2020 book thread

get a life, chloe brown by talia hibbert
4/5
- really cute contemporary romance
- black woman mc
- chloe makes a list of goals to “get a life” after a near death experience
- she enlists the help of her new flat’s handyman
- they fall in love, obviously

love her or lose her by tessa bailey (#2)
2/5
- black latinx mcs
- rosie decides to leave dominic and their broken marriage
- couple’s therapy
- really disappointing, I expected more angst, the characters fell flat, everything was reduced to sex

from lukov with love by mariana zapata
reread
- half-filipina mc
- ok I reread this after watching spinning out, sue me
- jasmine teams up with ivan in figure skating
- enemies to friends to lovers I guess?

love lettering by kate clayborn
4.5/5
- this book was so sweet!!!
- meg’s a calligrapher who designed reid’s wedding invitation
- she left a coded message on purpose bc she felt the marriage was doomed to fail
- one year later, he shows up to her workplace asking how she knew

If I never met you by mhairu mcfarlance
4.5/5
- I really liked this one, although there was less romance than I wanted
- black woman mc
- fake-dating to try to get laurie’s ex jealous, and to help jamie get a promotion
- DAN WAS THE WORST, MEN REALLY ARE TRASH

all the stars and teeth by adalyn grace
2/5
- this could have been THE pirate fantasy but this wasn’t it chief
- princess of the kingdom gets locked up after a magic ceremony gone wrong
- runs away with her fiancé and a pirate to go fight an evil guy threatening the monarchy

the bear and the nightingale by katherine arden (#1 winternight tril.)
5/5
- russian folkore
- vasya lives near a forest w/ her family and village
- when her father remarries, her stepmother forbids them from honoring the household spirits
- evil starts falling on the village

the girl in the tower by katherine arden (#2 winternight tril.)
5/5
- vasya runs away from her village
- after rescuing little girls from bandits, she runs into the grand prince's settlement and has to pretend to be a boy
- vasya/morozko SNAPPED
- solovey >>

the winter of the witch by katherine arden (#3 winternight tril.)
5/5
- this was the best last book ever
- action packed but also! the! feels!
- I loved this trilogy so much I don’t want it to end!!!!!

paper hearts by claire contreras (#2 hearts)
4/5
- second chance love
- jensen was so cheesy but it still didn't feel like too much
- exes to lovers but it's more complicated than that
- I really felt all the hurt in this one
- also the audiobook was really good

kaleidoscope hearts by claire contreras (#1 hearts)
3/5
- this one was good but it didn't really strike me
- brother's best friend/secret relationship
- but with a dead fiancé
- estelle and oliver were cute

undercover bromance by lyssa kay adams (#2 bromance book club)
5/5
- this was more serious than book 1
- mack and liv had a lot of chemistry
- and I liked seeing their relationship develop as they learn to trust e/o
- tw: sexual harassment

spinning silver by naomi novik
5/5
- the hades and persephone vibes of it all
- I found it mostly sad
- but I loved the story and how magical yet realistic it was
- many POVs, it took me a while to get used to that
- wish there was more minartius/irina

romancing the duke by tessa dare
3.5/5
- I listened to the audiobook, the narrator was pretty good
- it was cute
- no angst tho so I’m unsatisfied
- the MC’s late father wrote fairy tales and there’s a whole fan club who cosplay and stuffs... in regency time

fendre l’armure (the cracks in our armour) by anna gavalda
5/5
- a collection of short stories
- the last two were my least favourite but I still think it deserves a 5
- I love this author’s writing, it’s so familiar

you deserve each other by sarah hogle
5/5
- the love/hate is strong in this one
- so chaotic!!! I love it
- I want what nicholas and naomi have, when will someone love me like that
- seriously one of the best contemporary romance novels I’ve read

guilty pleasures by laura lee guhrke
3.5/5
- this was a fun read
- but I feel like there was something missing for it to be a 4 stars
- I loved daphne and how she handed anthony’s ass back to him
- the ending was too abrupt, they deserved a short epilogue at least

10 blind dates by ashley elston
4/5
- this was so wholesome
- sophie breaks up w/ her ex and her family sets her up on blind dates to get her mind off him
- griffin is trash, who names their kid griffin anyway
- big family feels

starsight by brandon sanderson (#2 skyward)
4/5
- started off slow despite the opening scene being a battle
- I guess we needed all that setting before things started picking up-
- spensa is so smart yet such a dumbass
- that cliffhanger....

beach read by emily henry
5/5
- I want this kind of love
- I love that shadi was january's most favorite person in the world, I feel like that's how your best friend should feel like always even when you meet the love of your life
- this was a lot and I loved every second of it

shadow of the fox by julie kagawa (#1 SotF)
4/5
- the inuyasha vibes!!
- a half kitsune raised by monks has to protect a piece of a sacred scroll from a horde of demons
- a shinobi on a mission to retrieve the same scroll is roped into accompanying her
- kinda found family

soul of the sword by julie kagawa (#2 SotF)
4.5/5
- hakaimono turning out to be my fave is the plot twist I never saw coming
- me picking up the gay vibes just for them to be confirmed 5 min later, we love to see it
- everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong

night of the dragon by julie kagawa (#3 SotF)
5/5
- every time I thought things couldn’t get worse, they did
- im nothing but an empty husk
- I love one (1) ragtag family that goes on a journey and fights demons together to save the world

just friends by holly mcculloh
4.5/5
- best friends to lovers with good old pining
- very character-centric but I loved bea, she reminds me of olivia from faking under the mistletoe
- I was hoping for more romance which is why it didn’t get a 5

it sounded better in my head by nina kenwood
4/5
- perfect mix of sad and funny
- natalie's insecurities and anxiety were very relatable and I sympathised with her struggle with acne, despite mine not being as bad as hers
- natalie and lucy! we love strong female friendships

take a hint, dani brown by talia hibbert
4.5/5
- I love love
- fake dating + fwb except one of them is half in love with the other already
- a man dealing with anxiety and mental health issues who’s a hopeless romantic and reads romance novels? we love to read about it

say yes to the marquess by tessa dare
4/5
- a fun read, the main characters were likeable and the dynamic between them was organic
- I liked that clio stood firm in her decision from beginning to end and didn't let anything sway her
- a very well narrated audiobook

passion on park avenue by lauren layne
3/5
- neighbors who knew each other as children, but one of them doesn’t recognize the other
- this was fun even if it didn’t particularly mark me
- would have liked more angst tbh

love on lexington avenue by lauren layne (#2 central park pact)
3.5/5
- I liked this one better than the first one, claire and scott had more chemistry than naomi and oliver
- im just a sucker for ships that start off constantly clashing until they realise they're horny for e/o

marriage on madison avenue by lauren layne (#3 central park pact)
3.5/5
- can’t deny I love best friends to lovers
- I think I was most excited to read this one bc clarke and audrey’s friendship were mentioned in the previous books
- a satisfying end to the series