2020 Wrap-Up and Favourites!

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Hello Hello! How are you all?

I’m really excited to be bringing you this post today as I’m going to be talking about all the books I read in 2020 and then giving you a list of my favourite books of the year! This is probably going to be a bit on the long side, so buckle up and keep on reading!

Before I get into all the bookish stuff, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who visited my blog this past year, I can’t believe I only started it in February and I’ve had so much love and support from all of you. I can’t believe how many views I’ve had in one year, and it’s all thanks to you! I am so grateful and you have made my year, so thank you so much!

In 2020, I found amazing blogging friends, was welcomed into the TWR gang (thank you for inviting me Dave!), participated as a panellist and helped organise BBNYA, started co-hosting the Middle Grade Marvels book club and became the Twitter manager for TWR Tours. I also got to participate in my first blog tours, did some great Bookstagram photo challenges, did buddy reads, participated in really fun readathons, and so many more amazing bookish experiences! I had so much fun with each and every one of these! Even though 2020 was awful for all of us, I think my bookish and blogging year was fantastic, so thank you all for the support.

The books I read in 2020

In 2020, I was able to read a total of 148 books, which is kind of crazy! I am so proud of what I accomplished considering that I was living in Scotland for the first half of the year, I went through lockdown there, and in France when I got home, and university has been crazy since September! One thing I will say though is that I loved so many books I read last year, and I found some absolute gems!

2020 Reading Stats

Number of books read: 148 books

Number of pages read: 43,970 pages

Format read:

Digital: 74 books

Printed: 74 books

Star ratings:

1 star: 2 books

2 stars: 1 book

2.5 stars: 1 book

3 stars: 11 books

3.5 stars: 16 books

4 stars: 61 books

4.5 stars: 25 books

5 stars: 31 books

Average rating: 4.10⭐

Genres:

YA Fantasy: 26 books

Children’s Picture Book: 2 books

Plays: 2 books

Fantasy: 16 books

Children’s Fantasy: 5 books

Classics: 6 books

YA Science Fiction: 3 books

Contemporary: 5 books

Nonfiction: 6 books

New Adult Romance: 3 books

Historical Fiction: 13 books

Mystery Anthology: 1 book

YA Mystery: 7 books

Paranormal Fantasy: 4 books

Graphic Novel: 5 books

Horror: 2 books

Science Fiction: 7 books

Contemporary Romance: 6 books

Mystery: 6 books

Thriller: 4 books

Middle Grade: 17 books

YA Romance: 2 books

You can find all the books I read on my Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge here!  

My 20 favourite books of 2020

I’m just going to do a quick recap of the best books I read this year and what I thought of them, trying to not make this post really really long!

Obsidian (#1 Lux) by Jennifer L. Armentrout – 5 stars

This was actually my very first read of 2020, a Hype-A-Thon readathon pick from Noly, and I read it in a few hours because it was so good! It was also my first Jennifer L. Armentrout book and I’m determined to read everything she has written now because it was just so good! I didn’t write a review for this because I hadn’t started my blog yet, but I think you get that I loved it!

Magic Unleashed (#1 Venators) by Devri Walls – 5 stars

I’m pretty sure this was actually the first-ever @The_WriteReads blog tour that I took part in, organised by Dave. I’m so glad I decided to sign-up to this tour and all the other ones because I’ve had the best time reading these and discussing them with the gang! This one was amazing, I adored it, and have read the next 2 books in the series too, I’m very much looking forward to more books in this world! You can read my review here!

Demons of the Ocean (#1 Vampirates)  by Justin Somper – 4 stars

I read this book for the O.W.L.s Readathon. Danni from For Books Sake picked it for me and I loved it so much, she definitely introduced me to a new favourite series, so thank you so much! This was not what I was expecting exactly, but it completely surprised me and I loved every minute of it, I’ll hopefully be continuing the series this year. You can read my review here!

The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller – 5 stars

This was my first buddy read with Candyce from The Book Dutchesses and I actually loved this one so much, I could hardly put the book down once we reached that day’s chapters! I wrote a very gushing review of it, and I just can’t keep thinking about how good it was. I loved Alessandra, she was a great character, and the writing style was so immersive. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author.

You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr – 4 stars

This was another book I read for a blog tour and I don’t think I would have picked it up otherwise, even though it’s historical fiction which is one of my favourite genres. But this book just took my breath away. Damian Barr managed to transport me to the various times that he writes about in this book and I felt like I was living day-to-day next to the characters, it was such a beautiful story and you can read me gushing more about it here!

Red Hail by Jamie Killen – 4 stars

This was my first Book Sirens book, and again, not one I would usually pick up, but wow, it was really great! It was probably not the best book to pick for the current time as it’s about a type of plague that devastated a small town years before and has come back in the present-time and gone after the descendants of the first victims, but I really enjoyed this one – and that makes me sound so morbid, aha! You can read my full thoughts here.

Hold Your Tongue (#1 DI Eve Hunter) by Deborah Masson – 5 stars

Another recommendation from Danni, thank you so much! I needed another book for the O.W.L.s Readathon and I’m so glad I asked Danni because this was also a very good book. I love a good murder mystery with detectives but don’t manage to find that many I really like, so haven’t read anywhere near as many as I would like. I’m going to be continuing this series though because I was totally immersed! I apparently didn’t write a blog review for it, but I did on Goodreads.

The Third Sun (#1 Daughter of the Phoenix) by Victoria J. Price – 5 stars

This was a book that has stayed with me ever since I turned the last page, so much so, that my thoughts are still all over the place and I’m going to need to reread it, continue on with the next book in the series and have a minute to finally write my review. What I can say though, is WOW. Victoria has written a fabulous first book in a series and I can’t wait to dive back into this world soon. Victoria is the sweetest person and I definitely recommend you follow her – also, her dogs are the cutest!

Tilly and the Bookwanderers (#1 Pages and Co) by Anna James – 4.5 stars

This was the first middle grade book we picked for the Middle Grade Marvels book club that I co-host with Noly and Holly and I loved it. Tilly and Oscar are now one of my favourite sleuth duos, they are so fun and the things they get up to are just spell-binding! This was such a unique book and I loved it so much that I read the second one immediately after, I must soon get to the third one as well! It has made me want to pick up all the books mentioned, so be aware of that, if you don’t want your TBR to grow more! I can’t find a review for this one either, so I’ll have to reread it and do so soon.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (#1) by Holly Jackson – 5 stars

I think this was my favourite book of the year until another one came around (keep reading!) and I have to thank Erika from And On She Reads for recommending this one to me. I think I read this one in about 2 days and when I finished it my brain was completely dead because THIS is the kind of mystery I like. I read it as I was just starting my 7^th rewatch of Criminal Minds and it was *chefs kiss*. If you want to read exactly what I thought of it, you can find my review here!

The Trials of Morrigan Crow (#1 Nevermoor) by Jessica Townsend – 5 stars

Another Middle Grade Marvels BOTM pick and I can’t even tell you why I had waited to read this one for so long. From the minute I started it, I was hooked. It is such a fun book. A lot of people compare it to Harry Potter, but it is so much more and so much more unique and different. I mean, I see the similarities, but it’s just not the same at all, and you can read all my rambling thoughts here!

May Day (#1 Seekers) by Josie Jaffrey

This was my first Josie Jaffrey book and I was lucky enough to be sent an ARC of it – so thank you so much, Josie. This is also a book that took me by surprise. It has vampires, and it’s a fantasy/mystery, so I knew I was going to adore it, but I couldn’t have predicted just how invested in the plot and characters I would be. I’m going to be reading every single book Josie has ever written because I’m in love with her stories and writing style. Here is my full review!

The Ship of Shadows (#1) by Maria Kuzniar – 5 stars

Well, what do you know? Yet again another middle grade making it into my favourites AND it’s another blog tour book from Dave @The_WriteReads (let me just say, if you don’t already follow him, now is the time to do so!). So, this book has everything a middle grade, fantasy, pirate, cake-loving reading would want. It has fabulous characters, gorgeous descriptions, an amazing and fun plot and I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series, I’m sure it will be just as fantastic as the first! Here are all my thoughts. I also did an interview with the lovely Maria you can find here!

The Jumbies (#1) by Tracey Baptiste – 4 stars

Another MGM BOTM pick, unless you couldn’t tell, I adored a lot of middle grade books this year. This one was a lot darker than what I was expecting, but what I loved the most was how brave and resilient the main character was, but also how lush, enchanting and beautiful the writing style was, how the setting was described and above all, the stories and legends! This is an incredible book and here are my full thoughts!

The Dire King (#4 Jackaby) by William Ritter – 4.5 stars

This was another book I buddy read with Candyce, it is the final book in the Jackaby series we literally whizzed through last year and again, another book that took me by surprise and had me so immersed. It is one of those genre hybrid books and I am lucky enough to have read it because I am a fan of fantasy, historical fiction and mystery, so I couldn’t have gone wrong. I haven’t posted my review yet (oops), but it’s a gushing one aha!

Ring the Bell by Josie Jaffrey – 5 stars

This was another Josie Jaffrey book that I absolutely adored this year. Actually, it’s only a short story and took me just about 30 minutes to read, but it smacked me in the face and had my heart in tatters. Never have I read such a short book that made me feel so many feelings, and I think that just attests to Josie’s writing talent, she is incredible at telling meaningful, heart-wrenching stories, and you should pick this novella up right after you read my review of it.

One of Us is Lying (#1) by Karen M. McManus – 4.5 stars

Another buddy read – I did a lot of those this year and they were all so fun! – this time with Stephen from Stephen Writes and for another YA mystery. This is really a genre that I have discovered this year and realised that I adore, and I’m so glad I found it! This has a school setting, a mysterious murder, stereotypical high-school students, but it’s also so much more than that and I’ve never reacted so loudly as I did while reading this book, and I’ll have to get my review posted soon!

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky (#1 Tristan Strong) by Kwame Mbalia – 5 stars

One of my final books of 2020 was yet again… another Middle Grade Marvels BOTM pick and can I just say thank you to all our MGM members for their amazing nominations and to Google’s random number generator for picking the BEST books ever? Okay, lol, I’ll stop now, but this book was fabulous. I love myself a good book about stories, myths, legends and this was just that. It was unique, funny, had amazing African-American tales that swept me up and away and I can only recommend this to you all. I’ll have my review up in the next weeks hopefully but while you wait, you can go read Sammie’s superb review for it here.

Ever Alice by H.J Ramsay – 4.5 stars

This was the final book that I read for BBNYA and it was my favourite of the 3 so it definitely needed to be added to my faves list. I haven’t read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll yet, but I’ve seen the adaptations and loved them, so I’m very glad I got the chance to read this book for the competition because it was incredible! There is such a great vibe to this book, I can’t even explain it, it has taken an old and loved classic and turned it into something unique, fun, and beautiful while keeping the great characters we all love. It was top-notch and I hope to get my review up soon for the tour that will be organised by TWR Tours, so keep a lookout!

And my favourite book of the year was …

Amari and the Night Brothers (#1 Supernatural Investigations) by B.B. Alston – 5 stars

Well, I have to give Dave from @The_WriteReads all the applause and champagne because, without him, I would have missed out on so many books this year, but above all, I would have completely flown by my FAVOURITE of the year. Amari and the Night Brothers had me in tears on the final chapter because it was that good. You know the feeling when you reread your favourite book or rewatch your favourite film, you’re happy and just can’t help but be emotional? This book gave me just that and I will revisit it as soon as we hear when the next book is being released, it was just the best ever and I gush about it even more in my review here.

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Well, this was a very waffly post and I’m very sorry, BUT, I mean can you blame me? look at all those amazing, incredible, fantastic, beautiful books. I loved every single one of these and I’m so grateful that they came into my life in 2020, they kept me going and I will revisit them all as soon as I can. Please tell me what your favourite books or things were in 2020!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post! See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx