It’s that time of year again when I’ve always picked out my top 5 favourite books of the year. So I’ve just been looking through my virtual bookshelves and as I would really struggle to just pick out one book from each shelf, I’ve decided to do things a little differently this year.
I decided just to do a bit of a ramble, it’s what I do best 😉. We’ll just take a little stroll through the books that have stood out for me throughout the year, shelf by shelf. I have a family drama shelf and a contemporary fiction shelf, when really they’re pretty much interchangeable and I’m never quite sure where to put them. So here we go then:
Family Drama
To be honest there aren’t many books on this shelf this year, and I know there are some family dramas under other headings. My Heart Went Walking by Sally Hanan was a brilliant book I read quite early on in the year. I was contacted via my blog by Hannah of Hannah Hargrave PR asking if I’d be interested in reading and reviewing this book. I’m so glad I agreed because it was a fantastic story. Set during the 1980’s in Ireland it tells of two young sisters, growing up and both falling for the same man, and experiencing some difficult situations and life events. The author Sally Hanan grew up in Ireland so it has a real authentic feel to it.
The Sapphire Cove by Sophie Anderson is another family oriented story, some of which is set in The Philippines. I actually read this in 2021 but it wasn’t published until February 2022, so it counts as this year. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I enjoyed both of them very much.
Chick Lit/Rom Com
Do we really call it Chick Lit any more? Light hearted fun reads is probably a better description, I think, and you couldn’t get any more fun than The Weekend Before the Wedding by Tracy Bloom. A hen weekend at a Spanish Villa, with a mixture of hens, all related to each other and not always seeing eye to eye. I loved this book, it was so funny. My second Tracy Bloom book and I would definitely read more.
I spotted this next book on Facebook. One of those “suggested for you” posts. Mapton on Sea by Sam Maxfield. There’s a series of them but I’ve only read this first one. It is funny, and I suppose you could put it under Rom Com but along with the humour there are some really poignant parts too, making for a well-rounded read. I hope to read some more in the series when I get chance.
Contemporary Fiction and Humour
This is probably my favourite genre, so there might be a few books here. HQ publishers seem to be my favourite for these kinds of books too.
One Good Thing by Alexandra Potter. Aw, such a lovely feel good book. This is the second book I’ve read by this author and they just make you feel happy. I like her sense of humour too.
These Streets by Luan Goldie. The second book I’ve read by this author. I love her writing. She writes about real people, her characters could just be anyone you know, living in an area just like yours with all the challenge’s life throws at us. This was a brilliant read and on a very topical subject, that of losing your home because your Landlord has decided to sell it from under you. This is happening to so many people right now.
Ginger and Me by Elissa Soave – funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Isaac and the Egg by Bobby Palmer. Oh wow ‘that egg book’, once read, you’ll never forget. A beautiful story and the one and only audio book I’ve listened to all year. It melts your heart, it really does.
Love Untold by Ruth Jones. Ohhh, I thought this book was just wonderful. This is definitely one of the books that could just as easily have fitted under the family drama heading. A tale of 4 generations of women from the same family with so many secrets to be revealed.
Ten Years by Pernille Hughes and Kerry Tucker Learns to Live by Louise Voss were also stand out books that I thoroughly enjoyed this year.
Anyway I decided I’d better do this in two parts as it all gets a bit long winded you know? I’ve put a link to the full reviews for all the books mentioned in the title of the book, so you can read a bit more if you like the sound of them. Part two will be Psychological Suspense/Thriller, Historical Fiction and non fiction.
A good book 'n a Brew 
One thought on “2022 Review Part 1”