the ask@AAR is, today, an answer! Here’s what you’ve read and loved in 2020.
Earlier this week, we asked you what you’d read and loved this year. Over 50 of you filled out our survey–thank you!–and the results were varied. And while it’s a little early yet to declare the Best of 2020, there are several books that are clearly in contention.
When asked What’s your favorite romance you’ve read thus far this year?, your clear favorite was Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material. (Our DIK review is here.) Five of you picked it! The runner up was Milla Vane’s A Heart of Blood and Ashes, chosen by three. (Our DIK review is here.) Other books mentioned more than once were Bench Player by Julianna Keyes (our DIK review is here), Headliners by Lucy Parker (our DIK review is here), and The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary (our DIK review is here).
There was also a clear winner to What’s your favorite historical romance you’ve read this year?: Five of you picked Mia Vincy’s A Dangerous Kind of Lady (Our DIK review is here). Second up, with four votes, was K. J. Charles’ Slippery Creatures (our DIK review is here.) Many of you listed older books–romances by Loretta Chase appeared twice as did Georgette Heyer. You guys also like books by S.M. LaViolette (she also writes as Minerva Spencer)–you picked her twice as well.
In the What’s your favorite contemporary romance you’ve read this year? category, Lucy Parker’s Headliners edged out The Boyfriend Material by one vote, four to three. Readers also chose Parker’s The Austen Playbook, Act Like It, and Pretty Face, each of which received one vote. The Flatshare garnered two votes.
Many of you said you don’t read Women’s Fiction (oh how I hate that term) and thus we had fewer answers to the question What’s your favorite women’s fiction you’ve read this year? There was a top choice however; three of you chose Beach Read by Emily Henry (our B review is here.) Two of you opted for The Switch by Beth O’Leary (our DIK review is here).
Ilona Andrews dominated the paranormal category–her books were mentioned by six of you, a hefty number given a somewhat smaller number of responses. Milla Vane was mentioned three times. Interestingly, in both cases, no one chose the same book!
There also were fewer responses to What’s your favorite romantic suspense you’ve read this year? The clear winner here was Adriana Anders’ Whiteout (our B review here). Blue on Blue by Dal Maclean was the runner up (our DIK review is here), followed by books by Gregory Ashe.
You are all reading and liking very different nonfiction. The only book that appeared more than once was Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi, a five star read at Amazon from 3500 readers. Other choices were as varied as Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell, Boys & Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity by Peggy Orenstein, and Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein.
And as for what the best book you’ve read this year, well, not one of you chose the same book. Here’s the whole list:
A Gentleman in Moscow is my current favourite. |
A Man Worth Shaving For by Michelle Pennington |
A Rumored Fortune by Joanna Davidson |
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries 1) by Martha Wells |
An Elegant Façade by Kristi Ann Hunter |
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren |
Bet Me- Jennifer Crusie |
Boyfriend Material |
Blue on Blue by Dal Maclean |
Dangerous Illusions |
Devotions by Mary Oliver |
Expecting it to be Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith |
Finally started reading Veronica Speedwell series by Deana Raybourn and I absolutely love them. Finally got the newest one and I can’t wait to read it. |
How can you ask me to pick from all of them?!?😁 Probably Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë |
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan |
Just Mercy |
Life and Other Inconveniences |
Murderbot series, Martha Wells |
My yearly reread of the Touchstone series – Andrea K Host |
Network Effect – Martha Wells |
Off Duty, Volume 2, by Gregory Ashe |
Outside of the romance genre, I love feminist literary fiction that pairs human women with nonhuman males to explore complex ideas about gender, sexuality, modernity, existentialism, and the way romantic entanglements challenge and change us. These books are a highly acquired taste and I would NOT recommend them indiscriminately, but The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons and Bear by Marian Engel knocked my socks off. |
Probably the A. Tinniswood – Behind the Throne |
Santiago Postegillo: ‘Las legiones malditas’ (historical novel about Scipio, in Spanish) |
Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin |
Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes |
Sherwood Smith, Lhind Trilogy |
Somerset & Hazard series by Gregory Ashe |
The Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty |
The Marigold Chain by Stella Riley (audio) |
The Missing Pieces Trilogy by N.R. Walker |
The Paragon Hotel by Lindsey Faye |
The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black |
The Regency Revolution: Jane Austen, Napoleon, Lord Byron and the Making of the Modern World by Robert Morrison |
The Shaman of Karres – Flint, Eric & Freer, Dave |
The Sun Down Motel Simone St. James |
The Switch by Beth O’Leary |
The Ten Thousand Doors of January |
Vanity Fair’s Women on Women |
You deserve each other by Sarah Hogel |