I have reviewed a total of twenty-eight books on my blog this year, most of them for Rosie’s Book Review Team, and I hereby reveal my five favorites. These you won’t find on the New York Times or Wall Street Journal bestseller lists, but given my general dissatisfaction with what I did read off those lists this year, we clearly need a way to get the news out there about options. Rosie’s Reviews is the way to do it!
At the top of the list is Fae or Foe by CA Deegan, a delightful surprise for someone who ordinarily doesn’t like books about fantastical/magical things (the exception being the Harry Potter series.) This book and its sequel was an eye-opener, a YA book of adventure at its highest in a world previously unimagined. You can find my review here:
https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5928&action=edit
Second on the list is Megacity by Terry Tyler. Terry is the queen of dystopian fiction, in my eyes, and a consummate world builder. This is a story of future and frightening governmental control that we might yet see. You can find my review here:
https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5576&action=edit
Third is The Ferryman and the Sea Witch by D. Wallace Peach. She is another master of world creation. In The Ferryman and the Sea Witch, she blends a romping nautical adventure with a population of beautiful and deadly Merrows (think mer-people on steroids) and various greedy, powerful rulers and just plain nasty characters. You can find my review here:
https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5568&action=edit
Fourth is The Drowning Land by David M. Danachie, prehistorical fiction, set in northern Europe a little over eight thousand years ago. It combines adventure, a romance, and disaster against the setting of a land that literally is sinking beneath the sea and is based on a huge underwater slide that created a sudden and catastrophic tsunami that engulfed Doggerland, which connected Great Britain to the European continent and was a rich habitat for the Mesolithic populations. You can find my review here:
https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5438&action
And fifth is Foxe and the Moon-Shadowed Murders by William Savage. In the eighth book in this series, Ashmole Foxe, a bookseller in Norwich, England, during the Georgian era who has acquired a solid reputation for solving murders, must solve the murder of the Honourable Henry Pryce-Perkins, the youngest son of a peer of the realm and a brilliant scholar at Oxford. A layered puzzle for the reader in a detailed historical setting. You can find my review here:
https://saylingaway.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=5966&action=edit
These are by far not the only books I read this past year. I only wish I had had time to review all of them!
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Thank you Noelle. I love it when readers find new books that they enjoy.
Thanks so much, Noelle – I didn’t expect to see Megacity here!!
Thanks so much for the wonderful surprise, Noelle. What a treat to find The Ferryman and the Sea Witch here. A wonderful finish to the year. Yay. And thanks for the recommendations, not that my kindle has much room these days, but I’m always up for another good book! Wishing you a wonderful 2022 full of great reads. Hugs.
and I’ve added it to my TBR, for what it’s worth!
Thank you, Jemima. What a wonderful comment and it’s worth a giant smile. I hope you enjoy it.
Have a beautiful new year and Happy Reading.
And Happy New Year to you, too, Diana. Your book was a delight to read! With regard to world-building, which seems to be a theme in the books I chose, you might like Fae or Foe if you had to pick one, although Terry’s Megacity is also great.
I picked up both, Noelle. Lol. These “best of” posts are good bets for finding great reads.
In fact, most of the books I read are recommended by bloggers like you. 
Let me know what you think of Fae or Foe!
I will, Noelle. I’m hyperventilating at the size of my TBR pile. Lol. Happy Reading.
Those all sound excellent
And I know you love the Ashmole Foxe stories 
I haven’t narrowed it down as well as you, but I read 62 or 3 in the end.
The best of mine is out tomorrow
Looking forward to it, Jemima! Happy New Year!
I look at those bestseller lists the way I view the Academy Awards. Sometimes I walk out thinking, meh—what’s all the fuss about? Thanks for the tips, Noelle. The only one on your list that I’ve read is The Ferryman and the Sea Witch
Always glad to find a like-minded individual with regard to those lists! Happy New Year, Pete!
I’ve read The Ferryman and the Sea Witch and loved it. You can’t go wrong with anything Diana writes. I’ve got to say that all of the others sound great too, especially the last two. More for my TBR. Happy New Year, Noelle!
Glad I can get back atcha with that TBR list, MC! Happy New Year – may it get better and better!
Thanks, Mae. You started my day with a smile.
Good to get a best of list to add to my own reading list Noelle. I have to admit I probably would never choose to read a world in the future book although the ones I have read I have really enjoyed. I think I find it too frightening because the novel is becoming our reality and that scares the living daylights out of me. Having said that – I’ll give them a go.
I don’t generally like dystopian fiction, either, Irene, but Terry is a good writer. I’m more the slow historical fiction sort of person! Happy New Year!
A fascinating selection! I didn’t realize I like fantasy until I began to read Diana Peach’s books. The Ferryman and the Sea Witch is my favorite of hers, so no surprise it made it in your top five. Thanks so much for introducing us to the other books.
You are most welcome!
Thanks so much for the kind comment, Pam. I’m always delighted when I create a convert! Lol. But since your writing is often filled with magic, I think you were already a believer. Thanks for stopping by Noelles, and Happy New Year. <3
Happy New Year Noelle, a great collection of recommendations, now to find some time for reading.
Happy New Year to you and George and your families! Believe it or not, I hardly have time to read myself, which is why I signed up to do reviews with Rosie’s Book Review Team. I have a gorgeous new baby granddaughter, who lights up my life, along with her cousin, Eli, not yet two. So much fun to be ‘mothering’ again.
Much congratulations on all you have accomplished in the last few years and continued success – and health – in 2022!
Stop, you’ll have me getting broody
Noelle, it’s great to see your top five reviewed books! You’re right that we need to get the news out there about all the other wonderful and amazing books out there. Some new ones for me to look at here and I’ve read Diana’s The Ferryman and the Sea Witch and LOVED it.
Noelle, I’m trying to get into your full reviews but they are just saying I am not allowed in there as these are the links to the edit pages. Just so you know.
Mmmm – I wonder what’s happening. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll look up those links.
I clicked on the links and they opened up. Maybe if you just put them in your search bar?
Thanks so much for checking out Noelle’s reviews, Annika, and for your kind comment about the Ferryman and the Sea Witch. I was truly honored to have the book here, and your comment was the icing on the cake. Happy Reading!
I’ve read Terry Tyler’s novel and agree with you, and I am intrigued by the rest. Thanks for the recommendations, Noelle!
De nada, Olga!