My top ten books of 2022. It, surprisingly, wasn’t that hard for me to choose. When I look back on all that I read this year I think about these books the most. I loved them for all sorts of reasons — how they made me feel, how they challenged my thinking, how I still hold the characters with me, how I can’t stop thinking about them months later.
I cannot wait to dive into all the new-to-me books in 2023…but first…. a moment for these treasures:
- The Great Alone
- The Silent Patient
- One Two Three
- Winter Garden
- Dear Emmie Blue
- This Time Tomorrow
- Every Summer After
- One Italian Summer
- The Dinner List
- One Night on the Island
Thoughts: Kristen Hannah really does no wrong. I’ve read several of her books and they all are favorites of mine. (Number one being The Nightingale, but The Great Alone is the closest second there ever was.) This book is heartbreaking and incredible and beautiful and very, very sad. (TW: Abuse.) I read this book by the lake and I’ll never forget it.
Winter Garden was also beautiful and challenging, with a mysterious storyline and complex family relationships. I watched one of my best friends read this in California and immediately started it on my flight home after seeing her reaction to it.
If you followed along with the only suspense book I’ve read in the past ten years (dead, literally): The Silent Patient SHOOK me. I was reading it on a train ride home from Manhattan and finished it that night. Sitting on the couch with my eyes darting around (lol, for real though) and full body chills as I neared the end of the book and wrapped my brain around what was going down. I, then, proceeded to tell Caleb the entire story hiding behind a pillow, under my blankets. I still think about this book almost every day. THE WRITING IS SO GOOD.
One Two Three: I wouldn’t have picked this book out knowing the storyline. It was a surprise to me because I bought it over a year ago and just got around to picking it up. It’s a book I’ve loved more and more as more time passes and I think back on it. What an incredible story of three sisters (whom I love with my whole heart) Mirabel, Mab & Monday. “In a town where nothing ever changes, suddenly everything does…”
Dear Emmie Blue + Every Summer After + One Night on The Island: File these under some of the best cozy romances/beach reads. Gah. Lakes, oceans, cozy cabins, best friends turned lovers and basically all my favorite things. You literally cannot go wrong with these three. I want to read them all again for the first time.
I fell in love with Rebecca Serle this summer. One Italian Summer and The Dinner List did it for me. There is always an element of surprise in her books, and there is always a love of food in her books (two of my favorite things). These two are so special.
This Time Tomorrow: I just really loved this one. It’s the love of a daughter for her father. It’s New York. It’s time travel. It’s second chances and it’s being at peace with the hand that life hands you. It was delightful.
Happy reading, my friends.
Books I’ve Loved List | The Next Books on my List
