2020 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS ⇀ My favourite new releases from 2020!

Hi friends! Welcome back to my blog, today I’m bringing you my annual book recommendations post, focusing on books that cmae out the previous year. So, since we’re officially into 2021 now, here were my favourite 2020 releases!

All the 2020 releases I read last year:

Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5)

3 ⭐
“Hope is a vicious beast. It sinks in its claws and it doesn’t let go.”

Not my favourite book in the series but I’ll definitely re-read it again in anticipation of book 6. This book felt more reminiscent of book 1 to me, and less fantastical at the beginning bit it definitely confirmed my love of any kind of water (especially dark water) in books! I need to read about a dark water world in this series! Seriously, this may not be my favourite book in the series, but I could read these books forever!

The House in the Cerulean Sea

4.5 ⭐
“Your voice is a weapon. Never forget that.”

This was the most wonderful mix of the weirdness and totally self-awareness of Welcome To Nightvale and the goofiness of Hotel Transylvania all in one and I loved every second of it! It’s written in a very middle-grade way, but TJ Klune never talks down to their audience and I loved them for that. I loved the characters and how they grew as we got to know them and I loved seeing Linus come into himself as a person too. Honestly, the writing was fantastic and so descriptive, and the characters were fantastic (yes, even the antichrist) and I truly cannot wait to read whatever TJ Klune comes out with next!

Trigger Warnings: Physical and Mental abuse (past), Mistreatment of children in orphanages

The Hand on The Wall (Truly Devious #3)

3.75 ⭐
“Every contact leaves a trace.”

Weirdly I don’t have all that much to say about this book, which is odd because it’s a finale. But, I will say that this is one of the best finales I’ve read in a while, in that it felt like the other books in the series and wasn’t awful in any way. Basically, this was a really interesting mystery with a really good main character. I wish there was more actual mystery and less badly written romance, but aside from that, this is a good trilogy IF you binge read it and treat it as one large story, and not as an actual trilogy.

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

4 ⭐
“Being disabled puts us on a level of intimacy with our own bodies that in some ways remains, ironically, inaccessible to the able-bodied.”

I don’t know really what to say other than that this was amazing and so eye-opening and I recommend everyone go read it! It discusses disability in fairytales, focusing on Disney and The Little Mermaid which I really appreciated as the author managed to pinpoint almsot all of my problems with the story in one book!

Heartstopper Volume Three (Heartstopper #3)

4.5 ⭐
“There’s this idea that if you’re not straight, you HAVE to tell all your family and friends immediately, like you owe it to them. But you don’t. You don’t have to do anything until you’re ready.”

Everything about this series is SO DAMN CUTE, I’m honestly so overwhelmed by it all right now! I love these characters and the art style and well… everything about it! The perfect quick and fluffy read!

Beach Read

3.5 ⭐
“Sometimes life is very hard. Sometimes it demands so much of you that you start losing pieces of yourself as you stretch out to give what the world wants to take.”

A great exploration of grief ft. some seriously great banter and one of my new favourite adult romances! We need more frenemies to lovers in adult romance!

Fence Vol 4 (Fence #4)

4 ⭐
“I just want you to know Seiji already has a rival, and it’s me.”

I genuinely cannot believe I’m saying this…but this was actually GOOD??? I felt all the emotions I was supposed to feel to the max with this one to the point where I had to get up and pace because I was so proud of the characters! This is exactly what I wanted from the first 3 volumes!! I can’t wait to see where this story goes next!

Eat, and Love Yourself

4.5 ⭐

I can’t put into words what this graphic novel meant to me, just know that is fantastic and so so important! Exactly what I needed right now! ❤ I recommend looking into the trigger warnings before reading, as you can probably already tell by the title, this is quite a difficult read for anyone with body issues or eating issues but, I thought it was perfect and LOVED the colouring!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

5 ⭐
“Blink, and the years fall away like leaves.”

I cannot tell you how rare it is, even for me, an insomniac to still be up at 2am reading. But, Addie made me do it. I’m having a lot of trouble putting into words how much I loved reading this and gradually getting to know Addie. This was very much a “character” book and I loved that about it. Schwab takes her time with Addie and her story but it never feels like the book is dragging or being prolonged because we’re just in it, learning about Addie and going at her pace. I absolutely loved the experience of getting to know Addie and I already can’t wait to re-read this!

Over The Woodward Wall (The Up-and-Under #1)

3 ⭐
“Sometimes anger is a good, true thing, because the world is so often unfair, and unfairness deserves to be acknowledged. But all too often, anger is another feeling in its Sunday clothes, sadness or envy or–most dangerous of all–fear.”

I think I tuned out a bit in the middle because I was a bit distracted on the day that I read it, but I’ll definitely be re-reading this when the sequel comes out. I love the way Baker (aka. Seanan McGuire) writes these stories like dark fairytales and I always appreciate her parenting commentary. Highly recommend for fans of McGuire’s other series – Wayward Children!

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle #2)

3.75 ⭐
“When you love a thing too much, it is a special kind of pain to show it to others and to see that it is lacking.”

I think I enjoyed this slightly more in the second half than the first and just slightly more than the first book. This series is fantastic and should be getting just as much love as the Wayward Children series does. If you love short books, metaphors and deeper stories you should give this a go!

What were your favourite 2020 releases?
Did you read any of the books on my list?

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