As 2022 comes to a close, we certainly can’t forget about all of the ups and downs in the publishing industry. We’ve experienced it all: from reading great new books to seeing more book bans than ever; from beloved authors who passed to the new ones we discovered.
BookTrib has even gotten a head start on a fresh look for the new year with our re-designed website. But before we turn the page, let’s take a look at some of our most popular posts of 2022!
Six Historical Mysteries to Keep Your Mind Sharp as the Weather Cools | Article by Wyatt Semenuk
If you love historical mysteries, 2022 has a fantastic lineup of new titles you don’t want to miss! With settings from Victorian England to World War II–era Europe and beyond, these atmospheric novels feature intrepid sleuths and clever mysteries sure to keep your fingers warm by turning the pages and keep your mind sharp this winter. These are the perfect books to cozy up with in a nook with a pumpkin spice or hot chocolate. Read our recommendations here.
Elite Assassin Never Misses His Mark in 2022’s Top Watched Netflix Film | Article by BookTrib
The film adaptation of Mark Greaney’s first thriller, The Gray Man, premiered on Netflix earlier this year and quickly became the platform’s most-watched movie of 2022 — and at the time of writing, it was the fourth most-watched original film in Netflix history.
The movie was an instant audience favorite, and a sequel and spinoff set in the Gray Man universe have already been greenlit. Greaney has given the filmmakers plenty of story material to pull from, and series protagonist Court Gentry returns this February in the twelfth Gray Man novel: Burner. Read more here and check out our interview with the author.
Colleen Hoover’s “It Starts With Us” is a Breathtaking Second-Chance Romance | Review by Emily Finlayson
The highly anticipated sequel to Colleen Hoover’s bestseller begins right where the epilogue of It Ends With Us left off. If you haven’t yet read It Ends With Us, you’ll want to check it out and get to know the characters that return in It Starts With Us.
It Starts With Us is told from the alternating perspectives of two main characters, Atlas Corrigan and Lily Bloom. Lily deals with her chaotic life as a floral shop owner, single mom and co-parent with her ex-husband — who can’t seem to grasp the fact that they will never get back together.But when Lily’s first love, Atlas, turns up in her life, she realizes that the chaos has only just begun. Returning readers will be thrilled to finally get to know more of Atlas’ story and past. Read more…
Drug Lets You Speak to the Dead in Gothic Portrayal of Addiction | Review by Megan Beauregard
How far would you go to speak with the dead? When Erin’s former lover Silas dies, she would do anything for the chance to get closure. A drug, called Ghost, that lets you commune with the dead seems like the perfect solution. But it might come with a cost. Clay McLeod Chapman has written a thought-provoking and disturbing horror story with Ghost Eaters.
When a drug overdose ends Silas’ life, Erin is wracked with guilt. But Silas didn’t just leave behind the shadow of his memory, he also left a connection to Ghost, the pill that Erin hopes will resolve her grief. By holding a seance and taking the drug, Erin and her friends chase a high that will give them the chance to speak with Silas in the afterlife. Intrigued? Find out more.
Six Culturally Conscious, Conversation-Starting Science Fiction Novels | Article by Wyatt Semenuk
Science fiction immerses the reader in an alternate universe, hooking us in with a stirring narrative and intricate world-building. Along the way, it can also challenge us to take a good look at our own reality, and question it with an imaginative, open mind.
Imagination is an integral element to envisioning concrete change, and although certain magical elements like power over the environment and time travel might be out of reach (at least for the present moment), fantasy and sci-fi novels allow us to imagine worlds that we can aspire towards. These six select novels are not afraid to challenge our worldviews and start conversations. Check out the full list.
The Charm of Contradiction: 9 Opposites Attract Romance Novels | Article by Megan Beauregard
We all love a good romance trope: enemies to lovers, fake relationships, forbidden love. What is at the core of so many of these tropes is the conflict between lovers. You know they’ll end up together, but you’re desperate to know how they’re going to overcome their obstacles.
Opposites attract is one of the best tropes because it can contain all those other tropes, and conflict is at the center of it. People fall in love with someone they seem to have nothing in common with, and that is exciting to watch. Beyond that, there is more than one way to be considered “opposite” — through personality, background, career, allegiances, looks and more.
True love is about overcoming these differences, accepting that your partner isn’t going to change overnight, and finding that you are still able to love someone who is different from you. And, you may even find that you have something in common with them. See our recommendations here.
A Vietnam War Vet Gives His Firsthand Account in “Going Off the Beach” | Review by Joanna Poncavage
Drafted into the Army when he was 20 and sent to South Vietnam in 1969, Robert Garlick spent the next year in the “hostile, volatile, bloody” Binh Dinh Province on the country’s central coast.
“If one were to review my military records, I am certain one would find them most unremarkable,” he writes in his debut memoir, Going Off the Beach. He was discharged without “a single black mark or smudge of any kind, not one single disciplinary action. But also, not a single medal beyond the very basic standard ones. It would look as if I were a phantom soldier. But that would be a false narrative.”Answering the question “What was Vietnam like?” took him 50 years. Read the review here.
“All Good People Here” is a Murder Mystery for True Crime Fans | Review by Gabby Davis
What are your neighbors really capable of when they think no one is watching? Calling all Crime Junkies! If you haven’t heard the latest buzz, the rumors are true. Our favorite true crime podcaster, the incredible Ashley Flowers, has made her explosive debut as an author with her first (but hopefully not her last) novel, All Good People Here. It is a tale that is sure to keep readers turning pages late into the night.
A young reporter, Margot Davies, finds herself caught up in a present-day murder eerily similar to one that had taken place 20 years prior. Unable to stop herself, Margot begins to dig deeper into the murder and what she finds is even bigger, and more terrifying, than she could have ever imagined. Read the rest of the review here.
Fashionable Amateur Sleuth Attends Her Own Funeral in Cozy Mystery | Review by Annalise Herrmann
While some people might secretly wish for the chance to attend their own funeral, most people wouldn’t want it to be while they were actually still living. They certainly wouldn’t want to have their loved ones told they were deceased when they were, in fact, very much alive. Unfortunately for our heroine, Madison Night, both are a reality. Love Me or Grieve Me is the latest installment in Diane Vallere’s Madison Night Mysteries.
After a regrettable mixup at a local newspaper, an obituary for Madison was incorrectly published. The actually deceased “Addison Nigh” was an elderly woman who was a well-known jazz singer at the height of her career. One can’t blame our heroine Madison for wanting to check out the funeral that many people thought was hers. It’s not until one of the funeral attendees ends up dead in his own bar that Madison begins to realize there may be more nefarious things at play than a simple misprint in the paper. Check out the review.
Kate Quinn’s “The Diamond Eye” Celebrates a WWII Heroine Who’s No Construct of Fiction | Review by Lydia Lefevre
Amid WWII, can Lady Death, a quiet bookworm turned lethal sniper, hit her mark? Based on an incredible true story, Kate Quinn’s latest novel, The Diamond Eye, focuses on the amazing career of Lyudmila (Mila) Pavlichenko, who not only volunteered to defend Mother Russia during WWII but excelled in her role as a sniper — proving to be so lethal that the Nazis nicknamed her “Lady Death.”
When news of her record reaches the global stage, she is sent to the United States where her unlikely friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and a connection with a fellow sniper, bring her glimpses of happiness after the horrors and heartbreak endured on the front line. But where there is a President, there are those who wish to see him fail. Can Mila protect her new friends while battling her own demons? Read more…
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