CONVERSATION: 2022 in Review
Janine: Every reading year is different. There are years when we read more books and years when we read fewer. Some years we make a great discovery–an author we’ve never read before and whose books we love. Other years are a drought. Some years a genre trends in a direction that doesn’t work for us; other years it takes an exciting turn. There can be other trends in our reading too.
So I want to have another conversation like the one we had at the end of 2021–I want to hear how 2022 was for you, reading-wise.
How many books did you read this year relative to earlier years?
Which authors you hadn’t read before were you excited to find?
What genres did you gravitate toward and away from?
Can you think of any other trends in your reading that emerged in 2022? And was there anything that happened this year, either in the world or in your life, that played a role in your reading patterns?
Number of Books Read
Janine: I finished about 75 books in 2022 (Goodreads says 95 but they count DNFs and I don’t) and that’s a high number for me. When we wrote last year’s year in review post I had read 70 and that was already a lot. I think I’m feeling some urgency because I’m getting older and want to get in as much good reading as I can.
Rose: I’ve actually had a very good reading year so far, both in terms of quantity and in mostly managing to avoid bad books and DNFs. I’m on track to read 155-160 books by the end of this month, not counting rereads (but I do count DNFs and novellas/shorter books); I’d never gone over 100 before, and this despite slowing due to a busy few month (work, travel, big purchases).
Jayne: So far I’m slightly below the usual number of books I read in a year. Generally I will end the year with 200-225 but this year it looks like I might reach 175-ish. Mostly this was due to personal stuff.
Kaetrin: I had a reading slump early in the year so didn’t read as many books as I usually would. I think I’m at about 110 so far.
Jennie: I don’t feel great about the number of books I’ve finished in 2022 and after hearing other peoples’ numbers, I feel even worse! I know it’s not a competition, but in the past five years I’ve had a high of 56 books and a low of 45. This year, so far, I’m at….29. I will probably finish two or three more, but the number is still going to be a real low for me since I’ve been keeping track.
Author Discoveries
Kaetrin: New authors I’ve discovered include Becca Mack (Consider Me) and Megan Bannen (The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy). Plus I just finished a book by Blair Fell which I picked up on a whim when it was the Audible Daily Deal – The Sign for Home. It had a lovely romance thread with a HEA/HFN but was mainly contemporary fiction. Highly recommend especially on audio.
Sirius: Unfortunately this year once again had not gifted me with too many new discoveries. Really, the new to me authors I was delighted to discover was Richard Osman with his “Thursday murder mysteries club” and Travis Baldree with Legends and Lattes may he please write more books in the future.
Janine: I found a few good new (to me) authors. I would also describe K.D. Edwards as a “buried treasure” — his books are so satisfying and deserve a bigger following. I really enjoyed some of Elizabeth O’Roark. The View was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta was fabulous–fake dating isn’t a favorite trope for me but this was the most grown-up execution of it I’ve ever read, and the book’s friends-to-lovers aspect put it over the top. This is a 2021 book but I had to mention it. It felt so real and raw in a good way.
Layla: I found Alice Coldbreath, whose prizefighter books I devoured one by one, Mia Vincy’s novels (I read two–A Scandalous Kind of Duke was really good and interesting; A Dangerous Kind of Lady, not so much). I discovered Mimi Matthews and found her books delightful. I found Elizabeth O’Rourke’s Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and The Devil You Know, both super good and super steamy! I also discovered Roni Loren, and Allison Montclair’s Sparks and Bainbridge mystery series. I read all the books I could get my hands on and finished wishing ardently that more books in the series were out.
Genres
Sirius: I read the same genres I would usually read—mysteries, SFF with gay romance in it, and hoping for more historicals.
Rose: Historical romance used to be my mainstay. Unfortunately, either I have changed as a reader or the genre has changed, or maybe both. I only found a few books I even wanted to try, and none impressed me. I finally tried Lady Derring Takes a Lover (DNF) and reached back into Julia Quinn’s backlist (meh), plus attempted some forgettable Kleypas. The best of the historical lot was KJ Charles’s novelette The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter. I find it much easier to find good contemporary/romantic suspense – generally and on KU – and try to mix it up with some non-fiction and science fiction (my brother got me started on Elliot Kay’s Poor Man’s Fight series, which isn’t bad).
Janine: I think I’m drifting away from the light contemporaries that I enjoyed for a few years. I’m seeing the same three or four tropes used in 90% of them. I’ve loved books that used each of those tropes but where are the new ideas? Can’t somebody write something else? Although with that said, I’m still enjoying LGBTQIA+ contemporaries and liked a couple this year, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake and You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Awaeke Emezi. I’m reading more fantasy than ever; mostly adult fantasy but I’m dipping my toes back into YA fantasy with some success. I finally read Holly Black’s Cruel Prince trilogy and I thought it was very good. I also really liked Vanessa Len’s debut from earlier this year, Only a Monster.
To respond to what you said, Rose, IMO historical romance has changed over the past several years. I noticed a change in a fairy tale direction with the “too many dukes” trend–in reality, there were only a few dukes in Victorian England at any one time—and going on from there. I’m down to Mary Balogh, Aster Glenn Gray and Jeannie Lin at this point.
Jayne: I echo what everyone is saying about it being hard to find a good historical romance though I did find a few such as Sheri Cobb South’s “In the Family Way” (although it is also a mystery the series has followed the romance of the MCs). Most of the ones I’ve read this year and enjoyed are rereads from past years. I’ve surprised myself with the number of historical fiction, mystery fiction, and women’s fiction I’ve enjoyed.
A lot ended up as B+ reads so I’m delighted to mention a few here including June Hur’s Korean historical mystery “The Red Palace,” “Hidden Pictures” by Jason Rekulak, “Last Call at the Nightingale” by Katharine Schellman, a 1920s Jazz Age mystery, “The Physician’s Daughter” by Martha Conway which is post-Civil War, and “Even Though I Knew the End” by CL Polk, a 1940s LGBTQIA+ noir fantasy.
Kaetrin: I’m still reading mainly contemporary romance, but have read some fantastic SFF this year too.
Layla: I found myself drawn more to science fiction and fantasy and young adult, including books by Christelle Dabos and Seanan Maguire. I also found myself wanting good historicals–it’s still my favorite genre but I can’t find many good new authors to read in it (Mimi Matthews and Mia Vincy were exceptions).
Jennie: Loose categorization of what I’ve read: six general fiction (dystopian, noir, speculative, time travel, stories); two young adult (fantasy/alternate classic), nine romance (historical, contemp/NA, paranormal), three non-fiction (two memoirs and one history) and six suspense/thrillers. Also three classic fiction.
Other Reading Trends
Jayne: I have been *much* more selective about what arcs I’ve asked for or library books I’ve borrowed and have checked reviews at other places as well. This has helped me decrease the number of DNF ones.
For the most part I’ve gravitated towards lighter, happier and/or comfort books but some darker tone ones have crept up and entertained me.
Janine: I would say the same. I had a few years where I was seeking lighter books and now I still enjoy them, but I find I’m more open to the darker ones.
Kaetrin: I’m so busy at present I have little time to read but when I do I’ve turned to comfort reads so I’ve been rereading Kristen Ashley’s Rock Chick and Dream Man series.
Layla: I was drawn to escapism–books that had unusual concepts, or took place in different times or worlds. I wasn’t in the mood for light fluffy or comic, even though I’ve had a very challenging and difficult year. Books as always provided escape comfort and stress relief.
Sirius: This year for obvious reasons brought a negative trait into my reading. I could not bring myself to pick up a single Russian classic to reread. I know it is irrational, but the thought of rereading right now makes me start shaking. Maybe it will go away eventually but not any time soon.
Janine: Given that you are originally from Ukraine and still have connections there, Sirius, I think your response to the thought of reading Russian classics is natural. Maybe not rational or desirable, but if I were in your shoes, I don’t know if I would be able to help it.
2022 has been the Year of the Disappointing Sequel for me. About fifteen books by authors whose books I normally look forward to (and in some cases sequels to books I loved) dipped into the C range or even lower. That included two of my three most anticipated books of 2022, Tasha Suri’s The Oleander Sword and Simon Jimenez’s The Spear Cuts Through Water (maybe I need to avoid books with weapons in the titles, ha).
Rose: For me, this has been the year of the deep dive into authors’ backlists. I started with Rachel Grant’s Evidence series, then decided to give KU a shot. I went through phases: Claire Kingsley (generally dependable, occasionally very good), Kate Canterbary (hit or miss but I loooooove The Cornerstone), Cate C. Wells (never thought I’d go for shifters, motorcycle club stuff, or mafia, but her stuff just works for me), Julie Kriss (her Road Kings series is highly recommended, the rest a mixed bag), and Karla Sorensen (the time jumps between series are weird, but she consistently delivers readable contemporaries). I also read the rest of Grant’s backlist, O’Roark’s Devil books (The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was my favorite), the most recent releases from Laura Griffin and the first three Sierra Simone Priest/Bell brothers books (original and super-sexy).
Disappointments
Rose: Books I hoped would work for me and didn’t: Rachel Grant’s Flashpoint series wasn’t as enjoyable as the Evidence books; Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light was sooooo slooooowwww; No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield, where the twist made me dislike all the main characters; Roni Loren’s What If You & Me (decent read, just not as compelling as The Ones Who Got Away series); In a Jam by Kate Canterbary; The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams (fun idea, mediocre execution), A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn (Julia Grey >>> Veronica Speedwell); and Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (despite Ilya being Ilya).
Layla: I read a lot of tepid books— Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik was an entertaining and forgettable space opera. Two very similar historicals–A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin and Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain (skip the book and watch the movie, it’s much better). The Bodyguard by Katherine Center, a book that many raved about. Virgin River by Robin Carr (only because I super loved the cheesy Netflix show).
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan which enraged me with its terrible writing and sentimentality. Abby Jimenez’s The Happily Ever After Playlist which I LOATHED by the end because of its terribly written hero and super developed schmaltz. The Stand In by Lily Chu was good but forgettable. Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher–I enjoyed it and forgot it after. Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon–beautiful cover but forgettable book.
Slumps
Jennie: I don’t think I really have any new trends except *not* reading. Maybe I need a new genre to energize me.
The weird thing is, I’m not even sure *why* I’m reading less. I’ve gotten out of the habit of reading several books at once (a fiction, a non-fiction, a classic and a romance, if I’m juggling at full capacity). But it would make sense that I’d be reading faster if I were just reading one or two books at a time, and I’m not. I’d like to blame all the other distractions of the world – work and the news and the fact that I spend time playing dumb games on my phone – but all of those distractions have been in place for several years, at least. So I don’t know what it is, really. I just don’t feel as compelled by books as I have in the past.
Janine: I don’t think you need to feel bad, Jennie, that is the definition of a reading slump. I noticed a lot of derivative books this year, and many of the ones I raced through were older books (I caught up on most of the Ilona Andrews books I hadn’t read yet, for example). I also felt like I had to scour the earth (and Goodreads) to find new books I actually enjoyed and I dumped a lot of books early. Has anyone else has experienced what I’m talking about?
Sirius: Oh yes hundred percent, moreover I have been experiencing it for the last two or three years. Well, except dumping a lot of books since I am mostly talking about genres with m/m subplots. I know pretty well what will engage me and what not and for the last couple years or maybe even three it has been mostly *not* and no, it is not me. I am not tired of m/m subplots, on the contrary I want more of them, but man I want an interesting well written story to go along and what I consider as such is getting harder and harder to find.
I don’t consider myself in a slump though, there are always non-mm mysteries and SFF, but I want the ones I want and alas, there are not too many.
Janine: Me too. It’s gotten really hard to find the books I want. But that’s why the good books I have found this year have been so heartening.
What about you, DA readers? How was 2022 for you? Did you read more or less than usual? Were there any changes in your genre preferences? Author discoveries? Or any other trends in your reading patterns? We’d love to hear.
You have all inspired a rare New Year’s resolution: To keep track of every single book I read, beginning January 1st. Or …today, for the practice.
The books I read are in my kindle app, in KU, in Scribd. KU and Scribd, I have discovered, move books on and off subscription, so I can’t compile a comprehensive list.
I’ve read about the same number of books as always, in the same genres, with the addition of romantic suspense light. No gore, torture, or serial killers, please.
Lucy Score, Renée Pawlis, and Cherie Priest are new-to-me authors. Score’s Things We Never Got Over was so well put-together and emotional, I’m remembering it months later; Pawlis’ character Jo Gunning has exactly the personality, character, and adventures I enjoy reading about; and Priest’s Grave Reservations was smart and creative. Oh, how I love books.
So far in 2022, I’ve read 167 books, which is significantly less than I read in 2021—but I was on sick leave for about three months last year with little to do but read, giving my 2021 numbers a significant boost. I expect to finish about four more books before the end of the year, but I won’t be breaking the 200 mark in 2022. The bulk of the books I read in 2022 were contemporary romances or romantic-suspense, split about equally between m/f and m/m pairings, which doesn’t deviate much from previous years.
My author discoveries this year were all m/m: Cordelia Kingsbridge’s five-book romantic-suspense Seven of Spades series about a serial killer in the Las Vegas area. The MCs are a police detective and a private investigator (a compulsive gambler in recovery—he lapses at least once during the series) who begin a relationship during the course of the series. John Wiltshire’s nine-book More Heat Than the Sun series about the relationship between a shadowy member of the English nobility and a Special Forces soldier. One of the interesting things about the books is how, as the series progresses, plots and actions in previous books are later shown in different lights. But probably my very favorite discovery is Rachel Ember whose Wild Ones series (five books so far) trace the interconnected relationships between several generations of a Nebraska farm/ranch family and a group of “found family” in coastal California. One of the books—BURNING SEASON—is a historical romance set in 1972. I must say, as someone who was in her teens in 1972, it was hard to think of that time period as “historical”, lol.
If I’ve noticed any new trends in my 2022 reading, it’s that I seem to be gravitating towards writers and books that reframe the tropes. Three that stand out: J.T. Geissinger’s PEN PAL, an excellent mash-up of romance, psychological suspense, and gothic horror; Eris Adderly’s BASS-ACKWARDS, a working-class view of the “woman sleeps with her boss in order to get the money she needs to help her family” trope so beloved in dark/billionaire romances, but BASS-ACKWARDS is neither dark nor featuring a billionaire; and Cate C. Wells’s NICKY THE DRIVER, a mafia romance which is less about the romance and more an excellent look at inherited/generational trauma.
Probably my biggest disappointment in 2022 was Eve Dangerfield’s VELVET CRUELTY, the first book in a trilogy that features a dark retelling of the Snow White fairy tale. Eve Dangerfield is one of my auto-buy favorites, and I was looking forward to reading Dangerfield’s take on the dark sub-genre, but VELVET CRUELTY was just a long series of humiliations taken out on an innocent woman whose only crime was to be the fiancée of a man on whom the four heroes want revenge. The book featured none of the heart and humor (or the self-aware, autonomous heroines) found in Dangerfield’s other books. I was very disappointed with this book—to the point that I don’t want to read the rest of the books in the trilogy.
And although there is no one book I’m eagerly awaiting in 2023 that matches my anticipation in 2022 for Rachel Reid’s THE LONG GAME, there are some books I’m looking forward to in 2023, including: Genevieve Turner’s COWBOY, PROMISE ME ALWAYS (January 19), Kati Wilde’s SHERIFF’S BAD BEAR (January 31), Serena Bell’s WILDER AT LAST (February 7), Zoe York’s REBEL AT HEART (April 25), and Julie Kriss’s REVERB (May 1).
@D3, Oooh, I’m also waiting for Julie Kriss’s Reverb. After finishing Riff and Rhythm, (second & third in series) last weekend, I immediately aimed at “Buy now”, to discover Reverb isn’t published yet. Which lead to Ice cream consolation.
@LML: I used to keep track of the books I read (as well as those I want to read) in a word doc but now I do it on Goodreads. I don’t know what’s better. Goodreads makes it very easy to add tags and ratings, but on the other hand I tend to focus on what other people in my stream there are reading and those aren’t always the books I would most enjoy.
Do you use Libby? It can keep track of books you sign out of the library, too.
Can you articulate why you added light romantic suspense? Maybe I should dip my toes back into that genre. I dropped out of it after I lost interest in Linda Howard’s more recent books. That was years ago.
I think I might take a look at one or two of the books you mentioned.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Hmm, maybe I should try that 1972 book. What’s the title?
I agree 1972 should not be considered historical. I think Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner wouldn’t even call their books in the Fly Me to the Moon series, which have 1950s and 1960s settings, historical! I was alive in 1972 (albeit a very small child). historical to me is 1940s (about) or earlier–my grandparents’ generation.
Velvet Cruelty sounds truly terrible. I always get Eve Dangerfield mixed up with Eve Silver.
Rose recently recommended Julie Kriss to me also. Since you and LML both like her too, she’s someone else I should probably look into. I am glad that Genevieve Turner is writing again, even though I am not a fan of cowboy books (I’m vegan and don’t think it’s romantic to kill animals).
@Janine: the Rachel Ember book set in the 1970s is called BURNING SEASON. I do think it works better if you read the first two books in the Wild Ones series first (LONG WINTER & SIGNS OF SPRING) because it sets up a lot of what happens in the rest of the books and helps explain why we venture back in the past to determine how the rift in the family started. The MCs of BURNING SEASON recur in the other books–significantly older, of course.
So far this year: 86 books. A lot less than I used to read. There are years when 200 was my norm.
I don’t try as many new authors as I have in the past and I am finding it hard to find books that I think will appeal absent a good review or rec.
My problem is that I have noticed so many recommendations come in the form of telling me the trope. I don’t want to know the trope, I want to know what the book is about. And I hate the blurbs that are written in first person i.e. “He was a bad boy I knew he was no good for me, but I couldn’t stay away…” they sound like diary entries not a good indicator of what I am going to read storywise. So I pass on.
That said I did discover Olivia Atwater, Kilby Blades and Helen Harper (good) but also on the not-so-good was CP Smith and actually I had heard a lot about Tessa Bailey over the years and decided to finally give her a try but she wasn’t my cuppa.
As far as genres, I stuck with romance mainly. But also I really like paranormal mysteries and historical mysteries. I actively tried to read more historical romances because contemporaries were feeling a bit samey-same. Stella Riley, Mimi Matthews and Mary Balogh are good storytellers for me without it feeling like I am reading the same story over again.
This has been the year of the comfort read or re-read. I have re-read more old faves like Beverly Jenkins, Shelly Laurenstan early pride series and 80s Laurie McBain.
Went back to restart Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings (epic Fantasy) to catch up to the newest release. These are beasts on audio (38-40 hrs per book) but the audio performance is peerless. Also went back and re-started the Miles Vorkosigan (Sci-Fi) series from the beginning.
I also tried to actively find books with more mature heroines in the 30s or 40s which Freya Barker is good for. And even though I haven’t read her a a lot in almost 9 years, Kristen Ashley’s had a couple of recents, AFTER THE CLIMB and MAKING THE LEAP both feature older protagonists who are entering into second marriages and have grown kids.
And finally, I have really upped my consumption of audiobooks year over year. I tend to listen to an audiobook during the day but settling in night I will have my second book on my kindle to read.
@TinaNoir: Can you say why you don’t try as many new authors as you used to? Is it more a matter of becoming more picky or more a matter of the genres you read moving in a direction that’s less likely to meet your taste? Or something else?
And LOL I agree on the first person blurbs that tell you nothing about the plot.
I have actually not heard of most of those authors (just Tessa Bailey, but I haven’t read her) and the historical ones mentioned in your following paragraph. I really need to try Mimi Matthews sometime. I agree with Balogh but struck out with Riley.
Laurie McBain… I remember loving Moonstruck Madness. I haven’t read her in many years.
I have looked at those Sanderson books many times but their sheer length is intimidating to me.
@LML: I’ve been tracking my reading in an Excel file for more than a decade – I add a new sheet every year, with the title, author, publication year, genre and quick thoughts for each book. It’s helpful for discussions like this, and also when people ask for recommendations :)
I finally read another good historical romance – which, unsurprisingly, was the KJ Charles Christmas novella Masters in This Hall.
Like DDD and LML, I await Reverb. Also whatever Cate C. Wells comes up with next, including next week’s The Lone Shifter’s Rejected Mate, where the first-person blurb actually works for me.
According to Goodreads, I read 102 books this year. That number includes some DNF books, so I probably read 85.
Favorite Book – The Devil You Know by Elizabeth O’Roark
Biggest Disappointment – Reckless Fortune by M.M. Crane
Favorite Series – The Thursday Murder Club – I read all 3 of them in 6 weeks
Book I’ve Owned Longer than 5 Years and Finally Read – After Hours by Cara McKenna
Genre I Never Read – The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno- Garcia
@Janine: Although I read and enjoyed Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter series a few years ago during a hospital interlude, upon exit I immediately returned to romance and mysteries without a thought for romantic suspense. Then last year I started a contemporary romance series by Janet Elizabeth Henderson (so enjoyable!). That short series led into another, which led into … romantic suspense. And there I was, reading and enjoying romantic suspense.
With no more of Henderson’s books to read, I remembered Elyse’s SBTB review of Adriana Anders’ Whiteout. After Anders came Rachel Grant – her character Fiona Carver is great – and then, a dud (to me) of an author. Why it took reading a handful before I figured out they were All The Same is beyond me. But I love Betty Neels, so perhaps it wasn’t All The Same as much as Little Woman Stands By and Flaps Her Hands.
I enjoyed reading romantic suspense for the combination of romance and threat and mystery, settings outside of romancelandia, and in the best that I read, science background. The good guys win, love prevails, all very satisfying.
@Jenreads: I looooove Silvia-Moreno Garcia, though I still need to get back to The Daughter of Dr. Moreau. Have you read any others of hers? Velvet is the Night and Gods of Jade and Shadow are my two favorites. I still haven’t caught up on her entire backlist but I really want to.
@Rose, @LML, @DDD: Guys, I signed up for a 3-month trial of KU last night just so I could read these Julie Kriss books. I hope I like them.
@LML: Thanks for satisfying my curiosity. Is the science background usually well researched? I’m picky about things like that.
@Janine, outside of geology, my knowledge of science is modest. Nothing jumped out as being ridiculous.
Many of the romantic suspense novels involve military special forces, weaponry, bombs, sophisticated computer shenanigans, in all of which I happily have no experience. I suspect a person with those backgrounds will find their eyeballs rolling, but as a reader, sometimes ignorance is bliss.
@Janine:
Can you say why you don’t try as many new authors as you used to?
I think it is a convergence of a few of things —
1- My longevity in reading the genre so not a lot is new. It is the execution that is key. I don’t mind familiar plots, but I want the author to do something interesting with them.
2- Cost. Books are a lot more expensive with the move away from mmpb and even ebooks are running into the double digits. And I am noticing fewer new authored books at my local library. So it is harder to try someone new. I will say KU is really good about offerring free trials even when you have had them in the past. I think my last three sign ups for KU were 3-month free trials and it is a nice way to discover new-to-me authors. It is how, much to my surprise I discovered Kathryn Moon who writes a lot of man-harem books which are not my wheelhouse but she writes a great story. Also how I discovered Lucy Score who was my favorite new discovery last year.
3-what I call the ‘visual white noise’ effect. I never really understood on a conscious level the importance of a good cover to at least pique my interest and make me want to browse the blurb. Until now With the proliferation of the illustrated covers and the way they get marketed. So often on blogs, on twitter even on goodreads, you get a collage of bookcovers telling you to read these books and seeing them all side by side with their bright colors and indistinguishable features it has the effect of creating a visual white noise. I am not tempted to pick one out of the herd to read the blurb. Also i like books with a little bit of grit and I am sure some of these had grit, but the covers do not suggest it.
4- This may just be an ‘old man yelling at a cloud’ moment, but for awhile there it felt like every book that came out was a fake dating book or an enemies to lovers book. And some of my familiar authors were doing this but so many new-to-me authors that seemed their go to plot. And while I don’t mind a good fake date, on the whole those are not my favorite conflicts in romance.
@Janine, may I suggest you read Julie Kriss’s books in order? I think you’ll have a better feel for the characters.
@Rose, I have been stuck for some time on the idea that I need a database program so that I can enter all book info on a “ticket” and the program will put it in all the right places. I doubt database programs are straight-forward enough for me to accomplish without hiring someone to set it up.
Thank you for your good suggestion of using a spreadsheet. I had forgotten that there is a solution in between word processing and database.
I really enjoyed Nora Goes Off Script. In a year of so many unreadable books by authors that have been long time favorites, NGOS was a joy to read even with her editorial problems. Only Ilona Andrews came through for me this year which was surprising because I’m not really a fan of Hidden Legacy, but I love the Innkeeper Series and the serial kept my spirits up week to week even though in the end the book was just okay. Sweep of the Heart was still better than anything Briggs or Singh wrote in 2022. JMHO
I am so looking forward to the new Kate Daniels book next month that 2022 is in the rear view mirror while I happily speed away to better reading.
Happy Holidays Dear Author and friends, wishing you all the very best of a New Year.
@TinaNoir:
When will the fake dating trope lose its hold on the romance genre? I’m down here yelling at the clouds too.
I enjoyed this post and the comments.
I don’t keep track of my reading, but I’d guess it is upwards of 175 books this year. I still read a good number of romances, but I feel that I’ve been reading more books that might be considered space opera, science fiction, fantasy, or some hodgepodge thereof. I read young adult books occasionally but tend to favor books marketed for adults. I am not a fan of horror or westerns (though I’ll read Jo Goodman) or inspirational (I’ll make an exception for Carla Kelly and Elizabeth Camden), but I am likely to try most subgenres of romance. I abandon books frequently and without guilt. I often reread old favorites.
I have read many, many books that I enjoyed, but none leap to mind as favorites that I am apt to reread and reread. I don’t know whether I’ve become more selective with age or whether I’ve already read so many good books that it’s harder to find something to match or surpass an old favorite.
The first sentence of my last paragraph should have read ~
I have read many, many books that I enjoyed THIS YEAR, but none leap to mind as favorites that I am apt to reread and reread.
@TinaNoir: Oh my God, we are so much on the same page, I can’t believe it.
1. Absolutely. When you’ve been reading a genre for decades it’s hard to find anything really novel, so execution becomes more and more important. It’s easy to get finicky; I know I have.
2. Yes. I am glad I get ARCs and have an excellent library. If I ever left LA I would miss my LAPL card very much.
3. Agreed. I recently told a friend who writes dark stuff that if she had books out right now they would nevertheless have lighthearted illustrated covers.
4. OMG, and this is the one that blew my mind. I’ve ranted about this more than once this year. We had a whole discussion of the topic here: https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/open-thread-for-readers-for-april-2022/
(Also if you love an unusually good fake date, I really recommend The View was Exhausting. There’s grittiness too, I think you may like it.)
@Janine: I second @LML’s recommendation to read Kriss’s series in order. Kriss has written a number of series (don’t be put off by “Billionaires” in the title, most of them are not—they usually grew up working class and became unexpectedly wealthy later). In the past two Christmas seasons, she’s written a book in a Christmas series with Molly O’Keefe & S. Doyle writing the other books. My favorite of Kriss’s series is the Riggs Brothers, but she’s written several others plus some stand-alones. She’s three books into her latest series (The Road Kings), which is about a rock group, disbanded for the past five years, who reunite for another tour. Each member falls in love during the course of the tour.
@LML: Thanks. My dad is a physicist and I used to work as a lab assistant in a biological research lab so sometimes science stuff does jump out at me. I have some tolerance for liberties but it’s pretty limited.
Thanks for the advice re. Julie Kriss.
@mel burns: I am really looking forward to the next Kate Daniels too. Sirius and I plan to review it together here. I read the excerpt on her site and now I’m jonesing for it and checking Netgalley every day to see if ARCs are available to request yet.
I do like the Hidden Legacy books (especially the Nevada and Rogan books–I think White Hot is their best work) but I’m wondering now if I should give the Innkeeper series a second shot.
@Kareni: It’s interesting that a number of us in the discussion and now you too have mentioned that we are reading more fantasy and SFF than in the past. I wonder if that’s a general trend or if we are just anecdotal cases.
I think I had a better year than you. The Long Game is definitely a reread book for me–I’ve already read it four times! And there are a couple of others that I can imagine rereading in the future.
@DiscoDollyDeb: and @ LML: Do you mean read the Road Kings series in order or do you mean that I need to read all her books in publication order to be able to get the most out of the Road Kings books? The latter seems like too much of a commitment but I was already thinking of doing the former.
Although… the blurb for the first Road Kings books sounds a lot less interesting than the Blurb for books two and three. Just out of curiosity–and this question is for Rose as well–what’s your favorite of the Road Kings books?
@mel burns: I am really looking forward to the next Kate Daniels too. Sirius and I plan to review it together here. I read the excerpt on her site and now I’m jonesing for it and checking Netgalley every day to see if ARCs are available to request yet.
I do like the Hidden Legacy books (especially the Nevada and Rogan books–I think White Hot is their best work) but I’m wondering now if I should give the Innkeeper series a second shot.
@mel burns: PS I also did really like Nalini Singh’s psy / changeling book this year. Mainly for the heroine, she was great.
@Janine: mmmm. I decided to review the latest one.
@Janine: sorry, I mean if you choose to read any one of Kriss’s series, I recommend reading that particular series in order. Generally, in all of her series there’s something that runs in the background through each of the books and culminates in the final book, also timelines do overlap and events build on each other. I’ve enjoyed all the Road Kings books, but I do think you should read DUET first—it introduces all the characters and upcoming events.
@Sirius: Innkeeper?
@DiscoDollyDeb: Thanks, that’s good to know. I almost always read series in publication order anyhow, even when the books are billed as standalones. I like to follow each character’s growth journey from the very beginning and not just start when I reach their book.
@Janine: yeah.
I just noticed that Unbidden Melody (Warrender Saga Book 7) by Mary Burchell is currently free for US Kindle readers. This was well reviewed here some years ago.
@Kareni: Thank you! I got it.
@TinaNoir: Yes, yes, yes, yes. I’m tired of enemies-to-lovers and fake dating tropes especially. Same with cartoon or illustrated covers. And I think that both of these things have led me to try more historical mysteries/women’s fiction/SF this year. There are times when switching to a NF book has kept me sane.
Reading SF and fantasy has also helped me this year but I’m leery of committing to trilogies especially if each book is 500+ pages.
@Janine, my favorites so far are the first and third. I found myself impatient with Raine, female lead in the second. The first, Duet, has so much emotion. Watching two characters outwardly mismatched start a gentle relationship which enhanced both their lives was very appealing.
@LML: Good to know. That’s too bad about the second because the blurb made it interest me a lot. I haven’t seen that twist before. But I will start with the first, no worries.
Have you read Elizabeth O’Roark? Another KU author and one that a handful of us here like.
@Janine: I haven’t read O’Roark, although I saved one with KU that was mentioned recently, The Devil You Know. I haven’t settled to read it, perhaps because it is 3rd and I’m not quite enthused enough to read the first two first. Perhaps I’ll look at a different series first.
Some romance series have a weak connection and each novel actually stands alone. Others, well, the reader does a disservice to themself by reading out of order. A disservice to the author as well, when there is a carefully developed arc through the series. It’s tricky to know which, so I usually stick with my first comes first policy.
@LML: Book two in the O’Roark series is also good IMO, and book one is entirely skippable. People love all different ones in the series though! I know a couple of people who loved the first book. Anyway I think you really don’t need to read book one or book two in that series before reading book three, but I would read book three before reading book four.
@Janine: The quality of the Road Kings books has been pretty uniform so far, and it’s really more about which characters and stories you click with. I don’t really have one book to recommend above the others, though I will say that Neil from Riff is probably my favorite among the guys so far. Unlike LML, I thought Raine was a good match for him and wasn’t frustrated with her at all.
I’m so happy to see the Julie Kriss love here. I think she’s one of Romancelandia’s most underrated writers, producing work of consistent quality with thoughtful, mature, self-aware characters, and getting very little recognition in return. I’m glad she’s getting some here.
I’m reading the first book in the Julie Kriss series right now and really liking it so far. I like how mature Callie is. Layla read it and liked it also. So thank you all for your recommendations!
@Janine: yes I love that this book was about a rock star but not cliche— like he doesn’t sleep with groupies ( a total yucky turn off for me), he is a genuine musician who is connected to heroine through music and I liked how strong and independent the heroine is. Great book can’t recommend it enough!
@DiscoDollyDeb: which others of hers do you recommend ? I’ve read two out of the three road kings books. I tried an older one of hers about a billionaire and his secretary but found it boring and cliche. Would love recommendations since she has an enormous backlist !
@Rose: who is LML that your referring to? I wonder if you didn’t think Callie was a good match for Derek? Did you read the latest one with Axl?
@Layla: LML is a commenter in this thread. If you scan through all the comments you will see that she made several, including the very first one at the top. She discussed the Julie Kriss books, among others.
@Layla: I’m not DDD, but would recommend the Riggs Brothers series (especially the third one), though they’re much shorter. Crashed was good, too.
@Layla: I’m with @Rose that the Riggs Brothers is probably my favorite Kriss series. I like TAKE ME DOWN (older heroine, virgin hero) the best of the four, but I think the series works best if you read the series in order. I also like CRASHED (which has a hero who uses a wheelchair because of injuries he received in an automobile accident), but I think that book works best if you read SPITE CLUB first (the heroes of the two books are brothers).
There was something exceptionally good for me in 2022, and that is the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid. I discovered her books and I really like them. But Ilya & Shane’s story? I am obsessed. Really. I love that couple. ‘The long game’ was my best book of this year.
I have read more books this year than in the past. I gravitate towards suspense, male male romance and contemporaries, although I find increasingly difficult to accept the dual first person narrative. I’m sick of it. I found this NA style even in some suspense novels, which makes no sense a all for me. I discover new authors in those genres, but not in historical. I’m struggling with this las genre.
People like books that I find boring. Emily Henry’s novels are the perfect example -for me- of something very tedious that everybody else loves. Among other 2022 DNFs of mine are Sarah Hogle or Mimi Mathews. Authors whose books I loved in the past have taken paths I don’t follow, from Courtney Milan or KJ Charles to Talia Hibbert.
So, I don’t know where the genre is going, but my plans for the near future are to keep on reading suspense and male male romances, try to find attractive contemporaries and stick to old authors when it comes to historical books (reading and rereading Balogh, Putney, MacGregor, Kleypas, Kinsale)
@Bona: The Long Game is going on my best of 2022 too (that should be going up on the site in the next couple of weeks). Three of us reviewed it together and we ALL gave it a straight A which is a grade you won’t see around here very often. I could be wrong but I don’t think three straight A’s for the same book is something that has ever happened at DA before.
I wonder what Rachel Reid has in the works next. Does anyone know?
I think you and I have some overlap in our tastes, Bona. I’m reading a lot more LGBTQIA+ fiction than I used to (in my case also f/f), struggling with historical and sticking with Balogh and Kleypas (although what’s happened to her?), don’t get the Emily Henry fuss, and am getting a bit tired of alternating first person although I still read it.