 Hello, hello everyone. My name is Laura. This is my channel Laura's Little Library and welcome to today's video. It is a video that I've seen a lot of people do right now and they're posting it and I thought, you know what? That looks like a really cool concept. I think I'll hop on this trend and I will make my own version. And that is 22 books to read in 2022. I want to preface this by saying all the books on this list are going to be backlisted books. So none of them will be new releases. If you are interested in seeing any new releases of 2022, then I am excited to read this year. I have already made and posted that video and I'll have it linked up here somewhere, somewhere for you to go ahead and check out if you want to. And now let's just get right into the video. I will have this divided up by genre. And so if you are interested in just seeing a certain genre, majority of it is fantasy because I do prefer fantasy and I read a lot of it. But not all of it is. So let's start off with contemporary. So the first contemporary book that I want to read this year is Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Zutanto. And this is a hilarious contemporary. And there is a sequel to this book coming out next year, which is partially why it's on this list. But also because the concept just sounds amazing. So it follows this girl who I don't know if she works as a wedding planner or her family does something for a wedding. But then all of a sudden someone kind of turns up dead and it's kind of her fault. And so I believe she calls some of her aunties to help her cover it up and figure out how to move on. The next book that I have is The People We Need on Vacation by Emily Henry. I read Beach Read last year and I absolutely loved it and I am so excited for Emily Henry's new book this coming year called Book Lovers. So I thought, you know, I need to finish. I need to read this book so I can be up to date on all of Emily Henry's books. It's A Friends to Lovers, which is not normally my thing. I much prefer enemies to lovers, but I figure I'll give it a chance. These two friends that used to go on vacation in the summer all the time and then they had a falling out and now they're kind of kind of rekindling, I think. Hopefully we'll see with a vacation. And the next book I want to talk about is A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. This is by Laura Taylor Nimi and this is one that caught my eye a year ago, maybe two years ago. I saw it and I was like, oh, that's such an interesting title. The cover is really pretty. And I don't remember the plot super well, but I believe it is a Cuban girl who goes to England and is coming over some grief and then maybe meets a boy. I'm not quite sure, but I know that it really, like, it intrigued me at the time, so I want to read it and this is going to be the year that I do. What I want to talk about is The Hena Wars by Adiba Jagerdar and I've read one book by this author before, I believe. Yes, and I really enjoyed it. I really liked the writing, so I'm excited to read The Hena Wars because this follows two female main characters and they have Hena businesses and they have to go to war. You know, like that, not like actual war, but it just sounds so cute and I'm not 100% sure if they do fall in love. Like, if it's an enemies to lover, I would love it if it is, but if it's not, I won't hold that against it. So that one definitely has caught my eye and I've been wanting to read it. Next, I would like to move on to historical fiction as I would like to try and make more of an effort to read historical fiction this year. I really want to read The Hena Artist by Alka Joshi and this takes place in 1950s Jaipur, I believe, and it is about this woman who is moving to Jaipur. She is kind of on her own. She doesn't come from the best past and so she starts being The Hena Artist for a lot of wealthy women and she gets to listen to all their gossip and get in on the drama and it just sounds like a really interesting book and it's a historical fiction that is not western and so I am really, really excited for that. The last historical fiction I would like to talk about is Next Year in Havana and this is by Chanel Cleaton and this author actually has two books. It's When We Left Cuba and Next Year in Havana. Both I'm interested to read but I'm only putting one on the list just so I'll get there and so that I can leave space for another book. Again, I'm sorry I don't actually exactly remember what the book is about but I know it has to do with immigration to and from Cuba. I believe this book is a dual perspective of the ancestor immigrating to the United States but then like the granddaughter or the great granddaughter or something like that learns about her family history and possibly goes back to Cuba to kind of rediscover her ancestry and her culture and that just sounds wonderful and amazing and again it's a very different historical fiction than what I've been reading and I'm really excited to try it out. And now we have Come to Fantasy so obviously there are a lot of fantasy books. This is 22 books and I've only mentioned a few so we're just going to go right down this list of fantasy. The first one is Six Crimes and Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. I've read Elizabeth Lim's duology Spin the Dawn and Unravel the Dusk and I loved them. I love her writing and I was really excited when this book came out. I was so pumped for it I was going to read it and then I just never got to it. So this year is the year but the thing is I really want to buy the British version of the cover because it is really pretty with the pastel colors so once I get around to doing that but hopefully it will be this year. Moving on to the next book I would like to talk about is Carava by Stephanie Garber. This is the first in a trilogy and I purchased this book maybe two a year and a half ago almost two years ago and I have been wanting to read it. I know a lot of people love it. The preface of it sounds amazing. It's like they go to this big event and then her sister goes missing and it's all fun and games, right? So I really want to get started on this trilogy. Also Stephanie Garber has come out with another book, Ones Upon a Broken Hearts and I really want to read that but I'm going to wait until I read this trilogy first. So I need to get started. I need to read the trilogy. So the first one is on this list. Surprisingly this next one is Cinderella is Dead by Kaylin Bayron. I kept going back and forth on whether or not I actually wanted to read this book. I've heard a lot of good reviews about it. A lot of people liked it and the story sounds like the kind of book I would enjoy. It's a twist on fairy tales where all the eligible women have to go to the ball and if they aren't matched up they die or something. Like a dystopian kind of fantasy twisted story and that just sounds right down my alley but for some reason I kept looking at it and being like eh nah probably not. I'm not sure. For some reason it just wasn't capturing my attention and then recently I saw it again. It was on someone's recommendations or something and I was like oh my goodness that sounds amazing. Come on let's go. Pick up the pace here. So it's going to be on this list because I'm going to read it. Then we have Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and if you have been on my channel for a while you know that I loved Deadly Education by this author. It was my favorite book of last year and the preface of Spinning Silver just sounds like the perfect winter story. It's a Rumpelstiltskin retelling I believe and it's been on everybody's winter's recommendation list and I've been wanting to read more wintery books. Right now I am currently reading a book that is set in summer and it is snowing outside and my soul is just melting. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. It's a cold story retelling and I want to read it. It's one that recently came on my radar but I'm going to read it this year hopefully sooner rather than later in these winter months rather than next winter. Beast of Prite by Ayara Gray is another book that I heard a little bit about and then it kind of disappeared for a while but I never forgot about it. It's a fantasy book but it's about like a zoo and a zookeeper and that's all I remember about it but that was enough to make me be like I want to read that and so when it came out and everybody was talking about it I was like yeah I want to read that and then nobody actually read it and I'm still sitting here like I want to read it so I'm putting it on this list so that I remember to read it this year because hopefully by the end of the year I'll re-watch this video and see if I've actually read all these books and then maybe do a vlog of all the ones I haven't read so I can complete the list or at least do a reaction whatever so similarly like I'm probably going to do my 5 star prediction video which I will also link somewhere up here somewhere for you to check out if you're interested but back to the video. I keep getting sidetracked. This next one is Crown of Coral and Pearl and this is by Mara Rutherford and I have my notebook in front of me because I'm not going to remember all this. This is one of the earliest books on my Goodreads TBR. Like I started using Goodreads and it was right when I heard about this book and it's like a mermaid fantasy and so it's been on my TBR for a long time so I'm putting it on this list to resurface it and rekindle my want to read it so hopefully it'll be a nice fantasy to read over the summer. Next up is The Keeper of the Night and this is by Kaylee Lee Baker. This one came out this past year and a lot of people have been reading it and loving it. Our main character is a cross between an English Reaper and the Japanese version of a Reaper. For some reason I am blanking on the name of it but that's also because I'm currently reading a Korean mythology book and there are reapers in it so my brain is doing the wrong thing. I think she has been living in London but then she needs to go to Japan to figure some mystical fantasy things out. It's been getting a lot of good reviews and I love that concept so I for sure want to read it this year especially because I'm trying to do a mix of these are really old on my TBR and these are recent on my TBR. Oh my goodness. This next one is White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson and again I've heard so many good things about that. It is like I don't know if it's horror fantasy or just thriller fantasy but when I heard it was a haunted house story I just yep I am here for it. I want it. The cover is beautiful. I want to read it this spooky season or even before spooky season because I have no patience. Spooky season lasts all year round and then I can talk about it during spooky season having already read it. So it's on this list. It sounds amazing. All I remember is that it's a haunted house story and that's all I care about. Moving on we have The Prison Healer and this is by Lynette Noni and this was a very similar case to I think Beast of Prey where it was like in a book subscription box and so a bunch of people got it unboxed it and then just kind of it just kind of disappeared, dropped off the radar a little bit. It's The Prison Healer. It sounds pretty interesting. I am intrigued. The cover is gorgeous. So I want to give it a chance and read it this year. Moving on we have Iron Widow and this is by Shiran J. Zhao. I'm so sorry if I said that wrong. And this one again I was kind of going back and forth on whether or not I want to read it. It's more of a sci-fi fantasy but it is female empowerment and it sounds like it could be a good book. I think everybody is excited for it but there's something about it that is not clicking with me. So I'm hoping that if I read it it'll finally click and I'll be able to understand and enjoy it. This next one is another start to a trilogy or series because we all know I need to start more series I'm being sarcastic and if you don't know I also have a series that I want to continue and finish in 2022 and that has 29 series that I'm currently in the middle of. So if you're curious what those are, again go watch that video because it's a lot. But the book is The City of Brass and this is by S.A. Shakhraborty and this is like a desert fantasy and I believe there's jinn in it. I hope there is because I have been dying for a new jinn fantasy. I read one called The Candle in the Flame and I loved it and then when I picked up We Hunt the Flame I thought that was going to be jinn and it wasn't. Which you know I still loved the book, still a great book. But I am needing, I want more desert fantasy and I would love some with some jinn in it. Now onto a book that I finally actually own and that is A Pinch of Magic and this is by Michelle Harrison. This is a middle grade fantasy and this follows three girls who have to save their home, their island and they're each given a special magical gift to do so. And it's cute. I had bought it as like a book to read during spooky seasons just to kind of like lighten things up or if I had extra time I didn't end up getting to it so I would like to get to it this year to continue my need to actually read books that are on my shelf which considering I only own four of the books that I'm talking about this giant year long TBR is not doing a great job of that. Let's move on. Gods and Monsters by Shelby Mahurran. It's the last book in the trilogy. I want to read it. I want to hurry up and finish that trilogy already. I did get the first two books in the trilogy for Christmas and I kind of want to reread them but whether I reread them or not, Gods and Monsters needs to be on this list because I need to read it this year. I want to get it done and just, you know, get it done and hopefully enjoy it. I'm scared because of what happened in the second book. It was not the greatest book so I'm a little scared but I need to just suck it up Buttercup and start it, get going and hopefully finish and love it, hopefully because I love the first one so much. Now this next one is by an author who I haven't read before. I want to read Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller. The anxiety representation in this book I've heard is really really good and I just feel like there is anxiety in characters but it's not specifically like, this character has anxiety. Here is representation for all of you anxious people in the world who have anxiety. Hello. Of which I am one. So I really want to see it plus it follows. So our main character who has the anxiety is a blacksmith and she creates this blade that's way too dangerous and she can't give it to the person who wants it so like her sister and some guy go on a run. That just sounds amazing. So ever since I heard this book I knew I need to read it but if I don't put it on this list it could end up going on the back burner and I just really want to read it. Almost there. 21 Witches Steeped in Gold and this is by Shannon Smart. This is a I believe it's Jamaican mythology inspired. I believe I could be wrong. At there is at one point I thought it was West African and then I was wrong so I think it's Jamaican but it follows two witches. I don't remember if they're sisters or not and if they are they don't know it but just you know me mythology, magic, fantasy. I'm there for it. I am completely here for it. So that one came out hopefully not two years ago. Oh my goodness I don't think it came out this past year. Did it come out in 2020? Oh I am behind. Book number 22, the last book that I want to read in 2022 is probably the one I am most scared to read and it's one that I actually own physically and that's The Toll by Neal Schusterman purely because of its size. I read the first book. I loved it. I read the second book. I loved it. I am scared to start the third book for two reasons. One, like I already said, its size but two because then it's gonna be over. It's the final book in the trilogy and if I read it then the story is done and I would be very sad but I also need to know what happened. So I just need to like sit down for a solid week and just work my way through this because it's short in terms of like height but it's thick. So this is the last book that I just need to read. Like I have owned the entire series. Like I think I bought them all together so there has been no reason for me putting this off so I need to read it and I need to read it this year to finally move on because I feel like everybody else has moved on. Anyway so those are all of the books that I want to read in 2022. Thank you all so much for watching if you have come to this point. I post videos every Sunday and Wednesday so make sure you are subscribed and hit the bell so that you're notified when I post. I have bookish social medias linked down below if you want to follow me there. We can be friends. We can talk about books. I can get recommendations from you. You can see more of my book reviews like on my Instagram and TikTok and whatnot. Otherwise give this video a thumbs up if you liked it. Comment down below some of the books that you need to read this year. I am very curious. Do you have a lot of back listed books? Are you gonna focus on new releases? Are you gonna focus on reading books on your shelves? I want to know it all so let's talk down in the comments. Until the next video I wish you all happy reading.