10 of my Favourite 2020 Reads

We’re a tad more than half way through 2020 so lets talk about our reading year. What have been your favourite reads of 2020? Here’s a list of 10 of my Favourite 2020 Reads.

This is for Top Ten Tuesday, you can find the other posts here and you can check out all my list posts here. This weeks topic is a freebie.

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Cinder

1. Top of the list is Cinder. I read this book in a matter of days (impressive for lockdown me, trust me) and absolutely loved this sassy cyborg mechanic, not the least because she’s a snarky engineer and part robot. Isn’t that just the perfect YA for me?

The Foundling

2. I didn’t know what I expected from this book. It sounds a bit dull from the blurb tbh but the cover being all over Bookstagram encouraged me to give it a go and I have no regrets. It was amazing. I loved meeting Bess Bright and Alexandra, I loved the complex array of female characters and the portrayals of olden times London, bathed in the interesting and unusual history of the Foundling hospital.

Slay

3. So there’s a theme, many of my favourite books are about women in engineering (shocker I know). And this YA featured a female black programmer who invented a game that resulted in one player killing another, but in the real world. It’s serious, engaging and includes lots of reference to coding so I highly recommend.

The Seven and Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

4. This is another one I picked up because I’d sort of herd of it and was pleasantly surprised to find I loved it. I didn’t know what to expect but it wasn’t to be so captivated by all the personalities our sleuth takes on or to be rooting for a murderer to be set free from prison? Read the book, it slightly makes more sense.

The Switch

5. Beth O’Leary’s books are a new found love of mine. With the London setting and the characters all being my age they are so relatable. This one features two Eileen’s switching lives, one in their early 20s (?) and the other 80. It’s adorable to see how they fit so perfectly into each other’s lives and that finish where they relies they had to be someone else to heal was heart breaking.

The Sun is Also a Star

6. Going into this book I was skeptical. I don’t like instant romances so romance in a day sounded a bit far fetched, moreover I though a whole day dragging out for 200 odd pages was unlikely to capture my attention. But, lo and behold, I loved it. I loved Natasha, female future physicist with a love of asteroids yes please, (found Daniel a bit pushy at times tbh) and their one day romance encompassed everything so perfectly. Also the random asides and seeing snippets of other people’s lives added an extra layer of plot.

One of Us is Next

7. This is probably my least favourite of these books, but that’s not to say it’s bad. Just the other two are amazing. There wasn’t a police investigation in this and that kind of took some structure away from the book, but I loved seeing our notorious protagonists from One of Us is Lying and watching where they are now, while following three new equally engaging and lovable sixth formers.

The Mercies

8. I hadn’t actually heard of the Varda Witch Trials before picking up this book and seeing the scary history come to life was amazing. This novel is poignant, well written and my only problem with it is that it’s not that true to the history. It makes it a bit more happy, which is sad given how sad this book is.

Nocturna

9. The scruffy thief meets fancy royalty and shows them a different world is very overdone but I will fall for it every time. I loved the setting and meeting our two protagonists. I remember finding fault with the book at the time (I think it was a bit slow?) but I loved the unusual magic system.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance

X. Wow. What a sequel. I didn’t know which way to look it was all so well written. The characters were changing so much. I’ve heard lots of mixed reviews but I was a big fan.