My Favourite Books of Every Month (so far) – 2020 Edition

Hey everyone! The end of the year is almost around the corner (thank God, 2020 has been terrible) and for this reason I decided to do a little recap of the books I read this year, in order to choose my favourite novel for each month. I did the same article in 2019, if you would like to take a look at it, I will leave you the link here. Now let’s start!

January

2020 couldn’t have started better than that, because our book club pick for that month was “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid and OMG, this novel was so amazing! I really loved the story, and I would so like to re-read it (that it’s quite strange for me, because I usually don’t do that), it made me cry so much and also root for Evelyn all the time. She is such a great character.

February

I didn’t read much during this month, so it’s very easy to pick my favourite read: “The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton. Even this book was a 5 star read for me, because Turton created such a complicated yet perfect puzzle in which every piece falls into its right place. It’s a masterpiece for me, very original and well done.

March

I don’t really know what to pick, because I would like to choose two books. But between “The Priory of the Orange Tree” by Samantha Shannon and “The Prince and the Dressmaker” by Jen Wang, I think that the second one was definitely my favourite for that month. It’s so heart-warming and cute that you can’t help but adore it.

April

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Ok, this is terribly difficult for me, because I think we have a tie. Both “The Shadows Between Us” by Tricia Levenseller and “Solitaire” by Alice Oseman were my favourite books of April. They were amazing for completely different reasons, but still I had such a good time while reading them that I have to put both of them here.

May

Among the books and graphic novels I read that month, I guess that “Check, Please! – Book 2” by Ngozi Ukazu was my favourite one! It was so sad to see this story come to an end; I will terribly miss the main characters and their lives.

June

This month is very very easy for me, because “Artemis Fowl” by Eoin Colfer definitely wins. I re-read the book because the (horrible) movie was coming out and I just wanted to give my mind a little refresh. Then I became obsessed with it and I’m currently reading the entire series, because I so want to know how it will end.

July

Even that month I read a couple of great books and I think that “Normal People” by Sally Rooney was my favourite one. The story was really interesting, and the two main characters were so amazing that I ended up loving them throughout the entire book.

August

In August I started listening to my first audiobooks and I am so grateful for this experience! I listened to our book club pick for that month, “Felix Ever After” by Kacen Callender, and fell in love with it. I think that listening to it made it even more delightful and amazing, not to mention that the story of this novel is really important. I think you should give it a try.

September

Like February, even in September I didn’t read very much. I think I will pick “Aurora Burning” by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, even though it disappointed me a bit. It wasn’t my favourite by these two authors, because it was a bit boring and predictable at times. If you would like to know more about my opinion, check out my article.

October

So, here we are with our last month for this article. October was a rollercoaster of emotions with my readings, and I have a terrible decision to make. My favourites of that month were three books: “Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code” by Eoin Colfer, “Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas and “Memento” by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. There’s no need to tell you which one among them is the winner. Oh Gosh, The Illuminae Files series is so important to me and even this novella didn’t disappoint me. You can read my full spoiler-free opinions here.

So, these were my favourite books for each month, hope you liked reading about them! I still don’t know which novels will be my favourites for November and December, but I hope to read great and amazing books until the end of the year.
Which were your favourite books of 2020? Let me know in a comment down below! Thanks for reading.

Alice Oseman’s Novellas Reviews

Hey readers! Last month I read Solitaire by Alice Oseman and since I’m up to date with Heartstopper (that I love soooo much), I decided to read the two novellas that are related to this book. They are “This Winter”, a prequel, and “Nick and Charlie”, a sequel. So, without further ado, let’s start!

*Beware, the following reviews contain spoilers from the novellas, Solitaire and Heartstopper*

Title: This Winter (Solitaire 0.5)
Author: Alice Oseman
Synopsis (from Goodreads): I used to think that difficult was better than boring, but I know better now… I’m not going to think about the past few months, about Charlie and me, and all of the sad. I’m going to block it all out. Just for today. “Happy Christmas, ” I say. The festive season isn’t always happy for Tori and her brother Charlie. And this year’s going to be harder than most.
Rating: 4/5 stars

This story was a little prequel of the main novel by the author. It introduces and follows the three Spring siblings and what happens to them at Christmas. I’m very interested in knowing more about Charlie and Tori, because they are two of my favourite characters of this fictional world (along with Nick).
I love how Tori is so protective with Charlie and she is always so good with him. After all he went through, Charlie deserves better, but his parents and relatives aren’t the best option right now.
For the first time I could experience what it is like to be in Charlie’s mind. I always read what he says in the graphic novel but I never got the chance to know more about his behaviour and his thoughts, but with this story I started getting a glimpse of them and I did enjoy them.

Title: Nick and Charlie (Solitaire 1.5)
Author: Alice Oseman
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Everyone knows that Nick and Charlie are the perfect couple – that they’re inseparable. But now Nick is leaving for university, and Charlie will be left behind at Sixth Form. Everyone’s asking if they’re staying together, which is a stupid question – they’re ‘Nick and Charlie’, for God’s sake! But as the time to say goodbye gets inevitably closer, both Nick and Charlie question whether their love is strong enough to survive being apart. Or are they delaying the inevitable? Because everyone knows that first loves rarely last forever…
Rating: 4/5 stars

If I got the chance to experience what it was like to be in Charlie’s mind with the previous novella, now I finally know what it is like to be also in Nick’s mind. And I loved it. Even if it’s based on a huge misunderstanding, this novella is the celebration of Charlie and Nick’s love. I can’t help myself but ship them, they are the best couple ever. I can’t stop loving them, whatever they do. Also, I was so happy to see that Charlie, two years after his relationship with Nick, was starting to feel better after his illness. It filled my heart with happiness and joy. This couple will (and has to) last forever and I couldn’t be gladder than that.

These are my opinions about these two novellas, hope you enjoyed reading them! If you would like to let me know your own thoughts about them or you would like to comment what I said here, leave a comment down below. Thank you!

Solitaire by Alice Oseman – Review

Title: Solitaire

Author: Alice Oseman

Synopsis (from Goodreads): In case you’re wondering, this is not a love story. My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep, and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now. Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden. I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden. I really don’t.

Rating: 4/5 stars

 

Beware, the following review will contain some spoilers!

 

I really enjoyed reading this book in the last few days. I didn’t expect the story to be like this, in fact I was quite surprised about what happened in there!

I think that the plot was pretty cool, I started it thinking it was just about Tori, her life, her struggles, her friends, Charlie and Nick and so on. But, in addition to that, there’s also a mystery! Not the kind of guess-who-killed-someone mystery, ok, but it’s still something that needs to be solved. I’m talking about Solitaire’s blog and the many things that happen around Tori. Someone is trying really hard to impress her by doing many different things. And the mind behind was none other than Lucas. It was a bit obvious; I was unsure if it was Michael or him, but in the end, I was 90% sure it was Lucas.

Talking about Michael, I loved him so much. He was so adorable and peculiar, I got along with him immediately. He was a bit funny sometimes, but still lovely. And I was so excited that he and Tori ended up together! They are one of my new favourite ships (even though Nick and Charlie are still in the first place, no doubts).

I have to admit that I started reading this book because I was curious to know more about Nick and Charlie. Heartstopper is such an adorable and amazing graphic novel, it’s quite obvious that I would be so interested in knowing more. Well, their story wasn’t all easy peasy lemon squeezy at all. In the graphic novel the author is still introducing the main challenge that Charlie will face in Solitaire. It was hard to read about his disorder, really hard. I hope he will feel better in the future. And with Tori on his side I’m sure he will have all the help he needs.

Last but not least, Tori. I got along with her really well since the beginning. Maybe because sometimes I feel like her or maybe it’s because of this quarantine, I don’t know, but I felt what she felt for almost the entire book. And her relationship with Michael was adorable. I so loved them!

So, these are my opinions about this book, hope you liked reading it! If you would like to let me know your own thoughts about the novel or you would like to talk about what I said in this review, leave a comment down below! Thanks.

My I-hope-to-read-these-books-for-real-in-2020 TBR

Hey readers! Sorry for the long title but it’s sadly true: every time I try to create a TBR I end up not following it or I don’t even finish the first book in time (AKA Winter TBR, I’m looking at you). Even in the TBR I created last January I didn’t achieve many books, maybe just one or two.
To avoid this problem I decided to create a TBR Jar, so I won’t buy books and I would read the ones I already have in my room! The idea is great but watch me buy too many books even in 2020.

Now let’s be serious. I made a TBR that is simple and easy to follow with the books or authors I would like to discover this year. Let’s take a look!

 

Cassandra Clare

A TBR can’t even exist without this woman and the bazillion books she has written. I still have to read four books and 10 novellas, and I hope at least to start reading the TDA series this year. These books are huge, and I already like that.

 

Leigh Bardugo

I haven’t read anything by this author, but I keep hearing good things about her works. For this reason, I decided that 2020 is the year I’m going to discover the Grishaverse. I hope I won’t get disappointed, mostly by Six of Crows.

 

Jay Kristoff

I’m a sucker for this author and I still haven’t finished reading Godsgrave and Darkdawn. SHOCKING, I KNOW, but the hype is everywhere, and I know I will finish this series within the end of the year. Not to mention that in May “Aurora Burning”, written with Amie Kaufman, will come out and I already know I will devour this novel.

At least a couple of contemporaries

I’m not the greatest contemporary reader but I quite enjoy them, because I can’t ALWAYS read fantasy, my brain would explode. So, I’d like to read a couple of books from my TBR Jar, like something by Alice Oseman or Karen Mc Manus, but I will find out in the same moment I pick a card from the Jar.

 

So, these are the books and authors I hope to read this year. I hope you had fun reading this article! If you would like to let me know your own TBR or would like to talk about my choices, let me know leave a comment down here. Thanks!