#BestReadsOf2020 Day 26 - Day 31: Most Read Authors, Best Sidekick, Best Bromance, Best New Series, Best Underrated Book, Best Book of 2020!

  

It's that time again! One again Sophie at Beware of the Reader is kicking off December with daily prompts for all of the years' best reads. And this time she's joined by Bookstagrammers @sophiesreadingcorner, @pavlinamich, @eliz_white, and @utcabookblog. This is my third year participating and I'm excited to take part again.

DAY 26: MOST READ AUTHORS

2020 seemed to be the year of me binging series so that led to multiple books by several authors. Topping the list were Corinne Michaels, T.M. Frazier, and Devney Perry. Close runners-up were Kennedy Ryan and Sarina Bowen.

  

DAY 27: BEST SIDEKICK

Peanut, Trinity's ghostly pal in Rage and Ruin, was a never-ending source of entertainment.

DAY 28: BEST BROMANCE

This has to go to that awesome pairing of Marcus + Alex in Spoiler Alert. Their texts, their banter, their addiction to baking competition shows... they were priceless.

DAY 29: BEST NEW SERIES

Hm, I don't really have a definite answer for this one. But I'll go with The Roommate. I think it's the start of a series? I'm pretty sure there's another book coming, I just don't know if it's considered a series. We'll go with it.

DAY 30: BEST UNDERRATED BOOK

I sound like a broken record, but Lora Richardson's books deserve so much more attention. I read all four of her new releases this year and, while Anticipating Spring was my favorite, all were such sweet YA contemporaries and I wish they had a wider audience.

DAY 31: BEST BOOK OF 2020

Had I not read this particular book, there would have been several other contenders for best book of 2020. Boyfriend Material was an absolute joy, I loved Cake, and The Family Upstairs stayed with me for weeks after I read it. Rage and Ruin and Regretting You were big favorites. And Where the Lost Wander just missed taking the top spot by the tiniest margin. But I knew when I read STILL way back in March that it would be my top read of the year, and nothing else I read changed my mind.

Here's part of my review: Kennedy Ryan writes more than just a love story. She manages to interweave social issues, poetry, humor and heart and combines it all to make a story that is vast and rich and relevant. Still was smart and thought-provoking, beautiful and gritty - and completely unforgettable.

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK OF 2020?

 

#BestReadsOf2020 Day 17 and 18: Best Contemporary or Romance, Best Historical

 

It's that time again! One again Sophie at Beware of the Reader is kicking off December with daily prompts for all of the years' best reads. And this time she's joined by Bookstagrammers @sophiesreadingcorner, @pavlinamich, @eliz_white, and @utcabookblog. This is my third year participating and I'm excited to take part again.

DAY 17: BEST CONTEMPORARY OR ROMANCE

Contemporary is my genre and, more specifically, contemporary romance so I had a lot to chose from for this prompt. I managed to narrow it down to three and I consider that a win. Lies & Lullabies was the first book in a trilogy and even though I enjoyed all three books, this first one is the one that made the biggest impact. I loved the main characters hard. Regretting You is one I read way back in March but it really stayed with me and made an impression. In typical Collen Hoover style, I was hooked on the story from the very start and became completely wrapped up in the characters and the turns their stories took. Cake was an audio book that I picked up on a whim... and ended up being floored by how much I loved it. Bengtsson was a new-to-me author so I didn't know what to expect. But what I got was an emotional story that had me fully invested from start to finish.

  

DAY 18: BEST HISTORICAL

I often enjoy historical fiction but I'm picky about the time period. The history of the American West has never been an era that has interested me, but I trust Amy Harmon. And when she released Where the Lost Wander, the tale of a young woman on the Oregon Trail with her family and a half-Pawnee man, I dove in knowing that Harmon would deliver a story I would love. Where the Lost Wander exceeded my expectations and this epic saga of family, faith and endurance became one of my favorite reads of the year..

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?

ARE YOU TAKING PART IN #BESTREADSOF2020?

 

#BestReadsOf2020 Days 11-14: Best Series, Best Anti Hero, Best Diverse Cast, Best Secondary Character

 

It's that time again! One again Sophie at Beware of the Reader is kicking off December with daily prompts for all of the years' best reads. And this time she's joined by Bookstagrammers @sophiesreadingcorner, @pavlinamich, @eliz_white, and @utcabookblog. This is my third year participating and I'm excited to take part again.

DAY 11: BEST SERIES

Best series goes to The Arrowood Brothers series by Corinne Michaels. Yeah, the second book had me wanting to knock the main character's heads together (I mean, seriously, these two could not get their act together - they desperately needed me to knock some sense into them), but overall the series was filled with likable characters, super emotional twists (that I live for), swoony heroes, strong female leads, some humor, and HEA's all around. 

   

DAY 12: BEST ANTI HERO

This one was a no-brainer. Because when it comes to anti-heroes there were none that personified the "anti" part of that title more fully than the guys in T.M. Frazier's King series. King, Bear and Preppy all operate on the wrong side of the law. They are no strangers to violence and have their own moral code and brand of justice. In any other story they would be the "bad guys", but I loved delving into their world and seeing what made them tick.

  

DAY 13: BEST DIVERSE CAST

Representing not only a POC (Mexican) main character and LGBT characters (both main characters are gay), The Music of What Happens also delivered a bittersweet story with plenty of humor and heart.

DAY 14: BEST SECONDARY CHARACTER(S)

The Girl in the Love Song was angsty AF but it also came with a heaping helping of secondary characters that I seriously loved. Main character Miller's friendship with Ronan and Holden was a total highlight for me and provided a "found family" aspect that was perfection. 

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?

ARE YOU TAKING PART IN #BESTREADSOF2020?

 

#BestReadsOf2020 Days 6-10: Favorite New to Me Author, Favorite Fantasy, Best Couple of the Year, Best Fictional World, Best Plot Twist

 

It's that time again! One again Sophie at Beware of the Reader is kicking off December with daily prompts for all of the years' best reads. And this time she's joined by Bookstagrammers @sophiesreadingcorner, @pavlinamich, @eliz_white, and @utcabookblog. This is my third year participating and I'm excited to take part again.

DAY 6: FAVORITE NEW-TO-ME AUTHOR

I've read a handful of new-to-me authors this year but one stands out above the rest. I read my first by Corinne Michaels back in January and have read four more from her since then. I was immediately drawn to her storytelling and I'm excited to read more and more from her. Definitely a new favorite!

DAY 7: FAVORITE FANTASY

I had to laugh at this one because I think I had read exactly one fantasy this year, which make the answer a pretty obvious choice. But I like to think that even if I'd read others, this one would still be at the top. :) The Queen of Nothing gave me what I loved about The Folk of the Air trilogy – the scheming, the plotting, the machinations – and then amped it up a notch by delivering more of what I wanted: more Jude + Cardan.

DAY 8: BEST COUPLE OF THE YEAR

There were a lot of options for this one but I have to go with Bristol and Grip from Still (and the rest of the Grip series). They are two people who understand each other so well. They have a powerful connection and share not just the good parts of themselves but the not so pretty parts, too. And there is such total acceptance and understanding. They may bend, but they never break.

DAY 9: BEST FICTIONAL WORLD

I struggled with this one because at first my mind immediately went to fantasy worlds and - like I just mentioned - I only read one fantasy this year. But once I realized that any story, fantasy or not, is really a fictional world, that opened up plenty of options. King (and the rest of the series) may seem like an odd choice because I definitely don't want to live in this fictional world, but I do find it fascinating. It's dark, it's violent, these characters live outside the law, and they have their own moral code and brand of justice. 

DAY 10: BEST PLOT TWIST

Jennifer Armentrout knows how to deliver a plot twist and the one at the end of Rage and Ruin left me shook. Actually there were two twists that I never saw coming and left me with my mouth hanging open in shock. And desperate for the next book! 

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?

ARE YOU TAKING PART IN #BESTREADSOF2020?

 

#BestReadsOf2020 Day 4: Most Beautiful Cover

 

It's that time again! One again Sophie at Beware of the Reader is kicking off December with daily prompts for all of the years' best reads. And this time she's joined by Bookstagrammers @sophiesreadingcorner, @pavlinamich, @eliz_white, and @utcabookblog. This is my third year participating and I'm excited to take part again.

DAY 4: MOST BEAUTIFUL COVER

Okay, I was good yesterday and played by the rules and only chose one answer for the prompt. But today... not a chance! Out of all the books I read in 2020, there were a handful of covers that really did it for me and stood out above the rest. Here, in no particular order, are my favorites.

   

RAGE AND RUIN - JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT

The black wings, the red fire... the cover has an intensity that had me itching to dive right in.

THE QUEEN OF NOTHING - HOLLY BLACK 

All the covers for the Folk of the Air series were gorgeous but this final book was just *chef's kiss.*

   

WILD AT HEART - K.A. TUCKER

The cover designer for Tucker's Wild series deserves a raise because the covers have all been stunning. But Wild at Heart is easily my favorite.

BOYFRIEND MATERIAL - ALEXIS HALL

I am sooo over the illustrated cover trend. It has been done to death and I cringe every time I see them roll out one after another. But for some reason this one didn't send me into paroxysms of eye rolling. Instead, it seemed to capture the story in the perfect package.

HAVE YOU READ ANY OF THESE BOOKS?

WHAT COVER CAUGHT YOUR EYE THIS YEAR?