Here's my annual "Books I Read This Year" post.
They are all books I enjoyed, and enjoy recommending.
I'm not one to continue reading a book if it's not appealing to me.
.png)
Some of these are Advance Reading Copies I was lucky enough to receive, so may not be available just yet - but worth the wait!
Mixed in with the books is some "book art" I like. Some I've used in previous posts, some are new to me. I enjoy finding new (to me) artists as much as I enjoy finding new authors and poets.
Enjoy! I hope you find some new books and authors to add to your own list.
If you're an author and find your name on this list - Thank You!!!
- Love & Saffron by Kim Fay
- The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner
- The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery
- The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
- Made in Manhattan by Lauren Layne
- With Love from London by Sarah Jio
- The Violets of March by Sarah Jio
- The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E. Smith
- Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak
- Summer Love by Nancy Thayer
- Impossible to Forget by Imogen Clark
- Something Wicked by David Housewright
- Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith
- Chateau des Corbeaux by Lise McClendon
- Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb
- This Place of Wonder by Barbara O'Neal
- The Perfume Companion The Definitive Guide to Choosing Your Next Scent by Sarah McCartney and Samantha Scriven
- The Heights by Louise Candish
- The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown
- The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
- This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith
- The Painter's Girl by Helen Fripp
- The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
- Lucy Checks In by Dee Ernst
- The Painter's Girl by Helen Fripp
- We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza
- The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews
- Where the Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen
- In the Middle of Hickory Lane by Heather Webber
- Bookish People by Susan Coll
- Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
- Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre
- Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
- The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
- Where Wild Peaches Grow by Cade Bentley
- Meant to Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein
- Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
- With Love from Wish & Co. by Minnie Darke
- On the March by Trudy Krisher
- Remember When (In Death) by Nora Roberts/JD Robb
- Stella by Josh Dygert
- The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West
- The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook
- When in Rome by Sarah Adams
- Please Join Us by Catherine McKenzie
- The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook
- When in Rome by Sarah Adams
- Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King
- The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
- When We Were Friends by Holly Bourne
- Three by Valerie Perrin
- Josephine Baker and the Rainbow Tribe by Matthew Pratt Guterl
- Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
- The Forgotten Bookshop in Paris by Daisy Wood
- The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green
- The Last Dress from Paris by Jade Beer
- Ruins by Phoebe Wynne
- Just the Way You Are by Beth Moran
- Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
- Christmas on the Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet
- Villa of Sun and Secrets by Jennifer Bohnet
- Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
- Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
- One Last Letter From Greece by Emma Cowell
- They're Going to Love You by Meg Howrey
- The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester
- I'll Weave a Song for You by Sandra Leavesley
- Twenty-One Nights in Paris by Leonie Mack
- Christmas in Paris by Tilly Tennant
- The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel
- When the Moon Turns Blue by Pamela Terry
- Paper Cuts by Ellery Adams
- The Sweet Taste of Muscadines by Pamela Terry
- Murder at the Jubilee Rally by Terry Shames
- The Choice by Nora Roberts
- The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber A. Logan
- Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger
- The House Guest by Hank Phillippi Ryan
- The Inn at Tansy Falls by Cate Woods
- Encore in Death by J. D. Robb
- The Bookshop by the Bay by Pamela M. Kelley
- Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul
- Because You Loved Me by Beth Moran
- The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams by M. J. Rose
- The Cabinet of Dr. Leng by Preston & Child
- Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott
- The Color of Ice by Barbara Linn Probst
- Mark Rothko: A Biography by James E. B. Breslin
- The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas
- Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg
- The Stroke of Winter by Wendy Webb
- No Two Persons A Novel by Erica Bauermeister
- Steeped in Secrets by Lauren Elliott
- In the Pines by Kendra Elliot
- Summer of Second Chances by Andrea Hurst
- The Road to Me by Laura Drake
- Nothing But the Truth by Holly James
- Winter's End by Paige Shelton
- Desperation in Death by J. D. Robb
- On Gin Lane by Brooke Lea Foster
- Flying Solo by Linda Holmes
- The Italian Job by Kathryn Freeman
- The Paris Showroom by Juliet Blackwell
- We Lie Here by Rachel Howzell Hall
- The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick
- Out of the Clear Blue Sky by Kristan Higgins
- The Scent of Possibility by Sarah McCartney
- One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
- The Secret Gift of Lucia Lemon by Celia Anderson
- Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique
- The Summer of Grace by Karen Jones
- The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
- Lost in Paris by Betty Webb
- The Color of Ice by Barbara Linn Probst
- Mark Rothko: A Biography by James E. B. Breslin
- The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
- The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander
- French Braid by Anne Tyler
- Wish You Were Gone by Kieran Scott
- The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
- The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
- A Dress of Violet Taffeta by Tess Arlen
- The Edge of Summer by Viola Shipman
- Fairy Tale by Stephen King
- The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis
- It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler
- The Family Compound by Liz Parker
- Code of the Hills by Chris Offutt
- Hide by Tracy Clark
I read a lot of books this past year (have I mentioned how much I love being a retired person? 😊)
I have noticed that my tastes in reading, while always fairly wide and eclectic, are changing somewhat. In addition to my favorite authors, I seem to be seeking out more comfort reads (novels and essays) and more poetry. I'm not listing books of poetry or essays here because they seem to find me not in bound books, but piecemeal in snippets sent by friends, or showing up in blogs I read, or on Facebook.
In my 2021 list I had included a few books which had not yet been published but were published this year. I've re-read some of them and they made the list again this year. They are:
The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain
Songs by Hummingbird by Peter McDade
Lost and Found in Paris by Lian Dolan
Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan by Liz Michalski
And my favorites for this year, so far, in no particular order -
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
The Choice by Nora Roberts
The Color of Ice by Barbara Linn Probst
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
I'll Weave a Song For You by Sandra Leavesley
Secret Lives by Mark de Castrique
On the March: A Novel of the Women's March on Washington by Trudy Krishner
Flying Solo by Linda Holmes
The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green
Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross Smith
Impossible to Forget by Imogen Clark
Lucy Checks In by Dee Ernst
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
The Summer of Grace by Karen Jones
And, finally, some books to add to your list to read next year. (NOT to be missed, in my ever so humble opinion)!
When the Moon Turns Blue by Pamela Terry - Release Date Feb. 21
The Radcliff Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas - Release Date June 6
No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister - Release Date May 2
Happy New Year
and
Happy Reading!
