I read 78 books in the first half of 2022. (Which is, I admit, excessive.) Of those, 23 of them have been 5 star reads. (Which is also excessive.) This is in part due to the fact that I’m ridiculously easy to please, but it’s also because I have found some truly phenomenal books (and even new-to-me authors) this year. I wanted to share these with you, in the order that I read them.
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Hi everyone! Wow, Middle Grade March was a very full month of reading for me. Aside from the fact that that MG books tend to be easy and fast to read, most of the ones that we’ve chosen to buddy read for the month of March were very enjoyable as well. In total, I’ve managed to complete 11 novels this month, which was quite a record.
I didn’t only read Middle Grade this month, as I was working towards finishing two adult series – The Winternight Trilogy and The Riyria Revelations, as well as continuing with some classic (horror) short stories from Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury. I also couldn’t resist picking up a self-published stand-alone fantasy novel which everyone was raving about on social media, and I’m so glad that I’ve done so because it was definitely one of my Books of the Month. Yups, I couldn’t pick between two novels for BotM.
So let’s get the show on the road shall we?
NB. Books are rated within its genre.
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: The Winternight Trilogy (Book #3 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Pages: 385 pages (Kindle Edition)
Published: 8th January 2019 by Del Rey (US) & 10th January 2019 by Del Rey (UK)
The Winter of the Witch is a stunning historical fantasy conclusion.
“Do you not know me?” she said. “I have loved danger since I was a child. But I have never loved cruelty.”
The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 20 Lists.
Ok, I’ll admit it, I’m cheating… my Best Books of 2019 post is a little different from the rest of the Novel Notions team.
It’s felt like a bit of a strange reading year for me, with a lot of study, non-fiction, and comfort rereads. My number is sitting at 164 so far, with a whole load getting that very respectable 4 star rating. However, there have only been a small amount that have truly floored me, that have deserved the 4.5 or the big, shiny 5 star rating. These are the kind of books that stay in your memory forever, that you recommend EVERYWHERE and as often as possible. They’re the ones where it’s almost impossible to stop your eyes from flicking forward to see what’s coming next because you’re so excited to get there. When I made that feeling the criteria for my list, it made things immediately clear. I don’t have 20, I have 10. They were all published this year and I loved them all. I hope you consider giving them a go too…