Happy Friday, Readers!
What was your most surprising read of 2022?
For example: is there a book you weren’t expecting to love but it ended up being your favorite? Did you try a new-to-you genre?
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I was surprised how much I liked mystery cozies. I hadn’t read any but after reading the following I really like them.
Murder In An Irish Pub - Carlene O’Connor
No Strangers Here - Carlene O’Connor
Death of a Pumpkin Carver - Lee Hollis
Surprisingly I did not care for Louis L’Amour books; I read one of his westerns and one his adventure books and I did not care for either one. Though people like his stories; I just don’t see what they see.
Surprisingly, I enjoyed the genre of YA. And I really like the author Tami Hoag. Can’t wait to read more of her books.
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The book that surprised me the most this year was one that wasn’t even on my radar until I received an ARC. As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow is a book that will stick with me for a long, long time.
I had so many good reads this year, but I think the book I enjoyed about spiders 
is the one. I’m terrified of them.
THE ECHO MAKER by Richard Powers - Sand Hill Crane stories woven in.
My most surprising reading thing of 2022 has to be the fact that over the course of the year my reading tastes have changed drastically.
My most surprising read this year was probably WIN By Harlan Coben. I loved Coben’s series about Myron Bolitar. Win was his best friend and appeared in all the Myron books. But this book about Win didn’t have a single appearance by Myron. That was a surprise and a disappointment.
One-Lane Bridge by Dan-Krzyzkowski. I was scared to read it at first because it is self-published, but this character-driven novel was wonderfully written!
I think my most surprising read was Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. I didn’t want to read it because I thought it would be dull or written in an old style or something. I’m not sure what I really expected but Hamnet sounding so much like Hamlet and being out the Shakespeare family just didn’t sound tempting to me at all. Fortunately, it was chosen as a read for one of my book clubs so I decided to give it a try and I thought it was really good. I would recommend it to fans of historical fiction. It might not really be about what you think it is.