The Best of 2022 – Charlotte’s List
It’s been a good reviewing year for me, mathematically speaking: six recommending grades and four As. Here are the four Desert Isle Keepers I read this year that got me waxing poetic. While they all have something in common—I liked them!—every one has a special quality that I highlighted by giving them each my own “Best of” award in a different category.
Lucy on the Wild Side by Kerry Rea
Best Sense of Humor DIK. The romance is quiet in this women’s fiction/romance crossover about a primate keeper at a zoo and a famous nature TV personality, but the laughter is definitely not.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop
How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
Best Love Story DIK. True love conquers all, and this début fake-dating contemporary conquered me with its romantic story between a hero and heroine who I wanted to read more about, despite some unevenness in the narrative.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop
The Impossible Us by Sarah Lotz
Most Inventive DIK. I swooned over this genre-chameleon of a novel that blends romance with alternate universe science fiction and creates a fabulously complex and fun love story.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop
Hook, Line and Sinker by Tessa Bailey
Most Steamy DIK. Tessa Bailey is a dazzling consistent deliverer of contemporary romances that are as explicitly emotional as they are explicitly sexual.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop
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These were all fun – Lucy on the Wild Side was my favorite of the group!
I’m so glad to see Lucy on the Wild Side on your list. I liked it so much, especially the ending.
HOW TO FAKE IT IN HOLLYWOOD was one of my favorite reads of 2022. One of the many things I liked about it was how well Wilder shows the cycle of addiction & enabling; the hero is so wonderful, charming, and attentive when he’s not drinking, but he becomes a monster when he does, and you can understand why the heroine starts trying to appease and excuse the monster’s behavior. I also liked that the MCs had to work (for a loooooong time) on their own issues before they were both in a place where a relationship could work between them. Finally—despite my myriad reasons for disliking illustrated covers—I thought HTFIIH’s cover was absolutely on target, but that only becomes apparent after you’ve read the book because only then do you see how awkward the couple looks, how they’re not really interacting with each other, and you can’t read their expressions because they literally have stars in their eyes. Very cleverly done.