Top Ten Tuesday is featured by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Topic: Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2022
This was so hard to narrow down to just 10!!!!
💛 House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas 💛 The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L Armentrout 💛 The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna 💛 Amari and the Great Game by BB Alston 💛 Book of Night by Holly Black 💛 Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer 💛 Spark of Ash by Molly E Lee 💛 Empress Crowned in Red by Ciannon Smart 💛 For the Throne by Hannah Whitten 💛 Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni
The fae abandoned this world to us. And the ones with power rule.
Gold.
Gold floors, gold walls, gold furniture, gold clothes. In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold.
Even me.
King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I’m called his precious. His favored. I’m the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. To show how powerful he is. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. And even though I don’t leave the confines of the palace, I’m safe.
Until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck.
Suddenly, my trust is broken. My love is challenged. And I realize that everything I thought I knew about Midas might be wrong.
Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left.
‘Does it really matter if your cage is solid gold when you aren’t allowed to leave it? A cage is a cage, no matter how gilded.’
Auren is the Kings favoured, they go back years but now he keeps her like a pet. King Midas has turned Auren into living gold. I did like Midas although I wasn’t sure why!!!!
On a journey to another Kingdom, Auren wonders if she should’ve stayed at home in her cage…….
The world building was great, the plot was ok but a little on the slow side for me but I really loved Auren. She’s funny, brave and resilient.
Also…..Commander Rip ….now he sounds like a man I’d want to meet!
I really was not expecting that ending though so I need that next book!
Here we are on the last day of the year! I hope you all have a lovely New Year’s Eve and ring in the new year with your loved ones.
I do love looking at my Goodreads stats when they’re published! Then I like to post about them for a sense of achievement (and satisfaction!) and also I can record here so I can look back!
Do you like to see your stats too?
For 2022 I am going to use Goodreads and also Storygraph too, in tandem, to see what the differences are in stats!
Here are my stats for 2021:
I read 95 books! 39, 725 pages read, wowee!!!!!
It appears I was flinging those 4 and 5 stars around like confetti and my average rating was 4.4!!
There were some other stats and info but I didn’t want to bore you all and though these were the most pertinent!!!
Have a great evening whatever you are doing! We are staying in and having a family Zoom call!
I hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to ringing in 2022. We had a great time, lots of food, fun and family.
I read 8 books in December! Most of my reviews will be published in January as I didn’t want to mess with Blogmas!!!
I’m moving to bi-monthly updates in the shape of the Sunday post for January as a test (for me!) to see if I’ve actually got enough to contribute so look out for my first post on 15th January!
The Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge is returning for its 6th year in 2022! Designed to help you tackle all the books you keep meaning to read and still haven’t!
I’M SO IN!!!!!!
For 2022 I am setting my goal as 24 books. That’s 2 a month so that’s totally doable I think!!
The guidelines are simple:
• The book must be published in the previous year or earlier (for the 2022 challenge, anything published in 2021 or earlier counts).
• You have to start and finish the book in 2022.
Any format, any genre. Re-reads count, and you don’t have to own the book.
There is no formal sign-up for Beat the Backlist this year. The only request is that if you do post somewhere online about the challenge, please give Novelknight a link back so more readers can learn about BTB!
Hashtags for 22 = #BeatTheBacklist #BeatTheBacklist2022
It’s that time of year when we are stuck between Christmas and New Year and because this years been such a stinker, I thought we needed some laughs….in the form of meme’s!
It’s ran by The Caffeinated Reviewer – click on her name to find out how to join and don’t forget to add your link!
Choose your level and rock your ears off!
Use hashtag #2022AudiobookChallenge on social media to alert others of your listens and progress!
I listened to 12 audios in 2021 so I’m going for 10 to 15 listens (Stenographer – can listen while multitasking!!!) and I’m going for the full 15!!!!
Here are the details:
Achievement Levels
• Newbie (I’ll give it a try) 1-5
• Weekend Warrior (I’m getting the hang of this) 5-10
• Stenographer (can listen while multitasking) 10-15
• Socially Awkward (Don’t talk to me) 15-20
• Binge Listener (Why read when someone can do it for you) 20-30
• My Precious (I had my earbuds surgically implanted) 30+
• Marathoner (Look Ma No Hands) 50+
• Over-Achiever (Power Listener) 75+
• The 100 Club (Audiobook Addict) 100+
Challenge Details
• Runs January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022. You can join at any time.
• The goal is to find a new love for audios or to outdo yourself by listening to more audios in 2022 than you did in 2021.
• Books must be in audio format (CD, MP3, etc.)
• ANY genres count.
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you can track your progress on Goodreads, Facebook, LibraryThing, etc.
• If you’re a blogger grab the button and do a quick post about the challenge to help spread the word. If you’re not a blogger you can help by posting on Facebook or Tweet about the challenge.
• Updates plus a giveaway will be posted twice during the year. The first update will be July 2, 2022, and the last update will take place on December 30, 2022.
Boxing Day in the UK is the day after Christmas Day, December 26, and is a public Bank Holiday.
Traditionally, it was a day when employers distributed money, food, cloth or other valuable goods to their employees in boxes.
Now it’s a day that brings the start of the post-Christmas sales and also is a time to recover from the excesses of Christmas Day!!!!!
Boxing Day is the day me and my whole family get together to celebrate Christmas (even though last year was a Zoom get together!) We swap gifts, have food and have a drink together.
CJRTB Books 