Hello friends! And welcome to our annual End of Year Wrap Up! As we have read quite a few books for Shelf Explored Book Club and in our personal lives this year so we thought it would be fun to give you guys a peek into our favorites, least favorites, and maybe some surprises we experienced.
A good place to start is how many books did we read this year?
Michaela: This year I reached my goal of 22 books for the year 2022. For a while now I have just been setting my number of books read goal as the last two numbers in the year. At some point I will have to stop doing that but for now I like it!
Jacilyn: I am notoriously bad at keeping track of what I’ve been reading, even though I literally have two apps (Goodreads and Storygraph) to easily do that! So, my amount is more of an educated guess - a combination of what I’ve actually logged into Storygraph and including some re-reads. The final number - 28!
Our favorite book club reads!
Michaela: I actually think I had a lot of favorites this year so it’s really hard to choose! I think my top favorite was The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary. This was such a lovely book. Even though it dealt with some difficult topics it still felt cozy. I felt like I could not put it down because I cared about what happened to the characters so much. This will definitely be a revisited book at some point for me.
I also think The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton was a favorite but in a whole different way than The Flatshare. 7 ½ Deaths was so different from any other mystery book I’ve read and I loved it. Such an interesting way to write a murdery mystery and the supernatural elements were a mystery on their own. I will be re-reading this book for sure, I need to find all the clues I missed last time!
Jacilyn: I concur with Michaela. The Flatshare was my favorite of the book club books we read together this year. I’ve become quite a fan of contemporary romance, and this one just hit all of the marks for me. It was cute, it felt realistic, and dealt with some serious topics without being overwhelming. But, I think my ultimate favorite was Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune, which was the title that Michaela chose for me for our book exchange. Klune is a master at expressing emotions through writing. UtWD made me laugh out loud AND sob, with a cast of characters I fell in love with. Death, and grieving, and reckoning with who you are as a person are all difficult topics, but they were handled beautifully by Klune in this book.
Our least favorite book club reads!
Michaela: There weren’t any books I didn’t like this year, I liked everything we read just some more than others, which is a nice change from last year. However, Blankets by Criag Thompson was a tough read for me and it’s not one I would ever pick up again. I didn’t even keep the book after reading it. It had its moments but ultimately it hit a little too close to home with the religious trauma themes. I’m just not a person who likes to read books on subjects that I already struggle with (ones that aren’t self-help or the like, anyways. Those feel like a much more purposeful read for me which I do, do occasionally). Beautiful art and beautifully written, but I don’t always enjoy reading things that remind me of my own traumas and heartaches. I like reading books to have fun, read a good story, meet new characters, and enter new worlds. However, saying all that I would recommend this book to people if I knew they enjoyed books like it because it was so well done, but I’d include some thoughtful warnings before they start it.
Jacilyn: For me, The Ex-Hex was my least favorite, primarily just because it felt like the potential of the book wasn’t fully fleshed out enough. The ending seemed sudden, and there were plot points that had me wondering “what was the point of including this?” That doesn’t mean this was a bad book by any means, though. It was still a fun read, just fell a little short for me.
Most Challenging Book Club Read!
Michaela: There were two books for me this year that were really rough. While I know that they are good books and well written, they just were not for me. Blankets by Criag Thompson was a challenging read for book club this year for the reasons I listed in an earlier question. A beautiful book, but not for me.
But my most challenging read was D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose. I am not a nonfiction history reader! I wish I was studious enough to enjoy such things, but I am not. The subject was really interesting and it w
as written well. I think if it had been written as a historical fiction based on these women I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Lots of info dumping because that’s how you do history. But again I would definitely recommend this book to people who enjoy historical non-fiction because as someone who doesn’t like reading that genre this book did suck me in during certain parts.
Jacilyn: I think it’s clear that Michaela and I are just not built for non-fiction, for the most part. D-Day Girls was fascinating and I learned a lot, but even the narrative format of it wasn’t enough to truly make it an easy read for me. I studied history in college, and have done a lot of reading into the Holocaust specifically, but war itself has never been my favorite subject. I slogged through the sections focusing on military strategy and war movements. This was definitely more of a chore to read, unfortunately. I have recommended this book to a few patrons at the library, though, so ultimately I’m glad that we read it.
Top Books from Our Personal Reads of 2022
Michaela: My top favorite personal read this year was Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. I did not know how much I would appreciate this book this year when I first picked it up. But now that I have read it and re-read it this year, I am so glad I have experienced this book. A journey of accepting yourself and accepting death in it’s many forms, I cannot say enough how much I love this book. With UtWD and House in the Cerulean Sea (which I also re-read twice this year), Klune is quickly becoming my favorite author. He captures such beautiful magic and characters in his books and I cannot get enough of it.
This year I also got a little bit more into the romance genre, which I never used to be interested in. I think reading Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner last year jump started a new interest in it which I am grateful for. At the beginning of this year I read two Casey McQuiston books; Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop. I simply just enjoyed and loved these books. Well-written and despite the extraordinary circumstances everyone felt like a real person. RWRB made me laugh out loud quite a bit and involved a fictional royal family which we knew I have been obsessed with for a while but especially since reading Princess Diana’s biography last year. OLS involved time-travel and an amazing found-family cast of characters, two of my favorite things ever to be in a story.
Jacilyn: This year, my sister and one of our friends introduced me to the world of Solaria, created by sister authors Susanne Valenti and Caroline Peckham. I began with the Zodiac Academy series, and absolutely devoured them…. Up until book 5, when my heart was ripped out of my chest. The series isn’t finished yet, and I knew the ending of book 7 (the most recent publication at the time) was a really tough cliff-hanger, so I decided to wait to finish the series until book 8 came out this December. Book 8 was supposed to be the final book…. But, the authors announced that there will be a book 9! This series begins as a bully romance, which isn’t my favorite. I struggled with the choices that some of the characters made, but I will say this - everything makes sense as you continue to read the series.
I also read the other Solaria series, called Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac. This series takes place a few years before Zodiac Academy, and is kind of the origin story of some of the characters you meet in Zodiac. This is a reverse harem story - what’s that, you ask? I asked the same thing! It is a story in which the female protagonist has multiple male partners, consensually. It’s basically a polyamory situation. This is the first series of that type that I’ve ever read, but I absolutely loved it. The spice on this series is intense, which I enjoy, but I know that’s not for everyone. Like ZA, Ruthless Boys has characters that I adore with every fiber of my being. These authors, known as the Twisted Sisters for destroying our hearts, truly know how to create complicated, flawed, endearing characters, and we all know that’s what I want most in a book - good characters!
Any DNF’s This Year? Or a Challenging Personal Read?
Michaela: I haven’t had any DNF’s this year, but I have had some that I’ve put down to pick back up when I’m in the right mood for that book. I have had some challenging personal reads. The most challenging was The Time of Contempt (The Witcher #2) by Andrzej Sapkowski. That was a toughy. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad book and I did still enjoy parts of the story. Sapkowski’s writing can really suck you in most of the time but, for me, I really need to be in the right headspace for it. Lot happens in this book but at the same time it's quite strung out. I found that the parts I liked best were the character driven sections and the characters being reunited with each other. But most of the books have the political side of the story which I struggle with so much. It's all important to the story but I prefer the main characters over the politics. I did enjoy this one but not as much as the previous one in the series, but it won’t stop me from continuing the series.
Jacilyn: I began to read Jennifer Armentrout's Dark Elements series, and enjoyed it, but I didn't end up finishing it. This series is definitely more YA, and I typically love that, but going from more adult-themed series to this made it a bit lackluster. Armentrout's From Blood and Ash series is definitely where my heart lies as far as her work.
Favorite New Character
Michaela: My favorite character from a book club read was from Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner and that would be Buttons, the undead mouse, full stop. I loved that little guy; he was so creepy and gross yet so cute and helpful. I love him with all my heart. I am actually using him as inspiration for a character in the D&D campaign I’m designing for my group because I loved him that much!
My favorite character from a personal read was basically the whole cast of Under the Whispering Door. I love all of them to bits; Nelson, Apollo, and Mei fill my heart with so much happiness. Then, Hugo is the most understanding man in the world. And Wallace’s character development was so extreme in the face of the afterlife that I couldn’t help but love him by the end even though he started off as a horrible person.
Jacilyn: Buttons is amazing, so he’s definitely high on the list, but I think my favorite new character this year was basically the entire cast of Under the Whispering Door. I refuse to narrow it down, Hugo, Wallace, Nelson, Mei, and Apollo all deserve the title of favorite new characters for me this year.
Book that Surprised You the Most
Michaela: Monstress Volume 1 written by Marjorie Liu and illustrated by Sana Takeda. There was so much lore packed into this short graphic novel, it really took me by surprise. I don’t have a lot of experience with graphic novels and this one really hit it out of the park for me. The characters and the world really sucked me in and I can’t wait to keep reading the series to learn more.
Jacilyn: The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle surprised me the most. I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect, but this book was an absolutely masterful puzzle that kept me guessing until the very end.
Book Lesson of the Year to Keep in Mind
Michaela: As an avid collector who gets overly attached to things…it is okay to let go of books you did not enjoy, the ones you’ll never read even though you wanted to at one point, and the ones that just don’t fit you anymore. I love collecting things, I have an obscene amount of collections some would say and books are one of those collections. My husband and I have hundreds of books, collecting antique books is a hobby we share. But this year I started practicing and allowing myself to let go of things that no longer fit who I am today or things that do not serve a purpose to me. I let go of a decent stack of books that I have carried with me for years, some even over a decade. Simply because I always wanted to read them but struggling with constant readers block, depression, and being a mood reader, it just never ended up happening.
I went through my bookshelves multiple times this year and read the synopsis of every book and weighed that in my thoughts. If the book still sounded good, it was a keeper. If the book sounded good but only to a past version of myself and not to the present me, it was time to let go. One book I was keeping because I remember carrying it around with me in high school and it had a sticky note in it from a beloved teacher. Well friends, I discovered that I can just keep that sticky note and that I didn’t need to keep that book to keep the memory. For some that may seem obvious but when you form emotional connections with everything you own, it is incredibly hard to get rid of things. It was sad and freeing at the same time, at the very least it makes more rooms for the books present-me wants to enjoy!
Also, friends, as always just read what you want to read! Just because a friend likes it, booktok likes it, a booktuber tells you you should, or even an online book club tells you they loved it does not mean you have to read it or that you need to like it! And the same goes for if they don’t like something you do, you’re allowed to still like it. Everyone has different tastes. As long as we’re not reading harmful things, let's just enjoy reading. Lots of book shaming is running rampant this year on social media (looking at you ‘classic literature girl’ on TikTok), just enjoy things and let others enjoy their things. Books and reading are an artform and not everyone consumes the same things or in the same way.
Favorite Book Accessory of the Year
Michaela: Storygraph and my book journal. I absolutely love using Storygraph. If you like keeping track of the books you read and also seeing the stats about the books you read then get this app and nerd out my friends. I know I do!
Jacilyn: Storygraph!
Any Books You’re Excited For Next Year?
Michaela: In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune. I am really excited to read his next book, if it’s anything like HitCS or UtWD (which the blurb does make it seem like it is) then I’m already sold.
Jacilyn: No titles in particular have been announced for next year yet that I’m like super pumped for, but that may change after the new year!
You Can Recommend Only One Book You Read This Year, Which Will it Be?
Jacilyn: Under the Whispering Door without a doubt.
Michaela: If you haven’t noticed we really enjoyed Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune this year! So just go read it already! (But bring some tissues)
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