Each half of the year, I like to choose the top 10 books that stood out to me the most.

It also helps to keep track of which books will be in my top 10, top five and ultimately my book of the year choice. You can have a look at my top five reads for 2021 here which includes my book of the year too.

This year I’ve been reading a lot more diversely, trying to read multiple books from different genres, and some genres have really surprised me! It really does help to set up a reading challenge for the year and choosing reading prompts to broaden the options of what to read. I’m actually super excited to choose the prompts for next year already, but all in good time.

Here is the list of my top 10 reads from January to June 2022 with links to the reviews. All my books for the month are included here as well as the four extra books that blew my mind!

I’ve added a blurb for each book to say what the book is about and maybe that will spike your curiosity to read it too 😉

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

My 10 Favourite Books (January-June 2022 Edition) || Book Lists #bookreview #booklists #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter

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Twenty Years Later by Charlie Donlea

Avery Mason, host of American Events, knows what stories grab her audience’s attention. 

Her latest one involves an unsolved murder, kinky sex, betrayal and a tragedy.

The twist in the story: victim Victoria Ford’s DNA is successfully identified by new technology from the 9/11 events. The same victim who was accused of murdering her married lover years ago. Victoria had been having an affair with a successful novelist who was found hanging from the balcony of his mansion. The crime scene covered in Victoria’s DNA. With her last phone call on that day, she pleaded with her sister to prove her innocence.

Emma Ford has waited for twenty years to lay her sister to rest, but she can’t do so until she can clear her name. Avery takes up the case to investigate Victoria’s involvement in the murder. 

As Avery starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Victoria’s private life starts to create a darker mystery.

Not only does Avery want to get to the bottom of those secrets, she needs to keep her own dark secret hidden deep inside, a secret she thought was buried forever.

The Measure of Gold by Sarah C. Patten – JANUARY BOOK OF THE MONTH

France, 1940, and Germany has just invaded.

In Sweetwater, Tennessee, Penelope, an alchemist, receives a letter from her childhood friend, Naomie, begging her to come to France. Penelope, grieving the loss of her father, travels to Paris where she meets other alchemists, including Fulcanelli, Naomie’s brother, and his mysterious apprentice, Lucien.

Naomie isn’t there to meet her on her arrival, and Penelope is drawn into the world of alchemy, joining the Resistance to fight the Nazis. She trains as a spy and takes up space in Le Chambrement, brothel, disguised as a maid. She faces the dangerous of being discovered, realises that there are certain sacrifices to be made for those you care for and love. 

How far can these sacrifices keep those people alive, as well as herself?

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne – FEBRUARY BOOK OF THE MONTH

Hate – there’s no other word to describe Lucy Hutton and Josh Templeman’s feelings towards each other.

They don’t make it a secret either, sitting across from each other as executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company.

Lucy can’t stand Josh’s uptightness and Josh can’t stand her quirkiness.

When an opportunity of a promotion comes up, the battle begins to intensity, and neither is refusing to backdown: whoever wins the promotion becomes the other’s boss.

As their games take a new turn, both seem to be coming to the conclusion that hating each might not be the only element on the table.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Five high school kids end up in detention and only four make it out alive.

By the end of detention, Simon is dead. The investigators don’t rule his death as accidental. He died on a Thursday, and the following day he was planning on revealing secrets about the other four kids that were with him in detention.

Coincidence or was one of the four willing to go as far as murder to keep their secrets hidden?

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – MARCH BOOK OF THE MONTH

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS.

Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize.

The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape. 

Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin – APRIL BOOK OF THE MONTH

Carl Louis Feldman is an old man who was once a celebrated photographer. That was before he was tried for the murder of a young woman and acquitted. before his admission to a care home for dementia. Now his daughter has come to see him, to take him on a trip. Only she’s not his daughter and, if she has her way, he’s not coming back…

Because Carl’s past has finally caught up with him. The young woman driving the car is convinced her passenger is guilty, and that he’s killed, other young women. Including her sister Rachel. Now they’re following the trail of his photographs, his clues, his alleged crimes.

To see if he remembers any of it. Confesses to any of it. To discover what really happened to Rachel. Has Carl truly forgotten what he did or is he just pretending? Perhaps he’s guilty of nothing and she’s the liar. Either way in driving him into the Texan wilderness she’s taking a terrible risk. For if Carl really is a serial killer, she’s alone in the most dangerous place of all…

The Taking of Annie Thorne by C.J. Tudor

‘It’s not the dead you need to be scared of, love. It’s the living’ 

It arrived in my inbox just over a month ago. Surprising really that it didn’t get shunted straight into junk.

Sender: MSG@hotmail.com

Subject: Annie

‘I know what happened to your sister. It’s happening again.’

Because when my sister was eight years old, she disappeared. At the time, I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen.

And then she came back…

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

Wild Embers by Nikita Gill – MAY BOOK OF THE MONTH

Wild Embers explores the fire that lies within every soul, weaving words around ideas of feeling at home in your own skin, allowing yourself to heal, and learning to embrace your uniqueness with love from the universe. 

Plus One by Vanessa Raphaely – JUNE BOOK OF THE MONTH

As deputy editor of the glamorous FILLE magazine in London, Lisa Lassiter had almost passed up the chance of a weekend on a billionaire’s yacht off the coast of Mykonos.

But her best friend Claudia Hemmingway, on her way to becoming one of the hottest movie stars on the planet, could be very persuasive when she wanted something. Not only would they get there by private jet, she’d told Lisa, they would also get to rub shoulders with VIP guests – not least a famous Hollywood film producer.

It would be a weekend of fun, sunshine, champagne and partying. And it was all of those things. Until it wasn’t. 

Lisa has spent ten years trying to get past that weekend. If she has learnt anything, it is that unfinished business and secrets always work their way to the surface. Moving on is one thing; forgetting is another, and forgiving … well, where to start?

Have you read any of these? What are your favourite books this year from the first six months of 2022?

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Send me an email: sincerelyyoursannie@gmail.com