2022 TBR: Twelve Books in Twelve Months, Update #1

Posted July 3, 2022 by Kate

hello, loves!

As part of my 2022 Bookish and Blogging Resolutions, I selected 12 highly anticipated books that I never read. Most of these are YA books (because I’ve fallen off the YA bandwagon and have some catching up to do), and most are fairly popular. Obviously since I’ve heard about them a lot, friends enjoy them, they’re often in top-of-mind, and I need to read them. Especially because I own 10 of these books, plus one is on Kindle Unlimited. There’s really no excuse except for my mood-reading-ness (which is to blame for a lot of things!).

That said, I selected 12 to be my concrete TBR across the year, one for each month, which is more than doable. But I’ve only read three!!! And they were the three romances on the list, which (and I say this will all the love in my heart for romances) are the easy marks. Fantasy takes more effort for me to pick up, are typically lengthier. and generally just take me longer to read. Grr! Most of these books were published in 2018/2019, with a few in 2020/2021, so they’re not 2022 releases that will just naturally get prioritized this year. I wanted to make sure that I had a system in place for getting some backlist releases – that I own!! and – that I was really excited about read. We can debate on whether that was successful or not.

Regardless, here’s my first update! I wish it were more triumphant.

⏬ Twelve Month TBR Update ⏬

Read: 4/20

MINI REVIEWS

If This Gets Out by Helen Hoang – 2021 ⭐⭐⭐.💫

I’ve had this one on my priority TBR (i.e., “to read immediately!!) list since its release. @onceandfuturebooknerd posted a recommendation for it and I was immediately hooked by the premise: two out of four boys in a boy band fall in love, and have to hide their relationship. I’ve always been drawn to books that highlight the dark side of fame (à la The Happy Ever After Playlist and The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea), and this one was no different, if a bit on the idyllic side. It’s a high-stakes story that stands in for the regular conflicts of teenage-dom: finding yourself, feeling controlled by others, boundaries between you and the public, navigating relationships with toxic parents, tussling with race, culture, classism and sexuality, substance abuse and mental health, etc. I really liked the premise of this one, but it did drag in parts and I felt that the relationship was a bit unbalanced and that the dynamic of the boyband was rather lopsided. Check out my full review here for complete thoughts.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang – 2018 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I adored this romance <3 I loved this gender-swapped retelling of Pretty Women with an #ownvoices autistic lead. Overall, I thought it was an incredibly strong and refreshing debut story. I waited too long to review this to write a full review, but I will be picking up more Helen Hoang books asap! Check it out on Goodreads.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – 2019 ⭐⭐⭐⭐.💫

Chloe Brown is a disabled heroine, and this story corrected some incorrect preconceived notions about chronic illness and fibromyalgia I didn’t know I held. Redford Morgan, the artistic hero, did not have the same problem. I adored how he took care of Chloe, but never attempted to take away her independence. There’s a careful line there, and it was gracefully and effortlessly toed. The representation in this book is just flawless in every way. Red and Chloe just had such a healthy, stable relationship. Their relationship was built on a solid foundation of genuine trust, affection, friendship, respect, (sarcasm,) and care, and it was as beautiful as it was hilarious. A refreshing romance! Check out my full review here!

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas – 2021 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I waited a little over a year to read this once it came out terrified out of my mind that I wouldn’t like it. I’m glad I finally mustered up the courage to pick it up, however it really just cemented what I already knew: Throne of Glass is the stronger series with ACOTAR having the strongest book and, in some ways, deeper nuances to the characters. I really liked Nesta (always have) and thought her journey was rather excellent, as told here. But I felt the focus of the book was rather lopsided, and I came out of it feeling like I knew Cassian just as well as I did before I started the book. It was very much Nesta’s book, which I appreciated, but also felt that more space should have been given to other characters. Very much looking forward to Gwyn’s story :)