Best Books of 2020, Part 2

And my top books read in the order I read them.

Small stack this year: half were ebooks/library copy.

Love Lettering – Kate Clayborn

The year was off to a great start with my January reads. This was just really cute. I’m actually afraid to go back and re-read in case I feel differently now.

The Will and the Wilds – Charlie Holmberg

Soul stealing kisses in this one. That’s all you need to know.

Homebound – Lydia Hope

I like science fiction romance where the 2 leads are different enough that they have to look past things and overcome obstacles to be together and that’s what we have here.

Strange Planet – Nathan Pyle     

A perfect feel good book that I really needed. I bought it because I follow the author’s Instagram, but I’m happy to have read the book as well.

Faro’s Daughter – Georgette Heyer

This one cracked me up so good. I loved Deb. She gives Max the run around in so many ways. I keep going back to my favorite parts.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson

I had a blast with this one. I read it at a time when reading wasn’t really working out for me so that’s an added bonus.

Emerald Blaze – Ilona Andrews

I felt like Catalina and Alessandro’s first book had a few missteps but this one picks it up and gives the non stop action with a little romance that the Andrews’ do so well.

Swordheart – T. Kingfisher

This one surprised me big time. I read about it somewhere online, decided I had to have it and read it in one go. I wasn’t even half way done before I downloaded Paladin’s Grace. I can’t wait for more. This is the kind of fantasy romance I like to read.

Revenge in Rubies – A.M. Stuart

The author’s first book in this series was on my best of list last year so I’m happy to see this one here too. It’s another really solid story. I love that it takes place in Singapore.

Return of the King – Megan Whalen Turner

The conclusion to an epic series. It was perfect.

The Bright and Breaking Sea – Chloe O’Neill

This one was unexpected. It hit all the right spots with me. A female captain in Her Majesty’s navy has to deal with spies, pirates, and a Viscount.

And that’s it for this year. Who knows what next year will bring. I’m not even going to speculate. My list of books to buy in 2021 is pretty small right now. I’m sure it will get bigger. Maybe I’ll try and read some of the books I bought in 2020 or any other year. They are sitting on my bookshelves just waiting for me to pick them up. 

Best Books of 2020, Part 1

Another year, another stack of books. I feel like my reading was strange this year. There were times when I had a really hard time concentrating on books and times when it was hard to figure out what I wanted to read. Even so, 98 books is nothing to be ashamed about. And it doesn’t count the comfort re-reading I did or the Webtoons, both of those things I would say actually took up almost half of my reading time this year. 

The top genre was once again mystery, followed by what I labeled romantic (meaning they aren’t in the romance genre, but they have a romance subplot in them and I wanted to track them). Then it’s urban fantasy/PNR, sci-fi romance, and fantasy/sci-fi to round out the top 5. Ha ha, I can tell by my genres that I didn’t want to be in the real world so much. 

Ebooks pulled ahead this year. It’s not surprising considering the pandemic and the library was closed for a few months. I read far more purchased books than borrowed this year. Again, not too surprising.

I’m breaking my list up into 2 sections: webcomics and books. I’m going to start with my favorite webcomics, which I read on WebToons. These saved me this year. Something about the pictures and episodic format really helped me escape and I found a new medium that I love. 

Midnight Poppy Land, creator: Lilydusk – I’ve already written about this one, but I love it. Love. It. Hands down my #1. Mafia bad boy with a heart of gold, a heroine to really cheer for, and just a fun story with great artwork. My obsession is down to a manageable amount but I’m in it for the long haul. 

My Dear Cold-Blooded King, creator: Lifelight – I love the artwork and story here. I wasn’t sure at first as it’s a little love triangle-y in the beginning.  It finished recently and I went back and re-read the whole thing and I loved it even more. There may be some plot holes and things that don’t all make sense but I don’t even care.

Covenant, creator: explodikid – Priests that focus on exorcism. Magic tattoos. I love the art and I love the story. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Punderworld/Blood Stain, creator: sigeel – Punderworld is a Hades/Persephone retelling that’s just cute, and Blood Stain is about a down on her luck girl going to work for a mad scientist. I binged it and it’s so fun. Both have fantastic art.

Suitor Armor, creator: Purpah – This one’s just getting started but I love it so much already. A magical suit of armor starts protecting a lady-in-waiting who is more than she appears.

Purple Hyacinth, creators Ephemerys and Sophism – A fantasy/mystery where a cop and an assassin work together to stop a criminal gang. I binged this one in December and now have to wait for updates like the rest.

Others that I’m really enjoying: Jeff’s Disorder (lexet), The Alley Cat (Marie Jane Works), The Empress Remarried (Alphatart and Sumpul), The Wolfman of Wulvershire (K. Oliver), The Witch and the Bull (moonsia), In the Bleak Midwinter (Kat and Ali) and Enjoy the Show! (Jenna A).

And that’s only a handful of the ones I’m subscribed to. I have a ton of them I’m still waiting to check out or haven’t gotten far enough to know if I really like them.

So yeah, lots and lots of time spent here this year and I don’t regret it at all. I’m hooked on webcomics and they will be part of my reading for the foreseeable future.  So far I'm doing all the reading on WebToons but I hear Tapas has some good ones as well. I absolutely don't need more to read, but maybe next year I'll check it out. 

Good Weekend

I didn’t feel very well for a few days last week and the week was dragging. I woke up on Saturday feeling better and decided I wanted to get out. My mom and I ended up driving to Logan to Bluebird Candy. Earlier this year we had both purchased a Christmas countdown with their candy in it and it is excellent. We decided we needed more. :) But I also bought a few small boxes of chocolates for neighbors and friends. Since I’m not baking treats this year, I thought those would do the trick. We stopped at the cheese factory also and I stocked up on cheese. Ha ha cheese and chocolate. Yum! And now my Christmas shopping is completely finished, wrapped, and under the tree. It feels really good to do things that used to be “normal”. 

I got my bonus on Friday. I put aside my tithing and decided how much to save. I reloaded my Amazon gift card for myself and then I donated to 5 different charities. I gave a lot more than I usually do. I’ve been blessed with so much and that includes a very good job that allows me to be free of financial pressures. It’s the least I can do, especially for the organizations that reach places I never could on my own. 

On the way home yesterday, we stopped at my sister’s house because my mom had bought her a countdown. My nephew wanted me to take him shopping. I told him I’d take him later in the evening when it got less crowded if he could get to my house. He called me later in the day with a plan and his parents dropped him off. He’s such a fun kid. I thought by 16 he’d be done with hanging out with his aunt. He told me that since I took him to Best Buy last year, it was now our tradition. So I guess we’ll be doing it next year too. :) Driving my nephew around to stores was not how I had planned my evening and there’s nothing better I could have been doing. 

Today we had stake conference broadcast. I used the time to cook since I don’t do well sitting for 2 hours like that. Elder Robbins said something that stood out to me. I’m paraphrasing but basically we have Google maps that will track traffic all over the world as it happens and Google will answers millions of questions simultaneously. If man can do that, why can’t we believe that God also does that? God knows all of us. It’s kind of amazing when I think about it. 

Anyway, I get to relax for the rest of my day. It’s been a good weekend and I’m feeling positive and refreshed to deal with life.