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Writer's pictureThe Bossy Bookworm

Yet Another Six of My Favorite Fiction Reads from the Past Year


Six More Favorite Fiction Reads

I love spending Fridays raving about books I've loved! I listed Six of My Favorite Fiction Reads from Last Year in this Greedy Reading List, then I highlighted six more of my favorite fiction reads from last year in a second Greedy Reading List.

I've also recently posted about favorite reads from certain genres that I've loved reading in the past year:

And check out My Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads for my absolute most favorite reads from last year.

If you've read any of the books mentioned here, I'd love to hear what you think!

What are some of your favorite fiction reads, from the past year or from this one so far?

 

01 See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Rachel Lynn Solomon crafts another sweet, quirky, funny, romantic young adult story that plays with time and is centered around irresistibly imperfect characters.

In See You Yesterday, Rachel Lynn Solomon explores the first day of college for Barrett Bloom, who desperately needs a fresh start.

But on day one, Barrett's ruthlessly straightforward manner, defensive way of keeping others at a distance, and habit of speaking harsh truths before she stops to think seem destined to lead her to misstep and thwart her own chances of success and happiness. After being involved in multiple disasters in only her first day of classes, she fears college may become a ruination on par with the end of her high school career.

She wakes up the next day...and finds that she's reliving her first day of college. She has the incredible chance to make the same decisions or to consider her choices and do things differently. The following morning, she gets yet another chance at reliving her first day. And there's an interesting boy she keeps running into, regardless of which paths and options she alters. He keeps challenging her and seems to know her somehow. Barrett can't decide if this time loop is a dream come true--or a living nightmare.

I love Rachel Lynn Solomon's stories, and I loved this story of Barrett and Miles and youthful adventure and finding themselves and discovering how to be vulnerable and ALL of it. Hook, line, and sinker.

Click here for my full review of See You Yesterday.

 

02 How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying) by Cristina Fernandez

How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying) was also one of my overall Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads.

This is a charming, irresistible young adult story about superheroes, villains, a crushing premed course load--and the everyday bravery involved in being vulnerable with friends and in falling in love.

In Cristina Fernandez's book, main protagonist and Columbia premed undergrad Astrid is dating Max Martin, a sweet, nerdy boy she knew back in high school.

But when a supervillain breaks into Astrid's apartment to kidnap her--she has organic chemistry to study for and she really does not have time for this!--she has to face facts: It really seems undeniable that Max...is a superhero.

Superheroes exist--but Astrid never planned to get involved with one. In fact, she's reminded again that her schedule really doesn't allow time for romantic entanglements in the first place.

How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying) is a wonderfully romantic story about finding your own true self, listening to your gut, finding the strength to put yourself on the line for other people, the bravery of falling in love, and the importance of treasuring every day. Cristina Fernandez has crafted an irresistibly charming story that I absolutely adored.

For my full review, check out How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying).

 

03 Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Marcellus the octopus is the very deserving star of the show here, and being able to predict much of where the story was headed didn't affect my enjoyment of this big-hearted tale.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s job, apartment, and love life are solidly okay. The only dark spot in her life is her father’s grave illness.

When she wakes up the next morning...it’s her 16th birthday again. And it isn't just that being in her teen body again shocks her, or that seeing her high school crush is jarring. It's incredible to see her healthy, vital, young dad.

I am a huuuuuuge fan of books that play with time, and Straub offers up all the best parts of a time-travel book in This Time Tomorrow.

This Time Tomorrow indulged my own personal desire for sentimentality, while also emphasizing the value of cutting to the heart of a situation without wasting time. The story offers up lots of loving moments as well as perfectly imperfect decisions and mistakes. The story is heartbreaking and lovely in its ultimate insistence that one must let go of the past.

If you like books that play with time, you might also enjoy the books on the Greedy Reading List Six Second-Chance, Do-Over, Reliving-Life Stories.

Click here for my full review of Remarkably Bright Creatures.

 

04 The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

This gorgeously written postapocalyptic climate-fiction story offers up a future in which civilization buckles to the power of weather and ocean while certain species thrive in the extreme changes and shifted conditions.

In Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel The Light Pirate, pregnant Frida and her husband and stepsons prepare for another catastrophic hurricane bearing down on Florida, one in a string of never-ending storms threatening to destroy the state from the outside in.

Her husband Kirby disappears in the heart of the storm to locate the kids, who have run off for some ill-advised exploring. Meanwhile Frida gives birth to a child, Wanda, who she names after the storm, and who has a special gift.

This is a beautifully written novel with a haunting postapocalyptic tone and vivid setting. The shadow of real-life global warming and weather changes add to the power of the story, and the touch of magical realism is both essential to the plot and a lovely element.

For my full review, check out The Light Pirate.

 

05 Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett

In Unlikely Animals, Hartnett's irresistible, oddball tragicomedy with heart, characters explore the limits and solidity of friendship and family loyalty, show mistakes and imperfections, and cling to hope.

Emma Starling is a former natural healer whose abilities have disappeared, and she's also a recent med-school dropout. It's not that she couldn't hack medical school--she just didn't go the first day, or the second, or any day after that. Now she's scrabbling to make ends meet in California and drifting a little bit--oh, and she's been telling her parents about fictitious classes she's been attending at the medical school she isn't going to.

Emma returns to small-town New Hampshire to care for her father Clive, who is dying. He's also vividly hallucinating small animals and the speaking specter of a long-dead local naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, who is advising Clive about how to spend his final days, sometimes through making daring and eccentric decisions.

Hartnett evokes a sense of place so strong, the town felt like a character itself.

Unlikely Animals is sweet and wonderfully strange, and Hartnett employs a light touch and thoughtful approach to addressing potentially heavy, dark issues. This book made me smile over and over.

For my full review, check out Unlikely Animals.

 

06 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was also one of my overall Very Favorite Bossy 2022 Reads.

A book about childhood friends making a video game is an unexpected, captivating setup for this wonderfully deep, epic look at creativity, tragedy, and love.

Childhood friends Sam Masur and Sadie Green are brilliant, creative collaborators and a wonderfully complementary pair since their chance meeting in childhood--and they're also (sometimes) full of love for each other.

Reunited in college, Sam and Sadie come together to try to create a masterpiece: a video game unlike any that has come before. Something immersive, something fascinating, something irresistible.

A book about longtime friends creating a video game feels like an unusual vehicle for delivering the beauty and depth Zevin builds into each page. But Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is an epic view of a lifetime of friendship and love, tragedy, renewed faith in others, overcoming incredible hardship...and a captivating account of the making of a video game, love for other games, and the power of games to bring people together.

I just loved this book.

For my full review, check out Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

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