My Five-Star Reads of 2022: Part 1

Jan 9

Written By Ivey

In the bookish community, giving a book five stars means that it is the cream of the crop when it comes to your library. These are the books that get to go on a special shelf so you can find them easily or the books you won't shut up about on Instagram. It's the perfect book for you, and you love it because it has all the elements that you love in a book.

That's what made up the 39 five-star books that I read in 2022, and I want to share them with you throughout three posts because there were too many to put in one.

Disclaimer: These are MY five-star reads! I loved them because they have all the elements of stuff I love in books, hit some nostalgia, or have life experiences that I can relate to. You may have given one of these books a one-star review, and that's okay. We all have different reading tastes, and that's great. We can agree to disagree on what we thought about these books and have no bad blood between us (except if one of those books is Heartstopper if you don't like Heartstopper leave right now... Kidding! ... Kind of.)

**Book 1: Midnight in Everwood by M. A. Kuzniar (January)**

This is a book that I wanted to read in December of the previous year but I didn't around to. Regardless, I was still very excited about this book going into January, so I picked it up early in the month.
Growing up a ballerina, I danced in multiple forms of the Nutcracker, so reading a Nutcracker retelling was so nostalgic for me. I picked up on so many little nods to the ballet and the author used some ballet terminology in her writing which helped me visualize the whole thing perfectly.
The story follows an aspiring ballet dancer named Marietta Stelle, who is about to be forced to give up her passion for dance for marriage. Her potential suitor makes an elaborate stage for what is supposed to be her final performance, and the magic present there ends up transporting her to the snowy and sugary world of Everwood. While there, she is made the dancing pet of the sadistic King and kept locked up with two other women in a glass sugar tower under the watch of the Captain of the King's Guard.
The whole story is filled with whimsical imagery and a fun plot of rebellion where Marietta makes friends and finds love that truly makes her build an inner strength she didn't know she had, and I love that in stories. This was such a beautiful book in more ways than one, and if you love whimsical stories or are a ballerina, I highly recommend this one.

**Book 2: Blackout by Dhionelle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon (February)**

This book is what I love about anthologies. The way that these stories intertwined into one narrative was so satisfying, and I truly enjoyed each of the stories in their own right.
In this, we follow twelve young black teens during a Blackout in New York that intertwines the stories together along with a party that is happening to keep up spirits while the lights are out. Each story follows a different love story, and each of them made my heart happy in different ways.
One of the stories is interspersed throughout the rest of them to help show the passage of time, and I like how that one was executed. Also, another story was a Friends to Lovers story, and I am a sucker for that trope.
Overall, it was a really sweet collection of stories and a celebration of Black Joy and Love, which I adored.

**Book 3: The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren (February)**

After reading and loving the Unhoneymooners last year, I decided to try another Christina Lauren book, and this one was SO GOOD!
We love a quirky rom-com premise, and this one takes the cake. A Single Mom Freelance Statistician and a Corporate Matchmaker Scientist get matched via his DNA matchmaking service. Say less! This is what I want in a rom-com!
And it is executed so well with the hilarious rom-com hijinks and the sweet moments where Jess and River start to realize they are a good match for each other. Along with Jess's daughter, Juno, her best friend, Fizzy, and her beloved Grandparents, this cast is just so lovable, and I truly adore watching Jess and Juno getting to know River and being a little family. Christina Lauren does a great job of highlighting the small moments of building a relationship, which I love.
Such a cute and lovable story and I can't wait for Fizzy's story to come out in 2023!

**Book 4: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (March)**

If you haven't figured it out already, 2022 was the year I started to figure out how much I love reading Rom-Coms. Give me a fun romance premise that is executed well, and I will be there.
The Brown Sisters series had been on my radar for a minute, and this was the year to give it a try. In this first book, we follow Chloe, the oldest of the sisters, who has been living in a rut for a long time. After a near-death experience, she decides to strike out on her own and start living a more spontaneous life following her carefully curated list of goals. But she needs someone to help her do it. Enter her apartment super and motorcycle riding bad boy, Red. The two do not have the best first impressions of each other, but they learn to see past that, and they start to help each other in different ways.
All of this, along with a cute cat, sister shenanigans, and the flourishing love between them made this such a fun read.

**Book 5: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (March)**

Okay, this book took over Bookstagram and Booktok for ages... and for good reason! Y'all, this book is the epitome of cozy fantasy feels, and I love it! Usually, you read books, and you're waiting for the big drop or the scary drama to come in, and you don't get that with this book. Don't get me wrong there is some drama and angst, but it's not too much to the point where you can feel your heart drop, and I love that in a book.
In this book, we follow Linus Baker who works for the Department in Charge of Magical youth as a case worker, where he decides if magical youth can stay in their current designated homes or if they should be moved somewhere else. His latest case takes him to the Marsyas Island Orphanage, a house of six misfit children run by Arthur Parnassus, and Extremely Upper Management wants him to determine if this home should be disbanded. The quiet Linus goes to stay in this home with a gnome, wyvern, and the Anti-Christ, though we don't like that term here, to determine just that. During his time there, Linus starts to care for not only the children but Arthur as well, which makes staying objective in his job all the more difficult.
Again, this book has all the cozy found family feels, and the drama is minimal, which I love. I highly recommend the audiobook read by Daniel Henning for this one because he does different voices for each character, which just enhances the whimsical and fun reading experience.

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Books 6-9: Heartstopper Volumes 1-4 by Alice Oseman (April)

Okay, during April, I wasn't finding anything I read five-star worthy, and I was starting to get in a slump. So to get me out of the slump, and in preparation for the TV Show Adaptation, I reread Volumes 1 through 4 of Heartstopper, my only five-star reads of the month.

I was introduced to these books in a roundabout way. I read and loved Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia (the book that got me back into reading), and it's been suggested that if you love that book, you should read Radio Silence by Alice Oseman because of the similar premise and ideas. I concur with this comparison, and I ended up loving it, so I decided to give some of Alice's other works a try, and since one of the main characters from Radio Silence, Aled, is a side character in Heartstopper, I read that first and boy did I love it!

If you haven't heard of Heartstopper yet, I don't know where you've been but at the heart is a simple boy meets boy love story. The story stars an openly gay overthinking geek named Charlie and a seemingly straight soft-hearted rugby lad named Nick, who are assigned to sit next to each other in form (AKA homeroom) at the beginning of a new school term. Over time, the two become friends and Charlie starts to develop a crush on Nick, which he thinks will be unrequited but meanwhile, Nick is getting confused by his more than friendship feelings for Charlie and the story goes from there.

Heartstopper is another low-drama type of story that also deals with hard topics in a softer tone. Nick and Charlie's romance is at the center of it all, but we also deal with their found family of other LGBTQ+ teens in their school circle, complicated family dynamics for both boys, and mental health issues, mostly for Charlie.

Charlie is one of those characters that I connected with a lot because of my anxiety disorder and my being an introverted person. But he's also a sarcastic and loving individual who has many moments of bravery which I love. Also, Nick is a caring individual who is strong and sweet in many ways, and I love his relationship with Charlie. Also, their extended friend group is so much fun (Elle is probably my favorite), and Nellie the Dog is the GOAT.

Heartstopper is such a heartwarming read, and it's something I reread very often when I'm feeling down. I refuse to let anyone come for it or my cinnamon roll characters so don't even. Not to mention, the TV Show Adaptation is practically perfect, and the most true-to-story adaptation I've ever seen, probably it was written by Alice themself. Both the show and novels are worth the watch or the read.