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Summer has come and gone! Well technically, we have till the end of September. However, let’s be real: once August ends and the school year begins, we all mentally shift to fall.

I personally am excited for the end of summer and the beginning of fall, but I will miss reading at the beach!

Hopefully, you all had a great summer of reading! I want to share with you what I’ve read in the last 3 months, what I loved, and what I would recommend you add to your TBR! 

Summer 2022: Complete Reading List

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (re-read)

The Mark of Athena By bt Rick Riordan (re-read)

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (re-read)

House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas 

Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan 

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (re-read)

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (re-read)

Crying In H Mart By Michelle Zauner 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han (re-read)

The Wicked King by Holly Black 

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black 

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 

My Favorite Reads This Summer

My favorite book I read this summer is Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction or memoirs, but this book made me very glad to have strayed from my typical genre.

This book has so much heart and is so beautifully sad. The story of loss and love from Michelle to her mother, as well as how the book talks about their relationship with traditional Korean food, makes this a definite 5-star read for me. 

On a completely different note, I also loved Sarah J. Maas’s new release House of Sky and Breath.

This series has the same vibes as the Shadow Hunters series, with a city full of crime and magic but set in a more high-fantasy world.

It is such a fun and over-dramatic read, but if you love SJM books (or really any YA or NA fantasy books), I would highly recommend reading the Crescent City series. 

I would also highly recommend Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. This is her debut novel, and it tells the story of a brother and sister mourning the death of their mother, while also discovering that her past is not at all what they thought it was.

I loved how in this story the black cake is woven throughout each character and is the one thing that the family is always being drawn back to.

I went into this book knowing nothing about the plot which, honestly, was a great way to read it (I truly judged a book by its cover and bought it because it was pretty hehe).

I also learned a lot about Caribbean culture, and one of my goals for reading this year was to read more books from different cultures and experiences!

Other Recommendations 

My best friend and I have lately been on the quest to find books that fill the Sarah J. Maas-sized holes in our hearts.

On this journey, we both read the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black, which includes The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing.

Does this series quite hit like Throne of Glass or A Court of Thorns and Roses? Nope! However, it is fun and similar in style and world-building.

There are also lots of fae, so if that’s your jam I would give these a read! I had a lot of fun, especially with the enemies-to-lovers trope between our two leads.

This series did read a bit more juvenile compared to other YA fantasy series I have enjoyed, and though I did like the Folk of the Air books, I don’t see myself ever re-reading them. 

I will say that, overall, all of the books I read this summer were pretty good reads for me!

I am happy to say that nearly all got at least 3-star rating for me, and I would recommend any of them to at least try if you have been looking for some new titles.

I also would highly recommended adding re-reading books to your fall TBR. As I talked about in my Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag, I have fully embraced re-reading books this year.

I used to always want to focus on reading new books to fulfill my reading goal, but this year I am also counting re-reads for my reading challenge.

It is so fun to re-enter the worlds of my favorite stories and characters, and also all this re-reading totally justifies my book buying habits!!!!

What I’m Reading Now

Currently, I am reading Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I read and did not love the first two Grisha Trilogy books, but what I disliked about that series was the characters, not the world or the writing style (I HATE MAL!).

Because of this, I have decided to give her other series a try. So far I am enjoying this book much more than her others and I am excited to see how I feel about her other work!

My Fall TBR 

For fall, I really want to read some more classic literature. I have been wanting to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and one of my friends recently read it and completely raved about how much she loved it, so I am very excited to read it!

I also plan to finish re-reading the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, which I started re-reading in the spring. 

If you want to know more about my TBR or what I am reading, you can follow me at my StoryGraph or on my Goodreads.

I hope you had the very best summer and that you’re ready for fall! Honestly, I just can’t wait to read at Starbucks with a pumpkin cream cold brew… 

-Paisley

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