Let’s analyse these awards a bit!
Ok, so this year I had some nominees on my shelves for fantasy, romance, and YA fantasy. I also had The Golden Couple for Mystery & Thriller, but since I haven’t finished it yet I’m not counting this one. Let’s see a bit what happened in each category…
Fantasy: House of Sky and Breath
No surprise here, we’re sure that when there’s a book by Sarah J. Maas it’s almost certain that it will win. I haven’t read it yet so I have nothing to say except that I usually love this author!
I had two books on my shelves, Babel and A River Enchanted. The second one didn’t convince me enough to vote for it, especially given all the wonderful things I’ve heard about the others. So, I have to admit that I voted for Babel, even though I am currently reading it between the books that are actually on my December TBR. But I swear, it is giving me a 5 stars feeling, for all the aspects I usually evaluate in a book and more!
Some other nominees are on my TBR (and I can’t wait to read them): The Atlas Six, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, When Women Were Dragons… Yes, I love Fantasy
Romance: Book Lovers
The winner is also the one I voted for, yeah! Here again, I had read two books among the nominees. The other one was Love on the Brain and I think its presence in the awards shows how much sometimes what counts is the name of the author and not the actual quality of the book…
YA Fantasy: Gallant
Are you surprised that it’s the category where I’ve read the most books? Because I’m not. And I’m not even talking about the number of them being on my TBR (Kingdom of the Feared, Gallant, This Woven Kingdom, Hotel Magnifique, A Magic Steeped in Poison, and all the second volumes of series I want to start next year).
So, I had to choose between A Violet Made of Thorns, Only A Monster, Belladonna, and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea. The first one was eliminated right away and even though I really enjoyed Only A Monster, it didn’t mark me at a point where I should vote for it. No, the real choice was between Belladonna and The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea and let me tell you, that was hard. If I remember correctly, I ended up voting for the last one, because of its incredible writing and the feeling it left me with.
What do I think about the winner? Well, I have to say I am a bit surprised given the mixed reviews I heard about it. I’ll have to see for myself if it’s not once again the name-of-the-author effect I already mentioned, knowing that I DNFed one of her books already…
That’s all for the 2022 Goodreads Awards! And you, what do you think of this year’s selection?
A Book by the Fire 