My Favorite Reads of 2020

To say this year was a strange one, is such a wild understatement. There was a lot of loss and pain, and through all of that, I turned to what I usually do. Writing and reading. And goodness, did I read a lot of books this year. Did I write any? Well, depends on what your definition of “a book” is.

I wrote a little over on BookRiot about how in the midst of the pandemic, I turned to romance novels as my escapist fantasy reads. And it’s true. I found a lot of joy in rom-coms, getting lost in meet cutes and disaster filled dates this year. It was also an absolutely outrageous year for Young Adult books, my goodness.

Anyhow, time to share.

Young Adult and Middle Grade: Over on BookRiot, I mentioned how When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk was my favorite Young Adult novel of the year. That still tracks. It’s a spectacularly moving novel about friendship and loss, that I will likely be screaming about for years to come.

Other Young Adult novels I inhaled, and haven’t stopped talking about this year? Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles, We Didn’t Ask For This by Adi Alsaid, I Kissed Alice by Anna Birch, The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper, Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed, Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold, We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez, Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron, You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, and The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow.

From tackling toxic masculinity, to fierce political battles, to beautiful inclusive romances, these books all captured my heart in huge ways. They were novels that I threw at friends all year long, and recommended to my many MFA students writing their own YA novels.

In the Middle Grade space, I didn’t get to read as much as I’d like. I loved Con Quest by Sam Maggs (I even blurbed it) and Ghost Squad by Claribel Ortega, two wildly different novels that both have family right at their hearts. And of course there was Marvel: Avengers Assembly: Orientation by Preeti Chhibber, a heartfelt superhero book all about friendship. Ah! And The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert! Okay maybe I did read a fair amount of Middle Grade.

Romances: Ah yes, the books that saved me this year. While attempting my own romantic comedy novel, I’ve been reading plenty of them. Beach Read by Emily Henry was my favorite of the year. I talked a little bit about it on The Writing Cooperative’s podcast last month. It’s the kind of rom-com written just for readers and writers, with two authors writing wildly different stories colliding, and fighting writers block (and feelings!) together.

I also absolutely devoured In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren (I just read this this week!), Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria, The Roommate by Rosie Danan, Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim, Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory, Well Met by Jen DeLuca, and Undercover Bromance Lyssa Kay Adams.

Literary Fiction & Essays: Goodness, did I adore every single page of Real Life by Brandon Taylor, and I will be anxiously awaiting his short story collection next year. I also really adored A Burning by Megha Majumdar and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed.

Graphic Novels: I have no words for how much joy Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker brought me. And then there was Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang. I read a bundle of graphic novels, finding a lot of comfort in the beautiful art and moving relationships found in so many of them.

And you know, I’m sure I’m forgetting a bundle of books, but here you go. I hope you’ll pick up some of these.

And hi, obviously this doesn’t include the books I worked on in my agent life, each of which are my favorite book of the year. Love ya’ll.