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It's been a heck of a year, 2020. I know I'm not the only one who poured themselves into their TBR piles and purchased more books than they could possibly read. I managed to make a relatively large dent in my stack though. I will post my overall progress on the first but in the meantime, I present to you my top 12 of 2020. These are the books that stayed with me the most throughout the course of the year. Some are new releases in 2020 and others were re-reads. Let me know in the comments if you've read or liked any of these. Do you have any suggestions of other books I may enjoy based off these reviews?
Honorable Mentions                        
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 Dune by Frank HerbertMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Dune. It's the final frontier for my sci-fi reading journey. I have failed. Miserably. Well, not entirely miserably…I made it through half the book before I decided to put it down and never pick it up again. Dune is one of those books that's been circling my periphery for ages. Everyone loves this book. One of the best sci fi books in history. Except, just not for me. I struggled with Dune like I struggled with the movie Blade Runner. Do people think this is good because it was one of a kind at the time, only to give it this historic mythos it doesn't actually deserve? Reviewers with better vocabularies will likely be better able to describe the good things about this book and there are definitely a few. If you've been living under a rock with me for a while on this one, the basic story is that there's a "chosen one" teenager (this is not YA?) who is meant to save an alien planet from destruction and save the people from starving to death. Or it's a desert planet…so maybe dehydrate to death. Don't get me wrong, there's action and monsters and some of the monsters are human. There's also a love story at some point I think. Now if you're frustrated by this vague review, I completely understand. I was frustrated reading it. I got about 400 pages in, realized I still had no idea what was happening and decided it was time to call it quits. For full disclosure you should know that I did what I normally do with 800 page books. I alternated between audio and the physical book in order to try and 1) get through it faster and 2) understand it better. It simply didn't work. I felt like I was dropped into the story with almost no exposition. The kid finds out he's "chosen", his powers manifest almost immediately after that with no training or trying. There's a whole race (cult? still not sure) that his mother belonged to. There's an assassination attempt. They're on another planet. And there are sand worms. I picked up the book because I wanted to read it prior to seeing the new movie, but I don't think I'll go back to it any time soon. I promise I wanted to like it. It felt like reading A Clockwork Orange. Where I didn't understand anything I read, but when I read it a second time it made perfect sense. Except, Clockwork wasn't 800 pages long and I've got more interesting things to read. View all my reviews  House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. MaasMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Whew! Y'all, Maas does not play around with her world building. She's back this time with her first "adult" novel and she's painting a vast and in depth picture of this new world. I had read all of Maas's other books by the time I got to this one so I had a good idea as to what I was getting myself into. Somehow I was still unprepared for the depth to which I felt attached to the main character. We join Bryce Quinlan with her life sort of in progress. Her closest friends are brutally murdered and she survives the attack only to become a shell of herself. We rejoin her a couple of years later to find that she's sort of going through the motions. Her quiet and relatively safe life gets turned on its head when she gets tasked with helping to solve that murder. She's teamed up with an angel with a dark and brooding/brutal past. I don't think I'll touch too much on their relationship. I'm sure you can figure out on your own how that's going to go. Contentious, friendly, madly in love by accident. Surprise! So this world that's being built is super intricate. There's almost too much information given for the current storyline. Well, ok…so it's not too much…it's just a lot at the beginning instead of it being more spread out. There's magic and angels and werewolves and everything else… Honestly I loved Bryce. She was layered and far more relatable than Feyre and Aelin ever were. I think the main difference between Bryce and the others was a lack of arrogance. She just wanted to live her life and be left well enough alone with her grief. She still more than rises to the occasion when she needs to, she's still got that self-sacrificing air that all of Maas's women do, but with Bryce it feels a little more like her choice rather than her destiny (even though you could argue that it's her destiny). This is a BIG book. 800+ pages, so if you're going in, you have to commit to the finish. As for the "adult" nature of this book, I feel like the only thing adult about it compared to Maas's other works is a well placed use of the word "fuck". Otherwise, if you're worried about sexual content I can tell you that ACOTAR has way more graphic depictions of folks coupling than HoEaB. Honestly, I could have bought this book simply for the cover and front page art. It's a solid 4.5 stars from me. View all my reviews  The Unhoneymooners by Christina LaurenMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Olive is unlucky in love. She has a twin for whom everything is always amazing and perfect. That is up until her wedding day. When the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, Olive and the best Man Ethan are the only ones spared. Since the bride and groom can no longer go on the honeymoon, they offer it to Olive and Ethan so that the prepaid non-refundable trip doesn't go to waste. Despite hating each other, Olive and Ethan take them up on the offer and fly to Hawaii for a week in the sun while pretending to be honeymooners. Of course eventually sparks fly and lines blur. What I loved about this particular rom-com was that it felt a little more grounded, despite the absurd premise. I also liked that the book didn't end with the honeymoon and them riding off into the sunset. We follow the couple through some bumps and bruises along the way after the fact as well. While parts of the story were a little predictable, overall it was a genuinely adorable rom-com. View all my reviews  The Night Circus by Erin MorgensternMy rating: 5 of 5 stars In anticipation of Erin Morgenstern's newest and sophomore novel, the Starless Sea; I decided to take up the Night Circus again. This time I went with the audiobook and I'm so glad that I did. Typically I don't go back through books a second time because I read so much. I want as many new stories as I possible can get. But going back to the Night Circus was like visiting an old friend. Back was my love of the circus that Celia and Marco created for each other to play in. Back was the epic scope of a magical travelling circus. Back were all my favorite characters who supported Celia and Marco. To me, this novel encompasses what all novels should have. An air of mystery. A big dose of unconditional love for the characters, the readers, the written word itself. Despite the circus itself being monochrome in color, this book provides one of the most vibrant worlds I've ever had the pleasure of hanging out in for a time. I could listen to this book again and again and still hear new things. Which, if you've read the book…is precisely the point. View all my reviews  Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuistonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars A queer rom-com? With a royal setting? I'm all in. Just throw it at me, I'll go ahead and inhale it and regurgitate praise. Seriously though. This book was delightful. The grown son of a sitting female President of the US falls madly in love with the single son of the Queen of England. They have to keep it a secret of course due to a myriad of political and traditional reasons. There's a lot of love in this book. There's no preachiness about how love is love and how everyone should accept you for who you are. It's just a world where who you are is already OK. It's your station in life that's causing the issue, not your sexuality. What I loved about this book was that the main characters seemed to be unaware that they were falling for each other. So many rom-coms are all about the meet cute or knowing instantly that you were destined for each other. This one starts with the guys being less than friends and builds into something truly lovely. The only real criticism I would have is that it was too short. Yeah, with this book? I'm that girl. View all my reviews  The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart TurtonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I don't have a ton to say about this book. I didn't rate it as highly as I thought I was going to. The concept is what drew me to it in the first place. Each day a man wakes up in a different body and has to solve a murder. It's very Quantum Leap, but it's set in a more Victorian setting. This book takes an incredibly long time to get to the point. They barely explain the protagonist's backstory which is double frustrating because even HE doesn't know it. It's also very long considering what they are trying to accomplish. I honestly skipped about 250 pages of it and turned to the last 75 or so and I feel like I missed nothing. It's not awful and I can see why there are some who loved it. It just wasn't for me. View all my reviews  Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry WinfreyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the novel that kicked off an avalanche of romance novels in my reading list. And I do mean an avalanche. Annie is obsessed with rom-coms and spends a lot of her time daydreaming about becoming a screen writer. Instead, she's a freelance writer and spends her time at the local coffee shop. Her meet-cute with a famous actor goes terribly wrong and she ends up thinking he's a terrible human being. Surprise! He's actually super nice and misunderstood and they fall madly in love. Sure, I spoiled it for you. But it's a rom com book called Waiting for Tom Hanks. What did you think was going to happen? Annie is quirky and kind and the side cast of characters is delightful. This book read like the plot of any rom-com you would see on the screen. My only critique of this charming book would be that even after it's well established that Annie is obsessed with the genre, the specific references to specific movies gets to be a little bit much. Otherwise, this is a great fast read. View all my reviews  Three Women by Lisa TaddeoMy rating: 4 of 5 stars You may have heard a lot about this book over the summer. It was making the rounds when it came to all of the critic's recommendations. I fell into this book and had a hard time coming out of it. A journalist conversed with three woman, all with very different sexual experiences, recording everything. Every emotion and anxiety fueled brain dump is here. From a woman cheating on her husband, to a woman who was seduced by her teacher, to a woman who despite all appearances was incredibly insecure about who she was an what she wanted. Too many women feel as though they are unable to truly speak up for what they want sexually. Many woman are taught from a very early age that we shouldn't want sex and that it's something that we just have to do in order to maintain a relationship with our partners. We're not taught to explore our own needs and wants. We ignore our own emotional well being. The women interviewed are perfect examples of how complex we as women (and as humans) are. We're loving, spiteful, worried, confident…we're all these at once. There was a passage in this book from one of the women that resonated so truthfully with me, it left me in tears. The only thing that could have possibly made this any better, would have been if the author had talked with women who had proclivities that were not heterosexual. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is feeling like they're alone in their way of thinking when it comes to love and sex. View all my reviews  Ash Princess by Laura SebastianMy rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is another that kept popping up in my feeds as something Goodreads thought I'd like. Definitely a win here. Theodosia (seriously though, where do these names come from) is a princess who has been living in captivity for ten years after her kingdom was taken over and her family killed. She finally decides to plot her revenge as she starts to discover the full scope of the terror being wrought on her people. Theodosia, weird name aside, is pretty standard so far as YA protagonists so. Lost kingdom, unwilling to stand by, blah blah blah. The thing that pushes this book over the edge of the middle of the road is the overall concept and the willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Think Red Queen. Sometimes you have to lose lives to save more. While there is a magical system in place in this universe, it hasn't come to full fruition yet. I'm excited to see what comes next. View all my reviews |
