Wow. 2022 was BOOKED for me. I had a goal of 50 books and exceeded that by 10 for my grand total of 60 books read.
Today, I present you with my rankings and ratings of all 60 books. Please keep in mind that this is all a matter of preference and my personal opinion. I either read physical copies or listened to these books in an audiobook format, and I believe there is a difference in impact.
Since I write in the fantasy, romance, and YA genres, it’s no surprise that several books in those genres ranked high for me. But I did mix in a lot of different books this year, including a reading theme for each month.
The themes were as followed:
- January: Taylor Jenkins “Reads”
- February: Black Female Authors
- March: Women’s History Month
- April: Books Set in Foreign Cities
- May: Books by Sarah J Maas
- June: Pride Month Reads
- July: Beach Reads
- August: Spicy Romance
- September: Secondary World
- October: Thriller & Killer Reads
- November: Latin-X Authors
- December: Cozy Christmas Reads
Without further ado, I give you my ranking of the books read in 2022!
Bottom tier
60. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2 stars) YA Sci-Fi
59. The Alchemist* by Paulo Coelho (2 stars) Fiction
58. The Dilemma by BA Paris (3 stars) Fiction
57. The Spanish Love Deception* by Elena Armas (3 stars) Contemporary Romance
56. Untamed by Glennon Doyle (3 stars) Non-fiction
55. The Santa Suit* by Mary Kay Andrews (3 stars) Contemporary Romance
54. Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix* by Anna-Marie McLemore (3 stars) YA Retelling
53. The Escape Room by Megan Goldin (3 stars) Thriller
52. The Lost Apothecary* by Sarah Penner (3 stars) Historical Fiction
51. That Summer* by Jennifer Weiner (4 stars) Fiction
50. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint (3 stars) Retellings
49. Call Me By Your Name* by Andre Aciman (4 stars) YA Romance
48. The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky (3 stars) YA Horror
47. The Club* by Ellery Lloyd (3 stars) Suspense/Thriller
46. From Scratch* by Tembi Locke (3 stars) Memoir
Middle Ground
45. Reckless Girls* by Rachel Hawkins (4 stars) Suspense/Thriller
44. There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins (3 stars) YA Horror
43. Jo & Laurie* by Margaret Stohl (4 stars) Historical Romance/Retellings
42. Within these Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood (4 stars) YA Retellings
41. Any Way the Wind Blows* by Rainbow Rowell (4 stars) YA Paranormal Romance
40. One Italian Summer* by Rebecca Serle (4 stars) Fiction
39. In Five Years* by Rebecca Searle (4 stars) Fiction
38. The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin (4 stars) YA Paranormal
37. Little Women* by Louisa May Alcott (4 stars) Classics
36. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda* By Becky Albertalli (4 stars) YA Romance
35. What if It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (4 stars) YA Romance
34. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (4 stars) YA Historical Fiction
33. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (4 stars) Contemporary Romance
32. So, This is Christmas by Tracy Andreen (4 stars) YA Romance
31. Dark and Deepest Red* by Anna-Marie McLemore (4 stars) YA Fantasy
30. Crazy Rich Asians* by Kevin Kwan (4 stars) Romance
29. The Paris Apartment* by Lucy Foley (4 stars) Thriller
28. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (4 stars) Contemporary Romance
27. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters* by Balli Kaur Jaswal (4stars) Fiction
26. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* by Taylor Jenkins Reid (4 stars) Historical Fiction
25. Cinder* by Marissa Meyer (4 stars) YA Science Fiction/Retellings
24. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow* by Laura Taylor Namey (4 stars) YA Romance
23. The Summer Job* by Lizzie Dent (4 stars) Romance
22. A Darker Shade of Magic* by VE Schwab (4 stars) NA Fantasy
Top Tier
21. Legendborn* by Tracy Deonn (5 stars) YA Fantasy
20. Daisy Jones & the Six* by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5 stars) Historical Fiction
19. Beach Read* by Emily Henry (5 Stars) Contemporary Romance
18. Letters to Half Moon Street by Sarah Wallace (5 stars) Historical Romance
17. Mistletoe Messes and Peppermint Kisses by Catherine Swift (5 stars) Contemporary Romance
16. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne Brown (5 stars) YA Fantasy
15. A Psalm of Storms and Silence* by Roseanne Brown (5 stars) YA Fantasy
14. A Conjuring of Light* by VE Schwab (5 stars) NA Fantasy
13. A Gathering of Shadows* by VE Schwab (5 stars) NA Fantasy
12. A Court of Silver Flames* by Sarah J Maas (5 stars) NA Fantasy
11. Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas (5 stars) NA Fantasy
10. A Court of Wings and Ruin* by Sarah J Maas (5 stars) NA Fantasy
9. The Paris Library* by Janet Skeslien Charles (5 stars) Historical Fiction
8. A Court of Mist and Fury* by Sarah J Maas (5 stars) NA Fantasy
7. Here’s to Us* by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (5 stars) YA Romance
6. Malibu Rising* by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5 stars) Historical Fiction
5. Gilded* by Marissa Meyer (5 stars) NA Fantasy
4. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover (5 stars) Contemporary Romance
3. The Love Hypothesis* by Ali Hazelwood (5 stars) Contemporary Romance
2. The Last Mrs. Parrish* by Liv Constantine (5 stars) Suspense
1. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas (5 stars) NA Fantasy
*Indicates audiobook
A closer look at my top 5
5. Gilded by Marissa Meyer was my first book by the author, and definitely not my last. I had always seen her praised for her Lunar Chronicles series, and I’m glad that her writing prowess has lived up to the hype. This is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, but is done in such an imaginative way! This book had me reaching for the sequel as soon as I finished, which I was disappointed to find out was not yet available (but I am currently reading it now!).
4. Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover is a great book if you want to feel like your soul has been torn out and then magically reinserted into your body. I ugly cried not just once while reading this book. Colleen Hoover has a way of gripping you by the emotions, and it definitely shows in this book.
3. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood was such a fun read. As someone who reads a ton of romance, I tend to scrutinize them. This one had it all! It was perfectly balanced with tropes and explored the world of romance within scientific academia through an authentic lens. The story was well paced and the humor was a lot of fun. Hazelwood is becoming an “automatic read” author for me!
2. The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine was a nice surprise. I dedicated October to reading suspense thrillers, and this one I read last but it certainly was not the least. I picked it because I saw it featured in Reese’s Book Club. Obviously, the makings of a good thriller are to keep you on edge and provide twists along the way. It delivered! At first, I wasn’t 100% with it, but as the story progresses it locks on and sucks you in.
1. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas. The queen does it again, and I can’t help but rank this book high. The Throne of Glass series has been enjoyable, but I can’t help but keep comparing it to the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. (A Court of Mist and Fury is my all-time favorite and would have been ranked higher, but it was a reread in 2022 and I wanted to give new books a fair shot).
Did Not Finish
There were only a few books that I picked up this year that I did not finish. As I mentioned in my 2021 rating and rankings post, a DNF does not mean the book was bad. It could have been because another book caught my interest before I could make it all the way through. Two of my DNFs from last year were completed books for me in 2022! But in some cases, the book was just bad and I decided to jump ship.
- Santa Cruise by Fern Michaels
- Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Hacienda by Isabel Canas
- Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas
- A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
The books that didn’t wow me
The Knife of Never Letting Go* by Patrick Ness. This came in dead last on my list and I would have ranked it lower if possible. This was a book club read and the only positive takeaway from the meeting is that I was not alone in my hatred. The book felt plain sexist. The plot was redundant and unsatisfying. And my number one rule in fiction was broken. (Spoiler alert the dog dies).
The Alchemist* by Paulo Coelho. This book is so often praised and what I found it to be was a glorified self-help book with a somewhat ludicrous message. Good things will come to you if you really, really want them. Not to mention sexism triumphs again in this novel, and even minerals of the earth have more of an arc than the female characters in the novel. This book had me enjoying several one-star reviews on Goodreads after finishing.
The Dilemma by BA Paris. I will preface this by saying BA Paris is an author I really enjoy and she has written one of my favorite books, Behind Closed Doors. Her books are generally an automatic read for me, but with this one, I was severely underwhelmed. To start, the plot was mostly miscommunication or just a straight lack of communication tied together with characters I could not enjoy and a terrible circumstance that just upset me. This book was NOT a thriller which is the case of her previous books, but it was still packaged as one. I often see in reviews that it was a short story stretched out to a novel, and I have to agree.
Let me know if we’ve read any of the same books in 2022! Click HERE to check out my list from 2021!
Remember, it’s okay if we don’t have the same opinions about these books, heck I could re-rank this list 2 months from now and it could look completely different!
Keep on reading!
Hiya! Thanks for reading this article, it means a lot to me and I hope you got something out of it. Please follow along on this site or on my social media for more fun reading and writing content!
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