The Best of the Best 2022: Weekly Reader

 The Best of the Best 2022: Weekly Reader

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's that time of year again. It's time for me to provide a list of my favorite books that I read in 2022. I would love to thank all of the authors, publishers, promoters, and Readers who helped make this blog possible.

Now onto my list of books published between 2010-2021. Some books that are part of a series are reviewed individually while others are reviewed together (depending on whether I read most of the volumes this year or not).

20. The Arboretum After Midnight by W.T. O'Brien

A very sinister and captivating murder mystery involves two police officers who investigate the murder of Whitney Collins, a beautiful but mysterious interior decorator.

The main highlight of this book is Whitney herself. Her story unravels to reveal a complex woman who escaped Eastern Europe as a child and had been victimized by sexual abuse. She then had a complicated love life and made many enemies. She is an impressive character who becomes more intriguing the more we learn about her.

. 19. The Doomsday Medallion (A Van Ops Thriller Book 3) by Avanti Centrae 

The latest Van Ops novel is the best. Twins, Maddy Marshall and Will Argones and Maddy's fiancee, Bear Thorenson encounter Avril, a descendant of famed seer, Nostradamus and search for his missing quatrains.

This book, like the others in the series, is filled with cliffhangers and beautiful scenic locations. However, what stands out is the relationship between Will and young Avril. The two run from villains and rescue each other, becoming a surrogate father and daughter.

18. The Portable Nine by Pete Mesling

This is a brilliant suspenseful thriller about a group of assassins who have to stand together to to fight an enemy stalker before he kills them all.

The assassins are a pretty diverse fascinating bunch. They include Davenport, the cool and sophisticated marksman, Lovinia Dolcet, a former porn star who uses her body to captivate men before she kills them, Abel Hazard, a thrill seeking Australian who had his fear gene surgically removed, and Miranda Gissing, a sharp tongued lesbian with an active love life. They are not an admirable crew but a very fascinating one.

17. Avoiding Aiden by Chris Cole

A sweet and funny gay romance about a young man navigating his love life with various disastrous dates set up by his siblings until he meets Jude, an English professor who could be the love of his life.

Avoiding Aiden is filled with great one liners mostly provided by Aidan's first person narration. There is also plenty of heart especially when Aiden gets raped by his ex and Jude helps him through this crisis.

16. The Devils You Know by Miles Watson

Miles Watson is a brilliant writer of short works and this anthology reveals that. It is a horror anthology which takes on many different types of fears.

The majority of the stories do not focus on supernatural fears. Instead they center around human monsters: Nazis, serial killers, and angry bystanders that erupt into a riot. It's a bad world that in one story, the Devil considers calling it quits. Really, who can blame him.

15. Racism is Real by Clive Henry

This is a deeply personal account of Henry's experiences with racism, both professionally and personally.

Henry's book details not only the racism that he encountered from individuals but also the institutions who told him that he was making a big deal over nothing and refused to help him. It reminds us that racism exists in many forms and it is our duty to speak out against it so the situation and system can be changed.

14. VVIIRRUUSS: I Never Forget by Jazalyn 

This is literally a poetic science fiction work, or rather a science fiction book written in poetic form. Three viruses are unleashed into the world affecting the victim's memories. 

Jazalyn's writing recognizes the importance of memory, human experience, emotion, and thought to our humanity. It's a strong look at all of the things that make us human and what happens when they are taken away from us.

13. Tapestry of My Mother's Life: Stories, Fragments, and Silences by Malve Von Hassell

This is a moving memoir of Von Hassell's relationship with her mother, Christa. As she studied her life, Von Hassell learned about Christa's formative years during WWII Pomerania and Cold War Germany.

Christa lived a troubled life of tyranny, deaths of loved ones, early romantic relationships that ended with the departure or death of her lovers, and societies of rigid and restrictive roles. The more Von Hassell learned about Christa, the more she recognized her strengths and frailties. She captured not only Christa as a mother, but as a woman shaped by the times in which she lived.

12. Cloud Cover by Jeffrey Sotto

Like Avoiding Aiden, this is a gay romance that is both humorous and heartwarming. However, it takes a much darker look.Tony is looking for love but feels self-conscious. So self-conscious that he develops bulimia.

The book is honest as it deals with a man living with an eating disorder and how the disorder takes over his entire life. Even when he has a good relationship, he constantly weighs his boyfriend's personality with his own and thinks that he falls short. Tony ultimately realizes that only he can find the help that he needs to treat and love himself.

11. Murder of a Runaway (A Belfast Murder Mystery Book Five) by Brian O'Hare

Chief Inspector Sheehan and his fellow officers investigate the death of a Chinese student. The inquiry takes them right into the world of human trafficking.

The book takes a dark somber look into this world. There is a strong subplot that shows how someone is trafficked from meeting, to emigration, to isolation and abuse by depicting a Romanian woman going through this ordeal.

Theirs is fictional story but is similar to many in real life who are taken from their homes and forced into hard labor or sex work for someone else's pleasure. It's a terrifying abusive crime that needs to end.

10. Rose: Future Heart by Jazalyn

This book of poems is an extended metaphor comparing a rose to one whose heart is broken but continues to search for love.

The Rose is analyzed through the thorns that formed from hardship, the fragility of her petals as others complimented her but refused to go beyond the superficial, and her reserve as she tries again. It's a realistic yet hopeful journey. Those who have loved, lost, and try to find love again will relate. It's a beautiful strength formed in adversity that is wonderfully explored.

9. Griffin's Perch by Ian Conner

Conner is a very versatile author. Here he takes on the Epic Fantasy genre. A wizard named Denrael and various other characters have to join together to fight against five dragons who are compelled to destroy the world around them.

Conner's imagination is in full force especially when he created the Delphens, a fox-like species that tame and ride griffins into battle. Then there is the disturbing story of how the dragons were created. It is a tale of avarice, greed, anger and how those emotions literally created monsters of humans who were consumed by them.

8. Theodora (Book 1 of Byzantine Tales) by Rob Bauer 

Theodora reveals the complex intricate machinations and plots within the Byzantine Empire. It takes a look inside the early years of Theodora I, one of the most famous rulers of that empire.

Theodora's early years show her as an actress and courtesan. Each painful lesson such as being separated from her family, living with an abusive lover, and her lifelong vengeance against a former enemy, teaches her how to survive in a duplicitous world and to one day rule it.

7. Crackle and Fire/ Hot Ash (An Angela Hardwicke Science Fiction Mystery Vols. 1 and 3) by Russ Colchamiro

Just like last year's Fractured Lives, Colchamiro takes us into the world of Angela Hardwicke, private investigator into Eternity, the part of the Universe responsible for the creation, maintenance, and repair of the Cosmos.

The Eternity setting is unique and unforgettable as the Reader learns how every character is responsible for giving order to the Universe. By contrast, the Acacia System from Hot Ash is a world that thrives on slave labor and systemic abuse.

The series also is deep in characterization. Angela herself stands out in the first volume as she struggles with addiction and worrying about her missing son. Her sidekick, Eric Whistler, stands out in the second volume as his idealism is crushed by the greedy vengeful world around him and the limitations of being a detective to fight against it.

6. Toward That Which is Beautiful Marian O'Shea Wernicke

This is a beautiful spiritual novel about a nun's conflicts within her faith. Sister Mary Katherine, left her home in St. Louis, Missouri to help minister to the people of Peru. While there, she falls in love with a priest and becomes suffocated by the limitations that her religion forces upon her.

As she exits the convent, Sister Mary Katherine searches for what she truly believes. She travels finding a closer kinship with God than she ever would behind closed doors. Her faith is strengthened by being proactive with the world and helping people because she wants to, not just with the goal of leading them to the Church.

5. Cooper's Ridge by Ian Conner

This is a science fiction novel which details the discovery, exploration, and colonization of a planet capable of sustaining human life.

Cooper's Ridge is beautifully described with its endless greenery and four red moons looking down on terra firma. It's an unspoiled natural beauty which is in danger of being destroyed by ambitious humans. The conspiracies reveal the hateful attributes of the human race and the terrible crimes they commit both on Earth and this new world. The selfish narcissist leaders will control the new world and destroy it as they would the old.

4. What Branches Grow by T. I. Beier

Even if you read many dystopian science fiction novels, this one still has the power to disturb and upset the Readers, especially because of the implications that this future isn't too far off from where we are now.

Gennero, a guard from the settlement, Churchill follows Delia, an outsider from the Wastelands. Together with an old man named Perth and Perth's dog, Mort, they travel to a place called The City which is rumored to still be functioning despite the environmental and war made disaster around them.

There are moments of genuine terror and fear as the quartet encounter various villages who operate on their own loose definitions of punishment and justice. There is also true heartbreak when Perth, a former Millennial, recalls his youthful memories which are in turn our youthful memories. It's sad as we consider what daily comforts that we might miss if civilization comes to a screeching halt.

3. Fearghus Academy October Jewels by I.Q. Scheffer

This a fantastic amalgam of fantasy featuring characters with magic powers, science fiction by taking place on a distant planet, Victorian historical fiction by featuring a young woman getting pulled out of her backbreaking job at a sweatshop, and magical school stories by offering a school that teaches students how to control their magic.

Young Anna Anderson is adopted by the eccentric Nichole. She selects a new name, Artesia and learns that she has the power to create fire. She is then sent to the intergalactic Fearghus Academy where she and other students learn about life, love, and how to use their personal powers.

Artesia and her friends are a terrific group and all stand out. From Evelyn, an overachieving light user, to Eilam, an ice mage with a dark family secret, and Marnie, a water mage who fancies Artesia. No bully, mean girl, or cliques around them. They are friends and allies who fight against bigger issues than themselves.

Artesia goes through a lot of personal growth in this book. She not only harnesses her fire mage abilities, but also her inner strength and independence. She becomes a leader of her group of friends. She also experiences her own sexuality as she weighs her attractions to Marnie and Jun, a fire mage. It is an exploration of Artesia's search for her own identity.

2. Women Spies of World War II (Spark of Resistance, Flames of Resistance, and Embers of Resistance) by Kit Sergeant 

Of Sergeant's Female Spy novels, this three part series is her magnum opus. This takes three books to explore World War II through the eyes of ten women who are recruited as spies and help the Allies defeat the Nazis during WWII.

Sergeant did an insurmountable feat of individualizing each character making them her own person and still taking part in the world around her.

They are a fascinating diverse bunch. There is Mathilde "La Chatte" Lily Carre, one of the first spies who did the work to recruit other members to the cause but ultimately turned traitor to save her own skin. Noor Inayat Khan, an Indian Muslim woman who abandoned her wealthy cultural life to become a wireless operator then a field agent. Sonia Olschanezky, a former governess turned saboteur and courier among others.

There are suspenseful passages as characters put themselves on the line delivering messages, copying information, hiding escapees, and transmitting radio signals. It was a dangerous life where they were always on alert, had to be careful who they talked to and what they said, and lived every moment like their last.

They also face betrayal and some end up in prison, tortured, and killed. There are some survivors. This series explores each woman's courage, dedication, endurance, strength, and sacrifice.

1. Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity by David A Neuman

This is one of those books that is not a book so much as it is an immersive experience. It is a surreal dream like journey that takes several different components and creates a thoughtful, unforgettable whole work.

Several mysterious things happen at once. Solar flares erupt in Australia. An Englishwoman spontaneously combusts. A town in Brazil mysteriously vanishes. A man in California appears and disappears. Several children in a small California town have nightmares of a dark clothed figure observing them. All around the world, people hear the sound of bells and see balloon figures.

These various scenes of weirdness ultimately come together when father and son, Bob and Josh Triplow (the latter is one of the kids affected by the nightmare) have to confront the entities that are responsible for this strangeness.

It's a bizarre surreal science fiction novel that is more felt than read. Many of the events are so bizarre that even the Reader doesn't know what is fantasy and what is reality. It puts Readers off kilter just like the characters as they go farther and deeper into this nightmare of a journey.

Honorable Mention: Hollow: A Love Like a Life by Jazalyn, The Descendants (The Descendants Book One) by Destiny Hawkins, Moon Deeds (Book One of The Star Children Saga) by Palmer Pickering, The Prophecy Has Begun: Donum by Alexandra Lane, Mysterious Aisles (The South Hertling Chronicles Book 1) by B.G. Hilton, Conceptus by Brian Herskowitz, The Genius of Our Wiles by Blythe Gryphon, We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This: A Memoir of Missed Connections by Donna Y. Farris, Murder Through An Open Door (A Book Magic Mystery) by Melissa Bourbon, The Thorn Princess (Iron Crown Faerie Tales Book One) by Bekah Harris

 

Well that's all. As always, Happy Reading.