112 - that’s how many books I read in 2020. My longest book was 986 pages (Book 7 of the Throne of Glass series) and the shortest was a Mindy Kaling short story. Here’s a ranking of the 10 favorite books I read this year. Ranking these was harder than I expected - there were many rearrangements to make sure the list accurately reflected how I felt about all these books.
10. You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
Jasmine and Ashton have both been cast in a bilingual telenovela style story for a very large streaming service. Jasmine is dodging the paparazzi following a disastrous breakup, and Ashton fears he’s aging out of his career as a telenovela hero. Sparks fly. This book has some very steamy bits, so if that’s not your thing, you may want to reconsider this book.
Read this if you’re ready for a juicy romcom with a delightfully large cast of supporting characters.
Overall grade: A - I would definitely watch the Netflix version of this book.
Author is a woman of color
9. Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu
Tina develops TV shows set in India for a streaming service, but has yet to hit on her “big one”. She’s newly single, lives in NYC.and she’s on her way to a destination wedding accompanied by her best friend, and her amicably divorced parents - her dad (who has engaged an Indian matchmaker to find him a wife) and her mom (who is bringing along her American boyfriend). What could go wrong?!
Read this if you loved Indian Matchmaking and/or have been to an Indian wedding or want to go to one. Great for fans of Crazy Rich Asians and other books featuring very wealthy people doing slightly outrageous things.
Author is a woman of color
8. If I Had Your Face: Frances Cha
The author, Frances Cha grew up in the United States, Hong Kong, and South Korea, and still spends her summers in South Korea. And her experiences gives her an excellent perspective to write this book, set in contemporary South Korea, the plastic surgery capital of the world.
The book centers around four young women who live in the same apartment building. Kyuri has had enough plastic surgeries to finally qualify her for the 1% “room salons” where she entertains businessmen as they drink. Her roommate Miho grew up in an orphanage but earned a scholarship to study in New York. She’s back in South Korea, working as an artist, and dating the son and heir apparent of one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates. Ara lives down the hall - she’s a hairstylist, but has lost the ability to speak. She’s preoccupied with her love of K-pop and her roommate and dear friend who is saving up for her own facial surgeries. And finally, a floor below lives Wonna - a newlywed trying to have her baby that she and her husband can’t afford.
This book was EXCELLENT. I enjoyed it so much. But if you’re someone who likes books to end with all loose ends tied up, you may not like this book as much as I did.
Frances Cha is a woman of color.
7. You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley
Mia Graydon and her husband Harrison just left the big city for small-town life. On paper, everything looks great. But Mia has these vivid dreams where a handsome man is a recurring character, and then she meets him in her new town. How will this impact her life?
If you’re in the mood for a good cathartic cry, this book is for you. Read if you like Grey’s Anatomy, This is Us, Parenthood, etc. Also, Mia suffers a miscarriage during this book, so if that’s a trigger for you, approach with caution.
Keep that Kleenex close.
6. The Golden Cage by Camilla Lackberg: Faye and Jack are loving parents to their daughter and a power couple - Jack is the founder of a high-growth startup and Faye is a socialite. In fact, Faye gave up her career in the early days of the startup to support Jack. Faye discovers Jack is having an affair - she will be left penniless in their divorce. Will she have her revenge for Jack’s betrayal?
Read this if you have elaborate revenge fantasies but are too ethical to do anything about them. SO JUICY!
5. Our Stop: Laura Jane Williams
If you’re feeling stressed out and weird, this book is the balm you need. Nadia gets on the same London train every morning-ish. Daniel sees Nadia on the train and writes a missed connection. Nadia sees it and responds. And that begins a series of near misses and coincidences that makes for the most charming romcom.
This book has some funny bits too - I laughed out loud a few times and was just so charmed by this book. If it were made into a movie I would watch it on repeat. Just saying.
4. A Curse So Dark and Lonely: Brigid Kemmerer
This is book 1 in a highly addictive series. Book 3 comes out in January 2021, so if you’re someone who likes to binge a whole series in a row, this is an excellent time to do it.
Prince Rhen is the cursed heir to Emberfall. He must find a woman to fall in love with him to break the curse. Harper is a teenager with cerebral palsy in D.C. One night, she is accidentally sucked into the alternate universe of Emberfell by Rhen’s Guard Commander, Grey.
Book 1 in the series is a modern re-telling of Beauty and the Beast (with a twist) - prepare to fall into a very engaging world.
3. The Grace Year: Kim Liggett
This was the January pick for my book club (RIP), and OMG I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. It’s kinda like Hunger Game x Handmaid’s Tale.
It’s an undetermined time period, but in a particular isolated county, 16-year-old women are sent into the deep woods for a whole year to get rid of their magic. The purpose is to make them docile wives and workers when they return. But not all make it back.
In between this dystopian fiction are hidden themes of oppressive patriarchy, quiet rebellion, allyship, feminism, the importance of education and science, and so much more.
So many layers to this book. It’s been optioned for a movie by Elizabeth Banks, and I can’t wait to see what she does with it.
2. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Booker Prize Winner)
Wow. This book. Wow.
This book tells the stories of 11 women + 1 non-binary person, who are loosely connected. All the women are Black and British, but other than that, their stories are independent. If you feel like you can’t read a full book right now, this is the perfect way to read them like the short stories they are - so beautifully written. One quick note - there are no periods in the stories, which takes a second to get used to, but don’t get distracted by it, because this book is worth every minute you will spend reading it.
1. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon.
I knew this book would be in my Top 10 100 pages into the book, and here it is, at the very top spot. This book is so beautifully written. It’s the story of a poet and a scientist who happen to meet one day, and over the course of that day, they fall in love. And within that story is a story of immigration and opportunity and mental health and family expectations and so much more.
The writing is so lyrical, and watching our two young protagonists fall in love through their conversations is so lovely.
Read this book if you love Serendipity or any books/movies about fate or destiny.
Bonus: I didn’t include this in my Top 10 because it’s a 7 book series, and the books range from 406 -987 pages, which is very intimidating. BUT - if you like big sweeping multi-character, multi-arc books like Harry Potter or Twilight, or Game of Thrones, try out Sarah J. Mass’s Throne of Glass series. Assassins + magic = many many many thrilling pages.
Hopelessly addicted to this series, cannot have an objective view on it.
As you can see from the list above, I have pretty wide-ranging taste (with the exception of non-fiction - no thanks) - what’s something you read that you think I would like? Drop it in the comments so I can add it to my 2021 TBR pile!
Disclosure: I’m an Amazon affiliate so if you make a purchase using a link I’ve provided, I may make a small commission. This has no impact on the price you pay. You can find my entire Amazon shopping list here, which represents pieces I’ve bought and LOVE or ones I want to buy.