favorite books in 2022 pt 2

Today, I'm going to continue to share with you some of my favorite books in 2022! I already posted a first part to this series last week, so I highly suggest you checking out those books too. But enough chit chat, let's talk favorite books.

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

“You can’t live life worrying about what people will think. You’ll wake up one day, look at a calendar, and count the days you could have spent being happy.”

-Tessa Bailey, Hook, Line, and Sinker

Genre: Spicy Contemporary Romance

My Rating: ★★★★

I'm honestly surprised that a Tessa Bailey book is on my favorite books of 2022. I haven't hidden the fact, that I'm not the biggest fan of Tessa Bailey. Including this book, I have read 4 of her books. One of them I hated (My Killer Vacation), two of them were okay (Fix Her Up & It Happened One Summer), and this is the one I enjoyed the most.

Now I don't know if I were to reread this book at this point in time, I would rate it as highly. That's mainly because I've been trying to read less average fluffy books, and more books that I know I'm going to be obsessed with and rate highly.

Now this book is the book that follows the It Happened One Summer plotline. The first book follows Piper, and the second book follows her sister, Hannah. Hannah works as a PA for a movie director. And while she enjoys her job, what she's always wanted to do was write music for movies. When she was helping her sister out in the first book, she meets Fox, a handsome playboy who kept her company while her sister was getting it on with his best friend.

Even when she gets back to California, they keep in touch. Random texts here and there. And it's comforting. She thought their friendship would fizzle out, he continued to reach out to her.

When the opportunity to pitch a movie location, she's more than happy to pitch the town where her sister, Piper is. Where Fox is. And when the crew lands at their location, she didn't expect was for the director, her longtime crush, to get jealous at the sight of Fox. And comes up with the idea, of getting Fox's help to get the director to notice her. Of course sparks fly between the two of them.

While the first book was a opposites attract, small town romance, this book was a friends to lovers. A slow burn. And I think that's why I enjoyed this book much more than her others. I'm not the biggest fan of Insta-love, which is a big reason why I hated My Killer Vacation. I liked seeing their friendship turn into something genuine. I liked the in-depth conversations they had, especially about Fox's insecurities. The spicy scenes were a bit cringy at times, so I skimmed over some of those. Overall, at the time I really enjoyed it, and if you want a cute fluffy romance with some deeper conversations (and some cringy spicy scenes), I recommend you check this one out!

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else's muse.
I am not a muse.
I am the somebody.
End of fucking story.”

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones & The Six

Genre: Historical Fiction, Interview style format

My Rating: ★★★★★

I already spoke about my love for Taylor Jenkins Reid, when I reviewed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo last week. This was the second TJR book I read, and after reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, it had big shoes to fill.

This story follows a fictional band in the form of an interview. It talks about how the band started, and how Daisy ended up joining them. Their successes and downfalls. All of the struggles they went through, and what happened behind closed doors. I loved every second of it.

I know people have very varied thoughts on this, but I have always loved interview formatted books. It's very interested about what you can get about each character from what they're saying, and what they're not.

I think TJR does an amazing job building this world for us. I truly felt, again, that these were real people. The way that every character would describe an experience was so different from one another, but I felt like that added to the story. Because while they weren't outright lying, they were just retelling their recollection of the truth.

There wasn't a single person from the band that I didn't want to hear from. I loved listening to all of them answer the questions. They recently came out with a show based on the book, which I haven't had the chance to watch yet, but I've heard good things about it. Highly recommend this book!

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“How were you supposed to change- in ways both big and small- when your family was always there to remind you of exactly the person you apparently signed an ironclad contract to be?”

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising

Genre: Historical Fiction, Family Relationships, Self-Discovery

My Rating:★★★★ 1/2

Are you guys surprised to see another TJR book? I discovered TJR in 2022, and have been with every book I've read of hers since. This book was no exception. I feel like people forget about this book when they talk about her books. I think this book has a quieter effect compared to the other ones. There is no moment where this is this shocking ending.

It's just filled with so much wisdom, and I honestly related to it a lot. This book is another historical fiction that follows Nina, the daughter of a famous rock star (who is mentioned in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). It talks about her and her sibling's upbringing.

I really love books that center on the importance of family relationships, especially when they're perfectly imperfect. You can see how close knit the siblings are with one another, even though their mother passed away, and their father disappeared on them. I loved getting to know each of her siblings.

I also really enjoyed getting to see sneak peaks of characters from other stories (Carrie Soto, Mick Riva, and some other characters I can't think of at the moment off the top of my head). As always, TJR has a way of making these characters feel real. You can find something you can relate to with most of her characters, and this book is no exception. Highly recommend this one!

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

“The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.”

Rachel Lynn Solomon, The Ex Talk

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

My Rating: ★★★★

People on Bookstagram/Booktok love Rachel Lynn Solomon, but I believe that this is the first book I've read of hers. I really enjoyed this one. This story follows Shay who has always been a producer at this public radio station. When the station is having trouble coming up with a new concept for a show, they put Shay and Dominic together.

The two could not be more different, so when the start doing the show together, they butt heads a lot. Then with time, they realize they aren't as different as they thought. There's a lot of ups and downs between the two of them, but the story is super cute!

I really enjoyed the fact that this story followed an older FMC. Usually, I read books where the MMC is the older one, so that was refreshing. While some people may have considered this book to be an enemies to lovers, I wouldn't consider it that. They were maybe fake enemies? But definitely not real enemies, which was a shame because it's one of my favorite tropes.

Another thing I really liked about this book is the fact I related to Shay. I know some people, read this book, and were annoyed by the fact that it took her so long to realize that Dominic actually liked her.

To be honest, I have had too many experiences in the past where I thought someone liked me, and then it blew up in my face. So now, I still to this day, find it hard to believe that someone likes me.

So even though Dominic made it blatantly obvious that he was interested in Shay, I understand why she reacted the way she did. I really like the fact that RLS wrote about this struggle women go through the way that she did. I feel like people don't write about this insecurity enough.

Overall this was a fun quick read, that made some really well developed characters. I really enjoyed it, and recommend you check this one out!

Clean by Juno Dawson

“How stylishly broken we all are.”

Juno Dawson, Clean

Genre: YA Fiction, Romance, LGBT+

My Rating: ★★★★

Marie from Drizzle and Hurricane Books did it again! She has the ability to recommend the best books. Every time I read a book she recommends, I end up obsessed, and this one is no exception.

The story follows Lexi, a socialite from London. When she almost overdoses, she realizes that she's hit rock bottom. The only place to go is up, right? Wrong, her family forces her to go to an exclusive rehab facility.

At first she's completely reluctant to getting better, but she slowly faces her demons.

The story is dark. It's heavy. But it's a really good read. Right from the beginning, I had no idea where this story was going to go. It gave me Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow vibes. The entire time I was on the edge of my seat wondering whether this story was going to take a turn for the worse.

This story tackles a really lot of difficult topics, because all of the characters at the rehab are struggling with something different. It's really well written, and is overall a really great story, and I highly recommend it!

---

This was 5 more of my favorite books of 2022! I loved chatting books with you all. Please remember to share what some of your favorite books are, because I'm always looking for my next favorite read. Thanks for reading xx