As you may know, I have a goal to read 50+ books in 2022. Since I write reviews for most of the books I read, I thought it would be fun to do a roundup here after the end of each month. Here is what I read in January!
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“Wish You Were Here” by Jodi Picoult
Rating
★★★★/5
Book Review
Jodi Picoult’s gift is in her development of characters. She has the ability of sharing stories in such a way that you’d think they were her firsthand experiences.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I was going to like this book. My husband gave it to me for Christmas because he knows that Picoult is my favorite author and that I had it on my wishlist. Despite wanting the book, I hadn’t actually read the synopsis to know that it would take place and, in a way be about, Covid-19. It felt too soon and too close to home, with several of my family members currently sick.
Halfway through the novel, I still wasn’t sure where the story was going. I had resolved myself to still rating the book high for the writing, even though I wasn’t sure that I liked the characters or plot. “Is this me projecting my feelings and thinking I would have done things differently?” These are the things I was asking myself. The story takes a drastic turn in the second half. I’m not one to give spoilers so let me just say, I was glad I stuck with it. This was a great book. Like all of Jodi’s writing, it made me really think about my life and what’s important.
“Bridge of Souls” by Victoria Schwab
Rating
★★★★/5
Book Review
I started last year by reading “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” and that was all the invitation I needed to dive into the world of Fantasy, and specifically, those created by Victoria/V.E. Schwab. I ended up reading 7 of her books, including two series. I love that she writes under two pen names, depending on her audience. This particular series is considered Middle Grade, and geared toward children ages 9 through 12.
This series is fantasy and for younger readers, I would consider this suspenseful but not scary. It includes magic and death, so if that’s not your cup of tea, I get it. It’s also about friendship! I really enjoyed this series and I know that my 9-year-old would too!
“Becoming Mrs. Lewis” by Patti Callahan
Rating
★★★/5
Book Review
Phew. This was such an interesting concept for a book. It’s fiction, yet it’s about real people. I really struggled with this one. First of all, it’s entirely too long. I listened to the audiobook at 1.41x speed and it still seemed to drone on. The audiobook is over 12 hours long, but the story could truly have been told in 6-8 hours. There were so many times I had to take a break because it was redundant or just… boring. 😬 (I cringe to describe a book in such a way.)
I was interested in this book because I love historical fiction, but also because I was interested in reading about Joy Davidman, writer, mother, and wife of C.S. Lewis. However, during the read it felt presumptive of the author to make up details about a real person’s life. There were just so many things about this book that I didn’t like.
I was going to give it a 2.5 star rating, but I’m bumping it up to 3 stars because of the epilogue. I appreciate that the author really did do a lot of research in preparation of this novel and I enjoyed hearing about her motivation to write it.
😅 Takeaway: Next time I want to learn more about real life people, I’ll pick up a biography or deep dive Wikipedia like I normally do. 😉 On to the next!
“One True Loves” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating
★★★★/5
Book Review
I have yet to read a book by this author that I didn’t absolutely love. This is one of her older books (before “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”, “Daisy Jones & The Six”, and “Malibu Rising” (still on my bookshelf for a rainy day), and it did not disappoint. First of all, bravo on such a clever title. 👏🏼
I really felt for Emma throughout this book. I didn’t always love her choices but I could understand why she made them. This was an impossible situation she was in. I really enjoyed how this story explored both of Emma’s relationships and how a person can change over time. I was sucked into the story and listened to it in one long sitting.
🎧 I was thrilled to see it on Hoopla as a free audiobook rental. It’s narrated by one of the ✨very best✨, Julia Whelan.
“Black Cake” by Charmaine Wilkerson
Rating
★★★★★/5
Book Review
**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.
MAKE THIS THE ONE BOOK YOU READ IN 2022!! 💥
I hope my headline grabbed your attention! I almost don’t even know where to start to share how much I loved this book. “Black Cake” has tradition, love, longing, and loss — it pulled at my heartstrings in all the right ways, from beginning to end. This was a beautifully written story told across several generations and through multiple perspectives. It dives into hard issues like abandonment, abuse, family disfunction, sexuality, racism, environmental protection… and honestly so much more.
In the end, this is the love story of a mother, a testament to loyalty, and to the resilience of women.
💥 I predict that this book is going to make top charts this year! I can only hope there are more stories waiting inside the mind of this debut novelist, and I’ll be first in line to read them when there is.
“The Printed Letter Bookshop” by Katherine Reay
Rating
★★★/5
Book Review
I am drawn to books about books. I love this cover, the title, the font. I really wanted to love this book… but it was just okay to me. It didn’t stir anything in me or cause any real emotion. It was a nice story. I liked all the characters and I enjoyed seeing their friendship unfold but there was no umpf, ya know? I like a story that really pulls at the heart strings and this wasn’t that for me. I will say that even though this wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, I am interested enough that I will likely read the sequel.
“Maybe in Another Life” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating
★★★/5
Book Review
I realize that most people who pick up this book won’t be able to say that they totally relate to the main character, Hannah Martin, but I do. So much so that’s it honestly a bit scary. Where I was a decade ago and where this character is at the age I was a decade ago… same same. So I was very curious to see how her life was about to play out.
This book explores the multiverse and more specifically, how one decision can change the course of your entire life. As an over-thinker and someone who has a hard time not living in the past, it is a bit triggering tbh. This book came out in 2015 but it’s honestly SO much like Jodi Pictoult’s new book, Wish You Were Here, that I felt like I’d read it before. For me, that took away from the experience of both books. Unless you’re really into this book troupe, I’d probably just read one or the other. This was a good book, but not great. My least favorite of TJR but will have absolutely no affect on my reading more from her.
🎧 Another great narration by Julia Whelan. She’s the best.
“The Last Anniversary” by Liane Moriarty
Rating
★★★/5
I didn’t write a review for this one. You can read more about the book on Goodreads.
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