A note up front about this list: Because I’m going to keep reading in 2022 likely until 8pm EST on December 31, 2022 (when my beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs play in the College Football Playoff Semi-final game at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta), I couldn’t do a “Top Books I’ve Read In 2022” list and have it published before Jan 2, 2023 or so – when most people are already looking to 2023. But since I finished my last book releasing in 2022 not 12 hrs ago… hey, I can focus on *those* books! 🙂
This said, I read 215 books that released in 2022, though I started reading them as early as September 2021 or so. While I am comfortable with the following list, it is by no means exhaustive of the quality books I read that qualified for nomination, and I’m actually going to include the full list of nominees at the end of the post as well for that reason. Without further ado and listed as sorted by when I read them then by their actual release date, I give you… my Top 22 Books Released In 2022.
Loserville by Clayton Turner
From the October 31, 2021 Review:
Intriguing Look At Atlanta And Professional Sports History. As I sit to write this review, the Atlanta Braves are less than 90 minutes from First Pitch on Game 5 of the 2021 World Series – and with a 3-1 lead over the Houston Astros, Atlanta stands a chance at winning the series in front of the home town crowd before the sun rises again, its first in 26 years. And yes, I’ve made it a point to read this book – which I’ve had on my ARC Calendar for seemingly a couple of months now – this particular weekend, for exactly this reason…
The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney
From the February 22, 2022 Review:
Dense, Dark, And Disturbing Southern Gothic. Gwaltney here manages to craft a Southern Gothic tale that will give fans of the genre chills. The world as seen through the eyes of 3rd grader Analiese… well, who knew that the third grade schoolyard could be so reminiscent of the corporate boardroom and its constant behind the scenes power plays?…
Free Speech by Jacob Mchangama
From the February 8, 2022 Review:
One Of The Most Thorough Histories Of The Field I’ve Come Across. This is exactly what the title here says – easily one of the most thorough histories of the concepts of free speech I’ve ever seen, from their earliest incarnations into where the two competing versions came into their own in Athens – more unlimited, though not without certain hypocrisies – and Rome – more elite controlled and even, as the title notes, into the realm of social media, Donald Trump, and even (with a few scant sentences) COVID-19…
Murder In The Neighborhood by Ellen J Green
From the April 25, 2022 Review:
Green Finds The Eggs, Butter, and Sugar. Yes, the title here references one particularly poignant line deep in the text – just 7% or so from the final words. Through this point and after, Green has managed to tell the story of what happened on River Road in Camden, New Jersey on September 6, 1949 through the eyes of nearly all of the people who survived the events there that day. A bit later, she’s even going to connect it to a more recent event that was in the news – and that the granddaughter of one of the survivors happened to be at.
Disappeared by Bonnar Spring
From the May 5, 2022 Review:
Atmospheric Mystery Turns Nail Biting Thriller. This is one of those visceral, atmospheric type tales where you truly feel immersed in the (for most readers) exotic locale. Spring does a tremendous job of showing the breadth of Morocco…
Never Go Home by Christopher Swann
From the May 16, 2022 Review:
Wherein My Own Reading Habits Do Me In. The story itself here was an excellent romp through mostly northern, Inside The Perimeter, Atlanta, and a great tale of a woman who has become quite good at skills few have…
Contagion by Michael McBride
From the June 2, 2022 Review:
LOTS Of Moving Parts. This is one of those longer books at 634 pages with a LOT of moving parts that can be difficult to track at times – but which it is hard to say that McBride could have separated into two books at any given point…
Extremophile by Rick Chesler
From the July 7, 2022 Review:
Welcome To Our Ool. Notice There Is No “P” In It. Seriously though, after reading this book you’re never going to look at getting into a pool the same again – and certainly will be particularly careful about any sudden urges to just urinate in one…
The Sea Nurses by Kate Eastham
From the June 8, 2022 Review:
Atypical Tale That Pulls No Punches. While the WWI period isn’t *quite* as common in historical fiction tales as WWII, it is hardly the rarity another reviewer claims it to be – though this *is*, in fact, the first tale I’ve come across to detail life on the ships of the White Star Line in the years after the Titanic catastrophe…
Twisted by James Beltz
From the August 30, 2022 Review:
Chilling Combination of Crime Thriller and Paranormal. For a book on the shorter end of the spectrum = roughly 220 pages or so – Beltz manages to pack quite a bit of action into this one, and along the way gives us some truly memorable sequences of various psychic abilities…
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer
From the June 27, 2022 Review:
Evil Isn’t Born. It Is Created. Of all the WWII historical fiction books I’ve read over the years – and at this point, it is a decent number – this is the first to highlight one particular scenario that I’m almost positive has impacted my own life…
Khaos by Jeremy Robinson
From the October 18, 2022 Review:
The New God Of Science Fiction Strikes With His Best Yet. Robinson, the New God of Science Fiction, squarely takes on an element of scifi/ fantasy that he has been circling a bit tangentially for a few books now via Mind Bullet and Tribe in particular, and in this particular book takes the characters from both of those former books + The Dark and combines them…
Dinner On Mars by Lenore Newman and Evan D.G. Fraser
From the July 2, 2022 Review:
An Army Fights On Its Stomach. This was a fascinating look at what it would actually take to have a survivable human colony on Mars (or really on any other planetary body not Earth), starting from the same place Generals have known for Millenia: Ok, we got our people there. How do they stay there? First, they need food…
The Last Of The Seven by Steven Hartov
From the August 8, 2022 Review:
Slow Start Builds To Action-Packed Finish. This book is one that starts with an intriguing mystery – a man shows up at a British post in the northern Africa desert during the Africa Campaign of WWII wearing a German uniform and claiming to be British…
The Italian Daughter by Soraya Lane
From the September 23, 2022 Review:
Slight Departure From Lane’s Typical Approach, Same Great Storytelling. I think this may be the first dual timeline book I’ve encountered from Lane, who normally writes historical fiction – mostly WWII – under this name…
Toxic Effects by Joel Shulkin
From the August 25, 2022 Review:
Complex Story With More Action Than Medical. I came into this book after having won an ARC of it in the Readers Coffeehouse (Facebook group) Great Big Book Giveaway Day 2022 and having not read Book 1 (Adverse Effects). Honestly, with the amount of story that happened before this book began (that gets repeatedly referenced when necessary here – in case anyone wants to avoid spoilers from that book), it seemed like this book was *much* deeper into the series than just Book 2. I honestly thought this was somewhere in the Book 3 – 5 range as I was reading it…
Exiles by Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders
From the August 28, 2022 Review:
Solid Setup But With Slight Torture Of English Language. This is a tale that manages to tell its own complete tale… and yet also manages to setup a new trilogy for the Saunders twins that is perhaps at least as compelling as their debut trilogy had been. Once again, these twins writing together focus on twin primary characters, and once again having that real world dynamic really helps with the in-world dynamic…
The Mystery Of The Undying Man by Kent Holloway
From the October 25, 2022 Review:
Fun Amalgamation Of Scooby-Doo, Stranger Things, and The Sandlot. This is one of those fun, nostalgic types of kids-solving-mysteries tales that will bring back all of the above + Nancy Drew/ The Hardy Boys type vibes, as well as a touch of Johnny Quest…
Moonless Nocturne by Hank Schwaeble
From the October 8, 2022 Review:
Excellent Collection of Darker Scifi Stories. This collection does a great job of spanning a wide range of scifi types and styles, from noir/ hard-boiled detective chasing a mysterious object to concerns about the space race/ nuclear testing to AI to haunted houses to mind-bending psychological thriller, and several others to boot…
War By Other Means by Daniel Akst
From the October 10, 2022 Review:
WWII Like You’ve Never Seen It Before. This is an account primarily of WWII and specifically a few particular people and their associates within the war – and these are people who you may have heard of, but likely never heard of their actions within the WWII period…
Almost Midnight by Caroline Swart
From the November 14, 2022 Review:
Action Packed Series Starter. This is one of those series starters that ends on an “oh SH!T” cliffhanger – and while it could possibly be debated if the story should have continued on from there in a longer tale, it also told a complete story to that point…
A Time Travel Christmas by Karen McQuestion
From the December 2, 2022 Review:
Heart And Magic In A Short, Quick Read. This is a perfect Christmas story for anyone who has ever wanted to spend just “one more day” (as Diamond Rio once sang) with a lost loved one at Christmas. Through some scifi/ magical time travel, our lead here gets to do just that – going back to one pivotal night when her grandmother was just a young girl that would change her grandmother – and her entire family – for generations to come…
After the jump, the full list of all 215 nominees, ordered by publication date only. If any jump out at you, feel free to copy the title and/ or author into the search bar either to your right or possibly under this post (depending on what type of device you’re reading this on) and it will bring up my review of the relevant book. 🙂
The Taste Of Ginger by Mansi Shah
Sapphires Are A Guy’s Best Friend by Nicola Marsh
Pretend To Be My Cowboy by Sophia Quinn
Treachery Times Two by Robert McCaw
The Starless Crown by James Rollins
The Abbey House by Elizabeth Bromke
Not The Romantic Kind by Nicola Marsh
The Wedding Setup by Sonali Dev
Making Numbers Count by Chip Heath and Karla Starr
Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg
Under A Sky Of Memories by Soraya M. Lane
The Last House On The Street by Diane Chamberlain
The Ex-Husband by Karen Hamilton
The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Her Hometown Hero by Jacquelin Thomas
The Five-Day Reunion by Mona Shroff
The Shoe Diaries by Darby Baham
Rancher’s Forgotten Rival by Maisey Yates
Falling For The Baldasseri Prince by Rebecca Winters
Light Years From Home by Mike Chen
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
Alaska Dreams by Jennifer Snow
The Appeal by Janice Hatlett
The Country Cottage by Elizabeth Bromke
Collective Illusions by Todd Rose
Loserville by Clayton Turner
Deconstructed by Liz Talley
Catch Her When She Falls by Allison Buccola
The Liz Taylor Ring by Brenda Janowitz
A Lullaby For Witches by Hester Fox
Woman Last Seen by Adele Parks
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
Am I Allergic To Men by Kristen Bailey
Free Speech by Jacob Mchangama
The Arc by Tory Henwood Hoen
Golden Dragon by David Wood
Gucci Girls Don’t Date Cowboys by Sophia Quinn
Unmissing by Minka Kent
The Paris Network by Siobhan Curham
The Treeline by Ben Rawlence
Vital Lies by Daniel Pyne
Wildflower Wedding by Grace Greene
The Language Game by Morten H Christiansen and Nick Chater
This Earthly Frame by David Sehat
Sink Or Swim by Annabeth Albert
The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney
Oceans Of Grain by Scott Reynolds Nelson
The Girl With The Scarlet Ribbon by Suzanne Goldring
Life Surrendered by Jessica Herberger
The Social Lives Of Animals by Ashley Ward
Until We Meet by Camille Di Maio
Pleading Out by Dan Cannon
Moment In Time by Suzanne Redfearn
The Suite Spot by Trish Doller
The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Saraj Pekkanen
Killing Time by Brenna Ehrlich
The Thimble Shoppe by Elizabeth Bromke
Contagion by Michael McBride
The Finalist by Joan Long
The Lying Club by Annie Ward
Only A Country Doctor Can Save This City Rose by Sophia Quinn
Summer Nights With A Cowboy by Caitlin Crews
Going Public by Hudson Lin
A Family Affair by Robyn Carr
Crimson Summer by Heather Graham
Summer On The Island by Brenda Novak
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
Paradise Cove by Davin Goodwin
Unmasking Autism by Devon Price
Torn Apart by Dorothy Roberts
214 Palmer Street by Karen McQuestion
Last Dance At The Starlight Pier by Sarah Bird
The Lost Book Of Eleanor Dare by Kimberly Brock
Coal, Cages, Crisis by Judah Schept
Summer At The Cape by RaeAnne Thayne
Free by Lauren Kessler
The Order by Jeremy Robinson
The Road To Me by Laura Drake
The Lighthouse Girls by B.R. Spangler
Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan
Running With Purpose by Jim Weber
How Free Speech Saved Democracy by Christopher M. Finan
The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan
Foul Play With My Best Friend by Christina Benjamin
Murder In The Neighborhood by Ellen J Green
Love On The Coast by Jennifer Snow
Deep Green by Rick Chesler
What Remains True by Nancy Naigle
Breathless by Amy McCulloch
Disappeared by Bonnar Spring
My Wife Is Missing by DJ Palmer
Decimate by Christopher Rice
Partial Truths by James C Zimring
No More Lies by Kerry Lonsdale
Such Big Dreams by Reema Patel
The Lawless Land by Boyd Morrison and Beth Morrison
Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan
When We Let Go by Rochelle B. Weinstein
Twisted by James Beltz
Sweet Home Alaska by Jennifer Snow
A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Cana
Never Coming Home by Hannah Mary McKinnon
Gun Barons by John Bainbridge Jr
Crazy To Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Holding Together by John Shattuck, Sushma Raman, Mathias Rose
Miss Memory Lane by Colton Haynes
Eden Quest by David Wood
The Sea Nurses by Kate Eastham
Beach Heart by Grace Greene
Fatal Conflict by Matt Hilton
Relativity by Ben Adams
Iris In The Dark by Elissa Grossell Dickey
It All Comes Down To This by Therese Anne Fowler
Beyond The Moonlit Sea by Julianne Maclean
The End Of The World Is Just The Beginning by Peter Zeihan
When It Falls Apart by Catherine Bybee
Here For The Drama by Kate Bromley
The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer
Snowed In With The Mountain Man by Sophia Quinn
Little Sister by Gytha Lodge
Extremophile by Rick Chesler
The Poet’s House by Jean Thompson
The Edge of Summer by Viola Shipman
Bet On It by Jodi Slaughter
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
Things We Do In The Dark by Jennifer Hillier
The Place Of Wonder by Barbara O’Neal
The Lost And Found Girl by Maisey Yates
For Butter Or Worse by Erin La Rosa
Home To Brambleberry Creek by Elizabeth Bromke
The Secret Keeper by Siobahn Curham
Great Sexpectations by Kristen Bailey
She’s Up To No Good by Sara Goodman Confino
A Curious Faith by Lore Ferguson Wilbert
The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman
The Last Of The Seven by Steven Hartov
Mr Perfect On Paper by Jean Meltzer
Never Go Home by Christopher Swann
The Ex Between Us by Nicola Marsh
With Love From Wish & Co by Minnie Darke
A Spanish Sunrise by Boo Walker
Would You Rather by Allison Ashley
A Lot Like Forever by Jennifer Snow
Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie
Second Chances At Brambleberry Creek by Elizabeth Bromke
Life Time by Russell Foster
Reorganized Religion by Bob Smietana
Just Dope by Allison Margolin
Lost In Time by A.G. Riddle
Emerald Dragon by David Wood
Exiles by Ashley Saunders and Leslie Saunders
Snatched by James Beltz
Lizzy Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings
Buck’s Pantry by Khristin Wierman
Mystic Wind by James Barretto
Free Market by Jacob Soll
A Secret In The Family by Leah Mercer
Our Stolen Child by Melissa Wiesner
Secrets In The Mirror by Leslie Kain
Nation Of Victims by Vivek Ramaswamy
The Book Haters’ Book Club by Gretchen Anthony
The Make-Up Test by Jenny L Howe
Take It From Me by Jamie Beck
The Road To Christmas by Sheila Roberts
Toxic Effects by Joel Shulkin
Next Of Kin by Kia Abdullah
Snowed In For Christmas by Sarah Morgan
Force by Henry Petroski
The Italian Daughter by Soraya Lane
Taken Before Dawn by BR Spangler
Secrets At Brambleberry Creek by Elizabeth Bromke
6 Ripley Avenue by Noelle Holten
A Familiar Stranger by A.R. Torre
Worn Out by Alyssa Hardy
A Brighter Flame by Christine Nolfi
Charlie by James Beltz
Love In The Forecast by Jennifer Snow
Burning Down The House by Andrew Koppelman
Did Not Finish by Nicola Marsh
The Plea Of Innocence by Tim Bakken
Home Sweet Christmas by Susan Mallery
Moonless Nocturne by Hank Schwaeble
Uniting America by Peter Shinkle
Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner
Dinner On Mars by Lenore Newman and Evan D.G. Fraser
My Husband’s Lover by Jess Ryder
The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham
Khaos by Jeremy Robinson
Built To Last by Erin Hahn
Improbably Yours by Kerry Anne King
Wherever The Wind Takes Us by Kelly Harms
Marlow Banks Redesigned by Jaqueline Firkins
The Mystery Of The Undying Man by Kent Holloway
Losing Our Elections by Jim Spurlino
Alaska For Christmas by Jennifer Snow
The Midlife Male by Greg Scheinman
In Their Names by Lenore Anderson
Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz
Sewer by Jessica Leigh Hester
Almost Midnight by Caroline Swart
The London Girls by Soraya M. Lane
A Homestead Holiday by Elizabeth Bromke
A Time Travel Christmas by Karen McQuestion
The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle
Collateral Damage by John Sneeden
A Prairie Creek Christmas by Elizabeth Bromke
Escape From Model Land by Erica Thompson
War By Other Means by Daniel Akst
The Sunshine Girls by Molly Fader
The Wedding Ranch by Nancy Naigle
A Mother Would Know by Amber Garza
A Light In The Forest by Melissa Payne
One Last Secret by Adele Parks
A Small Affair by Flora Collins