TTT – My Ten Favorite Books of 2020

Happy Top Ten Tuesday everyone! I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas, despite any possible restrictions… I mainly ate a lot of food, as is tradition. That chocolate filled brownie still shows up in my dreams sometimes… Anyway.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and you can find all past and future prompts on her blog! This week the prompt is: favorite books of 2020!favorite books

Choosing just ten is always hard, especially now that it looks like I’m gonna read sixty books this year. I’m very impressed by everyone that reads more than 100 books and still manages to create a top ten! So here are ten of my favorite books that I read this year, in no particular order.

Morning Star book cover

Morning Star

By Pierce Brown



This was the third book I read this year, and it feels like five years ago. In all honesty, I don’t quite remember what happened in this book, which is true for all books I read this year, but I remember having ~feelings~ and giving it five stars, soooo. But seriously, The Red Rising Saga is one of my favorites ever. Hopefully next year I’ll read Iron Gold and Dark Age!

House of Earth and Blood book cover

House of Earth and Blood

By Sarah J. Maas



So I’m pretty sure I bought this book on the same day I arrived in the U.S. again back in March. I hopped off the plane and straight into Barnes & Noble. The first fifty to one hundred pages of this book were pure confusion, but after that it got so good! I have no clue how it ended, but I remember the vacuum… Maybe I’ll do a reread once we have a release date for Crescent City 2. Do we have any news on that by the way??
Sorcery of Thorns book cover

Sorcery of Thorns

By Margaret Rogerson



I put off reading this book for so long, because I honestly thought An Enchantment of Ravens was kinda ~meh~ but if I could live in a book now, I’d choose this one. The world in this one is just so great! I read this book as part of my Books About Books reading challenge. I really loved it and I wish there were more books in this world.

The Empire of Gold book cover

The Empire of Gold

By S.A. Chakraborty



The Daevabad trilogy is also ones of my favorite series ever, and this last installment was chonky. I was honestly a little scared. I’m so glad I got pushed to read The City of Brass a couple of years ago, because this series made my life better. Again, I have no idea what happened in this book, but the ending was good and I still want a Dara novel. Are we getting one??
Foundryside book cover

Foundryside

By Robert Jackson Bennett



Foundryside was a hidden treasure that I discovered via The Story Graph. And now I want everyone to read it! This series is so immensely clever, I feel like Bennett’s mind is working at three times the speed of any other human. It’s appropriately funny in some places, but true to the fantasy genre, you’ll also get scared for every character in it. I hope more people will pick this series up!

The Silvered Serpents book cover

The Silvered Serpents

By Roshani Chokshi



Okay so I enjoyed The Gilded Wolves, but it definitely didn’t blow me away. I thought it was a little confusing. But The Silvered Serpents was just sooo good! I got an ARC from NetGalley that time it was available for everyone for a few hours, and I haven no regrets jumping on me laptop to download it. But I do regret having to wait over a year for the final book… Definitely one of my favorite books from 2020.
Kingdom of the Wicked book cover

Kingdom of the Wicked

By Kerri Maniscalco



Kingdom of the Wicked was one of my most anticipated releases of this year. Thankfully it didn’t disappoint me at all. I loved the setting, the world building, the descriptions of food (made me hungry), and the characters. I liked the twist, and the cliffhanger ending makes me want to get my hands on the next book ASAP. Let’s hope it’ll be available for request on NetGalley so I can request it and inevitable be disappointed when they deny me…

From Blood and Ash book cover

From Blood and Ash

By Jennifer L. Armentrout



I had to see what the fuss was about regarding this book, and I don’t regret finding out. Thought to be honest, I feel like this series is like 20% plot, 80% smut and banter. But I like that, so I slapped five stars on it and called it a day. I loved Kingdom of Flesh and Fire too, but I think for some reason I liked From Blood and Ash better. I can’t wait for The Crown of Gilded Bones, though! Especially after that revelation in AKOFAF…
Vow of Thieves book cover

Vow of Thieves

By Mary E. Pearson



I’m forever kicking myself for not picking this book up as soon as it came out. I had forgotten half what had happened in Dance of Thieves and I couldn’t for the life of me find a decent summary that went beyond the blurb. But, that didn’t stop me from immensely enjoying this book. I love this world and its characters, and I want moreeee.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue book cover

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

By V.E. Schwab



Here is the last book on my list of favorite books of the year, and I imagine it made lots of favorite lists. I loved Addie because it made me feel things I didn’t want to feel. I got all personal in my review of it, so you can read it if you feel like reading about me rambling about my own life. Apparently this is not a standalone book, but Schwab was a little vague about that so who knows. Either way, I’ll be keeping an eye on my Twitter feed because that’s honestly where I get all my book news from.

And that’s it! My ten most favorite books of 2020. I’m still two books away from reading 60 this year, so brb while I go speed through some pages. What were your favorite books this year?

Find more of my Top Ten Tuesday posts here!

26 Comments

  1. December 29, 2020 / 1:04 pm

    Foundryside is so good. Its sequel was one of my favorites of this year!

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      December 29, 2020 / 4:05 pm

      The sequel is so good too! And that ending😱 I hope we will get some news on book 3 soon.

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      December 29, 2020 / 9:20 pm

      All the books in that series are so good!! I hope you enjoy all of them!😄

  2. December 29, 2020 / 3:09 pm

    Kingdom of the Wicked has such a great cover.

    My post.

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      December 29, 2020 / 9:20 pm

      It’s one of my favorite covers honestly, and it has a gorgeous map inside too!

  3. December 29, 2020 / 3:36 pm

    I love this list. I didn’t finish the first Red Rising book, but I keep hearing how well the series evolves so I’m going to try again. I’m also hoping to finally read Foundryside in 2021, and I still haven’t made it to my copy of Addie LaRue. 🙂

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      December 29, 2020 / 9:21 pm

      I totally agree! I can’t wait to read more about her

  4. December 29, 2020 / 6:22 pm

    The Invisible life of Addie LaRue is high on my TBR list and I hope to get to it soon.

    I don’t know the rest of your books but they all have such awesome covers!

    Happy New Year and I hope you get to read some great books in 2021.

    Elza Reads favorite books for 2020

  5. December 29, 2020 / 6:45 pm

    Addie LaRue was on my list this week too! I’m really excited for The Silvered Serpents because I actually loved The Gilded Wolves and everyone has been saying that the second book is even better so it must be amazing. I meant to read Sorcery of Thorns this year but have just run out of time, so it’s definitely a priority for next year.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/12/29/top-ten-tuesday-296/

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      December 29, 2020 / 9:22 pm

      Ooh if you loved The Gilded Wolves you’re definitely going to love The Silvered Serpents! I have a ton of books I meant to read this year but didn’t get to either 🙈

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 12:56 pm

      Thank you!😊

  6. December 29, 2020 / 10:43 pm

    What a great list! I’ve been a little outside fantasy for a bit, but I’m wanting to get back into it. Looks like most of these would make for a good starting point!

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 12:57 pm

      Thanks!! All of these books would indeed be great starting points😄

  7. December 30, 2020 / 3:31 am

    I own Kingdom of the Wicked and Addie LaRue – need to read those soon. I do have Foundryside on my wish list.

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 12:57 pm

      They’re awesome books, hope you enjoy them when you get to them!

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 1:00 pm

      Sometimes stepping out of your usual genre is lots of fun!😄

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 1:00 pm

      I’m glad you enjoyed it! I still need to read his other books 🙈

  8. December 30, 2020 / 8:59 pm

    I’m currently reading House of Earth and Blood, loving it so far! I definitely want to read Kingdom of the Weekend as I love the author’s other books.

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 1:01 pm

      I’m glad you’re enjoying HOEAB! Kingdom of the Wicked was super awesome; I read it in almost one sitting😄

  9. January 2, 2021 / 2:34 am

    That VE Schwab book is on all the lists. I’m crossing my fingers I get to read it this year. Happy 2021!

    • simonevanheijst
      Author
      January 2, 2021 / 1:03 pm

      Lol it really is. I hope you enjoy it too when you get to to! Happy 2021!😊

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