 Hey fellow reading warriors and welcome back. I'm really excited for this video as this is my top 10 books from 2020 So initially when I got this video idea, I was like, oh my word I should do the top 20 books of 2020 because you know 20 20 20 it all makes sense But I kind of figured that would be a lot of books to talk about in one video and honestly this year I don't think was good enough reading wise for me to have 20 books that I want to talk about as the best books of the year So obviously this was a very hard year for everyone for a multitude of reasons and I am no exception to this Um, and so I did not read as much this year as I was hoping to But also I felt like what I read this year was not as good as I was hoping it was going to be um granted I did kind of Do something very different this year than what I have in the past in terms of reading and so it was very interesting It was very different. So I'm hoping next year will be better But that also just means that this video is only going to be 10 books The top 10 books of 2020 and I'm just gonna go ahead and get right on started with this video The first book on this list should be no surprise as I've talked about it quite a bit recently as I Recently finished it but it is one of my favorite books of this year and currently holds a five out of five stars And that is spin the dawn by elizabeth limb I love this book because I love the magic system in it. She has a pair of magical scissors However, she is not inclined to use them all that much because she wants to get by on talent alone What talent am I talking about that involves scissors? Well, glad you asked. So this book is about a girl named maya Who is the daughter of one of the best tailors in the land? However, she cannot work as a tailor because she is a female and so she Her family gets called upon to partake in a competition that the emperor is hosting to find the new imperial tailor She dresses up as her brother to enter the competition and that's only the first half of the book Um, but I really enjoyed this book because I loved the competition aspect of it. I loved the characters Um, I felt that they were very well developed I loved the world building the thing about this world is that they had Just come out of a war and the way they're kind of resolving this war is through a marriage that not everyone wants to So I really appreciate it the world building the magic system because the magic system isn't super overpowering But it's definitely there and it really do like our main character And so and the romance in this is not bad Like it is kind of a more tropey romance, but I also didn't mind it like I normally would in a book like this so props for that as well Then the next book that I read this year is also one of my all time favorites again I believe it's still sitting on five out of five stars a lot of times when I finish a book And I really like it I'll put out five out of five stars and then after a certain amount of time I might knock it down But these books are still at five out of five stars since I've read them and I am talking about Serpent and Dove I read this book this past summer I it took me two days to listen to it over audio because I was just constantly like I want to listen I want to listen I want to know what's happening and I appreciated this book because it is about a Witch who at the very beginning is forced to marry a witch hunter. The thing is she knows She knows he's a witch hunter He doesn't know she's a witch And she has a lot of fun Um, she is an extremely sarcastic very funny very Improper woman for the time period, you know, she is not afraid to show her ankles or dress up like a boy or Say words she's not supposed to and so she just has so much fun Pressing the buttons of her husband and the people around her husband's line of work who will have very conservative gender roles In this society. I am losing my voice. So if my voice sounds like it's being lost in this video That's because it is But I really enjoyed the book because the banter between the characters was amazing And I really I loved the fact that they got married at the beginning And it seems like it would be an enemies to lovers That's what it would seem like, but I don't want to spoil anything But I'm just saying and so I really appreciated how the author went about that whole situation, you know, it's it's not You know, it's it's marriage is not something that's generally mentioned in a lot of YA books with romance Elements in them, you know, it's just never something that's ever mentioned or talked about So I really appreciate that that actually took That this book decided to do it differently and it's like, you know what the whole point of it is that they're going to be married And how weird and funny That is and so that's a huge reason why I appreciated the book as well as like I said good character development Um, it wasn't too much of a magic system, but that became more prevalent near the end Um, so that's why I'm really anxious to read blood and honey And I'm very mad that I haven't read blood and honey yet But I will get there because oh I left on such a cliffhanger And that's another thing I love books that end on cliffhangers because it really makes me want to read the next one And that is just a huge thing for me. So that would be book number two on this list Now I say let's book number two on this list, but there really isn't too much of a prevalent order It's not like spin the dawn was the best book that I read this year. I think it's really hard to Take the my top 10 books and put them in that sort of order. I kind of didn't want to But I have to tell him to use my and so next we're going to move on to number three Which was queen of nothing by holly black. This is the final book in the air folk trilogy and I Sat there and I listened to the audiobook in one sitting. I loved this book I really I loved the trilogy. I feel like this book was a little short Um, I believe it has four out of five stars Not because I hated it or I obviously not I didn't hate it. Um, not because I thought there was anything that was bad I just feel like it was lacking in depth And kind of meat, but that was also because it's very short Like I kind of wish she had taken holly black had taken a little more time to really flesh out Um the events But because it was the third in the trilogy the characters were already beautifully fleshed out and the relationships were Phenomenal and the ending again. I'm not spoiling. I'm not giving spoilers I'm not going to spoil anything of any of these books, but I did appreciate the ending So I I really did love this book. I thought it was such a nice quick easy read Even though I wish it wasn't as much as an easy read, but hey I loved dude and I love taren so I think they both They both capture the Main values of the fey Within the two of them of jude being the very tough kind of militarized But then taren representing the more intellectual tricks that they like to play so Loved it Now the fun thing about this next book book number four is that I read it I loved it. I talked about it a lot And then I took a break because I was like, oh my word. I'm talking about this book all the time I need to stop and that book was an unkindness of magicians by cat Howard. Yes, it is made the list It is still at five out of five stars I Read this like I said this past summer and I really loved it and I'm so looking forward to the next one Which should be coming out next year. I believe I think so But this is really cool because it has to deal with a bunch of houses And that there is one representative from each house and whoever wins the competition Gets to be the leader of the houses of all different kinds of magic until Uh, and the competition is actually also a great way to start your own house Because if you are a person with magic who is already in this community And you don't want to belong to the house that you do Or you're maybe even an outsider to the community and you want to get in The best way to do that is to enter the competition Enter in your house the house that you are making up And then if you win you get to start your house and then you get to be the leader. So like hey But I loved this because this follows a girl who is a bad ass main character. Like I loved her I loved the writing style of this book. I could not put it down So the main character's name is Sydney and she has very strong power But she kind of takes everyone by surprise because no one really knew Where she come from where she came from and what motives does she actually have even the reader is like Finding this out as you're reading the book. And so I just I went on such a journey with this book and I loved it. I really did love it. Like I said, I love the writing style. I love the character development I love the world building Like it hits it hits all those for me Then the next book is a book I've talked a lot about this fall season because I do feel like it is a great fall book But I also have to say a disclaimer that this is the first book in the series and I have not read the rest of the series But if you watch my video about series, I've started and haven't finished but want to I can explain more there about why This is but the book I'm talking about is every heart of doorway by Sean and McGuire. This book was just full of magic even if it was taking place in the real world because it's the idea that children go through doorways where they're when they are younger and The world you could go into is who knows if it's Uh, like a crazy world if it's a dark world if it's a fun world Like I was getting some Alice Wonderland vibes But I was also getting like the underworld vibes from some of these and so it just So this book just felt like I was reading a murder mystery fairy tale And yeah, there are so many more books in the series that I really want to read I just haven't gotten there yet, but that definitely made the top The funny thing is that I loved this book, but I know a lot of people who didn't and a lot of people who did so It's up to you Whether you think that children solving a murder after coming back from living in a different world Which all the worlds are different sounds interesting to you This next book takes me all the way back to February when I read a genre that I Was like, oh, I've never liked the genre But I'm gonna read it anyway and then I read it and I was like I still don't like the genre So it's quite amazing that a book from this Genre actually made the list of one of my top 10 favorite books The genre is romance and the book is red white and royal blue Yep, I've talked about it quite a bit before but I mean, I mean this is a video talking about my favorite books So I'm gonna say a lot of books that you may have Heard me talk about before the red white and royal blue is where the son of the president of the united states and the prince of wales Have a enemies to lover-esque relationship and it's so cute Oh, it's an lgbtqia plus community friendly book. Oh my gosh. They were just absolutely adorable Well, I like it's like that adorable lovable frustrating human being and then the prince of wales Henry is like that lovable perfect yet not perfect type character and so It was just so much fun to read about like that's the kind of romance I want every other book I read in February That's so much that warms my heart. I almost want to read it again Which is so surprising about the same time It was that good And then moving on to the seventh book on this list already I have to say is children of i'm gonna mess it up Children of virtue and vengeance. I always want to say vice and virtue, but that is a different book But that is the second book in the uh series by tomi and the yummy and I read this again very early on in the year as I read it very soon after it came out And again, I am so looking forward to the next one But I love that one so that one is very interesting because it is Kind of based off of west african mythology. Basically They live in the place that they refer to as orisha But it's kind of like nigeria But like they don't specifically say nigeria, but they do say legos which is the capital And so and so it's very cool because it follows this community Um called the magi and they are very identifiable by white hair And it basically means that they have magic and but the king Is like people who have magic are scary and therefore are evil and therefore must be oppressed And so it's basically about you know A girl and her brother who end up teaming up with the princess And they are being hunted while at the same time trying to bring quality for their people And stop the oppression of the magi of their people and oh my gosh, such a beautiful book So excited loved like I said, I read the second one this year So I'm not going to give too much of summary of that one in case you haven't read the first one, which is children of blood and bone Please please go read it if you haven't it's oh, it's so good Why not if if there's an absence it's not interesting Go read it and then you're going to find yourself entrapped in the story anyway because it's a magnificent book Number eight is a book I read way back in january because this is a historical fiction that I read And I have recently talked about in another video But it is juliette by ann fortier and this follows Both modern times and ancient times because it is the story of romeo and juliette It goes back and forth between what actually happened in romeo and juliette And what's happening to a girl named juliette in modern days who is said to be the great great great great However, many greats granddaughter of juliette. So she Spends modern day she goes to italy and she learns of her family history and she tries to uncover the mystery Of what actually happened way back when and she kind of gets chased by some people trying to also figure this out But the this information in the wrong hands could be very bad. And so it's very interesting because in this version juliette Her last name is different in this version. Her name is juliette tollo. May and I love saying that Because I don't speak italian, but I listen to the audiobook and italian is beautiful So I just have a lot of fun sitting here going juliette tollo. May The the reason why this book is on this list is because I loved these side characters I loved exploring italy like this is a great book to read if you're Missing travel much like I am it takes you to on a beautiful Journey to italy all around all the historical sites But for me it was really the side characters for example juliette's twin sister who just Made it for me like oh Loved her And so yeah, I would definitely say the whole it's more the idea of the plot and the side characters That was really good about this book. I believe it's a four out of five stars for me Because I wasn't that big a fan of the protagonist But that's just because I feel like she didn't Do too much other than be the person who we're solving the mystery with I felt like she didn't have as much of a strong character as I would have wanted In our protagonist, but that's also just my personal opinion I would still highly recommend for you to read it if it if any aspect of it sounds interesting So like I said, it kind of goes back and forth between shakespeare and nowadays So that's really cool. Now the last two books that are on this list are both books that were recommended to me And I don't own them But I kind of want to the first one being snow flower and the secret fan This is a much older book and it's about ancient china-ish Like it's way back. I don't quite remember when the dates is and I'm not very good at history But it follows the life of a chinese woman from when she was a little girl. It starts off with um Talking about foot binding and the experience she and her sister had with that as well as finding a lifelong best friend and then also being married off at Bearing being married off to a husband joining that family in that household and um, just the life experiences she went through it is fiction, but it's based off of What could what was? um So it's it was just absolutely a beautiful story of pain uh duty culture love Like it just and I'm not really one for nonfiction and Realistic fiction. I felt like this was a historical realistic fiction Um, I think it's the best way to describe it because it is very realistic even if it's not exactly one person's life um And so yeah, it was very educational for me to learn about uh ancient china But it was also like a good story like it was very entertaining and it's a very short book But it's very dense and very heavy um with both the topics that they talk about As well as just the events that happen. Um, so I really enjoyed this one. I believe it's a four out of five stars. Um It's definitely not a perfect book obviously But it just it just has a special place in my heart It really does Now we are on the last book the 10th book the 10th best book that I've read of 2020 so far this year um And I had a hard time between choosing two books And so I will say one book and then another will have an honorable mention So the one I ended up going with was the Love and Lies of Ruchana Ali And this is a very good book about a girl who Parents are from Bangladesh But she was born and raised in the states, but she has gone to Bangladesh quite a bit to visit her family, which is amazing However, Ruchana has a secret and that is that she is actually gay and her parents do not know And she also knows that she told them they would not take it very well Until they find out And she kind of gets busted with her girlfriend. And so her parents um sent her back to Bangladesh To live with family and convince her that she's not gay even though That's not how it works. So it's just a very uh it's like a very emotional journey of Like loving your family, but also not being accepted for who you are in your family and how sad and how hard that can be on someone and it just Oof Oof, I don't I there's not too much more. I want to say about the plexi. I don't want to end up giving things away but Yeah, the Love and Lies of Ruchana Ali I got that from the library and I loved it. It's just the emotion and it the events. I just it was definitely something that kind of Not necessarily open my eyes or made me alert of as it's some one of those things that like in the back of my head Yeah, obviously that must exist, but it's not something that was really ever talked about Yeah, I love this video because I love the Characters and I loved the emotion and just the passion that really went into this book was amazing to read Um, and then the book that I'm going to say gets an honorable mention Uh, so it's going to be an honorary 11th in this, uh video. Haha. There you go You get a special 11th actual favorite book and that is uh, Bala Santiago in the river of tears This book is really cool because it is based off of bexican mythology It's it's cool because like Rick Gordon helped Like publish it or something, but it's not specifically his work but if you like Rick Gordon's work if you like Different mythology of different cultures and kind of going on adventures to figure out mysteries revolving around mythology and culture Um, then I highly suggest giving this book a read. Um Yeah, it deals, you know, they make mention of everyone knows about the chupacabra But there's so much more to mythology to central american mexican mythology than that And it was really cool to just kind of Finally get that in a story so that it's not just all a bunch of european mythologies that are popular Um, but make it really mythology fiction from around the world. So Paula Santiago is She's so sweet. She is such an intellectual mind for like a what she like 12 13 year old. She's like super. She's pretty she's a younger protagonist, but she's So scientific and analytical of everything and she's like I refuse to believe that the mythology that my mother believes is true But then she ends up going on this adventure to save her friend and she has to Kind of make sense scientifically of the mythology and it's so cool. So that is it for this video I hope you guys enjoyed the top 10 11 books that I read this year in 2020 of as far Comment down below letting me know what some of your favorites are so that if I haven't read them I can and hopefully we can enjoy them together Um, and if I have read them then maybe we can discuss them more Feel free to subscribe. I post every thursday So hit the bell so that you'll know exactly when on thursdays I post and feel free to like this video because liking is fun and it's it's nice for people um So that's all I have to say. So until I see you guys in the next video. I wish you a happy reading