top 5 tuesday banner
Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 books I meant to read in 2022

Hello friends!! Welcome to Top 5 Tuesday!! This week’s topic is top 5 books I meant to read in 2022!!

Let’s be honest, this is a LOOOOOONG list, not just 5 books. I meant to read a lot of my backlist this year. But… it didn’t happen. In fact, it’s likely I won’t even make my 2022 Goodreads goal for the first time in many year. (Eeek!!) But, you know, maybe I’ll manage to smash through 12 books in the next three weeks. I’m sure weirder things have happened?!

However, for this list, I’m going to focus on 5 books on my TBR that came out in 2022, that I just haven’t managed to read yet!!

If you missed the October-December 2022 topics they are out now!! Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, and is now being hosted here @ Meeghan reads.

blog divider - picture of 5 cacti

top 5 books I meant to read in 2022

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven — Juno Dawson

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

If you look hard enough at old photographs, we’re there in the background: healers in the trenches; Suffragettes; Bletchley Park oracles; land girls and resistance fighters. Why is it we help in times of crisis? We have a gift. We are stronger than Mundanes, plain and simple.

At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls ― Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle ― took the oath to join Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she’s a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC.

With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.

The Cursed and the Broken — Chloe Hodge

Years ago, the dark queen was executed by witches, her cultists hunted down like rats and forced into hiding. Their black magic buried and put to rest, all was well in the world… or so we thought.

Kitarni Barany, witch and shepherd of her flock, has always been different. There’s a darkness in her blood and a destiny beyond the border of her small village.

Corruption is spreading, and the whispers of cultists stir through the woods once again.

Betrothed to the heir of the Wolfblood Clan, she risks not only her life but her heart. United, they must stand against the cultists, or watch the Kingdom of Hungary fall.

Cursed by Death and controlled by Fate, Kitarni is forced to meet her demons… or die by them.

A story of succumbing to wicked desires, death, and the temptations of a deliciously dangerous love.

The Cursed and the Broken by Chloe Hodge

This Vicious Grace — Emily Thiede

This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede

Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s magic, not kill every suitor she touches.

Now, with only weeks left until a hungry swarm of demons devours everything on her island home, Alessa is running out of time to find a partner and stop the invasion. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her.

Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal. He holds the key to her survival and her heart, but is he the one person who can help her master her gift or destroy her once and for all?

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea — Axie Oh

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village ― and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon ― may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin ― as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits ― Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Violet Made of Thorns — Gina Chen

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the royal court with her cleverly phrased ― and not always true ― divinations. Honesty is for suckers, like the oh-so-not charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip Violet of her official role once he’s crowned at the end of the summer ― unless Violet does something about it.

But when the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus’s love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse, one that will end in either damnation or salvation for the kingdom ― all depending on the prince’s choice of future bride. Violet faces her own choice: Seize an opportunity to gain control of her own destiny, no matter the cost, or give in to the ill-fated attraction that’s growing between her and Cyrus.

Violet’s wits may protect her in the cutthroat court, but they can’t change her fate. And as the boundary between hatred and love grows ever thinner with the prince, Violet must untangle a wicked web of deceit in order to save herself and the kingdom ― or doom them all.

blog divider - picture of 5 cacti

FYI, I have built a database of everyone who know of that has joined a Top 5 Tuesday topic. Which means, I should be able to come and visit blogs every week to find your posts. You won’t necessarily need to link your posts below (unless you want to). But, if you’re new or I’ve not found your blog, please drop a comment below with a link to your post, and I will add you!

PARTICIPANTS

Jillian the Bookish Butterfly
Bella
DB’s Guide to the Galaxy
Wicked Witch’s Blog
The Punk Theory
Kerri McBookNerd
Your Book Friend
Less Than Three D
Biblio Nerd Reflections
The Pine-Scented Chronicles
Becky Bookstore
Kira Jeanette
Zezee with Books
Books Less Travelled
Peat Long’s Blog

What are your top 5 books you meant to read in 2022?

until next time, happy reading! Meeghan xo

15 Comments

Let's chat!

%d