And here we have it, the annual blockbuster blog post of the year.
In this post, I will be detailing all 100 books that I read in 2022, and the ratings and reviews for each.
There will be a YouTube video, reviewing each book in one sentence or less, so do keep an eye out for that!
In the meantime, you can keep up with my book reviews over on Goodreads or Instagram.
1. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella
With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, Becky Bloomwood’s biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, away from work for a romantic country weekend. That is, until Luke announces he’s moving to New York for business—and he asks Becky to go with him!
My rating: ★★★
I had read the first book in this series, Confessions of a Shopaholic a few years ago and enjoyed it for the chick-flick/romcom type of book that it is. Shopaholic followed the same kind of trope, and I just knew I would get annoyed about the ease with which the main character would be able to move to New York and get a job without a mention of the visa process and how painful the process actually is.
2. It’s Up to the Women by Eleanor Roosevelt
“Eleanor Roosevelt never wanted her husband to run for president. When he won, she… went on a national tour to crusade on behalf of women. She wrote a regular newspaper column. She became a champion of women’s rights and of civil rights. And she decided to write a book.”
My rating: ★★★★
This book by Eleanor Roosevelt was originally written in 1933. It’s almost a guide for women on how to be a good wife, while also being able to work, how to make the most of our time, how to make the most of our money, what to do with our money, how to be independent, how to be charitable, and how to be who we want and not listen to society or be held back by our financial background, race, or marital status. Even though it was written 100 years ago, there was still a lot of guidance that can be used today.
3. Girl A by Abigail Dean
Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped.
My rating: ★★★★★
Girl A reminded me why crime/thriller is my favourite genre of them all, and I’m going to make a conscious effort to read more of these books this year as I didn’t read nearly enough crime-type books in 2021. don’t want to give away any spoilers for this one, but it’s going to be a TV series very soon so I’d read the book quickly before it comes out!
4. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes investigates the murder of two Americans whose deaths have some mysterious connection to sinister Socialist groups gathering power in both Britain and America.
My rating: ★★★★
For such a short book I really enjoyed it. I don’t read much detective novels, but I do enjoy them when I do. And for one written in the 1880s, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.
5. Cobble Hill by Cecily von Ziegesar
In the eclectic Brooklyn neighbourhood of Cobble Hill, the lives of four married couples and their children are about to flip from complicated to combustible… Let the neighbours gossip… What’s the worst that can happen?
My rating: ★★★
I won’t lie, I expected so much more from this book as the author also wrote Gossip Girl. I want to say that it was a slow-paced book, still relatively enjoyable and even with a lot of characters involved, they weren’t confusing at all. However, the last 15 pages of the book is where it got interesting and where the action happened. An incredibly slow burner that led up to something a bit more exciting but not overly gripping.
6. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
A damaged survivor of the First World War, Tom Birkin finds refuge in the quiet village church of Oxgodby where he is to spend the summer uncovering a huge medieval wall-painting. Immersed in the peace and beauty of the countryside and the unchanging rhythms of village life he experiences a sense of renewal and belief in the future.
My rating: ★★★
Apparently there’s a movie version of this book starring Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth. How they made this 150-page book where nothing happens into a movie, I will never know, nor do I think I will be watching.
7. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Heralded as Virginia Woolf’s greatest novel, this is a vivid portrait of a single day in a woman’s life.
My rating: ★★
This was a relatively short book at around 200 pages with no chapters. I found the book extremely chaotic, not knowing who was who or what was happening at any given time. It was confusing, a little all over the place and I only started to enjoy it around the end of the book when the party began which is what the book had been leading up to.
8. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Gifty is a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.
My rating: ★★★★★
From the same author as Homegoing (which has been on my to-buy list for quite some time now), Transcendent Kingdom covers addiction and depression. An incredibly told story that would make you want to read this book in one sitting. I would thoroughly recommend.
9. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Considered an ‘audacious’ second novel, Giovanni’s Room is set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence. This now-classic story of a fated love triangle explores, with uncompromising clarity, the conflicts between desire, conventional morality and sexual identity.
My rating: ★★★★★
I went into Giovanni’s Room not knowing much about the book or the author, but this book for me, definitely deserves the ‘classic’ title. A love triangle set in Paris in the 1950’s, this book was pushing ahead of its time and one that I didn’t want to put down.
10. You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
Opening up the fantasies and desires of one young woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities, You Exist Too Much is a captivating story charting two of our most intense longings–for love, and a place to call home.
My rating: ★★★
You Exist Too Much spoke of body image, sexuality, relationships, addiction and getting through your 20s. I rated it a 3-star as it was a slow-burner for me, although an enjoyable read. It just wouldn’t be a book that I’d be rushing to pick up again very soon.
11. Verity by Colleen Hoover
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
My rating: ★★★★★
When it comes to rating books by Colleen Hoover, I always feel that I have to err on the side of caution and hold back on giving 5-star reviews. I can’t not give this book 5-stars as it was excellent. I will say that it was very hard to read at times as the book featured some moments of child abuse, but the creativity of the plot line itself was something I’ve never read before.
12. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.
My rating: ★★★★★
This 720 page book had been sitting on my shelf for a long time and I couldn’t see another five-star review without knowing what was inside the book myself. This book was honestly heartbreaking. Tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. There are a lot of sensitive themes in this book so if you find anything triggering, I would steer clear of this book. But if you want to feel incredibly emotionally involved with some characters and cry a lot, this is the book for you.
13. The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe
Poe’s amateur detective, C. Auguste Dupin, takes an interest in the murder in Paris of two women. It was terribly brutal but difficult to categorize; there appeared to be no robbery or sexual assault, no obvious reason for the crimes.
My rating: ★★
This book includes some short stories of the French detective Dupin (reminded me of the Netflix show Lupin) and is said to be the first modern detective story. It reminded me a lot of Sherlock Holmes in its style, but if I was to choose one over the other, I would definitely pick Sherlock Holmes.
14. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
Politically alert, heartbreakingly raw, and dryly funny, Exciting Times is thrillingly attuned to the great freedoms and greater uncertainties of modern love. In stylish, uncluttered prose, Naoise Dolan dissects the personal and financial transactions that make up a life—and announces herself as a singular new voice.
My rating: ★★★★
Naoise Dolan has been dubbed as another Sally Rooney, but if I’m being honest, I think I’m a bigger fan of Naoise Dolan’s writing than Sally Rooney’s. I can see the comparison, but found Exciting Times much easier to digest and more enjoyable to read than Sally Rooney’s latest work. I’m a huge fan of this book, especially with all of its Irish colloquialisms.
15. As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson
Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle… and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears…
My rating: ★★★★★
Even though this is the third book in this series, Holly Jackson keeps the momentum and surprise right to the end. All of the characters come back together in this third book to tie up the series once and for all with a new murder inquiry. A really gripping novel with great twists and turns throughout.
16. Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters
Reese nearly had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York, a job she didn’t hate. She’d scraped together a life previous generations of trans women could only dream of; the only thing missing was a child. Then everything fell apart and three years on Reese is still in self-destruct mode, avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men. When her ex calls to ask if she wants to be a mother, Reese finds herself intrigued.
My rating: ★★★
The book follows Reese, Ames and Katrina as the three question whether they can raise a child together. Of course, as the title suggests, the book covers a lot about transitioning, being transexual, gender and sexual identity and gives so much insight into that world and the feelings and thoughts of those in the community. A very informative book that also deals with a great storyline.
17. Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden (Gifted)
Mrs Death has had enough. She is exhausted from spending eternity doing her job and now she seeks someone to unburden her conscience to. Wolf Willeford, a troubled young writer, is well acquainted with death, but until now hadn’t met Death in person – a black, working-class woman who shape-shifts and does her work unseen.
My rating: ★★★★
This book was like nothing I’ve ever read before and as you can imagine from the title, was all about death. However, it was quite like Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library that made you think of the overall meaning of the book, not just the fiction tale that was telling the story. The book covered famous deaths, how we deal with death, how we can come so close to death but miss it, and how we should live our lives to the absolute full since we’re all going to meet death eventually.
18. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?
My rating: ★★★★★
The story features a set of twins that run away from their very small hometown in their teens and eventually end up splitting apart and leading separate lives. One of the twins leads her new life passing as a white woman, whereas the other twin returns to her hometown with her daughter. A lot of twists and turns, reunions (you could say fate bringing everyone back together) and consequences of decisions made in earlier life. A great storyline with unexpected twists and a very unique storyline at that.
19. The Second Cut by Louise Welsh (Gifted)
Auctioneer Rilke has been trying to stay out of trouble, keeping his life more or less respectable. Business has been slow at Bowery Auctions, so when an old friend, Jojo, gives Rilke a tip-off for a house clearance, life seems to be looking up. The next day Jojo washes up dead. Jojo liked Grindr hook-ups and recreational drugs – is that the reason the police won’t investigate? And if Rilke doesn’t find out what happened to Jojo, who will?
My rating: ★★★★
Set in Glasgow, The Second Cut delves into the underground drug world in the Scottish city, with some mysterious deaths, parties, characters and an auction. A really entertaining book that had me reading the entire book in one weekend. It was very much one of those what-happens-next books that makes you want to keep reading right until the end in one sitting.
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones’ Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud daily chronicle of Bridget’s permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement — a year in which she resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and learn to program the VCR.
My rating: ★★★★★
I’ve seen the movie, but wanted to also read the book for some light-hearted reading to start off the new month, and it was exactly as I expected. I was laughing out loud, smiling and giggling to myself throughout the book. If you’re after something fun and light, this would be the book for you.
21. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable.
My rating: ★★★
I have been wanting to read this for so long. Obviously we all know it as a huge television series, but I haven’t yet watched it and wanted to read the book first. However, after reading the book I don’t really have any eagerness to go and watch the show. It was an incredibly slow burner and not much really happened.
22. How to Be Famous by Caitlin Moran
I’m Johanna Morrigan, and I live in London in 1995, at the epicentre of Britpop. I might only be nineteen, but I’m wise enough to know that everyone around me is handling fame very, very badly. My unrequited love, John Kite, has scored an unexpected Number One album, then exploded into a Booze And Drugs Hell – as rockstars do. And my new best friend – the maverick feminist Suzanne Banks, of The Branks – has amazing hair, but writer’s block and a rampant pill problem. So I’ve decided I should become a Fame Doctor.
My rating: ★★★★
I was very pleasantly surprised as this book had all of my favourite things – the music industry, journalism, celebrities and gossip. Something along the lines of Taylor Jenkins Reid, but not quite as good (TJR is in a league of her own).
23. Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
You don’t see her. But she sees you. Midnight: in an area of urban wasteland where cats hunt and foxes shriek, a girl is watching… When Saffyre Maddox was ten, something terrible happened and she’s carried the pain of it ever since. The man she thought was going to heal her didn’t, and now she hides, learning his secrets, invisible in the shadows.
My rating: ★★★★
I enjoyed this, but I don’t think it was as good as The Family Upstairs, and it wasn’t as gripping as I was hoping for. A good mystery novel with some twists and turns, but I found parts of it quite predictable.
24. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Sephy is a Cross – a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought – a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum – a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?
My rating: ★★★★
For Young Adult, I really, really enjoyed this and it gave representation of classism, racism and switched the narrative of some very important topics. Thoroughly recommend!
25. Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals—personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others—that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women.
My rating: ★★★
Of Women and Salt covered the story of a lineage of women that stemmed from Cuba, and living in America. The book covered immigration, heritage, culture and the issues within American immigration. I enjoyed, but did find myself lost at different parts and not fully engrossed in the story.
26. The Innocent by Harlan Coben
Matt Hunter’s life has already been blown apart once. A fight, a friend in trouble, and the dull crack of someone’s skull on the concrete cost him four years in jail, and a small sliver of his soul. When Matt got out he set about rebuilding his life. But now someone is following him, and Matt realises that his new existence is under threat.
My rating: ★★★★★
I am an absolute sucker for Harlan Coben, I really am. This must be the fifth or sixth book of his that I’ve read in the past two years and each time, he never disappoints. I can see why so many of his books are made into TV series as the books are so gripping and always have the most out-of-the-box twists and turns that you don’t see coming.
27. Luster by Raven Leilani
Edie is just trying to survive. She’s messing up in her dead-end admin job in her all-white office, is sleeping with all the wrong men, and has failed at the only thing that meant anything to her, painting. And then she meets Eric, a white, middle-aged archivist with a suburban family, including a wife who has sort-of-agreed to an open marriage and an adopted black daughter who doesn’t have a single person in her life who can show her how to do her hair. As if navigating the constantly shifting landscape of sexual and racial politics as a young black woman wasn’t already hard enough, with nowhere else left to go, Edie finds herself falling head-first into Eric’s home and family.
My rating: ★★★
This was not quite what I expected, although I probably should have guessed from the title. It was a book that I enjoyed, probably wouldn’t re-read, but also had some great passages of writing that made me re-read twice or three times.
28. A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
Eimear McBride’s award-winning debut novel tells the story of a young woman’s relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour. It is a shocking and intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings and chaotic sexuality of a vulnerable and isolated protagonist.
My rating: ★★★★
This story is told over a girl’s young life from very young until a late teenager – and the writing reflects this. We have to interpret the text throughout the beginning as it’s written as if from the point of view of a toddler, and then doesn’t get much better by the time the main character is a teenager. It’s an incredible story of family, grief and boundaries.
29. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel – the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself.
My rating: ★★★★★
Homegoing is very cleverly told over many generations but with connections made throughout with all of the characters. It takes us to Africa in the 1800s, to slavery in the south of America to present day Harlem and the difficulties people of colour have suffered throughout society at the hands of white people. Incredibly enlightening and one that you should add to your reading list immediately.
30. Big Girl Small Town by Michelle Gallen
Other people find Majella odd. She keeps herself to herself, she doesn’t like gossip and she isn’t interested in knowing her neighbours’ business. But suddenly everyone in the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up wants to know all about hers. Since her da disappeared during the Troubles, Majella has tried to live a quiet life with her alcoholic mother. But Majella’s safe and predictable existence is shattered when her grandmother dies and as much as she wants things to go back to normal, Majella comes to realise that maybe there is more to life.
My rating: ★★★★
This book spans a week or two following a young girl that works in a chip shop in the local town. We meet all the characters of the town, her family and what you could call a very average life. However, the book is full of wit and the mundane yet sarcastic life of Majella and I enjoyed it very much.
31. Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin
In Concerning My Daughter, translated from Korean by Jamie Chang, Kim Hye-jin lays bare our most universal fears on ageing, death, and isolation, to offer finally a paean to love in all its forms.
My rating: ★★★★
Concerning My Daughter focused on a relationship between a daughter and mother and the mother’s struggle to accept her daughter being gay. The daughter and girlfriend move in with the mother when they are in their 30s and seems the daughter doesn’t have a stable job. The mother finds it difficult to accept how her daughter has got to this age with no job, nowhere to live, unmarried and without kids.
32. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
1957, the suburbs of South East London. Jean Swinney is a journalist on a local paper, trapped in a life of duty and disappointment from which there is no likelihood of escape. When a young woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. As the investigation turns her quiet life inside out, Jean is suddenly given an unexpected chance at friendship, love and – possibly – happiness.
My rating: ★★★★
As the synopsis states, it follows a young female journalist in the 1950s, investigating a woman who claims to have had a virgin birth. Obviously a very intriguing story line and one that uncovers some mysteries and unearths some new truths. A light-hearted and a fun read!
33. My Rock ‘n’ Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn (Gifted)
In My Rock ‘n’ Roll Friend Thorn takes stock of thirty-seven years of friendship, teasing out the details of connection and affection between two women who seem to be either complete opposites or mirror images of each other. This important book asks what people see, who does the looking, and ultimately who writes women out of – and back into – history.
My rating: ★★★
The Go-Betweens aren’t a band that I’m familiar with, so this was all very new to me. However, I think I would have maybe been more interested if it was a story about someone that I was interested in career-wise like Stevie Nicks, but it was still interesting to read about a woman in the music industry back in the 70s.
34. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill. At first they thought it was flu, then pneumonia, then complete sceptic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later – the night before New Year’s Eve –the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of 40 years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LA airport, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Centre to relieve a massive hematoma.
My rating: ★★★
This was my first Joan Didion book and after taking off on social media recently before and after her recent death, I’ve had Didion on my want-to-read list for so long. The book deals with immense grief and I think is a book for a certain time of someone’s life, to help them deal with their own grief. A book that I might come back to in the future when the timing is right.
35. None of This is Serious by Catherine Prasifka (Gifted)
Dublin student life is ending for Sophie and her friends. They’ve got everything figured out, and Sophie feels left behind as they all start to go their separate ways. She’s overshadowed by her best friend Grace. She’s been in love with Finn for as long as she’s known him. And she’s about to meet Rory, who’s suddenly available to her online.
My rating: ★★★★★
I really enjoyed this. I would say the characters read more like they were younger and in their teens, compared to being around graduating university age, but the storyline was very ‘normal’ in a sense that I could have been reading about myself and my own times growing up in Ireland.
36. No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
A book that asks: Is there life after the internet? Fragmentary and omniscient, incisive and sincere, No One Is Talking About This is at once a love letter to the endless scroll and a profound, modern meditation on love, language, and human connection from a singular voice in American literature.
My rating: ★★★
I can also be a ‘no one’ included in this title as I personally, won’t be talking about this book very often. It was ok and talked about how we live in a world of social media and the things that we are now so accustomed to that would have been mind-blowing before the birth of technology.
37. The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
It’s an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace express route, and his best friend has just announced that he’s an alien.
My rating: ★★
It’s almost embarrassing that I’m owning up to never having read this before. However, I almost closed this book, never to return about 50 pages in, and it’s quite a short book. But I persevered because I thought, well there must be a reason that this is so iconic and continued on to be a series of books and so it must get better. But no. I feel generous giving this book 2-stars, but since I did finish it, it earned another star from myself.
38. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
Everyone tells Martha Friel she is clever and beautiful, a brilliant writer who has been loved every day of her adult life by one man, her husband Patrick. A gift, her mother once said, not everybody gets. So why is everything broken? Why is Martha – on the edge of 40 – friendless, practically jobless and so often sad? And why did Patrick decide to leave? Forced to return to her childhood home to live with her dysfunctional, bohemian parents (but without the help of her devoted, foul-mouthed sister Ingrid), Martha has one last chance to find out whether a life is ever too broken to fix – or whether, maybe, by starting over, she will get to write a better ending for herself.
My rating: ★★★
I’m not the biggest fan of slow-burner type books where nothing really happens and it took me quite a while to get into this book and finish it. I would say that there are beautiful paragraphs in this book and it deals with important topics surrounding mental health but it just didn’t have me gripped and rushing to recommend it further.
39. The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
Alethea Lopez is about to turn 40. Fashionable, feisty and fiercely independent, she manages a downtown boutique, but behind closed doors she’s covering up bruises from her abusive partner and seeking solace in an affair with her boss. When she witnesses a woman murdered by a jealous lover, the reality of her own future comes a little too close to home.
My rating: ★★★★★
Now this book I would recommend in a heartbeat. A very clever book full of wit yet also harrowing tales of domestic violence and abuse, Lisa Allen-Agostini writes the story of Alethea so well making the reader laugh, cry and feel so much despair and hope at the same time. Told in the Trinidadian dialect, it really does transport you to that location and you can feel the characters come to life through the pages.
40. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
It is 1974 on the island of Cyprus. Two teenagers, from opposite sides of a divided land, meet at a tavern in the city they both call home. The tavern is the only place that Kostas, who is Greek and Christian, and Defne, who is Turkish and Muslim, can meet, in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic, chilli peppers and wild herbs. In the centre of the tavern, growing through a cavity in the roof, is a fig tree. This tree will witness their hushed, happy meetings, their silent, surreptitious departures; and the tree will be there when the war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to rubble, when the teenagers vanish and break apart. Decades later in north London, sixteen-year-old Ada Kazantzakis has never visited the island where her parents were born. Desperate for answers, she seeks to untangle years of secrets, separation and silence. The only connection she has to the land of her ancestors is a Ficus Carica growing in the back garden of their home.
My rating: ★★★★★
This nominee for the 2022 Women’s Prize gets no less than a five-star rating from me. This book tells the story of a couple born on different sides of a divide that fell in love and had to seek refuge in the UK, bringing up their daughter who has no idea of the history and country of where she came. The only link is the fig tree in her back garden that also spent time in both countries. I found the divide between religions relatable given that I come from Northern Ireland, and the importance to look into the past and see where you came from and how things have changed in that time. This story was told so beautifully and even with a narration from the fig tree throughout, kept me engrossed the entire time.
41. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome. 2) A person’s undoing. 3) Joshua Templeman. Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
My rating: ★★★
I was expecting great things from this book, given it’s now a Netflix movie. However, great things I did not experience. It was so very predictable, very raunchy and I would go as far to say that 50 Shades of Grey had more of a storyline than this book.
42. Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel
2009 Berlin. Two art students arrive from New York, both desperate for the city to solve their problems. Zoe is grieving for her high school best friend, murdered months before in her hometown in Florida. Hailey is rich, obsessed with the exploits of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears and wants to be a Warholian legend. Together they rent a once-magnificent apartment from eccentric crime writer Beatrice Becks. With little to fill their time, they spend their nights twisting through Berlin’s club scene and their days hungover. Soon inexplicable things start happening in the apartment and the two friends suspect they are being watched by Beatrice.
My rating: ★★★★★
I loved this. Other People’s Clothes follows two Americans that have moved to Berlin which was very cool for me to read since I had recently been to Berlin and knew exactly how to imagine the different areas and locations they mentioned. There’s murder, there’s mystery, there’s weird landlords and there’s partying. Another thing to add is that this book was a 4-star read right up until the last page. What an ending.
43. Small Bodies of Water by Nina Mingya Powles (Gifted)
Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London.
My rating: ★★★
Small Bodies of Water reads quite like No One is Talking About This, a collection of short stories and passages that were interlinked and regarding the author’s experiences. There were some lovely pages in this book filled with metaphors and views on life, but it isn’t one that I would go rushing back to read or recommend.
44. The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
Opal is a fiercely independent young woman pushing against the grain in her style and attitude, Afro-punk before that term existed. Coming of age in Detroit, she can’t imagine settling for a 9-to-5 job—despite her unusual looks, Opal believes she can be a star. So when the aspiring British singer/songwriter Neville Charles discovers her at a bar’s amateur night, she takes him up on his offer to make rock music together for the fledgling Rivington Records. Decades later, as Opal considers a 2016 reunion with Nev, music journalist S. Sunny Shelton seizes the chance to curate an oral history about her idols.
My rating: ★★★★
This was very Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, only with political elements. I will say that I enjoyed DJATS better as it had more scandal and was faster paced, but Opal & Nev was a great read and one I would highly recommend, especially if you are interested in the music scene.
45. Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen
Aisling is twenty-eight and she’s a complete … Aisling. She lives at home in Ballygobbard (or Ballygobackwards, as some gas tickets call it) with her parents and commutes to her good job at PensionsPlus in Dublin. Ais spends two nights a week at her boyfriend John’s. He’s from down home and was kiss number seventeen at her twenty-first. But Aisling wants more. She wants the ring on her finger. When a week in Tenerife with John doesn’t end with the expected engagement, Aisling calls a halt to things and soon she has surprised herself and everyone else by agreeing to move into a three-bed in Portobello with stylish Sadhbh from HR and her friend, the mysterious Elaine. Newly single and relocated to the big city, life is about to change utterly for this wonderful, strong, surprising and funny girl, who just happens to be a complete Aisling.
My rating: ★★★★
There’s not much to say about this one. It was a funny, witty, Irish version of Bridget Jones really. I think we all know an Aisling in our own towns or even friend groups so the book was highly relatable and funny, and made for some lovely light reading.
46. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and soon she and her three children find themselves trapped in a decimated mining town. As she descends deeper into drink, the children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves. It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest. Shuggie is different. Fastidious and fussy, he shares his mother’s sense of snobbish propriety. The miners’ children pick on him and adults condemn him as no’ right. But Shuggie believes that if he tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his mother escape this hopeless place.
My rating: ★★★★★
Would it be dramatic to call this book a masterpiece? I am obsessed with sassy little Shuggie, the protagonist of this book. He had me laughing out loud so many times, but also pulled at the heartstrings with his relationships with his family. It’s a slow burner I would say, and a book that took me quite a while to get through, but I can definitely understand why this won the Booker Prize in 2020 and why it is so widely acclaimed.
47. You People by Nikita Lalwani
The Pizzeria Vesuvio looks like any other Italian restaurant in London – with a few small differences. The chefs who make the pizza fiorentinas are Sri Lankan, and half the kitchen staff are illegal immigrants. At the centre is Tuli, the restaurant’s charismatic proprietor and resident Robin Hood, who promises to help anyone in need. But when Tuli’s guidance leads them all into dangerous territory, and the extent of his mysterious operation unravels, each is faced with an impossible moral choice.
My rating: ★★★
You People is a book about immigrants in London and the difficulties they face trying to remain in the country and the lengths they will go to, to help their families and loved ones back home. I did enjoy this book and it gave insight to the lives of immigrants in cities and the legal issues they face, however I thought the character development was limited and the book would have been better as told from the perspective of someone that was an illegal immigrant, rather than the Welsh teenager.
48. Almost Damned by Christopher Leibig (Gifted)
Defense attorney Samson Young has an uncanny ability to get even the so-called worst clients off the hook, as he ably demonstrated in Almost Mortal. In Almost Damned, little does Sam know that his most challenging cases are all leading up to one monumental trial, in which he will lay before the Court the visceral complexities of good vs. evil.
My rating: ★★
This was the sequel to Almost Mortal, a book that I had read last year. The follow-up novel, Almost Damned, delved deeper into the paranormal themes and even some biblical mythology with characters from the bible. The book started off with great potential, following the trials of different convicts, but the book mainly focused on angels and demons and characters that had three different aliases which was very confusing.
49. The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-Mo (Gifted)
Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old female contract killer who is considering retirement. A fighter who has experienced loss and grief early on in life, she lives in a state of self-imposed isolation, with just her dog, Deadweight, for company. While on an assassination job for the ‘disease control’ company she works for, Hornclaw makes an uncharacteristic error, causing a sequence of events that brings her past well and truly into the present.
My rating: ★★★
There wasn’t much of a plot with this one, and the story could have gone a little deeper with character development and learning more about the other characters in the story and the reasons they do what they do. I think some parts were just missing in this story.
50. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty.
My rating: ★★★★
For a book written in the late 1800s, I thoroughly enjoyed this. There haven’t been many books that have made me want to grab a pencil or pen and underline some sentences/passages to come back to, but Dorian Gray made me want to do just that. Think Gossip Girl with this book and it’s London elite, the ones who want to be talked about as God forbid you weren’t being talked about, and there was a great passage about influence and one’s own soul.
51. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
Natsuki isn’t like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch, or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu, Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano, dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever, they make a promise: survive, no matter what.
My rating: ★★★
When I say this is probably the weirdest book I have ever read, I would most likely be sugarcoating things. Earthlings probably covers just about every taboo subject you can think of: sexual abuse, incest, grooming, cults, and so much more. It’s an absolute rollercoaster of a book and if you want to read something that makes you think WTF every other page, this is the book for you. Mental.
52. Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, endured a brief stint as a beggar (mostly to spite her affluent parents), and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless ‘artist’ – all with her young child in tow. Now she is forgetting things, mixing up her maid’s wages and leaving the gas on all night, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a woman who never cared for her.
My rating: ★★★
Burnt Sugar was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, so I thought it had to be a good one. A very slow burner that just didn’t seem to go anywhere.
53. Animal Farm by George Orwell
A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned –a razor-edged fairy tale for grown-ups that records the evolution from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism just as terrible.
My rating: ★★★
A classic that has always been on my ‘Books to Read Before I Die’ list but just never got around to. A book that has been banned in many countries, it was interesting to read what was classed as a kids story but that actually had hidden meaning regarding Putin and Russia. I’m glad I read it, but it wouldn’t be the first kids book that I would rush to recommend.
54. Love in Color by Bolu Babalola
In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity.
My rating: ★★★★
This was a collection of short love stories set all over the world featuring many different amazing characters. I really felt immersed in each story, even though they were short, but I got swept up in the drama, the romance, and the tragedy. I loved this and would fully recommend.
55. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old. It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…
My rating: ★★★
I’ve seen this book all over BookTok and who doesn’t love some light rom-com style reading? It was a different trope than I’ve read before, but also quite Pretty Woman/Fifty Shades-like. It got a little awkward reading this on the tube, but one not to be read at work, that’s for sure.
56. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.
My rating: ★★★★★
I adored A Man Called Ove when I read it two years ago (also by the same author), and always wanted to read more by Fredrik Backman. Backman writes in such a witty way, but always touching on important topics and hiding a deeper meaning in his books. I loved Anxious People and I can’t wait to read more of his work.
57. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
In 1971, Hillary Rodham is a young woman full of promise: Life magazine has covered her Wellesley commencement speech, she’s attending Yale Law School, and she’s on the forefront of student activism and the women’s rights movement. And then she meets Bill Clinton. In each other, the two find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced. In the real world, Hillary followed Bill back to Arkansas, and he proposed several times; although she said no more than once, as we all know, she eventually accepted and became Hillary Clinton. But in Curtis Sittenfeld’s powerfully imagined tour-de-force of fiction, Hillary takes a different road. Over four decades, she blazes her own trail—one that unfolds in public as well as in private, that involves crossing paths again (and again) with Bill Clinton, that raises questions about the tradeoffs all of us must make in building a life.
My rating: ★★★★★
This book looks at the life of Hillary Clinton if she hadn’t married Bill Clinton, hence the name Rodham as this was Hillary’s maiden name. And I have to say, even though it covered a lot of politics, I loved it. It was quite academic which I think is what I enjoyed most, like think if Gilmore Girls was a book but I think I’m a fan of books set in universities and this book also gave autumn vibes which I am very much here for.
58. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good.
My rating: ★★★★
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies followed a number of females and their journey with love and sexuality. The stories were beautifully written and a great way to pass the time on my flight to Greece.
59. You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry
Two friends. Ten summer trips. Their last chance to fall in love. 12 summers ago: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they’ll never speak again. 11 summers ago: They’re forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together. 10 summers ago: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver. Poppy holds his hand the whole way. 7 summers ago: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans. 2 summers ago: It all goes wrong. This summer: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.
My rating: ★★★★
I read this while on a sun lounger at a beach club in Rhodes and it honestly couldn’t have been a better location to get lost in this book. This was the perfect summer read and I loved that it was told in different stages of the characters lives, mixing between past and present.
60. Beach Read by Emily Henry
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. They’re polar opposites. In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block. Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel.
My rating: ★★★★
I will say that I enjoyed the book and it was just what I expected in a typical summer rom-com type trope, but the one thing that was missing for me was that it sounded like it was set in the woods in the Mid West of America, not anywhere sunny or near the beach. In fact, I’m failing to remember a beach even being mentioned in the book.
61. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
In Anthony Burgess’s influential nightmare vision of the future, criminals take over after dark. Teen gang leader Alex narrates in fantastically inventive slang that echoes the violent intensity of youth rebelling against society.
My rating: ★★★
I went in completely blind as I actually had no idea what this book was about but was surprised to find the book was written in a made-up dialect, meaning the reader has to decipher what the characters are trying to say through made-up words. I did get the hang of it after a while, but I wasn’t overly fond of the storyline with so much violence, but it’s definitely a book I’ll remember for a long time.
62. The Lies You Told by Harriet Tyce
In the playground it’s the law of the jungle. But at the school gate, there are no rules at all… When Sadie Roper moves back to London, she’s determined to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. First, she needs to get her daughter settled into a new school-one of the most exclusive in the city. Next, she’s going to get back the high-flying criminal barrister career she sacrificed for marriage ten years earlier. But nothing goes quite as planned.
My rating: ★★★★
This book I picked up because I had read Blood Orange a few years ago by the same author and loved it. I enjoyed the suspense element and the rich-mum type of characters, but some of the plot did seem a bit questionable and unrealistic so wasn’t as good as Blood Orange, but still thoroughly enjoyable and one of those books that makes you want to keep reading to find out what happens which I love.
63. Careless by Kirsty Capes
Sometimes it’s easy to fall between the cracks… At 3.04pm on a hot, sticky day in June, Bess finds out that she’s pregnant. She could tell her social worker Henry, but he’s useless. She should tell her foster mother, Lisa, but she won’t understand. She really ought to tell Boy, but she hasn’t spoken to him in weeks.
My rating: ★★★★★
This was the best book I read in August, and although I’m not usually one for a slow-burner, I will say that I loved this book. It follows Bess and her life in care, going through teenage-girl dramas and everyday life. Think of this book as a modern-day Tracey Beaker if she was 16 years old instead of 13.
64. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.
My rating: ★★★
I’ve seen Kazuo Ishiguro all over my Instagram and TikTok recently so when I saw Klara and the Sun in my library I almost jumped on it. However, a part of me wishes I had left the book right where it was on the shelf. It was a lot stranger than I thought it was going to be, looking at solar-powered AI robots as companions for children.
65. They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera
On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.
My rating: ★★★★
After reading this, I feel like this sits very much in the Young Adult section of the bookstore as some of the language was quite juvenile and like an adult was trying to write the way they think kids talk today which did make me cringe a little. An enjoyable and easy read, quite like a thriller movie I watched a few years ago, but not the worst book I’ve read.
66. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
From the author of the Booker-winning modern classic Shuggie Bain comes another emotionally powerful and compassionate portrayal of sexuality and community set in urban Glasgow, as two young men on either side of a sectarian divide start to develop feelings for each other.
My rating: ★★★★
There was a lot of hype for the release of Young Mungo and I would say Douglas Stuart was feeling the pressure after having such a successful debut with Shuggie Bain. I adored Shuggie Bain and so had high hopes for this. Young Mungo was just so similar to Shuggie Bain that I hate to say I was disappointed. Young Mungo follows a young gay Mungo in Glasgow’s East End with an alcoholic/barely-there mother and living in poverty. Very much like Shuggie Bain, only Shuggie was a few years younger. The narratives were too similar for me, but I will say that Douglas Stuart writes amazing characters that you instantly connect with and root for. I would definitely recommend, but maybe not reading both Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo so close together.
67. How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran
It’s a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain… Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby?
My rating: ★★★
This seemed more non-fiction in style compared to How to Be Famous and whilst reading, I felt like I was being ranted at a little and that I should be more of a strong-willed feminist. I did find it funny on occasion but would have to disagree with the Evening Standard’s review of ‘funniest book of the year’ because that wouldn’t be very fair to the other books published in that year.
68. Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro
After Rita is found dead in the bell tower of the church she used to attend, the official investigation into the incident is quickly closed. Her sickly mother is the only person still determined to find the culprit. Chronicling a difficult journey across the suburbs of the city, an old debt and a revealing conversation, Elena Knows unravels the secrets of its characters and the hidden facets of authoritarianism and hypocrisy in our society.
My rating: ★★★★★
This short story follows a mother’s journey for answers after her daughter apparently takes her own life. The mother, suffering with Parkinson’s disease, goes on a journey to find a woman that she thinks will be able to provide her with the answers that she needs. A heartbreaking but beautiful story.
69. The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Khai Diep has no feelings. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection. With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.
My rating: ★★★★
The Bride Test was exactly as I expected, although this time focusing on two main characters with forms of autism. I very much enjoyed, even though it was very much a typical cliche and I could see the ending coming a mile off. A cute book that I would recommend for some light reading.
70. Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
Cursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society.
My rating: ★★★
What a wild ride this book was. A collection of short stories with the first line of the first story reading, “She was about to flush the toilet”. Some of the stories were gruesome, graphic and quite frankly, horrifying. A weird-dystopia-type read would be a way to describe it.
71. A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Three women who are – for different reasons – simmering with resentment. Who are, whether they know it or not, burning to right the wrongs done to them.
My rating: ★★★★★
I loooove a good murder-mystery and A Slow Fire Burning did not disappoint. I loved that the book takes place around Islington/East London along Regent’s Canal as I’ve walked that area quite a few times and could imagine exactly in my head what it looked like. So many great twists and turns, although I did figure out who did it before the ending.
72. The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
Welcome to Chapel Croft. Five hundred years ago, eight protestant martyrs were burned at the stake here. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared without a trace. And two months ago, the vicar of the local parish killed himself. Reverend Jack Brooks, a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a heavy conscience, arrives in the village hoping to make a fresh start and find some peace. But uncovering the truth can be deadly in a village where everyone has something to protect, everyone has links with the village’s bloody past, and no one trusts an outsider.
My rating: ★★★★★
The Burning Girls was more paranormal-spooky than a thriller I would say, but extremely enjoyable. Like A Slow Fire Burning, there were a lot of twists and turns and huge plot twists that actually had my mouth gaping at times.
73. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
It’s 3 a.m. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She’s in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they’re trying for a baby – and she doesn’t want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realises it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance.
My rating: ★★★
I wanted to read this before I went to Bali since part of the book is set there. I managed to finish it on the plane before landing at the airport and while I did enjoy it, it wouldn’t be a book that I would rush to recommend. I loved the descriptiveness of the book when it was set in Rome as I could picture the areas that the author was talking about. But when the book was set in India and Bali, I hate to say that it started to lose me a little as the author’s time was mostly spent at an ashram or in one place.
74. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away. But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.
My rating: ★★★★
I took this with me to Bali as it seemed to be the perfect end of summer read. And it was. However, it definitely wasn’t one of my favourite reads ever and not one I would gush too much over in terms of great romance novels.
75. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan. Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan? In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision.
My rating: ★★★
I would read Taylor Jenkins Reid’s shopping list if I could. This definitely wasn’t The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but like Love and Other Words and The Bride Test, it was pleasant summer-time reading. Each chapter of the book alternated between two different paths of the main character based on her decision of going home with her childhood sweetheart after a night out: how her life pans out if she does, and if she doesn’t. Not an overly ground-breaking story but enjoyable.
76. How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
I have killed several people (some brutally, others calmly) and yet I currently languish in jail for a murder I did not commit. When I think about what I actually did, I feel somewhat sad that nobody will ever know about the complex operation that I undertook. Getting away with it is highly preferable, of course, but perhaps when I’m long gone, someone will open an old safe and find this confession.
My rating: ★★★
While I did enjoy this, I didn’t love the way that it was told. The book tells of how the main character kills each member of her family via a diary-of-sorts from prison. There was no suspense or who-dunnit approach and then finished with a very drawn out twist at the end.
77. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. The only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute. If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
My rating: ★★★★★
I’ve now read all of Emily Henry’s books and this was by far my favourite. I’ve realised small town romance is my favourite trope and this is exactly what this was. A book editor and book agent who aren’t very fond of each other just so happen to be staying in the same small town and well, I’m sure you can guess what happens.
78. Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam
One fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighbourhood escalates into tragedy. ‘Boys just being boys’ turns out to be true only when those boys are white. Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal Shahid’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art.
My rating: ★★★★★
This book tells the story of a young boy wrongly imprisoned and how he doesn’t let the system get to him and keeps his creative talent alive while fighting for justice. Heartbreaking as some of the poetry included is Yusef’s from his own time in prison.
79. The Book of the Gaels by James Yorkston (Gifted)
Rural West Cork, Ireland. Two Kids, Joseph and Paul, and their struggling, poet father, Fraser, are battling grief and poverty. When a letter arrives with a summons to Dublin and the promise of publication, it offers a chink of light – the hope of rescue. But Dublin is a long, wet and hungry way from West Cork in the mid-70s, especially when they have no money – just the clothes they stand up in and an old, battered suitcase.
My rating: ★★★★★
If you loved Shuggie Bain or Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart, then you’ll very much love this. Told from the perspective of young Joseph, two brothers and their dad go through poverty and struggle to make money to survive. With a dad as a poet and without a mother who died in a boating accident, the family travel across Ireland from Cork to Dublin in the search of money and a publishing deal. Heartbreaking at times, witty and also heartwarming. I loved every page.
80. Beloved by Toni Morrison
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has borne the unthinkable and not gone mad, yet she is still held captive by memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Meanwhile Sethe’s house has long been troubled by the angry, destructive ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. When a mysterious teenage girl arrives, calling herself Beloved, Sethe’s terrible secret explodes into the present.
My rating: ★★★★
The introduction by Bernadine Evaristo claimed that Beloved was one of Toni Morrison’s toughest reads and I would have to agree, although this was my first time reading her work. I fell into a bit of a reading slump while reading this, taking over a week to get through it. The plot was heavy and at times I did get confused with the characters and names, but an incredibly important piece of literature which I found both educational and heartbreaking.
81. The Couple at No. 9 by Claire Douglas
When pregnant Saffron Cutler moves into 9 Skelton Place with boyfriend Tom and sets about renovations, the last thing she expects is builders uncovering a body. Two bodies, in fact. Forensics indicate the bodies have been buried at least thirty years, which leads the police to question the cottage’s former owner – Saffy’s grandmother, Rose. What happened thirty years ago? What part did her grandmother play? And is Saffy now in danger? . . .
My rating: ★★★★★
The blurb wraps up the basis of the book, but oh my word the plot twist! For a mystery/thriller-type book I can’t recommend this one enough. A page turner that I got through in about two days.
82. No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister
The police say she’s guilty. She insists she’s innocent. She’s your sister. You love her. You trust her. But they say she killed the person you care about most.
My rating: ★★★★
As the blurb doesn’t give too much away, this book is set over the course of just over a week during the trial of a woman charged with murdering her eight-week-old niece. We hear the perspectives of all those involved and learn what exactly happened before, during and after the event. There are a few twists and turns here and there when witnesses and experts are cross-examined and it was an enjoyable read despite the heavy plot.
83. Urgent Matters by Paula Rodriguez (Gifted)
A train crashes in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, leaving forty-three people dead. A prayer card of Saint Expeditus, the patron saint of urgent matters, flutters above the wreckage. Hugo, a criminal on the run for murder, is on the train. He seizes his chance to sneak out of the wreckage unsuspected, abandoning his possessions – and, he hopes, his identity – among bodies mangled beyond all recognition.
My rating: ★★★
I feel like there was no closure at the end of the book because we didn’t actually find out what happened. I was left a little confused, which is why I rated it three stars.
84. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil co-parenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off.
My rating: ★★★★★
Ah, Miss Colleen Hoover. I’ve read a good few of her books now, but nowhere near the number that she actually has published. I will say that It Starts With Us is much more tame than the first book, It Ends With Us. We see what happens next for Lily and her love life and ultimately, this book is the closure that we were all looking for to see Lily live her happily ever after with Atlas.
85. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.
My rating: ★★★★
It’s a very short book, detailing a boy’s letter to his mother who can’t read, telling her all of the things he wish he could say out loud and what he wishes she could understand about him and his life. I can’t say that it was one of my favourite books ever, but it was very beautiful in the way that it was written.
86. The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman
A prizewinning tour de force when it was published in France, Violaine Huisman’s remarkable debut novel is about a daughter’s inextinguishable love for her magnetic, mercurial mother.
My rating: ★★★★
The Book of Mother is told in three parts: the first part from the perspective of the daughter about her unstable mother, the second part is more about the mother and her upbringing/life/career etc. and the final part again from the perspective of the daughter about the end of her mother’s life. The first and last part were very slow for me and I much more enjoyed the middle part learning about the mother in more detail.
87. The Editor by Steven Rowley
After years of trying to make it as a writer in 1990s New York City, James Smale finally sells his novel to an editor at a major publishing house: none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie–or Mrs. Onassis, as she’s known in the office–has fallen in love with James’s candidly autobiographical novel, one that exposes his own dysfunctional family.
My rating: ★★★★
I enjoyed the book as it gave me slight Taylor Jenkins Reid themes with the celebrity element, but there were plot twists involved that I felt were skimmed over and not delved into which could have made the book a five-star read.
88. Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
Love in the Big City is an energetic, joyful, and moving novel that depicts both the glittering nighttime world of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning-after.
My rating: ★★★★
The book followed a young guy living in the city in Korea, going out, having fun, having some turbulent relationships and then finally letting himself fall in love. It also touched on a health condition in a truly lovely way, giving it a new name and showing how he continued to live his life despite the condition that he had developed.
89. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila’s consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore… For Leila, each minute after her death recalls a sensuous memory: spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the birth of a yearned-for son; bubbling vats of lemon and sugar to wax women’s legs while men are at prayer; the cardamom coffee she shares with a handsome student in the brothel where she works.
My rating: ★★★★★
Elif Shafak writes characters so beautifully and gives an insight into every one’s history and back story without it adding a slump to the book’s flow. Each character was as eccentric as the next, and although the plot of this story wasn’t incredibly page-turning, and I will say, I felt like I was lacking closure at the end, the story was marvellous and I will be picking up anything that Elif Shafak writes without a second thought.
90. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever. Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness. That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.
My rating: ★★★★
The blurb was giving extreme romance novel cliche, so I didn’t have high hopes, but by the end I was very much rooting for the underdog, and engrossed to see what the main character, Emma’s decision would be.
91. Forever Words: The Unknown Poems by Johnny Cash (Gifted)
Since his first recordings in 1955, Johnny Cash has been an icon in the music world. In this collection of poems and song lyrics that have never been published before, we see the world through his eyes and view his reflection on his own interior reality, his frailties and his strengths alike.
My rating: ★★★★★
I was overly excited to read this collection of his unknown poems and safe to say I read it in one single sitting. The book features poems, song lyrics and thoughts from the iconic Man in Black that have never been seen before as the book is put together by his son, John.
92. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.
My rating: ★★★★★
This was another epic novel by TJR and every bit the page turner as Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and I can definitely see a movie being made for this in the near future.
93. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.
My rating: ★★★
This was the perfect book to pick up after watching the Wednesday Addam’s series on Netflix. The Ex Hex was an adult version of Hocus Pocus, focusing on three witches, a love interest (from Wales might I add), a drunken curse, a talking cat and something akin to the black-flame candle.
94. Jingle All the Way by Debbie Macomber
Everly Lancaster has always had big dreams, but her high-flying career has left little time for anything – or anyone – else. When the opportunity arises to take the whole of December off, Everly decides it’s time to go on the holiday she deserves. Little does she know, there’s more than one surprise in store for her this Christmas…
My rating: ★★★
Jingle All the Way did not disappoint in the cliche category. A workaholic woman takes a trip down the Amazon rainforest, gets taken by an indigenous tribe and lives to tell the tale, falls into piranha-infested waters and lives to tell the tale and has an extreme reaction to a mosquito bite and still lives to tell the tale. All while falling in love with the naturist on board the cruise.
95. Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan
Flora MacKenzie is worried about her brother. Fintan hasn’t got over the death of his partner, Colton, and Flora thinks he needs a project. The Rock – the rambling, disused hotel on the tip of the island – was Colton’s passion project before he died. With Flora’s help, Fintan is going to get the hotel up and running in time for Christmas, transforming it into a festive haven of crackling log fires and delicious food.
My rating: ★★★
Of the three Christmas-themed books I read this month, I would say this one was my favourite. Although I rated them all three-stars, Christmas at the Island Hotel made me laugh out loud the most and had me rolling my eyes just a little less than the other two. With so many characters, storylines and disasters, this was the perfect cosy read for the Christmas season and one I couldn’t wait to keep reading.
96. The Christmas Wish List by Heidi Swain
After being let go from her job in a swanky hotel just weeks before Christmas, Hattie is feeling lost. Even more so when her high-flying boyfriend announces he’s landed his dream job in Abu Dhabi and asks her to move with him. Luckily, Hattie’s long-time friend Dolly is on hand to help and invites Hattie to spend one last holiday in the small, festive town of Wynbridge, determined to give her a Christmas to remember… As Wynbridge prepares for its most spectacular Christmas yet, will Hattie leave snowy England behind for life in a sunnier clime, or will she in fact realise that her heart’s desire lies much closer to home?
My rating: ★★★
The Christmas Wish List may have been the most cliche of all the Christmas books for this month. A city girl heads to the small town trope and makes a Christmas bucket list. That description in itself is enough to roll your eyes over. An average read, but Christmassy all the same.
97. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
In a burned-out America, a father and his young son walk under a darkened sky, heading slowly for the coast. They have no idea what, if anything, awaits them there. The landscape is destroyed, nothing moves save the ash on the wind and cruel, lawless men stalk the roadside, lying in wait.
My rating: ★★★★
The Road was beautifully written and you fell in love with the two characters, especially the son, but it was a tad monotonous following this one road with no real goal/end in sight. It seemed to me to be more of a parable-story, one that you would delve into and deeply analyse in an English class, showing the contrast of the father and son and their attitudes towards other people they meet on the road and life itself.
98. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record.
My rating: ★★★★
Carrie Soto was giving everything that Taylor Jenkins Reid is good at – celebrity lives, pre 1990s, gossip and scandal – and for that, I enjoyed it. I wouldn’t say it was TJR’s best book (will she ever write anything as good as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo?) but it definitely wasn’t her worst.
99. Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
Anatomy of a Scandal centres on a high-profile marriage that begins to unravel when the husband is accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is sure her husband, James, is innocent and desperately hopes to protect her precious family from the lies which might ruin them. Kate is the barrister who will prosecute the case – she is equally certain that James is guilty and determined he will pay for his crimes.
My rating: ★★★
Although the subject matter is quite dark, I was left incredibly disappointed by the ending of this book, plus I thought the twist was quite predictable. There was no closure at the end of the book for me, and for a topic like this one, I thought it was very much needed.
100. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won’t protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
My rating: ★★★★★
Did I save the best book until last? Yes, yes I did. I had no idea what to expect from this book really, other than the rave reviews I was seeing all over the internet. However, even though this is a book about gaming, it’s also about love, relationships, grief, disability, communication, success and fame. A truly exceptional book that I would recommend to anyone, no matter if you’re into the world of gaming or not. The best book I read in 2022.
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