This year has been a long one, huh?
This year was one of the roughest years of my life. I have had friends of mine actually say that they felt this year was disproportionately cruel to me on the small scale. Everything went wrong, and I had an excessive amount of hard days. That’s okay though. I learned a lot about myself this year, but that’s for another post.
Today, I’m talking about my favorite reads of the year. I won’t say these are the best books I’ve read, but they were my favorite ones.
In no particular order, here’s the list.
The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand
This book followed the story of the bratty and spoiled Holly Chase. She was a Scrooge through and through, which is why she was visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future to warn her to change her ways. Spoiler Alert: she doesn’t. What happens when you don’t change your ways? You die, and so she did, which is how she ended up as the new Ghost of Christmas Past.
As the first completed book of 2020, I was surprised when this ended up on my list, but here we are. This is such a cute Christmasy tale with hints of Gossip Girl drama. 4.5 stars.
The Silence Between Us by Allison Gervais
This book was one that I wouldn’t call perfect, but it is an important read. This follows Maya, a Deaf teen who has to move across the country and start at a new school, a hearing school. She is unhappy with the whole situation, only ever talking to her interpreter. Assuming no one at her new school would want to talk to her, she is surprised to find that a couple classmates have taken the time to learn ASL. This book also explores the ideas of Cochlear Implants and how that idea is presented to Maya.
Honestly, this book is so important to understand Deaf culture (from what I can tell– I am not Deaf, but I am very passionate about learning about Deaf community, so please take my feelings with a grain of salt — HOH Own Voices Review). Basically, I loved this book and rated it 4 stars.
Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This should suprise exactly no one. I have raveeeddddd about this book for months, as has most of the book community. For those who don’t know, this book follows an alternate reality in which a woman won the 2016 US Presidential election. In this reality, the First Son, Alex, has a public scene arguing with he Prince of Wales, Henry. To rectify this, they have to pretend to be best friends, and eventually leads to a secret love affair.
There wasn’t a single thing (I remember) that I didn’t like in this book. I was OBSESSED. Without a doubt, 5 stars.
Renegades by Marissa Meyer.
This was an unexpected favorite. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to love it, but I just didn’t think I would love it like I did. This one has a lot of moving parts, so it is hard to briefly explain but basically it’s a dystopian world in which there are superheroes and villians (called prodigies). Nova is a villian going undercover to infiltrate the heroes (Renegades).
This book was just one of those that I couldn’t put down. Everything about the world and the characters was completely enticing and I just can’t belive it was as good as it was. 5 stars.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
This one follows January, a popular romance author, when she goes to live in her late father’s house as she works on her new novel. Of course, writer’s block is a thing, so she is struggling. Her next door neighbor happens to be her college rival and a popular literary fiction writer. The two end up switching genres.
I’m sure y’all have heard all of the internet sing this book’s praises, but this is something else. 5 stars.
Alright that’s all I’ve got! I did have so many books that I loved this year, but these were my favorites (so far…we’ve still got a few days :P)
ejreads 