Hello, friends! Can you believe that we’re approaching the end of 2022? I really can’t — I know I say it constantly, but time really is not real. It’s been a whirlwind of a year, and I’m looking forward to what’s in store for 2023!
As the end of the year is right around the corner, it’s time for my Favorite Reads of 2022 Part 2 post! You can check out Part 1 here. The books featured here are reads that were new to me in 2022 — and as of this post I’ve read almost 100 books in the second half of the year, it was definitely hard to narrow it down to the 12 listed here!
As always, I have done my best to list trigger warnings based on my own personal notes, trigger warnings from other reviews and what is listed on websites like Book Trigger Warnings and Trigger Warning Database if needed. That being said, there may be things that I have forgotten and if so I apologize! If you’ve read any of these books and notice that I’m missing some triggers, please let me know so that I can update the trigger lists!
✩ indicates an ARC / Read as an ARC
A Night to Remember by Morgan Matson
I love Morgan Matson’s books. There’s something about her writing that feels very comforting to me, and more often than not, her stories bring me a lot of joy. I loved that she tried something new with this, and wrote a novella, as her books tend to be 350+ pages, and that this was an audio only release. I really liked Poppy as our main character, and definitely related to her type-A tendencies. As always with Matson books, A Night to Remember had some heartfelt moments, especially when it came to Poppy and her father. I loved the mystery vibes to this one, and hope that one day Matson goes full on mystery/thriller because I think she would write it so well. Overall, this was just a really fun read and I’m looking forward to reading it again.
Trigger Warnings: Memory loss
Links for A Night to Remember: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph
Echo After Echo by A.R. Capetta
With how much I loved The Heartbreak Bakery, I’m making sure to go through A.R. Capetta’s backlog. I started with Echo After Echo and I’m so glad that I did! This one absolutely appealed to me as it centers around a young actress making her Broadway debut in a revival of her favorite play. We all know that I absolutely love theatre, and it’s brought so many wonderful things and people into my life — however, there is a dark side to theatre and people that can be involved with it. I thought that Echo After Echo handled those topics extremely well, and with honesty, clarity, and sensitivity. I’m really looking forward to rereading and annotating this one, as I was hooked from start to finish.
Trigger Warnings: murder, suicide attempt, discussion of past rape, abusive mentor figure, body shaming
Links for Echo After Echo: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
This Place is Still Beautiful by Xixi Tian
This Place is Still Beautiful is a stunning debut novel from Xixi Tian. This book touched on so many important topics, such as racism, colorisim, and hate crimes — especially against Asian Americans — in a way that felt unflinchingly real and raw but was also handled with sensitivity. You can read my full review here for more of my thoughts. I think that this was an incredibly important story to read after the upsurge in hate crimes against the Asian community in the last two years and highly recommend it.
Trigger Warnings: mentions of divorce (past), hate crime, police, racism, parental abandonment (past), c slur, sexism, mentions of sex, gaslighting, mentions of cancer (brain tumor), Harry Potter reference, underage drinking, colorisim
Links for The Place is Still Beautiful: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
✩ Begin Again by Emma Lord
We all know that I am an Emma Lord girlie first and foremost. I just love her books and her characterization — they always feel very relatable and easy to connect to. While I love all her books, I truly think that Begin Again is her best yet. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and was a very comforting read. I can’t wait for its release in January and to reread it. You can check out my full review here.
Trigger Warnings: Mentioned parental death (car accident, cancer), grief, absentee parenting, cheating (not main characters), blood (chapter 19), mentions of underage drinking
Links for Begin Again: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
Stolen City by Elisa A. Bonnin
After reading Elisa A. Bonnin’s debut novel Dauntless in June and loving it, I knew that I would also love Stolen City. I love a good heist novel, and Stolen City is all that and then some! The multiple povs really added to the story and I was definitely on the edge of my seat! You can read my full review here.
Trigger Warnings: Colonization, military occupation, police, fire, death of a parent, blood, murder, grief, parental abandonment, sexism, brief mention of human trafficking (not detailed) (chapter 13), death, brief description of an execution (not graphic) (chapter 16), prison, battle typical violence, minor character death, mentions of mass death, alcohol, mind control, trauma, mentions of police brutality, implied sexual harassment
Links for Stolen City: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Truthfully, I barely even have the words to describe what reading Babel was like. I can barely figure out what to say for this — I’ve rewritten it multiple times! Babel is really one of the best books I think I have ever read, and now that I know the full story and know how things play out, I’m really looking forward to reading it again with a more detailed eye. If you haven’t already, you NEED to read Babel.
Trigger Warnings: “period typical” racism, c slur, anti-asian rhetoric, antiblackness, war, gun violence, blood, murder, child abuse/neglect, slavery, colonization, gore, death of a parent, classism, sexism, suicide ideation, xenophobia, grief, hate crime, murder
Links for Babel: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
The Witch Haven and The Witch Hunt by Sasha Peyton Smith
Cossette has been yelling at me to read The Witch Haven for forever, and I don’t know why I waited so long to read it as I was really excited for it. However, I am kind of glad that I waited to read The Witch Haven until just before The Witch Hunt was released because I LOVED it and wanted to stay in that world a bit longer. I just loved everything about it — especially the emphasis on healing and how grief is not a linear process. All around this is a wonderful series, and I will read anything that Sasha Payton Smith releases.
Trigger Warnings for The Witch Haven: Grief, attempted sexual assault, blood, murder both on page and off, stabbing, vomiting, drowning, absentee parents, mutilation of corpses, the main character’s mother resides in an asylum for assumed mental health issues, mentions of asylums, alluded child abuse, discussions of Native American boarding schools, and underage drinking and smoking
Trigger Warnings for The Witch Hunt: descriptions of blood, vomit, gun-violence, interpersonal violence, absentee parents (particularly grappling with an absentee father), an emotionally abusive/manipulative romantic relationship, a fade-to-black sex scene, drowning, contemplations of suicide, ritualistic murder/mutilation of corpses, underage drinking and smoking, and grief over a deceased sibling.
Links for The Witch Haven: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
Links for The Witch Hunt: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
Twelfth Grade Night by Molly Horton Booth
Oh, this was just so adorable! It made me laugh and smile, but it also had a lot of heart — I was essentially the human equivalent of the pleading face emoji while reading. I loved how true it was to the story of Twelfth Night (my favorite Shakespeare comedy), and thought the changes that were made fit in perfectly. I also loved the addition of characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream — it’s very clear that this was written by Shakespeare lovers! The art was truly stunning, and sometimes I just stared at the panels because I loved the style and colors. I’m very happy to see that this will be a series because it was so lovely and magical, I can’t wait for more.
Trigger Warnings: Parental death (cancer), bullying (addressed)
Links for Twelfth Grade Night: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Oh, this book just felt like the warmest of hugs! While I can struggle a bit when reading a lot of high fantasy at a time, I am always down for a soft, cozy, low-fantasy read and that’s exactly what The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is! I really just loved everything about it and highly recommend it if you’re looking for a sweet read!
Trigger Warnings: death, abandonment, estranged parents, sibling abuse, memory loss
Links for The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop |
✩ Five Survive by Holly Jackson
It’s no secret that I love Holly Jackson’s work, as you can usually hear me raving about the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. I had high expectations for Five Survive and let me tell you, they were met and then some! This book had me hooked from start to finish, and you can read my full review here.
Trigger Warnings: Alcohol abuse and underage drinking, past parental death (mom), murder, description of murder (gunshot to the head – referenced in multiple chapters), pts, mentions of police, guns, mentions of death (throat cancer), death (by gunshot, on page, quickly described in chapter 23, also mentioned in multiple chapters), blood, grief and trauma, cheating (past), physical violence (punching, choking), injury (gunshot wound to the leg), attempted murder, threats and blackmail, mob violence, death threats
Links for Five Survive: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang
If You Could See the Sun had been on my most anticipated list for a long time and it definitely lived up to my expectations! We know that I love academic rivals, boarding schools, and flawed characters, all of which can be found in If You Could See the Sun. Cossette’s review really touched on all the things I loved about this book, which you can read here. I would also recommend this book to fans of Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach as I felt that it had a lot of similar vibes!
Trigger Warnings: mild violence, kidnapping
Links for If You Could See the Sun: Goodreads | TheStoryGraph | Bookshop | IndieBound
And there we have it! My favorite reads from the second half of 2022! Tell me about some of your favorite reads from this year — are any of these on your list?
I’ve only read one of these. I better get on it!
i can’t wait to hear when you do!
Definitely loved the Secret Society of Witches and Babel. Both of those were stand out reads for me. I haven’t read any of the others here but maybe I need to investigate a couple.
those two were really so wonderful! i’m excited to reread babel especially and annotate it because there’s SO MUCH going on! if you read any of the others i’d love to hear your thoughts!