Happy New Year! These past couple of days have been emotional ones for me as I compare where I was a year ago to today. January 1 of last year began my 3 day hospital stay as the doctors tried to figure out what was going on with me. It took all the way til September 23 to get my diagnosis and while my disease (MOG myelitis) still greatly affects my every day life I am grateful for the strides I have made. I went to the hospital last year because my mobility was so bad I couldn’t even step over things on the ground and so today, when I was packing up Christmas, it was a victory to move around as well as I did. I think at this point full recovery is not going to happen, although my doctors haven’t ruled it out, so my goal for this year is to continue to see improvement and hopefully to have my disease have less of an impact on my daily life. But enough about that… let’s get into talking about books! For reference here is my 2019 reading survey.

Total Books Read: 194

Fave book

This is easily the most powerful book I read last year and one of the most important books that I have ever read in my life. Chanel Miller is an incredibly talented writer and she gave a voice to so many voiceless sexual abuse/rape survivors. Please read this book if you haven’t yet and think you can handle the topic.

Worst book

Not only was I disappointed by this book because Lisa Jewell is one of my top authors but I also didn’t understand the point of this book. I will link my review here so you can read my full thoughts but to me this book failed in concept and execution. Although, I know that I am in the minority with my viewpoint and I hope if you loved this book that you don’t hold it against me too much.

Overhyped

This book fell flat for me. I haven’t yet watched the movie but I think this will make a lot better of a movie then book. I really struggle with books with children as narrators because I find them to be unrealistically written and that is definitely true of this book.

Disappointing

This was so good and had a satisfying ending… then it just kept going. I can’t get over how much I loved it and then it was ruined by the additional unneeded story.

Most read genre: Romance

Most surprising

I read this first Hades Hangmen book while I was in the hospital and I finished the entire published series (at the time seven books and three novellas) within the first two weeks of the year. I distinctly remember starting it and hoping I would like it and wow am I in love with these books. They are emotional and dark but I connected so much with all the characters. Tillie Cole is now one of my top favorite authors of all time and I will forever read and buy anything that she writes. I hope to knock out more of her backlist this year.

Longest book read

This is a bit of a cheat because I have been reading this on and off since 2018 but I read most of it this year so I’m counting it. Stephen King has a dark and twisted mind and it is an amazing and terrifying place.

Shortest book read

This is a short 37 page dark romance erotica story from one of my favorite romance authors. I gave this story five stars and I hope to read the rest of these dirty 1st dates stories this year.

Biggest accomplishment

I read this for the Victober readalong and I’m so proud that I kept up with it and never fell behind. The Brontë’s are all so talented and I hope to read more from them this year too.

Favorite characters

Tillie Cole writes my favorite characters and I honestly love all of them so much. So my answer for this is an Tillie Cole character.

Book that made you cry

I have never had such a visceral reaction to a book before. This book made me so angry and I was sobbing by the end. The most heartbreaking thing about this book is that it could actually be a true story.

Book that made you laugh

This is easily the funniest book that I read this year. I was laughing so hard out loud at certain parts that I’m glad I was reading it at home versus being out somewhere. I meant to read Jackie Paxson’s Christmas story last month but I didn’t get a chance too. I’m nervous that I won’t find her other books as funny as I did this one.

Favorite author

I’m sure this answer came as a great shock to you all but my favorite author of 2020 is easily Tillie Cole. Her books have gotten me through some of the toughest days of my life and I am so grateful that I had them to escape into.

~Cassie