New Books Read in 2020

This is the breakdown of all the new books that I read in 2020.  This is broken down by genre for adult books (any YA books that I read this year are all grouped together).  Rereads are not included in this breakdown.

Mystery/Thriller:
1. The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
2. The Other People by CJ Tudor
3. The Holdout by Graham Moore
4. Good Girls Lie by JT Ellison
5. You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
6. Hour of the Assassin by Matthew Quirk
7. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
8. The Widow by Fiona Barton
9. The Child by Fiona Barton
10. The Whisper Man by Alex North
11. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
12. Next Girl to Die by Dea Poirier
13. A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
14. An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena
15. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
16. Derailed by Mary Keliikoa
17. Beneath the Ashes by Dea Poirier
18. This is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf
19. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
20. Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
21. The Last Flight by Julie Clark
22. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
23. The Shadows by Alex North
24. Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka
25. The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

26. Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

27. Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

28. The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

29. Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane

30. Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy

31. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

32. People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd

Contemporary Fiction:
1. The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood
2. Minor Dramas and Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West
3. A Good Neighborhood by Therese Ann Fowler
4. The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
5. When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald
8. Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin
9. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
10. In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
11. 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
12. You and Me and Us by Alison Hammer
13. What You Wish For by Katherine Center
14. The Comeback by Ella Berman
15. The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan

16. Beartown by Fredrik Backman

17. Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
18. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

19. The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman

20. This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith

Romance:
1. The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver
2. Beach Read by Emily Henry
3. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
4. The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon
5. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
6. Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein
7. Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner

8. Well Played by Jen DeLuca

9. Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo

10. This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens

11. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

12. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Literary Fiction:
1. Ask Again Yes by Mary Beth Keane
2. The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe
3. A Burning by Megha Majumdar

Historical Fiction:
1. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
2. The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

3. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Fantasy/Sci-Fi:
1. Recursion by Blake Crouch
2. The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

3. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab

Memoir:
1. Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford
2. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
3. I Have the Right To by Chessy Prout
4. Forever Liesl by Charmian Carr
5. The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

6. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya

7. The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper

Other Nonfiction:
1. The Girls by Abigail Pesta
2. Unbelievable by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
3. What Made Maddy Run by Kate Fagan
4. She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
5. Missoula by Jon Krakauer

6. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

Young Adult:
1. The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord
2. One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus
3. What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter

4. All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban

5. The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachael Allen

6. The Cousins by Karen McManus

Short Story Collections:

1. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

December Wrap-Up and Mini Reviews

 1. This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith - This was a lovely book.  I would say it is a "quieter" story overall, focusing more closely on characters and relationships than on a plot.  I do not mean that as a negative, because I enjoy books like this if the characters are strong, and in this book they were definitely strong characters.  The characters were good, kind people who cared deeply about each other and about their mental health.  This was ultimately a powerful and hopeful story with good messages, though there were sad parts throughout as well.

2. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur - This was a light and fun romance that I was able to read almost all in one sitting.  I was connected and attached to the characters, which made the story more emotional and kept me turning the pages wanting to know how everything would turn out for them.

3. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans - I took my time reading this one gradually, as it was a short story and novella collection.  I would say that the standouts from this one to me were the "Boys Go to Jupiter" story and the title novella.  The ending to that novella was shocking.  While some stories were stronger than others, this was overall a strong collection.  This was the first short story collection that I have read, and the first short stories I've really read since high school, and I would like to read more.

4. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren - This was a cute and fun holiday romance.  I think it did exactly what it was trying to do.  While it wasn't super deep and I didn't feel very emotionally connected to the characters as I have in some other romances, I still enjoyed the read as it was light and happy.

5. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins - This was a quick and twisty read.  I enjoyed the characters and the development, even if many of them ended up being terrible people.  This book was at least partially a retelling of Jane Eyre, which I have never read, so I would definitely be interested in reading it and seeing how the books relate.

6. The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachael Allen - This was a cute and fun read with a strong focus on friendship.  The girls in the book were dealing with a lot of serious issues and it was fun to see them grow in their relationships to each other.

7. The Cousins by Karen McManus - This author is one of the few young adult authors that I have consistently kept up with.  I prefer One of Us is Next to this book, but I still enjoyed the characters.  I did put this book down partway through to read some other books, but I liked it when I picked it back up again.

8. People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd - This book had characters that were such terrible people in the influencer world.  I ended up putting down the book for a while partway through.  I finished it because I wanted to know how it would end, but I wouldn't really say that I liked this book particularly much.

9. The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper - I think it is better to think of this book as being short stories about different patients in the author's life.  As a whole, I wasn't a big fan of this, but I enjoyed some parts/patients/stories.  I think Dr. Harper is a great doctor and cares a lot about people, but I didn't enjoy all of how she wrote this book.  I found the spiritual aspects to be a bit too "New Age-y" for my taste, and the book was a bit preachy.  The connections between her patients and her own life were too much of a stretch sometimes.  Overall, I have mixed feelings on this book.  I enjoyed some parts more than others.

10. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab - This was a magical and unique read.  I loved Addie and Henry and their relationship.  I was hoping for a different ending than how this book actually ended, but I can't say that much about that due to potential spoilers.  I liked the present timeline more than the historical portions of the story, but they were still interesting as well.  While I really liked this one a lot and flew through it pretty quickly, I don't think I loved it quite as much as the hype about it.