Bri's 5/5 Books of 2022
Big ol' wrap up newsletter instead of your regularly scheduled programming
Hi all! No new *official* newsletter this week, but on Monday on my Instagram, I posted a series of stories (now a handy highlight) of my favorite books I read in 2022 plus my year-end stats that I’ve been tracking in my fully unhinged romance reading spreadsheet. Some may be familiar, some will be recommended in full in future newsletters, and all were books I rated a 5/5 after reading them for the first time in 2022!
First, though, my year-end stats:
Next, my top-read authors!
Lauren Layne | 29 Books | Avg. Rating: 3.87
Christina Lauren | 24 Books | Avg. Rating: 4.09
Lorraine Heath | 19 Books | Avg. Rating: 3.93
| 16 Books | Avg. Rating: 4.12Sarah MacLean | 15 Books | Avg. Rating: 4.43
Tessa Bailey | 15 Books | Avg. Rating: 3.95
Sophie Jordan | 14 Books | Avg. Rating: 4.01
Julia Quinn | 12 Books | Avg. Rating: 4.08
Elle Kennedy | 11 Books | Avg. Rating: 3.59
Kate Canterbary | 11 Books | Avg. Rating: 3.72
Tessa Dare | 10 Books | Avg. Rating: 4.35
Adriana Anders | 9 Books | Avg. Rating: 3.97
And now, the books I rated 5 stars in 2022!
Historical recommendations:
I could have been more granular in my categorization here, but I had a hard time aligning every book this year with at least 3-4 others without separating out the historicals. Plus, more distinct theming is what I have the weekly newsletter for!
Protagonists in Progress:
Books where the hero or, usually, heroine is at a particular turning point in their life and how they define themselves. Another mixed bag of a category in an attempt at order
Romances about/featuring grief:
A surprisingly (or perhaps not) rich vein for love stories!
Protagonists with toxic partners/exes:
Sometimes, you can’t/shouldn’t try to fix him/her. Good riddance!
Fake dating
Enemies to lovers
Special mention: In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren, which I recommended last week in my Christmas books roundup, because I couldn’t find an appropriate theme alignment with it and enough other books in this roundup.
Anyways, that was my year in reading! I hope you join me next year for more romance round ups and next week for books about hyper-organized heroines just in time to write new years resolutions!
My favorites of the 13 books I read this year were Seven Days in June, Kindred, and The Haunting of Hill House
I just finished Love on the Brain (thank you for the copy!) and had my mind WRECKED by Ling Ma's Severance.
I have to say, the contemporary romances all feel like they have a similar cover design (or are all fitting a market trend). Is there a particular book or books that started that?