Hey there my lovelies!
2022 is finally over and I genuinely hope that 2023 will turn out to be a better year! At least health-, life-, and reading-wise. *lol* I really hope your 2023 already started well and that you’re having a good time those holidays. =) This said I want to begin the new year with a look at the old one once again. My „The Awesome, The Meagre & The Series“ blog post are another tradition by now and as every year I want to give you a brief overview of 2022! My initial goal for this year was to read 45 books and even though I managed to hit that number in November I still had a very though time to finish my challenge because I was in another horrible reading slump at the beginning of the year. It started in January and stuck with me until August (The statistics for everyone who’s interested: January – June: 23, July – December: 28. Guess you can see how bad it actually was.) Considering I read a whopping 15 books in the last quarter alone this says A LOT about my reading slump over the year that was 2022. XD
Anyway! I’m out of my slump now and I hope it stays that way! *lol* Let’s do this and go for the traditional summary of my reading year 2022! Read about „The Awesome, The Meagre & The Series“! 
I hope you’ll enjoy it!
The Awesome:
– „Wolfsong“ by T.J Klune

Everyone, literally EVERYONE I know was raving about TJ Klune’s „Green Creek“ series and here I was not even having read a single book of Klune. Well, I rectified that in 2022 with my #Klunealong and started to read his books and let me tell you this: I missed out big time!!! I loved all of his books I read but I absolutely adored „Wolfsong“! I am obsessed with this werewolf found-family and I was so damn glad that this book had almost 600 pages because damn, every single one of them was worth it!! This book! THIS BOOK! It broke my heart in tiny little pieces, had me gasping for air, had me laughing so hard that I had to clutch my stomach and then mended my heart in the best way possible again. Joe and Ox, Ox and Joe! They are everything and I can’t wait to read the next book!!! ❤
– „The King’s Men“ by Nora Sakavic
I was so damn heart-broken after finishing „The Raven King“in 2021 that I didn’t dare to pick up „The King’s Men“ until it was already November 2022. But OMG!!! I’m so glad I did because it had all the Andreil moments I wanted to see!!! It almost killed me to read this book, not gonna lie! It was a lot to stomach especially around the middle of the book and I was crying and gasping and dying inside while I read this part of the book, but the ending. It was so worth the pain. I’m obsessed with the Foxes and with Andreil and I’ll never get tired of them. To finish the series left such a huge void in my heart that I went on a fanart and fanfic binge and even though I finished reading the book at the end of November I’m still obsessed and I’m still in my fanfic rabbit hole. It’s comfy here. If you need any recs, ask me! ;-P I think Andreil are my new OTP now. No regrets! ❤
– „Sorcery of Thorns“ by Margaret Rogerson
When I picked up this book it was during the worst months of my reading slump and despite this it had me glued to the pages. Honestly, „Sorcery of Thorns“ gave me hope again! It totally surprised me and made me believe in the power of great books again. And for that this book will always hold a special place in my heart! Also Elisabeth, Nathaniel and Silas were an amazing trio and I think Silas easily became one of my book bfs! *lol* Yes, he’s a side-character but he is AWESOME and I’d defend my precious Silas with my life! ❤
– „A Small Hotel“ by Suanne Laqueur
Suanne once again killed me with one of her books and I’m not mad! Nope, quite the contrary. I love to die reading her books because she’s one of the most amazing authors out there and if you haven’t read a single one of her books yet, you’re definitely missing out! I can’t emphasize it enough: Suanne Laqueur is one hell of an author and this book once again proved it. It played during WW2 and it was so painful to read, but the family bonds were awesome and my heart… oh my heart! ❤ Just read it! Not a lot of authors manage to be historical accurate and to hit in the feels at the same time but Suanne does and that makes her truly special. 😉
– „The Fever King“ by Victoria Lee
And here’s another book that surprised me! I wanted to read this one for ages and had it on my TBR for a very long time (I think I added it in 2019), but never picked it up. Which is a shame because this was honestly so damn good?! Noam and Dara totally won me over and the dystopian setting with a blood fever that kills about 98% of the people it infects and leaves the ones who survive with special powers and abilities was pretty cool. Also there were so many political intrigues going on and I’m always a sucker for political intrigues and horrible villains. Well, and the one in „The Fever King“ was horrible so it delivered on all fronts. Can’t wait to pick up book 2 even though I’m afraid it will hurt. >_<
The Meagre:
– „The Cousins“ by Karen M. McManus
So, I gave this book 3 paws and that’s exactly what it was for me. I mean I really love Karen M. McManus’s books and read almost all of them by now, but this one just felt like a copy of all her other books that came before. I can’t even remember the main three characters names but they felt like a rip-off of Bronwyn, Addy and Nate and I wasn’t happy about that. It felt like I was reading a different story in a different setting with the same characters all over again and I really would have liked the characters to be more individual. Maybe that’s a me problem, but oh well. It is the way it is. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
– „Whispers Underground“ by Ben Aaronovitch
Another 3 paws read and once again a book that didn’t live up to my expectations. „Whispers Underground“ was already the third book in the „Rivers of London“ series but it held no surprises for me and the plot was kind of idling along. This series has so much potential but if it’s not used the best series can fall flat. I like to pick up urban-fantasy every once in a while and this series isn’t bad. Unfortunately it’s not exactly awesome either and I dunno if I’ll continue to read it. I guess I’ll just read book 4 and if it’s underwhelming I might have to consider if I’ll dnf the series altogether. I mean there are 9 books in total and if I’m not feeling it…
– „Children of Virtue and Vengeance“ by Tomi Adeyemi
It truly pains me to say this but aside from a very long title I can’t seem to be able to remember, this book also turned out to be THE WORST BOOK I read in 2022. Legit the worst! I’m sorry to say this because I really enjoyed the first book and I was looking forward to read this one because I saw the potential this series held and I was convinced the author would make use of it in the second installment. But nope! This book… it was all over the place and the characters… oh gods! They all made a 180 degrees turn and I couldn’t comprehend any of their actions. One second they were screaming „BLOODY MURDER“ and the next they wanted peace?! Like WTF!!?? This book was legit one of the most inconsistent books I ever read, filled with even more inconsistent characters and left me with a major and questionmark sized WTAF above my head and a headache made in hell. I so rarely ditch entire series but this one… I won’t pick up book 3. I don’t even care that this book ended on a cliff-hanger. I might be alone with this opinion but I stand by it. Two paws and that is generous! XD
– „All the Light We Cannot See“ by Anthony Doerr
I gave „All the Light We Cannot See“ four paws but it was more like 3,5 for me. I heard so many great things about this book but in the end I wasn’t nearly as much invested in this story as I thought it would be?! I mean it had all the potential to be a great story and to cause me to cry buckets of tears. But it didn’t?! I mean, the plot wasn’t bad and it was a very sad story but for some reason I wasn’t as emotionally invested in this as I should have been? Maybe my expectations were too high after hearing everyone rave about it? Who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
– „Black Butler“ by Yana Toboso
This was the first volume in the „Black Butler“ manga series, but it didn’t really persuade me to pick it up again. I mean it wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t good enough to sweep me off my feet. Normally when I read a manga the first volume makes me want to dive deeper into the series but this time around this didn’t happen so I guess I just won’t continue to read this series.
The Series:
– „Legendborn“ by Tracy Deonn
And once again this was a book that turned out to be a big surprise! I didn’t expect to love this arthurian retelling as much as I did but „Legendborn“ had everything I love in my books. An amazing plot, LGBTQIA+ reps, great world-building, an awesome grief rep and most of all Selwyn Kane!!! I love Selwyn and even though Nick is a great guy I’ll be #TeamSelwyn all the way. I’m going to die on this hill and I can’t wait to read book two! ❤
– „Lore & Lust“ by Karla Nikole
I’ve heard a lot about this series before I picked it up and I was a really happy camper when I finally read it. Nino and Haru were amazing and I loved them together. The consent and their from-strangers-to-allies-to-friends-to-lovers relationship was everything! ❤ I love consent in my books and those two were such a great example. Also it’s been a while I read a vampire book and the fact this was m/m made it even better. Very curious about book two which I’m convinced will focus more on the plot this time around.
– „The Extraordinaries“ by TJ Klune
I legit laughed tears while I read this series! It was one of the most hilarious books I ever read! Just last year a friend of mine and I spoke about how I’m always reading books that are more serious and only have the occasional witty banter, but that I never read books that actually make me laugh. Well, TJ Klune made me laugh so damn much with this super heroes series, you have no idea! I loved it and can’t wait to pick up book two this year!
– „The Heroes of Olympus“ by Rick Riordan
2022 was the year in which I finished reading „The Heroes of Olympus“ series and I had a blast with those last two books. This series was way more serious than the original Percy Jackson series but I think it fit the age of the characters and I was happy to be introduced to so many new and amazing characters. Leo Valdez and Nico Di Angelo will always be my faves but Hazel was awesome too and Percy and Annabeth will always be great. ❤ I’m so ready to start with „The Trials of Apollo“ this year. XD
– „House of Sky and Breath“ by Sarah J. Maas
Oh boy did this book kill me! I gotta give it to Sarah J. Maas, this woman can write. I might get annoyed by her excessive use of the word „mate“ and how her characters always seem to lose their individuality once they are mated but she’s still a great writer and her world-building and character development are top-notch. This book might not have blown me away as much as „House of Earth and Blood“ did, but it was still amazing and I think I’ll give it 4 or 5 paws. Not sure yet. Maybe 4,5? I still need to write my review so the jury is still out on that one. *lol* The wait for book 3 is definitely pure torture, though. Uff! According to Goodreads it will be released in 2023 so let’s hope for the best. *fingers crossed*

So this was my year 2022 in 15 books! How was your 2022? Was it a good reading year for you? Did you manage to read all the books you wanted to read? Or did you fall into a huge reading slump as well? Are there some books you didn’t manage to read in 2022 and took into 2023? Let me know in the comments! 
And because this has become a tradition too: Just like in the years before I want to give you a chance to throw in some of your book recommendations for My Book List 2023! My goal is to read 45 books in 2023 and the last 5 spots are up to you! Just write me your book recs in the comments and I’ll throw them in a bowl and pull out 5 of them!
This said I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR and I hope that your 2023 will be awesome and way better than 2022 ever was!
I mean it gotta be better, right?! Right? *lol* And because it’s so important these days: Aside from happines, success, contentment, luck and lots of love I also wish you good health!
Please take care an stay healthy and safe!
*hugs’n’kisses*

The Sassy Library Fox