Hey all, Dani here.
So…I was looking at my contenders list for my Top Ten Reads of 2020 Jan-June list yesterday and I realized that there were over 20 on the list already and there are still three months to go before I would write that post. So I asked my book buddies on Twitter for some advice, and here’s what I’m doing for at least this year because I’m reading so very many books…I’m going to do a Quarterly Top Ten list.
Today I’m going to talk about my Top Ten favorite books I’ve read from January through March. The only rule is that I will not include re-reads on my list because they have an unfair advantage of me liking them well enough to read them again. My lists from the last few years also stipulated that the book had to be released, but I read too many great ARCs, so I’m throwing that rule away now.
First, let’s start with the honorable mentions. After eliminating re-reads, I still had 22 books on my list of 5 star reads from January through March. There are obviously 10 on my Top Ten list, but then there are 8 other of my 5 star reads that I feel the need to at least briefly mention here.
I read 71 books in the first three months of the year, so naturally there had to be a good number of them that I really ended up liking and loving. I’ve reviewed a good percentage of my reads for the year, which is pretty cool too. Most of my reads have still been in the fantasy genre, but I have read a few contemporary romance and a couple science-fiction, as well as a few non-fiction. Plus all of the manga that I’ve been reading a lot more of in the past couple years.
Obviously you can see those genre preferences in my honorable mention picks. It’s been a great year for reading so far, and I’m excited to see if I can keep up this momentum in the next few months as well.
All right, now let’s move on to the top ten. I should point out that these books are not in a best-to-worst type of order or anything. I do believe that they are pretty much in order of when I read them. Let’s do this.
I started this year off with a couple amazing reads. I was approved for both of these through the publishers and NetGalley, and I made the decision last year to make a re-read of Wicked Saints my final read of 2019 so I could then make Ruthless Gods my first read of the year. It definitely started things off on a high for me. This lovely sequel will be out this Tuesday, April 7. I also started off with this fantastic and geeky contemporary YA that ended up completely blowing me away. Don’t Read the Comments was an outstanding book that hit me in the feels early on in the read, and I related to the characters quite easily. These books definitely ended up setting a high bar for 2020 expectations.
Obviously it took me a couple months to get around to reading the finale of the Arc of a Scythe trilogy, but The Toll definitely blew my mind and any expectations I had. This was the first trilogy I have read from Neal Shusterman, but it probably won’t be the last. I also definitely have to mention my love for Snug: A Collection of Comics about Dating Your Best Friend by Catana Chetwynd/Catana Comics. I have been following the comics on Facebook and Instagram for a while now, but this was the second bound collection, and was definitely a easy and cute read that is uber-relatable.
I’m slowly making my way through the Witcher series–I’ve only read the two prequel story collections so far, but I have really started to enjoy reading them. I sometimes have difficulty with translated works, because of the difference in wording and sentence structure. But seeing these fairy tale retellings with a Witcher twist has been a delight, so I had to include Sword of Destiny in this list. And now we definitely start reaching the more recent reads, because everything else on this list is a March read. Though I only managed to read a few books for Middle Grade March, they were still pretty intriguing. So I have to mention another series finale, and that is The Adventurers Guild: Night of Dangers, which was honestly a really great conclusion, with some awesome character development. I am super sad that this series ended up only being a trilogy. I would have followed the guild through many more adventures.
I only wanted to include one Rin Chupeco book in the actual top ten list, even though I read two of her books in this three month period. So thinking about it, for me, Wicked As You Wish narrowly beats out The Never-Tilting World, though both are great. I just loved all the usage of mythology and lore in this sort of contemporary fantasy tale, and it was a super entertaining read. Also included in my top ten list is the second novel in a Les Miserable in Space story that I am currently obsessed with. I couldn’t include the first book Sky Without Stars here because it was a re-read, but that’s okay because Between Burning Worlds was actually a bit better than the first book.
Finally I need to talk about another trilogy finale. Wow, this was the quarter of me finishing series, wasn’t it? Obviously I just talked about this book not even a week ago, but Night of the Dragon was amazing and emotional and bittersweet and fantastic. I also need to talk about the recent ARC I finished, that was absolutely wonderful, and I can’t wait to write up my full review for it, and that is The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly, which I am lucky enough to be on Jamie Pacton’s Street Team for this release (we’re called the Round Table), and this is an awesome and cute contemporary YA that is all about friendship and fighting for equality, and perhaps finding a little romance along the way.
Whew, that was a lot of amazing books to talk about. My reviews for Undercover Bromance and The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly will be coming in the next couple of weeks. I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I will be back soon with more bookish content.
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