For the Love of Books: 2020 Reading Recap
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The end of the year is almost here and I’m so ready to say “see you never” to 2020. While my biggest goal this week is to finish Hit List so I can take a break for the next two weeks and prepare for 2021, this week, here, we’ll be focusing on end of year recaps! Today, I’m breaking down some of my favorite reads of 2020.
the 2020 reading recap
Favorite stand-alone of the year: I read a lot of stand alones this year, so it’s hard to pick *just one,* so I’m going to pick three.
1. Someone We Know by Shari Lapena: over the last year, she has really become one of my favorite new authors. I’ve read three out of her five books and the last two are currently on my to be-read cart. Having grown up in a super safe suburb in the DFW metroplex, I could almost picture the book taking place here and the city having to handle a murder. My hometown just had its first murder in six years this year, and it made some national news sources.
2. The Night Swim by Megan Goldwin: I’ve been hesitant about all the podcast related books, but this one tells two stories. The trial of a young man who has been charged with raping a girl. The other story is about a woman who knows her sister did not drown 20+ years ago and wants justice. The story of this sister who died, the amount of shit that she dealt with before passing away…. I had to put the book down before finishing it up to walk away because I wanted to throw the book across the room. It’s hard to get me that upset at a story, but yet, this book was pretty great.
3. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London: This one was one I apparently put on hold at my library and forgot about before the book was delivered to my iPad. As a plus-sized woman, I loved that she wasn’t going to be defined by her weight. I also love a good happy ending and in a year like this, don’t we all want the happy endings in books?
Honorable Mentions: The Right Swipe and Beach Read
Favorite non-fiction: Battle of Brothers by Robert Lacey.
I love the royal family and I’ve been obsessed with Henry VIII and his disaster of a love life since i was in third grade. Over the last few years though, watching Prince William and Prince Harry both get married and start families, I’ve been paying attention to the modern royals, too. It’s a sad story though and I hope there’s a reconciliation in the future, but this book was super in-depth. Not only did it cover how the brothers ended up here, but also how their parents’ marriage and lives built up to the brothers’ relationships.
Honorable Mention: Finding Freedom, which is specifically about Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Favorite new series I discovered: Unsub by Meg Gardiner.
I first met the author at the 2018 Texas Book Festival, where she had a new book, *Into the Black Nowhere.* I’m not sure why it took me a year and a half to read it, but it did. This is the book series I wish I would have written, but they’re pretty amazing. The second book actually takes place in Austin, too.
Books in the series: Unsub • Into the Black Nowhere • The Dark Corners of the Night
Honorable Mention: American Royals Series
So far, I’m about 30 books into 2020 and I’m hoping to increase my reading goal in 2021 to 40, like all the books in my reading cart. You can view the list here.
What have you loved that this you read this year?