Six months went by in a flash, and here we are at the end of the year to see how my five star predictions went for the books I read July through December!
First, let’s see how I did reading-wise. Out of the ten books below, I read nine, which I’m very happy about. And out of the ten, I only awarded three of them the full five star rating, so obviously there was some stiff competition this time, or I was just a more picky reader perhaps. But wow, these ratings are all over the place! One book even got a two star rating, which is very sad. But hey, predicting five star reads is definitely a risk…
Here’s a breakdown by rating of those ten books, and I’ve linked my reviews if you’re interested.
My Five Star Predictions, July – December:
The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig | Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton | The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
The Exiled Fleet by J.S. Dewes
Blindspace by Jeremy Szal | The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix | My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones
The Offset by Calder Szewczak
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Summer Sons was one of my most disappointing reads this year, although a lot of readers loved it, which is why I thought I might love it too.
Didn’t read
My grand plans to read both Jade War and Jade Legacy this month were completely derailed by my inability to focus on longer books. I’m quite sure Jade Legacy would have been a five star read (or I should say WILL be one when I get around to it).
Both The Exiled Fleet and Blindspace are high on my “want to read” list and I hope that I will be able to read them in 2022, so I’m glad to see a high rating for both of them 🙂
I’m so curious to see what you think of them:-)
I don’t make five-star predictions, but I do think such-and-such book sounds terrific. Sometimes I’m right (like Tidepool by Willson or The Radiator Boy and the Holly Country by Komor), but sometimes I’m wrong… You did pretty well on your predictions with the exception of one book. I hope 2022 is just as readerly fun!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…Among the Headstones Author Interview: Kyla Lee Ward
We’ll see if I’m in the mood to predict my 2022 reads or not:-)
So much of what tips a book to a five from four star read is the mood I’m in at the time so I’m not sure I cajoled predict with any accuracy.
That is a good point:-)
I’d honestly be so bad at predicting my five star reads. It all depends on my mood at the moment.
Ha ha, I guess my mood is involved too. But I like when I’m right about a book:-)
You did really well with your predictions.
Thanks Kristi!
Unfortunately most of my predictions are wrong yet some books I’ve picked up on a whim have ended up being firm favourites.
Exactly! I love when I’m surprised by a book I had no expectations for.
I don’t usually make predictions (and I’m sure I’d be wrong more often than right if I did). I expected to love the Chuck Wendig book, but instead I ended up DNFing. I did love Feral Creatures, though, and I enjoyed the Grady Hendrix book too (although not as much as his others). Good job on your predictions, even if some weren’t quite at the 5-star level in the end!
It’s a fun game, anyway, even if I’m not always right:-)
Well that’s not so bad!
Nope, I’m pretty happy, except for the last two:-)
Predicting based on nothing but a book blurb would be very tough. Granted, sometimes you already know an author so that helps, but still, seems tough. I’ve not read any of these yet but I’m looking forward to Feral Creatures, hopefully soon.
I base it on reviews I’ve read, Goodreads ratings and also if I’ve read the author before. It’s the new authors I haven’t read yet that are the biggest risks.
It’s always so fun to look back on these and see how your predictions went. I think you did a rather good job spotting the books you think you’ll love, with only a couple disappointments!
Yeah, sometimes books just don’t work, even if everyone else is raving about them:-P
Wow this was quite the mixed bag. This is why I don’t make 5-star predictions—I think the reality would just bum me out.
Ha ha I may not do this again. But I’m not really bummed out, just puzzled that some didn’t work for me the way I had hoped.
I really need to get to My Heart is a Chainsaw and The Final Girl Support Group asap.
Those two would be fun to read back to back. They are similar in many ways:-)
Feral Creatures and The Last House on Needless Street were so good!!
Jennifer | Book Den recently posted…Book Review | The In-Between by Rebecca Ansari
They both made my best of the year list:-)
I don’t officially make 5 star predictions but I think I do sort of have a list of my head of anticipated reads that I think/hope will be 5 star reads.
I’m debating whether to do this next year. I sort of bombed this past round, lol.
I think this is a really fun idea and of course, to be fair, you wouldn’t want these books in the first place if you didn’t think they’d be good, right? I always feel optimistic with every new read but I guess they can’t all work out.
Lynn 😀