Category: Books

2022 Book List

I started keeping track of my reading a couple years ago and find it helpful to be able to look back at my list. As I finish each book, I share it and a mini review i real-time on my Instagram Stories and I also keep an updated list here.

If you’re interested in my previous lists, you can find them here: 2020 Book List and 2021 Book List. Feel free to bookmark this page, as I will keep it updated as I finish each book. I’ll also stick a link to this post over on the right sidebar for easy access.

Here are the books I’ve read so far in 2022:

Book #, Information & Link Mini Book Review
Book #1 of 2022:
The Woman Who Met Her Match by Fiona Gibson		This one was quite a slog Women in mid-40’s looks for love and deals with a dead-end career. I didn’t love the main character and the happy ending was kind of lame.
Book #2 of 2022:
Heart & Seoul by Jen Frederick
After her father dies, a Korean adoptee impulsively decides to visit Korea. Which turns into her meeting new friends, tracking down family and falling in love. Beautiful book, but the bittersweet ending was not what I was hoping for. BUT, I just saw the sequel is coming out on January 25th… so maybe I’ll get my happy ending after all!
Book #3 of 2022:
Fable (Fable 1) by Adrienne Young		An action packed pirate tale with complex characters and a strong female lead. From the first chapter, I was rooting for Fable to succeed. I inhaled the entire book and the story will conclude in the sequel which is thankfully already out!
Book #4 of 2022:
Namesake (Fable 2), by Adrienne Young		The second and final book in the Fable series. Absolutely beautiful writing with more danger, deception and betrayal. All the story pieces come together in the finale and I highly recommend this book (and the series) for all adventure lovers!
Book #5 of 2022:
The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook by American Test Kitchen		A really good overview of the benefits of a Mediterranean diet followed by over 400 pages of recipes. So. Many. Recipes. It’s almost overwhelming, but I’m going to pick a couple to start with.
Book #6 02 2022:
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho		You guys. This book was really weird. The main character was haunted by the ghost of her grandmother and then another god/ghost joins in. There is a gangster boss and she gets possessed and just all kinds of what-the-hell-is-happening-now going on.
Book #7 of 2022:
Deconstructed by Liz Talley		Cricket finds out her husband has been cheating on her and decides to make him pay. The book was building and building and building to the end and I am absolutely a reader who enjoys a cheating asshole getting his comeuppance. Highly recommend!
Book #8 of 2022:…Coming soon…

Many of my books are borrowed using Kindle Unlimited (you can read my full review from 2015 here). If you don’t have Kindle Unlimited yet, it’s like an all-you-can-read for books and I’ve been using it for the last few years: Kindle Unlimited Membership Plans.

I’ve also use the free OverDrive Library, through my local library website. If you have a library card, be sure to check your library’s website to see if they work with an online partner. I mean, FREE BOOKS!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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2021 Books: Wrap Up

As we move into the brand spanking new year of 2022, I wanted to take a moment and take one last look at the books I read in 2021.

After years and years and years of NOT keeping track of my reading, I started adding my lists to my blog a couple years ago. You can find my 2020 Book List here and you can find my complete 2021 Book List here.

As always, I borrowed a bunch of the books from the library – both in-person and the online through the Maryland’s Digital eLibrary Consortium (Overdrive). I also used my Kindle Unlimited subscription a ton and downloaded many books from Amazon.

For 2021, I ended up reading a total of 110 books.

You can see the entire list of books and my mini reviews on my 2021 Books page.

For those of you looking for a short and sweet list to be added to your TBR pile, here are my top books of 2021:

** Favorite book of 2021!

I plan to continue this book tracking for 2022 as well, and will stick with the same format of mini book reviews and links. Let me know if you end up loving any of my book recommendations!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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Jack Book Recommendations: The Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid Series

Source: Amazon.com

Many people have heard of the Jeff Kinney book series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It’s super popular with 16 books (so far) and centers around a middle schooler named Greg Heffley. It is written from the perspective of Greg writing in his diary and we’ve read a few of the books here and there (they are always available at the thrift store).

Well, Greg’s best friend got in on the action with his series: The Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid and we are HUGE fans!

Book #1: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal by Jeff Kinney

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2YpBD7i

  • Recommended for ages 9 – 12
  • Grade level: 3 – 7
  • Lexile measure: 1020L

We started with this book and JACK LOVED IT! Every night before bed we read a chapter or two. Jack and I alternate pages reading out loud, which is great for keeping him engaged and on track with his reading practice. I actually MUCH prefer the Rowley books to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books… because Rowley is really innocent and nice. In fact, in many of his anecdotes about his friendship with Greg, Jack and I discuss how Greg isn’t actually a very good friend to Rowley. This makes for a great jumping off conversation about how you should treat others and what to do if someone isn’t treating you nicely.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book for grade levels 3 and 4. This would actually be a great stocking stuffer or gift for the kiddo in your life too!

Book #3: Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories

Find it here: https://amzn.to/3wkdpYp

  • Recommended for ages 9 – 12
  • Grade level: 3 – 7
  • Lexile measure: 1020L

You may have noticed, I skipped from book 1 to book 3. That’s because the third book in the series is spooky stories told by Rowley… which I thought would be fun for us to read around Halloween. I think Jack liked this book even more than the last and laughed out loud at some of the sillier bits. This totally is not stuck to spooky-season either and would be appropriate all year long. The best part is that the stories are NOT actually spooky at all for a 4th grader.

Book #2: Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure

Find it here: https://amzn.to/2ZXhtlU

  • Recommended for ages 9 – 12
  • Grade level: 3 – 7
  • Lexile measure: 1020L

Jack has been begging for me to buy this book and I just hit ‘order’ over on Amazon. He can’t wait to read the next Rowley adventure and I just love having a kid who wants to read!

You can purchase the all three books for a total of $22 (based on today’s pricing on Amazon) and we have really been loving this series. I’m crossing my fingers that more get published in the future!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

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