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Tag: sarah beth durst

Best Books of 2022 — In Which I Fail Spectacularly to Compile a “Top Ten” List.

Image: Goodreads Year in Books 2022 – 166 Books read.

I read 166 books in 2022. Yes, some of them were shorter books: several middle-grade books and a few advanced review copies of picture books. Most were novels, though few were truly giant tomes. I really enjoyed most of them.

Which is to say, trying to pick the “top ten” was excruciating and an exercise doomed to failure. So… I cheated. Or rather, I modified the goal. Thus I present to you… my top 10 42 books read in 2022 (and even that is fudging things a bit as there are a few instances here of me using a single book to stand in for the entire series if I read the entire series in 2022 and didn’t want my list to balloon uncontrollably) organized like so:

  • Top 18 (Non-Romance) Books read 2022
  • Top 9 Romances read 2022
  • Top 9 Nonfiction Books Read With Kiddo 2022
  • Top 6 Fiction Books Read With Kiddo 2022

And just for funsies:

  • Song of the Year 2022

I have linked to the goodreads page for each book (and the youtube page for the song). Obviously these are all recommendations as well.

Best (Non-Romance) Books read 2022
(Part 1)

Best (Non-Romance) Books read 2022
(Part 2)

Best Romances read 2022

Best Nonfiction Books Read With Kiddo (8) 2022

Best Fiction Books Read With Kiddo (8) 2022

Aaaaaand, just for funsies:

Song of the Year 2022

Book Review: The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Durst

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Publication Date: March 14, 2017

Synopsis:

Sophie loves the hidden shop below her parents’ bookstore, where dreams are secretly bought and sold. When the dream shop is robbed and her parents go missing, Sophie must unravel the truth to save them. Together with her best friend—a wisecracking and fanatically loyal monster named Monster—she must decide whom to trust with her family’s carefully guarded secrets. Who will help them, and who will betray them?

My Review:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This was such a cute book! I was concerned several times that it would be too scary for my 8-year-old, but the creepy and scary were balanced so well with the cute and funny that he never felt like it was too much. He was engrossed in the story every night at bedtime and when we finished he immediately asked if there was a sequel. He also had several theories and suggestions for what should happen after we finished reading each night.

I also had a lot of fun and was engrossed in the story from the beginning. Definitely one of my favorite bedtime books we’ve read in quite some time.

The magic system was really cool and unique and executed well. The story is self-contained but also leaves room for future adventures and imagining.

I have previously read and enjoyed several of Sarah Beth Durst’s other novels, and we have a few more lined up for future bedtime stories.

I would recommend it to anyone age 8 and up (or 6-7 if they can handle somewhat creepy/scary scenes) who enjoys magical adventures like Harry Potter, Nevermoor, and similar.

ARC Review: Even and Odd by Sarah Beth Durst

Even and Odd

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this at first – the twins are young and read like it, and the young unicorn named Jeremy obsessed with the mundane world was a bit weird, and the kids’ dad had rainbow hair. I thought it was going to be too young for me and the rare Sarah Beth Durst book that didn’t really grab me. And then it grabbed me.

Yes, the characters are young – and aimed at young readers – but their adventure gets more complex as they go and acquire real consequences, and they learn some valuable lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed this once it got going, and even the details I at first found ridiculous ended up fitting and feeling right by the end.

My one quibble is that the plot twists are very predictable — I saw each one coming from a mile away. Now, young readers might not, having not read as many books, but I feel like it could have been a bit more subtle.

Overall very enjoyable and I think kids will love it. Even getting stuck transformed into a skunk (complete with requisite skunk stink humor), Jeremy’s obsession with soda and farmcats card game, the details and displacement of the magical world, the flying surfboards… It’s a lot of fun. I’ll definitely be reading it to my 7 year old soon.

It also deftly handles such issues as the problem with hurting people while thinking you’re doing what’s best for them (without consulting them) and what it’s like to be a refugee when your home is destroyed by a natural (or not-so-natural) disaster. And that you don’t have to wait until you’re grown up to be a hero and save the day (and sometimes even the grownups don’t know what to do, and sometimes they lie because they think it’s best for you).

*Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group for providing an e-arc to review.