December 2022 Book Review & Top 3 Books of 2022!

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

 

2/5 

 

I had high hopes for this one after it was advertised as similar to Downton Abbey, which I absolutely loved. But, other than the servant hierarchy I couldn’t relate much to the TV series. The book was long, the plot seemed to be at the very end, and then you were left feeling like “what was the point?” The main characters were whiney, bland, and predictable. I did learn though, that many many American women would travel to England and surrounding countries in search of a man to marry that will give them a title. So many that it was regarded as a small phenomenon. This is interesting to me because of its loose ties to Prince Harry and Megan Markle even though I suppose she wasn’t “searching.”

I will give books like this another chance because I am truly interested in late 19th century/20th century culture, if you’ll call it that, surrounding large estates with wealthy and titled families. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t do it for me. 

 

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

5/5

 

GUSH, GUSH, GUSH!!

I loved this book so much!! 

I didn’t get to read as much as I wanted to in December so I decided this would be my last book of the year and boy was it a great choice. I loved the small glimpse of Carrie Soto that we got in Malibu Rising and I knew that I would like a book with her as the main character.

There is a lot of tennis in this one and I mean a lot. I’m still not super confident in telling you how the scoring works but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it and trying to keep up. TJR  kept my heart rate up several times over the course of the book. I enjoy sports but I haven’t read a book about any sport in years. This one actually made me want to go watch a tennis match LOL.

Carrie is complicated in her emotions but then again she is very simple. She is a goal-oriented person with no room to allow anything else to come into her line of vision. I really appreciated the love interest in the book because it never took over the real story. Carrie was extremely precautious to let really anything in besides tennis and the relationship with her father who was also her coach.

Anyways, this one was great. Definitely add it to your list of books to read in 2023!

 

Speaking of 2023……

My goal for the new year is to read 50 books and blog a review for each of them. I started vigorously reading in June of 2022 and ended up reading 22 books, so I believe 50 is totally attainable. I’ve already started my books to read list and I’m so excited to jump in!

 

Finally, of the 22 books I read this year I am naming 3 of them as my Top 3 favorite books. The ranking probably won’t surprise anyone, especially if you’ve read these books. But, next year I will have many more contenders to choose from. 

 

Top 3 books of 2022:

 

#3 – Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

 

#2 – Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

 

#1 – Verity by Colleen Hoover 

 

Here’s to lots of reading in the New Year. Cheers!