WORST BOOKS OF 2020
There aren't a whole lot of books that I hate or dislike. I usually really like books or just find them "eh" at best. But this year I was able to come up with five books that I truly found not good in the least bit or hated with every fiber of my being.
5. In the Darkness by Mike Omer
I was really dissapointed that I did not like this book because I enjoyed the first book in this series so much. I couldn't stand this book though. It was incredibly problematic, sexist, chauvinist, the list goes on. There was absolutely nothing redeemable about this book, it was almost like it was written by another person or the author forgot everything from the first book.
4. Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
I should have stuck with my gut and stopped reading after the first chapter when I was bored, but I pushed forward and wasted my time. This was the most cookie-cutter, boring contemporary I've read in a hot second. Everything was predictable but not in a good way.
3. Hate Thy Neighbor by S.M. Soto
It's been a hot second since I've read something so completely toxic. Enemies to lovers is usually my shit, but this was bad in every single way. The relationship between the main characters was so unhealthy and terrible to read. So many people like this book and I'm like y'all need to re-evaluate yourselves if this is what you consider goals.
2. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane
Y’all this was not it. I originally DNFed this book and decided to give it a second chance and I should have left it for the birds. The writing and pacing were not good, and the romance was not a romance. There was no chemistry. Like if you gonna do fake dating to real lovers they gotta pop and sparkle and that didn’t happen. It felt like they became friends more than lovers. And like don’t even get me started how how shitty the plot was especially towards the end. That shit was rushed and for what? Nothing came from anything that happened. Next time when my gut says this ain’t it I’ll listen to it.
1. Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
This book was such a large waste of my time. I picked it up because everyone and their mother talked about the first book and this one so I figured it had to be good. There is nothing I enjoyed about this book outside of the diversity and representation. I skimmed my way through this because it was just so unbearable to read. I know I'm in the minority in my opinion, but it is what it is.
Those are the books that just weren't it for me in 2020. If y'all read these books, tell me what you thought of them!
BEST BOOKS OF 2020
Well somehow I lost track of time and it's been 3 months since I've written a post. Whoops. I'm not surprised though. I got super busy with school, work, and applying to PhD programs (again). I did a decent amount of reading, but not a lot. Graphic novels were definitely my saving grace. Somehow, someway, I actually completed by Goodreads reading goal of 50 books. Right now I'm sitting at 80 books completed this year. I might finish a couple more books, but I'm sure those will just be rereads.
Without further ado, here are my favorite books from this year. This list will only include books that I read for the first time, so no rereads (despite the fact that rereads were probably my favorites). So in order from least to best, here are my top ten books of 2020!
10. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
9. Only When It's Us and Always Only You by Chloe Liese
I read two books by Chloe Liese and what I enjoyed about her books is that there is always a main character with some sort of disability, whether it's being deaf, autism, chronic pain, etc. and I thought that kind of representation was incredibly great. I don't often think about how most books portray able-bodied characters so this definitely made me more aware that I should be more diverse with my books in that aspect as well. She is an OWN author, having autism spectrum disorder so I think it's great she is able to write such inclusive books.
8. The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
This was a quick contemporary read that fit the mood in the summer. The concept was interesting to me and I think the author did a good job of executing it. I don't tend to go for strictly women's literature, but I was a fan of this book.
7. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones
I got this book in an OwlCrate box and I'm glad it was included. It took me a while to pick this book up because the timing just never seemed right, but when I was able to get into it, I couldn't put it down. The entire concept behind "bone houses" was cool to me and I'm a sucker for books that have a main girl and guy going on a journey. I could visualize everything in my head as I was reading it and for some reason it was giving me Chronicles of Narnia movie vibes in the way it was projected in my mind.
6. A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout
This is the second book in the "From Blood and Ash" trilogy (the first book which is higher on this list). As far as sequels go, this was a decent sequel. It was definitely more character driven than plot. It had the feel of a filler episode if that makes sense. Overall I had a good time reading it, I just wish there hadn't been so much smut in it. When I say there was far too much smut, I mean like having sex in the middle of a battlefield of no damn reason.
5. Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Anyone who knows anything about my reading tastes knows by now that I really love Jennifer L. Armentrout's books despite them being so similar to one another and following a formula. This was book two in "The Harbinger" trilogy which is a spin-off of the "White Hot Kiss" trilogy. The book was fast-paced and everything I needed from a JLA book. I can't wait to read the final book because hot damn was that cliffhanger a lot.
4. House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
This was the first book I read in 2020 and it absolutely blew me away. I received it in an OwlCrate box and pushed it off before deciding on a whim to pick it up and I'm glad I did. I know this book was hit or miss for a lot of people in the bookish community but I personally loved it. I'm not familiar with the 12 princesses tale that it's based off of, so I can speak to it as a retelling. I enjoyed the characters, the plot, and the worldbuilding more than I anticipated. It had a spooky vibe to it without it being too much of a horror book, which I appreciated. I just might have to reread this one in 2021. This is one of the few books I did review outside of a wrap-up post, so you can read that review here.
3. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
God damn does Jennifer L Armentrout know how to get me out of a reading slump. Was this book predictable? Yes. We’re the characters identical to her other ones from other books? Yes. Does she essentially take the same story and twist it a little each time? Yes. But damn it if it doesn’t still capture my attention and draw me in each time. The mythology of this tale really drew me in because so much of it is veiled until the end when you start to put the pieces together of what this world actually is. This book is also special to me because I have a signed copy of it and I've always wanted a book signed form JLA since she is one of my favorite authors.
2. The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller
I liked this book way more than I know I should have. I think I read this book in like 4 hours or something ridiculous like that. A lot of people didn't like this book because they thought it was similar to "The Cruel Prince". I can see where they might pick up those similarities, but to me this was its own thing. I randomly bought this book in a bookstore without knowing anything about it, just liking the cover, and I'm glad I did. I don't care what people think about this book, it was the right book for me at the time and I enjoyed it. I'll probably reread it in 2021 and see if I still like it or if it was a situational thing that made me like it.
1. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas
I enjoyed this book a lot. Like a lot a lot. I thought about rereading it but I decided to hold off until 2021 so it would count towards my 2021 reading goal. From the get-go the worldbuilding was amazing. Was there perhaps a bit too much worldbuilding? Maybe. I know that turned people off this book but I personally enjoy good worldbuilding as it helps my visualize everything in my brain. It was by no means a perfect book, but it was an excellent book. The last quarter of the book really blew me away and I can't wait for the sequel despite the fact that the book read like a stand-alone to me. I wasn't sure if I would like this book because I enjoyed her ACOTAR series but I hated Throne of Glass, so I'm glad this turned out good for me.
Well, those were my favorite books of the year. Putting together this list, I was surprised that I was able to come up with ten books I truly enjoyed that weren't rereads. This year was a pretty good reading year which surprised the hell out of me. I would love to know what you guys thought of the books on this list if you've read any of them!
SUMMER 2020 WRAP UP
It seems that seasonal wrap ups are becoming my thing instead of monthly wrap ups and that's ok. Honestly I feel like what I read in a season is a better mark for me than what I read in a month because there are months where I read only one book and then the next month I get hooked on a genre and read 6 books back to back within 4 days. So without further ado, here is my wrap up!
Ok so like all things considered, I had a great reading summer. I read 14 books, which maybe doesn't seem a lot to some, but I was convinced up to about ten minutes ago that I had only read about 8 books this summer. As you can see, this was a very heavy contemporary summer. Contemporary isn't really my thing most of the time and by far is not my favorite genre, but apparently that was my shit this summer. That being said, I didn't enjoy all the contemporaries that I read this summer, but I enjoyed most of them.
Favorite book: It's probably a tie between The Hating Game and The V Girl, both which were rereads for me. (I love my rereads.). If I had to choose my favorite new read however, it would be The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller. I bought this book on a whim at a bookstore I visited and I'm so glad I did because this book was exactly what I needed in the moment.
Least favorite book: Without a doubt is If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane. I don't understand the hype around this book because I did not like it at all. I actually attempted to read this book early in the year but DNFed it because I couldn't get into it. I decided to give it another whirl because so many people enjoyed it and I thought maybe I originally just hadn't been in the right mindset for it, but I was wrong. There was no chemistry between the two main characters which is key when doing a fake relationship to real relationship story. And as for a plot, there literally was none whatsoever. Such a disappointment and waste of my time.
Honorable Mentions: I don't have the time to talk about all the books I read, but I did want to touch on a few of them. I read two books by Chloe Liese and what I really enjoyed about her books is that there is always a main character with some sort of disability, whether it's being deaf, autism, chronic pain, etc. and I thought that kind of representation was incredibly great. I don't often think about how most books portray able-bodied characters so this definitely made me more aware that I should be more diverse with my books in that aspect as well. She is an OWN author, having autism spectrum disorder so I think it's great she is able to write such inclusive books.
Another book that surprised me was Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall. I don't know how I came across this book but I expected it to be complete utter trash and it wasn't. It was a nice, quick, feel good read that felt like an aged up book along the same vein of Red, White, and Royal Blue. I'm always happy when I come across LGBT+ books that I can add to my collection.
So that was what I read this summer. I'm actually pretty proud of all that I was able to read and I can't wait to see what the fall has in store for me.
SOMEHOW IT'S BEEN 6 YEARS...
This month marks 6 years since I started this blog. I honestly can't believe it's still going (barely, but it's here, so that counts). I've been off and on with my care for this blog as I've gone through different stages of life and reading. When I started this blog, I was a junior in high school. I have since graduated high school, graduated college, had a post-college job (which I ended up hating, but hey, it was a necessary life lesson), and now I'm in a graduate post-bacc pre-PhD program trying to move forward on my journey towards becoming a PhD doctor. I've had many ups and downs through this time which has led to many different stages in my reading and attentiveness to this blog. I wish I was as dedicated to reading and this blog as I was when I first started, but that just isn't possible. There is hardly enough time in the day for me to do everything I need to do, much less put energy towards being an active blogger. But I'm not completely giving up. Even if it means only putting out 5 blog posts in one year, this isn't something that I'm ready to let go because I'm proud of the work I put into this. I love being able to go back and read my thoughts on a book I read in high school and cringe because I just reread said book and realized how completely problematic or sucky it was. Reading is still something I do pretty regularly and that I love very much, I just don't feel as much pressure to put out full reviews of my thoughts like I used to. Sometimes it's great to just read a book and cherish those feelings you have towards a book without worrying about how your opinions are going to be perceived by others. And speaking of community, I've said this before, but I've never really felt deeply a part of the bookish community like others. This is in part, my fault, but sometimes I'm glad I haven't completely rooted myself in it because some of the noneness and drama that goes on is just ridiculous. I feel like this community stopped being about sharing our love for books and became a beast of its own. Well this is has been a lot of rambling, and if you're still reading this, thank you. I will forever be grateful for the handful of you who felt that my words were worth reading. I won't sit here and promise I'll post more, but I can promise I'm not going away. I will continue to publish my sporadic wrap ups and reviews as I feel inclined to and honestly that's enough for me. Maybe someday I'll be able to be back where I was when I first started this blog, but I know now is not that time and that time won't be for a while.
THE NOPE TROPE BOOK TAG
This tag was created by Zoe's All Booked, one of the booktubers I'm subscribed too and I'm super excited to do it! I feel like this tag is a good way to demonstrate my current reading tastes and things that are a yay or nay for me. Be sure to check out Zoe's original tag here.
1. Eavesdropping w/ miscommunication - Name a book you heard great things about and expected to love but ended up hating.
I discussed this book in my last tag post, but this one goes to One of Us is Lying by Karen McMannus. As I previously said, which you can read exactly what I said here, this book was nothing special. We've all reads books like this YA mystery before and nothing about this book was worth the hype in my opinion.
2. Love Triangles - Name a series where you can't pick your favorite book.
I enjoyed The Cruel Prince by Holly Black trilogy quite a bit. While the last book, Queen of Nothing, is definitely not my favorite, I have a hard time choosing between The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. The Cruel Prince does a good job shaping Jude into the character we learn to love and really jumpstarts everything, but I feel like we start to see more of the plot in The Wicked King and the overreaching direction is more visible.
3. Not Like Other Girls/Didn't Know I'm Beautiful - Name a book that has a pretty cover but was boring as all hell.
I know this is going to get me the stink eye from a bunch of people, but for me the answer to this question is The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. This book was an absolute bore to me and there is quite literally nothing about this book I liked outside of the cover.
4. All-Consuming Love - Name a book that gave you a book hangover.
I could go on and on about House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas for ages. Hell I'm thinking of rereading it just to chase the high that it gave me the first time I read it. I could not stop thinking about House of Earth and Blood for days after I read it.
5. Douchebag Boyfriend - Name a book that took you a while to get into, but you ended up loving.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Craig took me a hot second to get into but I ended up really enjoying it. The beginning is a little dull and I wasn't really sure what the book was really even going to be about, but once things started popping off I began to enjoy it more.
6. Tell us your favorite or least favorite trope!
My least favorite trope is a couple that has a “bond” or “link” that tethers them together and basically forces them to become a couple. I think it's a cheap way of forcing chemistry and closeness between characters. If I come across this in a book I will immediately stop reading the book because I hate it so much. For shits and giggles I'll tell y'all my favorite trope too, which is the enemies to lovers. As indicative of my 2019 favorite books, I love that trope more than anything else. I don't know why I enjoy it so much but it just really does it for me.
So that was the nope trope book tag! I had a fun time answering the questions. You guys should definitely look into doing the tag if you haven't done so already. If you have done it, you should leave a link to yours down below, I would love to check it out!
FEBRUARY - MAY 2020 WRAP UP
I read a whopping 8 books between February and May. Sad? Yes. Am I surprised though? No. I guess I should be glad I read anything at all. Without further ado, here are the 8 books I read.
Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
This was a re-read for me. I read it for the firsttime last August and really enjoyed it. I decided to reread this book because I wanted some cute, fluffy, queer literature in my life
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Another re-read on the list- no surprise. I first read Stolen way back in August of 2014, aka my senior year of high school. I remember enjoying this book a lot in high school but putting off re-reading it as I was afraid I would realize the book wasn't actually any good. I still enjoy this book- probably not as much as high school me as there was definitely some problematic shit, but that was to be expected with the subject matter of the book. The second half the book could use some reworking as some things went from zero to 100 without much connection or build-up, but I digress.
The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones
I received The Bone Houses in an OwlCrate a few months ago. I tried to read it in January, but I just wasn't in the right headspace to give it a fair shot a shelved it. On a whim, I picked it up again yesterday and I finished the book in less than a day. I don't think you guys know how long it's been since I've consumed a book in such a short amount of time. I liked the book quite a bit. It's by no means a favorite or exceptional, but it was a nice read. I could visualize everything in my head as I was reading it and for some reason it was giving me Chronicles of Narnia movie vibes in the way it was projected in my mind.
Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim
This book didn't really do it for me. I really enjoyed the middle but the beginning was pretty boring and I don't know what that ending was. It was all rather anti-climatic. Apparently this is supposed to be a part of the series but in my opinion this should probably just be a one and done type of deal.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
Yet another reread because I'm predictable like that. I read my original review from 2015 (which you can read here) and I can’t help but cringe. High school me really loved that shit but now post college me can’t help but shake her head. There is a lot wrong with this book. Not to say I think it is a terrible book. I think there is still a lot of insightful shit. But hot damn is there a lot of problematic shit with this book. Don’t even get me started with all the little microaggressions. If I could sum everything up it would be white make rage. And I don’t want to skirt over the cause of this rage because it’s a very valid reason and something terrible that too many people experience. But Jesus I know there is a better way the themes could have been delivered. Also I never realized how abruptly this book just ends. Like no resolution or anything. Anyways, rereading this taught me that I truly have grown since high school and that’s great.
The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel
At this point I should just self-crown myself as the Queen of Rereading. Welp I still really enjoy this book. In retrospect not a whole lot happens and I’m not the hugest fan of the last quarter, but damn is Bishop still a heartthrob.
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas
This is my new favorite book of the year. Sarah J Maas just knows what she's doing.
From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout
God damn does Jennifer L Armentrout know how to get me out of a reading slump. Was this book predictable? Yes. We’re the characters identical to her other ones from other books? Yes. Does she essentially take the same story and twist it a little each time? Yes. But damn it if it doesn’t still capture my attention and draw me in each time. I need the next book ASAP.
Welp that's what I read the past few months. Overall I guess I've read some pretty good books, granted a good chunk of those were rereads. But hey, rereads count!
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