Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Books I Meant to Read in 2022

Hello, everyone! I’m actually participating in Top 5 Tuesday for TWO WEEKS IN A ROW. This is quite the accomplishment for my lazy self. lol. Meeghan is coming out of the gate swinging this month with the brutal topic first. I guess it is best to rip the bandaid off quick so we can move on to more happy year-end topics. 🙂 This week’s topic is top 5 books I meant to read in 2022. The actual answer is probably ALL OF THEM (or close to it), but I was able to pick out 5 that I’m disappointed the most about punting to 2023. Stay tuned after these five letdowns for a special treat that will hopefully lighten the mood! Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, and is now being hosted at Meeghan Reads!

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.

A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun


In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.

Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

King of Scars/Rule of Wolves by J.C. Duncan

Face your demons… or feed them.

The dashing young king, Nikolai Lantsov, has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war–and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried–and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

TOP 5 BOOKS I FINALLY READ THIS YEAR

So, there you have it. Both my top 5 books I meant to read in 2022 and my top 5 books I finally read this year. What books do you regret not getting to this year? Let me know down in the comments!

6 thoughts on “Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Books I Meant to Read in 2022

  1. How you finding Mary Stewart’s Arthur stuff? They’re on my longlist but I think you’re the first person I know who’s actually read any of them.

    Also, big fan of King of Scars.

    • I like them. Her take is more mundane than most versions I’ve read of Arthur’s story. It reads a lot like a simple historical account through the eyes of Merlin. He’s much less mystical in her version of events, and it all feels more realistic than many other retellings.

  2. Oops, I wanted to read quite a few of these books this year as well but I also didn’t get around to them. Addie LaRue, Black Sun and Legendborn will defo be top priority in 2023… Maybe 🙂 haha

  3. I’ve seen a lot of hype this year for Legendborn, particularly because the sequel came out this year. I don’t think I’ve seen a single negative thing about it, so naturally I’m curious about reading it. If I get to it next year, that will be a miracle. Same about Leigh Bardugo’s other books…I borrowed a couple from some friends, but they’ve been sitting on my nightstand for months, lol.

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