood-reader. It’s ok if what everyone is into right now isn’t fitting my mood. So I went based on what I want to read over what I felt I needed to read.

Third, it was successful because I read A LOT. According to GoodReads I read 130 books. I don’t think this is right. My GoodReads tends to mark books I read when I check them out to the library and upload them to my Kindle. I try to go back through and mark them as “Want To Read”, but it doesn’t always upload properly. Needless to say, I read much more than I ever have. That was because 1. I read books that took an average of 5-7 hours to read and I’d start right when I went to bed and would stay up until 2am. 2. Many books were audio books which I can listen to during my workday or during my hour+ commute. 3. I made it a priority.

All that being said, I want to remind people that read any number of books this past year; THAT IS OK! It’s not about what you read, or how much you read, it’s that you enjoyed reading. Period.

Ok, so with all that being said, here are my top books for 2022:

I really enjoyed the Wild Series by KA Tucker, my favorite being the first book, A Simple Wild. I’ve talked about this book previously, but would recommend this series for those who like love interests with dangerous jobs, grumpy x sunshine and a play on Schitts Creek.

Song Of Achilles, by Madeline Miller is a book that has stayed with me since listening to it. While I was listening, I really didn’t fall in love until it was over. And then I thought about it endlessly. I definitely grew to love it and really loved the voice the narrorator used for Achilles.

This was my year of smut, and a book I read TWICE this year was Sweet Filthy Boy by Christina Lauren. I honestly love it. I love the love interest, I love the premise, I really enjoy the main character. There is so much I feel while reading it and it will be a comfort read for a long time.

I also dove into a bit of YA and enjoyed Fable quite a bit. This is written by Adrienne Young. The world she created was mesmerizing and the angst was something I savored. I found this book at a time when I needed those specific things. I’ve been debating a re-read which is always a sign that it’s a favorite.

For 2023, I set my reading goal on GoodReads lower. Between having less time to write and the uptick in my beta reading, I didn’t want to add a layer of stress to keep up with my goal. That being said there are some phenomenal books coming out in 2023, so it will be hard not to feel anxiety about getting to them all.

Cheers to a good reading year!