2022 has been a hell of a year and not just for me, I know many people have found this year to be a test in getting by, I'm lucky I have had my reading to keep me somewhat sane in a trial of a year.
The Life Stuff
The year started with me losing my furbaby Cricket quite suddenly which was heartbreaking and the worst start to the year.
I then adopted a rescue dog, Suki, from the Wheatbelt pound, she has mostly kept me sane except for when she jumped the fence and went missing in the bush for 9 extremely long days (to read about this check out my post). She has come a long way since she first came to live with me, she was terrified of everything, but is getting past a lot of her fears and has grown into a total beach baby.
Life has been a bit of a battle this year, hopefully, a new or second job is on the horizon in 2023 which will help with the increased mortgage rates I know many of us are struggling with. My cousin passed away in October, this has been heartbreaking for my small family and I am so glad I got to spend some of his last day with him before he passed and that I was with him when he left us. Grief is going to be hanging around for a while.
The Book Stuff
This year I set myself the goal to read/listen to 150 books, I was pretty certain I would surpass this, but to err on the side of caution I thought this was a good number. I well surpassed 150 making this my biggest year of reading yet.
87 of these books were by Australian Women Authors and my most read genre was MM Romance which is different from previous years where historical fiction played a big part, who knows what 2023 will bring.
Audiobooks were a big part of my year with me listening to 64 audiobooks which is also a record for me, I have one playing whenever I'm driving, doing housework, walking on the beach and just chilling out when I can't stop listening.
My top audiobooks were The Brink by Holden Sheppard, Wild Dogs by Michael Trant, Code Blue by N.R Walker and Nova Praetorian by N.R Walker.
My 5 Star reads are below and are varied in genre so be aware if checking them out, some won't be for everyone.
My favourite reads of the year, now this is a tricky one and so hard to pick one or two. These are in no particular order and I've added a link to my review if I have written one, one or two may still be pending so I will link them to the Goodreads page.
Wildflower by Monique Mulligan
The Return (Return to Nam #5) by Carole Brungar The whole Return to Nam series is not to be missed.
Broken Things (Lost & Found #4) by Barbara Elsborg
Shah Mat (Shattered Pawns #4) by Jennifer Cody The whole Shattered Pawns series is brilliant but you need to read The Diviner's Game series first (also brilliant)
The Brink by Holden Sheppard
Wild Dogs by Michael Trant
12 Weeks of June by Rania Battany
The Hidden Species Series & Here be Dragons Series by Louisa Masters
The Opal Miner's Daughter by Fiona McArthur
East of Alice by Annie Seaton
As the Tallgrass Grows (Wild Ones #4) by Rachel Ember The whole Wild Ones series is great
I could easily keep going but I won't lol, I've linked the picture at the top of the page to my reading stats page on Goodreads if you want to check out any of the books I read in 2022.
Challenge Update and I have to say I got off track this year again with my challenges other than my Goodreads one, so unfortunately I didn't get all of the boxes ticked on the two I was hoping to complete. I last did a Check-in post way back in August (you can see how far I got here) instead of my planned monthly post, maybe next year will be the year I follow through on a challenge.
2023 Reading Hopes
I haven't had a look at the challenges going around for next year yet, so if you have one you think I should look at doing please let me know about it. I'll set my Goodreads Challenge, probably for 200 books, I'll see when it comes time to set it up. I've already started a few Advanced Reader copies of books coming in the new year, so look out for them soon. I will try and do a check-in post regularly in 2023 even if it's just to keep track of things for myself. I'm also planning on spending as much of my free time this summer at the beach swimming and reading.
Giveaway
To say thank you I'm giving away a copy either digital or paperback (sorry Australian addresses only for the physical copy) of either The Nurses' War by Victoria Purman or Dressed by Iris by Mary-Anne O'Connor. Both of these are historical fiction novels.
Leave a comment telling me your favourite read/s for 2022 and if there's a book you're looking forward to in 2023 I'd love to hear about it.
Follow me on either here on my blog, Instagram or Facebook
One entry for each place you follow me so let me know so I can confirm and put your name in the running.
Until next time happy reading and thanks for your support through 2022, Happy New Year.
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