2022 Favorites, So Far

We’re halfway through the year, time to take a break and think about our favorite new releases so far. We’ve got a whole 6 months left of new releases, but it makes the overall 2022 Top 5 easier if we do a mid-year round up as well.

Electric Idol by Katee Robert (January 2022)

I didn’t expect to love the Eros/Psyche reimagining with Hades and Persephone right there, oh, but I did. Plus size female lead representation, in the middle of the Dark Olympus world that’s deeply obsessed with appearance. It probably also helped that there was a marriage of convenience and a scary male lead who was absolute putty in his woman’s hands.

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J Maas (Feb 2022)

Sweeping in scope, House of Sky and Breath takes Bryce so far from the carefree party girl, the lonely and rejected half-fae and into new powers and positions in her own right. She’s still figuring them out, and will keep you on your toes until the last page.

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin (March 2022)

This book captured me and held me hostage until I finished. Magic enhanced tea? A magical competition? A mysterious and probably dangerous love interest? This book gave me all those things and more as Ning does whatever it takes to save her family.

A Cruel And Fated Light by Ashley Shuttleworth (May 2022)

The Hollow Star cast of characters really kicks it up a notch in a Cruel and Fated Light. I lived for Queen Riadne’s backstory sections, giving us insights into the past generation’s secrets as the current players try and make sense of how the story in front of them is unfolding.

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi (June 2022)

An epic fantasy with African and Arabian mythology, The Final Strife builds the story of a complex empire, doing things as it has for hundreds of years and three women learning about themselves and each other, working to find a way to change everything.