2022 How Was Your Reading Year?

[Nell]

Year-End Wrap Up 2022



Looking back on 2022. How was your reading year?
Answer as many or as few as you'd like.

1. Overview: Did you have a chance to read as much as you liked? Or did life demand more of your attention and hoped-for reading time? Maybe your reading year was "just right." Here's the place to share.

2. Taking a Closer Look:

A. Did you discover a new favorite series?

B. Did you enjoy a visit(s) with familiar friends? (on-going series)

C. Who was/were your favorite character(s)? Tell us why.

D. Post a picture of your favorite cover.


Best Wishes for a Happy New Reading Year! 🥂🎊🥳

Nell & Jaxnsmom

[Amy]

I had a horrible reading year. I call it my “new and shiny” year because I was always attracted to something new and shiny so I’d put in holds then abandon them for the next new thing. I got a couple of back lists in, so this was good. I did discover the Tourist Trap series and the bookshop baker (? Maybe lighthouse library) I think I’m mixing these up.

Still going through the Hannah Swenson series. I’ve finished the beginning and the end but have missed a few in between.

I’m also up to date on the Stephanie Plum series. Always a fave.

[Christine]

Overall a great reading year but I did find that I did more start and stop books then in the past. Maybe I am getting pickier or reading interests are changing. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[QNPoohBear]

I didn't read as much as I would have liked.

I discovered some nice, new cozies
Knifed In Nice is REALLY funny!!

Mostaccioli Murder was mercifully free from Italian-American stereotypes since the main character isn't actually Italian!

Murder At Afternoon Tea made me want to read more.

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies is interesting but I don't feel the need to read more.

Tea & Treachery was cute but A Side of Murder has more of a Cape Cod feel

and some new old ones
Aunt Dimity's Death

I binge read The Domestic Diva series Krista Davis. The plots are tight, the recipes sound great but I don't click with the characters.

and caught up with old friends. Jenn McKinlay remains my favorite cozy author.

I still have a few more to go before the end of the year.

[L J]

Didn't do a great job of shelving books or commenting about them on Goodreads but overall a good reading year.

Tried more new authors and series than usual. Some are now on my author/series to read list, some were okay and I may try again later, some were not my thing but I can understand why others like them. Some drove me to do brain cleanse, re-reading favorite authors and series, everything or near everything in series or by an author.

Don't think in my case it's so much getting pickier but having more available from which to choose.

Will look back and may post favorite cover later. Right now the only ones that come to mind are not cozy mystery.

Cozy Covers
Read books in 2022. Liked the covers and the books.

New to me series I like. Pretty cover.


Another new to me series I like. Cute cover.


Fall 2022 book in series I enjoy. This cover because cats' poses are like real cats.

Cats in book: Anyone who's had cats have had ones who can walk through closed door and/or be invisible or at least they seem to have those abilities.

ETA Didn't deliberately choose cat covers but thinking about it realize some of my favorite covers in other genres also have cats on them, though Curran in the Kate Daniels series is a very big cat. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..."

[Barb, Co-Moderator Challenge Expert]

I had a good reading year, although I'm still finding it hard to focus on print books. Part of that is probably due to vision issues, but I'm blaming a lot of it on Hubby's retirement and his refusal to understand that my sitting in my comfy chair with an open book in front of me means "do not disturb!"

I'm sure I found some new series to add to my favorites list, but I started so many, it's hard to remember them. Favorite cozy authors still include Jenn McKinlay, Amanda Flower and Paige Shelton, but there are probably others I'm missing.

Choosing a favorite cover would be akin to choosing a favorite child - it can't be done :)

[Meg]

I had a very good reading year. I've always had a huge tbr pile, and have been fulfilling my promise to myself to read a book a day once I retired. I've been able to keep that promise the last couple years, thanks to Kindle and to audiobooks. (Note: I've been replacing print books because they're harder on my eyes nowadays,)

Notable this year is that I've read 102 new authors (that's what I logged, it could be more...) And found at least a couple of series that I plan to continue (the Tipperary Carriage Company come to mind!).

But my old favorites are still high on the list! Jana DeLeon (Miss Fortune series) and Donna Andrews (Meg Langslow) continue to make me laugh and I love that!

[Barbara]

I had a pretty average reading year, although I did a majority of the "reading" through audiobooks. I read across genres, so I'll list 5 of my favorites (alphabetically by author) in the various categories:

Debut Cozies:
A Doomful of Sugar by Catherine Bruns
Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns
Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron
The Tuesday Night Survivors' Club by Lynn Cahoon
Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly

Cozies in Ongoing Series:
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews
Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle
Antique Auctions Are Murder by Libby Klein
Killer Research by Jenn McKinlay
Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt

Mystery/Thriller:
Over My Dead Body by Jeffrey Archer
Death by Equine by Annette Dashofy
The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer
The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

Other Fiction:
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
The Nurse's Secret by Amanda Skenandore

I have written review on most of these in case you are interested.

[Karen]

Nell & Jaxnsmom wrote: "Best Wishes for a Happy New Reading Year! 🥂🎊🥳"

Thank you for the new year wishes. Right back atcha! :o)

Nell & Jaxnsmom wrote: "Year-End Wrap Up 2022..."

What a great topic to close out a reading year!

I read more pages in 2022 than I did in 2021, but fewer books. Life did demand a lot of time July to September when I was working a contract. While I did read it wasn't as much and I fell behind in all book-related areas. Then the holidays hit and reading time got cut again.

I was able to complete a cozy reading challenge I enter every year, actually hitting the goals of both versions of the challenge for the first time! I read 65 cozy-related items.


My first cozy of the year was Fly Me to the Tomb, from Denise Swanson's Devereaux's Dime Store series. There were four years between this book and the last and I wasn't sure the series would be continued. Of all Swanson's characters, Devereaux Sinclair is my favorite. And the books... I love the characters and adult relationships. The mysteries are good, too. The end of the book hints that there will be another. I can't wait!

and
I ended the year with two cozies from an old favorite series I'd gotten away from, Frill Kill and Death Swatch. They're from Laura Childs' Scrapbooking series.

In between, I ran the gamut... I read paranormals and craft-related cozies and ones that centered around food. I reread two books from a older series I'd started so I could close it out it (nothing new since 2013). I caught up with a few old friends by reading the latest entries to series or by getting back to series I'd started but got distracted from. I read several new-to-me authors and their series and a few new series by authors I already read -- adding more to my TBR than I can ever get to. I met great new characters (mystery-solving drag queen and the ghost of a 1920s flapper!!) and caught up with old favorites.


I was disappointed by Lawrence Block's The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown from his Burglar/Bernie Rhodenbarr series, which turned out to be more of a writer's exercise... Bernie is one of my favorite characters, but this was a let down. I give Block credit for the writing, a take on a sci-fi author Fredric Brown "multiverse" convention and the fact that Bernie's wit was still so "Bernie," but there was no real mystery. I'm not unhappy that I read it -- I missed Bernie and enjoyed my time with him and BFF Carolyn -- it just wasn't what I was expecting and wanting.

I found one of my all-time favorite cozy authors has (at least!) three new pseudonyms with new series, two of which came out in 2022. I'm awaiting a third this year. Constance Laux writes romance, young adult, and mysteries under various pseudonyms. While I haven't read any of her romance or YA, I have enjoyed her mysteries. I've read or started most of her series under her various names. You can't go wrong with any of them.
* Miranda Bliss - Cooking Class
* Casey Daniels - Pepper Martin LOVE(D) THIS SERIES!
* Mimi Granger - Love is Murder Liking this so far... NEW IN 2022
* Anastasia Hastings - Dear Miss Hermione coming in 2023, TBRed
* Kylie Logan - Button Box LOVE(D) THIS SERIES -- Chili Cook-off -- Ethinic Eats -- Jazz Ramsey -- League of Literary Ladies I had a slow start with the first book in this series, but once I got into it, I wound up really enjoying it and the rest of the series (to date).
* Lucy Ness - Haunted Mansion Liking this so far... NEW IN 2022 (the flapper is in this one!)

So many good reads. So much fun. I can't wait to see what 2023 brings.

(I may have to update my spreadsheets for some more data analysis if I'm going to be answering stuff like this in the future. 😃)

[Zermeena]

These posts are hazardous to my ever growing TBR list! 😄

[Meg]

Zermeena wrote: "These posts are hazardous to my ever growing TBR list! 😄"

😂😂😂

[Karen]

I didn't see a repeat of this topic for 2023 (please redirect me if I somehow missed it), so I came back here for a 2023 year-end wrap up...

First, HAPPY NEW YEAR. I wish y’all 12 great things in 2024… 1) happiness; 2) joy; 3) peace; 4) prosperity; 5) love; 6) luck; 7) good fortune; 8) good health; 9) cheer; 10) lots of great reads—new and old; 11) an ever-changing TBR; and, most importantly, 12) lots of time to read!!

Second…in 2022, Nell & Jaxnsmom wrote: "Year-End Wrap Up 2022..." , now changed to 2023…

Overall, I read just over 16% fewer pages in 2023 than I did in 2022. I also read fewer books (just over 9% fewer) last year. I can’t really blame “life” since I don’t really have one. For the most part, I have all the time in the world to read, I just didn’t do it when I had the chance and I don’t really know why. There were a couple of months when I was working a contract which took up a lot of my time, but it’s the same one I work every year, so I can’t really blame that. And, my reading time always gets cut at during the holiday season, so I can’t really blame that either. I was just lazy when it came to reading. While I love mysteries, most of my reading was romance (tame to hot hot hot).

Although I got stuck (??) in a romance jag I was able to complete the cozy reading challenge I enter every year. For the second year in a row, I hit both goal versions reading 52 cozy-related items (also fewer cozy reads than last year, by just over 21%). :o(

Also… I went on a REREAD binge. I found several older mystery series I read and liked in e-format on an online library site. I spent valuable cull-the-TBR time rereading those older series, which led to several other older series. I just got hooked on them again. I did the same with romance, too. I reread several favorite books or series of books. I’m going to try (TRY being operative word) to avoid a lot of that this year. :o)


My first cozy of the year was P.J. Fitzsimmons' The Case of the Canterfell Codicil, an historical cozy set in England. It was also the first book I reviewed in 2023 (** My Review **)

P.J. Fitzsimmons was the only new-to-me cozy author I read in 2023. He introduced me to his character Anthony ("Anty" to chums) Boisjoly (Anty Boisjoly series). The “historical” cozy was fun, funny, and so well written. The mystery was involving, too. I loved it. I’ll be reading more.

My second read of the year, Of Manners and Murder (Dear Miss Hermione series; ** My Review **), was also an “historical” by new-to-me pseudonym Anastasia Hastings of favorite author Constance Laux, who now has cozies in various sub-genres written under six different pseudonyms. (I’ve enjoyed all I’ve read.) Both this and Fitzsimmons' book were set outside the US, but I wound up using both toward the “historical” category goal for the challenge.

The last two cozies I read in 2023 were: and
I hit my minimum target goal of 40 cozies read in July, but didn’t stop reading them, of course. Near the end of the year, I was so close to hitting the secondary option goal—turns out I only needed two historical or two out-of-US-set mysteries (or one of each) to hit the option “B” goal. I just happened to have (at least!) two out-of-US on my TBR. Yea me! So… my cozy year ended on 12/29/23 with Hanks and a Hitman from Tracey Drew’s series Knitty Kitty. Previous to that I read Jenn McKinlay’s Fatal Fascinator from her Hat Shop series. Both out-of-US set books gave me what I needed to reach the (for me!) more difficult “B” option for the second year in a row—and just in the nick of time, too.

In between, I ran the gamut from crafting to travel to paranormals to food-centered, etc. The challenge I enter has nine sub-genres in the “B” option. I caught up with a couple old friends by reading the latest entries to series and, of course, by rereading those older series (love Selma Eichler’s Desiree Shapiro!!). Sadly, I only read 13 new-to-me cozies this year—and another reason I will try to avoid the reread rabbit hole this year. I have too many series to catch up and a gigantic TBR littered with new reads!

and
My highest rated new-to-me cozies were Kate Carlisle’s The Twelve Books of Christmas (Bibliophile series) and Cleo Coyle’s Bulletproof Barista (Coffeehouse series).

I wasn’t really disappointed with any of the cozies I read, though I did complain about Addison Moore’s Pineapple Upside-Down Dilemma (Murder in the Mix/Lottie Lemon series). Entries to the series are up and down with me. This one annoyed me because of the over-the-top, exaggerated secondary stories. I like the series, but sometimes the craziness of the secondary characters and their stories and/or their bullying of heroine Lottie Lemon really grate on me, making the books less enjoyable. Plus, even though the mystery was solved, there was a cliffhanger ending. While lots of authors are doing personal (cozy) story cliffhangers (two characters kiss; is she or isn’t she; etc.), this was a criminal cliffhanger—that is, the book ended with a crime. I hate that.

However… I read the next in series, Star-Spangled Ice Scream Cake, right after it and it was back to the series I enjoy. The secondary stories were still over the top, but not so bad as to grate on me and “bio-mom” Carlotta, who is the craziest (and the one character I just don’t like very much) wasn’t as horrible in this one. Even the cozy cliffhanger at the end didn’t annoy me. Still, I love Lottie and hubby Everett, and even “third” Noah enough to keep me reading the series.

Overall, there wasn’t a bad cozy in the mix.

That’s pretty much my cozy 2023… So many good reads. So much fun. Looking forward to 2024’s reading.

How about y'all?