Charming

We're Reading... 2022

Members are invited to keep track of their own reading list for the year using whatever format they like—maybe they feel like including a small shot of the cover, a review, their preferred wine pairing? Maybe they only list what they finish, or they want to list everything they’ve got on tap too! Whichever route you choose, we’re excited to see which books you’ve lost yourself in Smile

We ask only two things:

Spoilers in spoiler tags, please!
Don’t break the page or the code >.>

Don't forget, starting a discussion on one of your books can help to earn you our Charming Book Club Stamps!

Read & discussed one Book Club book

For formatting and tracking ideas, refer to our 2021 Reading Lists! <3

Feel free to add me on Goodreads!

January Reads
— goals: get in the habit of reading daily, read 1 book per week —
finished 14/52 books

To Love Jason Thorn

things I loved: easy read, full of fun romance tropes that were never too cheesy to enjoy
tw: ambiguous consent in one scene

A Deal With the Elf King

things I loved: enemies-to-lovers, beauty and the beast retelling, the writing syle
tw: —

That Time I Got Drunk And Saved a Demon

things I loved: title and the cover art (it lured me in), easy read, forking hilarious, diverse characters, unique worldbuilding
tw: descriptive gore

Spellbound

things I loved: soulmate trope, elves, fun foreshadowing
tw: —

Sixteen Scandals

things I loved: easy read, regency backdrop, the pride and prejudice parallels
tw: animal cruelty in one chapter

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)

things I loved: fun cast of characters, slow burn enemies-to-lovers, witty dialogue, worldbuilding
tw: —

The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2)

things I loved: somehow the slow burn gets even slower, mermaids, the pain
tw: mentions of child neglect

The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3)

things I loved: the resolution <3
tw: mentions of child neglect

How The King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air #3.5)

things I loved: cardan <3
tw: mentions of child neglect

A Dance With The Fae Prince

things I loved: the worldbuilding, the fun cast of characters
tw: mentions of child abuse

A Stranger In The House

things I loved: a good murder mystery
things I hated: the ending
tw: murder??

The Charm Offensive

things I loved: love story that feels authentic and unrushed, healthy messages about romance and mental health, diverse cast of characters, the reality show backdrop, the pain
tw: mental health, periodic homophobia by minor characters

Tender is the Flesh

things I loved: it was absolutely horrifying
tw: cannibalism, gore, violence

The Love Hypothesis

things I loved: stem girls <3, demisexual representation
tw: sexual harassment in one scene

February Reads
— goals: read 1 nonfiction book + three books by Black authors —
finished 27/52 books

An Ember in the Ashes

things I loved: the world-building, the dual POVs that complemented each other, the cast of characters, the dark themes
tw: gore, death, mentions of rape (but no actual scenes of it)

The Soulmate Equation

things I loved: single mama things, fun genetic dating app concept, healthy relationships
tw: mentions of drug use/addiction

Second First Impressions

things I loved: friends to lovers, subverting expectations with the personalities of the love interests, secret lesbians, turtles

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas

things I loved: the messages hidden in the details and narrative choices
tw: this is a Holocaust story

From Blood & Ash

things I loved: new take on vampire/werewolf lore, the twist in the last half
things I did not like: the entire first half of the book

A Torch Against the Night (Ember in the Ashes #2)

things I loved: unexpected plot twist, the relationships, the writing flow
tw: gore, child abuse/murder

Zodiac Academy: The Awakening

things I loved: the entire of vibe of "What if Monster High [as in, the dolls] was set in Hogwarts and everyone was either trying to kill each other or sleep with each other 24/7?".
tw: bullying-bordering-torture???

Meet Me In The Margins

things I loved: relatable MC, slightly meta commentary about writing novels and publishing

Pestilence (Four Horseman #1)

things I loved: the writing style, fun take on the end of the world, MC & love interest's character development
tw: torture, gore, murder, plague

War (Four Horseman #2)

things I loved: the characters are great, how the author continues to build this world
tw: murder, gore, mentions of rape, torture

Famine (Four Horseman #3)

things I loved: the mc in this one is probably my favorite <3
tw: murder, graphic depictions of gore, mentions of rape, torture

Death (Four Horseman #4)

things I loved: the fated soulmates trope is my guilty pleasure, ngl
tw: murder, graphic depictions of gore, torture

1984

things I loved: finally getting all the Orwellian references that are tossed around in our society
tw: torture, death, mentions of rape

In-Progress

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (From Blood and Ash #2)

my thoughts: OKAY FINE I like this series. Sue me.

The Traitor Queen

my thoughts: I finished the first one at 11:59pm on NYE of 2021, so I'm glad I finally got around to the sequel. I love it <3

Stirring Up Love

my thoughts: cute concept so far

Imminent To-Reads

A Reaper at the Gates (Ember in the Ashes #3), by Sabaa Tahir
Zodiac Academy: Ruthless Fae, by Susanne Valenti & Caroline Peckham
The Crown of Gilded Bones (From Blood and Ash #3), by Jennifer L. Armentrout

2022 DNFs
My philosophy this year is "If it does not spark joy, throw it away"... mostly.

Love At First Spite

I hyped this book up because there is nothing more fun than spitefully building a house across from your ex with your hot architect coworker, but when it's marketed and written as an enemies-to-lovers without establishing the "enemies" part—well, it just falls flat.

Something Fabulous

I didn't like the dynamic between the two main characters, which sucked because the book was hilarious.

Rules For Vanishing

bad, per se; I simply wasn't invested enough to continue it.

Radiance

I might pick this back up again, but I lost interest so I'll just leave it for now <3

My Best Friend's Exorcism

I actually love this book, but my desire for a horror book was overtaken by rom-coms and fantasy and I didn't really want to touch it. Will probably finish at a later date.

Jan. Reads - 7 [2 Audiobooks]
Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey [Audiobook]
The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkein
*Traitor to the Throne [Rebel of the Sands #2] - Alwyn Hamilton
Once Upon a Broken Heart - Stephanie Garber
Half a Soul [Regency Faerie Tales #1] - Olivia Atwater
One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston [Audiobook]
The Lady Most Likely... - Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, & Connie Brockway

Feb. Reads - 3
The Lady Most Willing... - Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, & Connie Brockway
*Drums of Autumn [Outlander #4] - Diana Gabaldon
*All the Feels [Spoiler Alert #2] - Olivia Dade

March - 2
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
*The Dating Plan - Sara Desai

April - 5 [1 audiobook]
The Marriage Game - Sara Desai
The Rival Queens - Nancy Goldstone [Audiobook]
Meet Me in the Margins - Melissa Ferguson
Miss Lattimore's Letter - Suzanne Allain
Splendid - Julia Quinn

May 6 [4 audiobooks]
*The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
*A Feast for Crows [Audiobook] - George R. R. Martin
*The Plus One Pact - Portia MacIntosch [Audiobook]
The Kiss Quotient- Helen Hoang [Audiobook]
The Map That Changed the World - Simon Winchester [Audiobook]
Realm of Ash - Tasha Suri

June 4 [3 audiobooks]
*Reputation - Lex Croucher [Audiobook]
*The Alice Network - Kate Quinn [Audiobook]
*The Heretic Queen - Michelle Moran [Reread]
*Life's Too Short - Amy Jimenez [Audiobook]

July 4 [3 audiobooks]
*The House at Tyneford - Natasha Solomons [Audiobook]
*Mythos - Stephan Fry [Audiobook]
*Bone and Shadow - Leigh Bardugo[Audiobook]
*Along for the Ride - Sarah Dessen

August 9 [4 audiobooks]
Seige and Storm - Leigh Bardugo
The Reluctant Empress - Brigitte Hamann
-The Terranauts - T.C. Boyle
Lore - Alexandra Bracken [Audiobook]
*Hero at the Fall [Rebel of the Sands #3] - Alwyn Hamilton
Siblings Without Rivalry [Audiobook] - Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
The Lost Duke of Wyndham - Julia Quinn
Hold On, But Don't Hold Still - Kristina Kuzmic [Audiobook]
*Faking It - Portia MacIntosch [Audiobook]

September - 4 [1 audiobook]
*A Discovery of Witches [All Souls Trilogy Book 1] - Deborah Harkness [Reread]
The Comeback - Lily Chu [Audiobook]
Get a Life, Chloe Brown - Talia Hibbert
*Shadow of the Night [All Souls Trilogy Book 2] - Deborah Harkness [Reread]

October -4 [1 Audiobook]
*Ruin ans Rising [Shadow and Bone #3] - Leigh Bardugo
Honeymoon for One - Portia MacIntosch [Audiobook]
The Ballad of Never After [Once Upon a Broken Heart 2] - Stephanie Garber
The Book of Life [ All Souls Book 3] - Deborah Harkness [Reread]

November - 6 [4 Audiobooks]
Once a Solider - Mary Jo Putney
Beyond the Wand - Tom Felton [Audiobook]
Witchcraft in the Western Tradition [Great Courses] - Jennifer McNabb [Audiobook]
Jane Austen at Home - Lucy Worsley [Audiobook]
*Powerful Women of the Medieval World [Great Courses] - Dorsey Armstrong [Audiobook]
*The Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

December - 4
Crooked Kingdom - Leigh Bardugo
The Meet Cute Method - Portia MacIntosch
*Lovelight Farms - B.K. Boris
*In The Weeds - B.K. Boris

Reading
The Unfinished Tales -J.R.R. Tolkien
The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr -Susan Holloway Scott
Mad Honey - Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan [Audiobook]
Victoria: The Queen - Julia Baird [Audiobook]

Goal: 24
Total with Audiobooks: 58

Note: Asterisks mean I recommend it.
A minus sign in front means "do yourself a favor and DON'T read this book"

See Goodreads for my actual reviews (where applicable); this is just quick impressions (if I even manage to keep up with them xD) * denotes audio.

— C U R R E N T —
The Outsiders by SE Hinton | Coming of Age | Reread
Grimm Tales for Young & Old by Philip Pullman | Fairy Tales

— J A N U A R Y —
The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream by Dean Jobb | Nonfiction | 3.5 ⭐

Full disclosure, the author is one of my J-School instructors <3 Really interesting discussions of the development of legal proceedings, the police, and medicine during this time period. Also poison!

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab | Supernatural; Middle Grade | 4 ⭐

Author publishes as VE Schwab for adult books and is one of my fav! Super quick read that still manages to be engaging in spite of the fact that I am Old.

Dishonesty is the Second Best Policy* by David Mitchell | Essays, I Guess? | 3 ⭐

I want him to be my uncle. If you're not Up on British news of the mid 2010s, lots of this will go over your head. A bit disjointed, owing to the fact that they were originally separate columns in a paper(?) whose name I've forgotten.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow | Historical Fantasy | 3.5 ⭐

I adored this book. Eventually. Found it REAL hard to get through for a good chunk, though. Beautiful writing, it was just very slow until it was GREAT. I know Olive () enjoyed it and she might have ~other thoughts.

The Breakdown* by B.A. Paris | Thriller | 2.5 ⭐

I don't care how enjoyable the last third was, it was way too hard to get there. Go with Behind Closed Doors (same author) instead.

It's In His Kiss by Julia Quinn | Historical Romance | 4 ⭐

The best in the series since An Offer From a Gentleman IMO. Look, I used to think I was too good for romance. I am not. This is a treasure.

Please Like Me (But Keep Away) by Mindy Kaling | Essays | 2.75 ⭐

Mindy is still my spirit animal, but there was just not enough here (22 pages, LOL) for me to properly sink my teeth into. This was part of a series she did for Amazon and I think they've been released as a full book now? Gonna snag the Full Thing on audio rather than read the rest individually.

Silverview* by John le Carré | Spies
Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian | Magical Realism

Tilda MacFusty

Holly Scrimgeour

Juniper Edevane

Sisse Thompsett

Lavinia Rose