AHHHHHHHH....we finally made it to the end of 2022! I'm going to be honest- I'm super excited for 2023! I'm turning 17, getting my drivers license (scary), going to two exciting concerts (which I'll elaborate on in a different blog post), and there are some amazing singers releasing new albums as well! Plus so much more....it's exciting!
But, let's get back to the point of this blog post. I love doing the last blog post of the year. December reading wrap-ups are so so fun!
So, I started this series in 2020 when my blog was born, and since then I've gotten very creative with the way I do my blog posts. I've decided that next year I'm going to add pictures and my ratings of each book (so stay tuned).
For now, let's check out what I read this month! And, at the end I'm going to share with you how many books I read in 2022, and my favorite book from each month. Let's get into it!
1. Caraval: by Stephanie Garber- finished December 3rd
I started off the month right by reading Caraval! This is the first book in a fantasy trilogy. It makes me think of the newer Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes with Mr. Top Hat not gonna lie.
I loved this book so much!! I think I gave it five stars. It was really intriguing, and I just wanted to keep reading so I could figure out what was going to happen. I think I'm going to wait until January to continue this trilogy. I started a bad habit of reading several series at once, so it's taking me longer to finish them. But, it'll be okay.
I highly recommend this book though!
2. Princess Academy (#1): by Shannon Hale- finished December 6th [re-read]
So, this year I actually started annotating! It's a fun way to record your thoughts while reading a book and highlight your favorite lines. I love it so much!
The very first book that I annotated this year was Losing Brave by Bailee Madison and Stefne Miller, which I gave to my best friend for fun!
For a Christmas gift, I decided that I wanted to annotate three books from my favorite trilogy that gave me one of my favorite names. I've written so many short stories with the name Miri and never published them lol. I love that name.
Anyway, I was introduced to this trilogy back in elementary school by my bestie Hannah Grace, and it's been such a long time that I've read it, so I decided to re-read it.
I'm going all out and annotating all three books, so you will be seeing the next two books in this wrap-up as well.
It's such a cute book!
3. If He Had Been With Me: by Laura Nowlin- finished December 11th
I think this is going to be my favorite book that I read this month. It broke my heart. Tore it in two. Made me fall in love with Finny and Autumn. I'm not okay. But I think you should read this book so you understand why I feel the way I feel. Enough said.
4. Everybody Always: by Bob Goff- finished December 15th
If you have never read a Bob Goff book before, pick this up. Or start with Love Does, but either way, don't live your life without reading a Bob Goff book. This man is a phenomenal writer, and God's light shines through him so bright. I just love everything Bob Goff writes, and I really think you need to go pick up one of his books.
5. See You Yesterday: by Rachel Lynn Solomon- finished December 17th
This wasn't my favorite book I've ever read, but I really enjoyed it. It's one of those books where someone repeats the same day over and over again. I really enjoyed reading it, but there were a lot of things I didn't like about it. Mostly the fact that the author was just trying to break through with the things that people think are normal these days. I'm over reading about gay characters, but it's so hard to find a book without them.
Anyway, it was a cute book! I gave it three stars!
6. Princess Academy (#2): by Shannon Hale- finished December 18th [re-read]
Another great re-read, plus another great annotating sesh. You should definitely try annotating books for your friends! It's really fun!!
7. Two Truths and a Lie: by April Henry- finished December 22nd
April Henry has been one of my favorite thriller writers for a while now, and I always felt like when I read one of her books, I would just automatically love it. Until this book. This is the book that crushed my dreams of loving every single one of April Henry's books. (Okay, that was a little dramatic..)
Anyway, I was a little disappointed by this book. It wasn't even the story. It was kinda just the fact that it seemed like April Henry was trying to make people happy by diversifying all the characters. That kind of annoyed me. And it was the first time I have ever read an April Henry book with a gay character in it....if you want me to make a whole podcast episode on this I will, but for now just don't even question me por favor.
I did enjoy the mystery, and I still like April Henry ofc, but this book just wasn't it for me. It's okay. Maybe it will be it for you. I don't know.
8. The Heir (The Selection book 4): by Kiera Cass- finished December 24th
Whoever made that one video saying the last two Selection books suck is COMPLETELY WRONG.
Haha, yeah I watched a YouTube video a while ago and someone in it almost convinced me that the last two books wouldn't be good at all...
I love this book and this series! If you didn't know, the first three books in The Selection series are based on America Singer and her process going through the Selection. But the last two books are about America's daughter and her daughter goes through her own Selection. It's so good guys! You have to go read this series!
I love when I read books and just get completely lost while reading them. It's one thing to read a book and remember you're in the real world, but it's a whole other thing to read a book and actually get sucked into the story like you're living it. If you know, you know.
Anyway, this series did that to me. I read the books so fast and they're just so good!!
9. The Crown (The Selection book 5): by Kiera Cass- finished December 25th
This is the last book in The Selection series. It was just as good as the last, but one character got ruined for me. I tried to forget about that though, and I just love the way this series ended! And Kiera Cass might be my new favorite author. Not favorite favorite, but favorite. Neal Shusterman will always be my favorite author just so you know.
10. It Starts With Us: by Colleen Hoover- finished December 26th
I finally finished It Starts With Us! I actually started this book back in like November when it came out, and I started annotating it then stopped in the middle so I went slow. I finally finished it over Christmas break and I'm really glad! I'm not the biggest Colleen Hoover fan, and I don't intend to read anymore books by her, but I read It Ends With Us and wanted to read the sequel to see more of Atlas! I definitely loved this book more and I'm really glad I read it!!
11. Truly Devious (book one): by Maureen Johnson- finished December 30th
I was going to read A Nancy Drew Christmas book, but I started reading it and realized I've already read it, so I stopped in the middle (only because there was no point in re-reading it when I already know how it ends) and started this book instead!
I've been wanting to read this series, and I got the first three books for Christmas so of course I had to start this one. I really enjoyed it! It almost reminded me of A Good Girls Guide to Murder meets A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm not sure....it's a slower read, but it's a murder mystery kind of. It just gives those vibes. I'm excited to continue the series in 2023!
Okay, I want to share a little bit about what I want to read in 2023 before I finish off this blog with how many books I read this year and my favorites each month.
First off, I started reading the Shatter Me series this year, Truly Devious, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Caraval, The Cruel Prince, Pretty Little Liars, Lightlark...I started a lot of book series this year, and I intend to finish this next year. I want to finish most of these in the beginning of the year so I can go to the library and start Throne of Glass, A Clockwork Angel, Shadow and Bone...there are some big book series I want to start at the end of next year and I'm so excited!
Okay, let's wrap this blog post up! Thanks for reading this (it means a lot to me because I love writing about books but am always afraid no one even cares)!
Here are my favorite books from each month:
January- A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
February- Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson
March- The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
April- You'll Be The Death of Me by Karen M. Mcmanus
May- Girls With Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
June- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Mass
July- These Deadly Games by Diana Urban
August- The Upside of Falling by Alex Light
September- None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney
October- The Selection by Kiera Cass
November- Lightlark by Alex Aster
Okay guys, that was hard, but I tried. I think those are my favorite books of each month. Now, this year I read 118 books!
I started off the year wanting to read 200 books, but quickly realized that wasn't going to happen, so I moved my goal to 120. Now, I did something by accident on Goodreads to make it where I made my goal, but I went back and counted, and technically I did not meet my goal. I could go crazy and read two short books before Sunday, but I'm not in the mood to go crazy rn, so I'm not going to do that. I basically reached my goal. We're just going to keep it a secret that I didn't really. Goodreads thinks I did, so we're just going to agree with Goodreads! 🤭
And with that, the 2022 reading wrap-ups comes to a close. Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading these blog posts! I will not stop doing these, so look forward to every book I read in January coming soon! I did mention that I'm going to be changing the blog posts up a bit. Next year I'm going to share pictures and I'm ratings with you! So I hope that you will come back to see what I read in 2023. I'm thinking next year's reading goal is going to be 150....but we'll see. Again, thanks for sticking with me while I share my ambitious reading goals! Happy almost new year!! ~Ella
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