2022 Favorite Reads & 23 Top 2023 Romance

What's on Your Never-Ending TBR?

Dec 31, 2022

I’m proud to share that I met my reading goal this year with 88 books read in 2022. My goal was to read 84 which means I just met and exceeded by a few.

My goal for next year will be quite a bit lower because I have a baby coming towards the end of April and I want to be realistic about how much reading I’ll actually have time for and not be disappointed in myself. My reading goal for 2023 is to read 60 books; I’m going with the assumption that I’ll read an average of 7 per month before baby arrives and hopefully at least 4 per month post birth.

Doing a monthly wrap up of books read is not something I’ve been consistent at doing but I do enjoy making a list of my favorites. I didn’t decide on favorites each month which would have made it easy to narrow down to my top 12, so instead I’m just going to go for it and make a list of my favorite 4.5 and 5 star reads.

I’m not a huge fan of picking a favorite each month because I had some months where every single book was a 4.5 or 5 and I had tons of contenders for favorites. On the flip side, I had some months where everything was a 4.0 or lower and I didn’t have anything that was worthy of being a favorite.

Many of the books I read this year were published in 2022 but some were backlist books. That’s my other big reading goal for next year. I want to read more from my physical TBR shelves of books I already own; My secondary reading goal for 2023 is to read a minimum of 2 books per month that I already own.

It’s too difficult to truly pinpoint favoring one great read over another, so the lists below of my 4.5 and 5 Star picks are simply listed in the order in which I read them this year.

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My Favorite Reads of 2022

5 Star Fiction Favorites

Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews
Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter
Set On You by Amy Lea
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score
The Beach Trap by Ali Brady
The Hookup Plan (Boyfriend Project #3) by Farrah Rochon
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
In the Shadow Garden by Liz Parker
- If I had to pick only one favorite from 2022, it would be this debut novel. Such a wonderful treat!
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

5 Star Non-Fiction Favorites

Hold On But Don’t Hold Still by Kristina Kuzmic
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
Feeding the Soul by Tabitha Brown
I Want to Thank You by Gina Hamadey

4.5 Star Non-Fiction Favorites

What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter Ph.D
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
It’s Not What It Looks Like by Molly Burke
Why We Cook by Lindsay Gardner
Healthy As F*ck by Oonagh Duncan
The High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins
Caffeine by Michael Pollan
The Spanx Story by Charlie Wetzel
Undaunted by Kara Goldin
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Of course, I can’t ignore all of the amazing books coming out in 2023! I’ve made a list of my top picks I’m most excited about. Hoping to get advanced copies of most of these but will definitely be buying the ones I’m not lucky enough to snag from the publishers!