What was the best M/M romance book you read in 2020? The best book all categories?
I had set 200 books as my goal in my Goodreads challenge, and I ended up reading 220 books in 2020. I read in total 27136 pages (the shortest was 8 pages and the longest 762) with the average length being 123 pages/books. The average rating was 3.4 stars with 11 one-star reads and 29 five-star reads. On top of this, I’ve also read a lot of fanfiction, albeit a bit less than last year. I’ve also read a few text books for my university courses I took this summer, but I haven’t added those to my reading challenge.
But enough with the statistics already.
The best book all categories I read in 2020, is a Swedish book called Ædnan by Sàmi-Swedish author Linnea Axelsson. It’s a novel-in-verse, telling a gripping and heartbreaking story about two Sàmi families. Gawd, it was so beautiful and heart-wrenching and it left me reeling for days. I’ve never read anything like it and I wish it was available in English so you all could read it.
But since it isn’t, let’s instead talk about the top ten gay romances I read last year. The criteria is that I read them in 2020, but they don’t have to be published in 2020. And they can’t be re-reads.
Without further ado, I present to you my ten favorite reads of 2020:
I read three of them for Holidays at Nell’s; Coming Out On Top, Gingerbread Dreams, and Nobody’s Butterfly. Two of them are written by two of the three members (we’re four if we count me) morning writing crew: Pine Tree Mary and Taking Stock. One is the first in a three-part series, In the Name of the Father, and I actually read all three of the books despite them being about the same couple. One, The Bake Sale, was a super-short story that hit me right in the heart. Alfie Adams Comes at Life Sideways was called Everybody in the Place when I read it, but I adore the new name. Granddad’s Cup of Tea was a delightful surprise featuring two mature characters, something I’ve craved more and more lately. And then there’s A Worthy Man, that I crowned as one of the most romantic books I’ve ever read.
I’ve written about all of them on my blog before (the links are the names above) except for In the Name of the Father. Only one of ten is a non-contemporary, Pine Tree Mary, but Hush makes up for it by being the best paranormal/fantasy character ever. K.L. Noone and writing duo Claire Davis and Al Stewart made my top ten last year, too. Matthew Robbins was a new-to-me author, and A Worthy Man is the ultimate proof that a book can be absolutely fantastic even if the blurb doesn’t speak to you.
All in all, a good reading year. I look forward to seeing what 2021 will bring.
Nell Iris 