My first five reads of 2022

This past year has been really difficult for me, as I’m sure it has been for many. And as a new year has started, I have to say, I haven’t slowed down in terms of book consumption. I’ve been reading almost every night, and also listening to books almost non-stop all day via audible or Libby app, renting audiobooks from my local library’s online offerings.

So far, I’ve read five (almost six, probably finishing it tonight) books this year, and I wanted to share a quick list, review and rating of all of them.

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It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

This was an absolutely spectacular read. I went through this completely blind. All I’ve ever heard about this book was about how absolutely stunning it was, and how heart breaking it was as well. And to be honest, for me, it lived up to the hype. This was a beautiful story of strength, long lasting love, and some really heavy subjects.

I really did pick this up and finish it within two days (between working full-time and raising a toddler, that’s amazing). I highly recommend this book.

5/5 stars

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The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
I was slightly disappointed by this book. I absolutely loved the other two Kiss Quotient books. I think The Bride Test might’ve been my favorite. But from this book, I was having a hard time really enjoying Anna, Quan was great, I absolutely loved him and the issues he was dealing with. But for some reason I felt like it took way too long for Anna’s walls to come down, so it was hard to really connect with her character. Overall the storyline was great though, and was an enjoyable read.

3.75/5 stars

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Window Shopping by Tessa Bailey
Oh. My. God. Okay, so most of you probably know I am a sucker for Tessa Bailey, she can do no wrong in my book. The amount of spice she packs into her books while also keeping a plot going. A++ work. Even though I feel like this is on the shorter end in terms of book length for her, It still worked. Did I want more? Of course, but I feel like there was enough there to satisfy. Aiden was absolutely perfect, and I felt like Stella was a great character working towards something worth while, which sometimes you don’t find in the romance genre.

4/5 stars

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It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
So this was a re-read for me, I read this as an ARC via Netgalley (totally abandoned that account, my bad!) and the audio had since come out so I wanted to experience this via audio. And let me tell you, either way you read it, still a top notch steamy romance. Brendan is the ultimate Mr. Grumpy Pants and I LIVE for it. I loved re-reading this book, it was just as good an experience reading it a second time as it was the first. I swear people, if you haven’t read Tessa Bailey, DO SO NOW.

4.75/5 stars

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Blindsided by Amy Daws
Ok so this author got pushed to me via tiktok and I saw the premise of the book, and thought “OK I’ll bite” so I downloaded the audiobook because I heard it was done in duet format which I enjoy, and I was OK with it. Did it scratch my itch? Yes. Was it something absolutely amazing, sorry to say no to that, but it was a pretty good friends to lovers romance. I think if you’re looking for something that’s spicy, has a good friends to romance, pick it up!

3.25/5 stars