MY TOP 5 BOOKS OF 2020
Here are my top 5 books from the year 2020. I am so happy to share them with you. Each of these holds a special place in my heart and have gotten promoted to my all time favorites as well. I found myself struggling to choose one book, and so I decided to pick 5 that will be forever etched in my heart and mind. Addie and Shams has left a big hole in my heart and I don't know if anything can fill it... ???
MRS SEATH MISSES DEATH BY SALENA GODDEN | BOOK REVIEW
Mrs. Death Misses Death by Salena Godden is prose and poetry mixed with narration style writing, and is more of a literary style of fiction than a straight-up fantasy, in my opinion. I requested this book after reading the fascinating synopsis. The story is about Death, and how tired Death is of taking people's lives, and the insight we get into the psyche of Death itself. The book features death as a black woman who goes after people's lives when it is their time to die. After living the life and doing her job endlessly, she is tired and wishes to unburden her thoughts to a young, troubled writer Wolf.…
MARRIED AT FIRST SWIPE BY CLAIRE FROST | BOOK REVIEW
Married At First Swipe by Claire Frost is contemporary fiction. I saw the title and thought to myself, hmm.., that sounds very similar to the show Married At First Sight. While the concept is the same, and the plot is designed around the idea, I would recommend not going into the book expecting a romance or a love story between two people. This is more of a women's fiction kind of a story than a straight-up romance. The story follows Jess and Hannah through their tumultuous lives. Jess is the owner of the dating app Save The Date, which focuses on people wanting to settle down quickly. When the app…
BOOK REVIEW : THE AMERICAN CRUSADE BY MARK SPIVAK
The American Crusade is a political thriller based on real-life events. When I saw the synopsis for this book, I wanted to see how the author will approach the story. Knowing the topic and the events make it extremely hard, impossible to separate them while I was reading it. The story is about America's war on terror on a Muslim majority country after a horrendous terror attack on a Mall in America. As you can see, the parallels to the horrific 9/11 attacks are uncanny when it comes to the situation and characters. It also helps you in navigating the story connecting the people and places mentioned in the book…
BOOK REVIEW : BEIGE AND BLUE BY SARA BADAWIEH
Beige And Blue by Sara Badawieh is a romantic drama / romantic thriller. The story is about Samar, who is an architect and an artist with big dreams. She has always lived a sheltered life, and her parents are very religious and overprotective of her. This makes her naive when it comes to dealing with people. She meets Bassel and forms a relationship with him after a couple of meetings. Bassel's life is full of danger, and slowly it starts to affect Samar's life as well. Bassel is not what he seems, and Samar decides to break up with him after a misunderstanding. Later on, she meets Ziyad, who is…
BOOK REVIEW : GIRLS OF BRACKENHILL BY KATE MORETTI
Girls Of Brackenhill by Kate Moretti is a gothic mystery thriller that is perfect for the spooky season. Creepy mansion on a hilltop with vast forest grounds surrounding it was the ideal setting for this novel. I knew when I read the synopsis that I would be all over this book in a heartbeat, and I wasn't wrong. After reading Home Before Dark, I was craving something similar, and when I saw this one, I knew I hit the jackpot. The spookiness, the haunted or not feeling, the creepy things, and paranormal events just added to the intrigue and mystery of this book. The story follows Hannah, who is called…
BOOK REVIEW : THE FIRST WOMAN BY JENNIFER NANSUBUGA MAKUMBI
The First Woman is my first book from the Ugandan novelist Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. Her first novel is very well received. When I read the synopsis of the book, I was intrigued. The novel tells the story of a young girl Kirabo raised by her grandparents in a rural village in Uganda. Her father is only an occasional visitor, while there is no news about her mother. As she starts to grow up, she feels the absence of her mother and is on a quest to find out more about her. She searches out Nsuuta, the village witch, to learn more about herself and her mom. Nsuuta tells her the…
BOOK REVIEW : THE GIRL OF HAWTHORN AND GLASS (THE GIRL OF HAWTHORN AND GLASS #1) BY ADAN JERREAT – POOLE
The Girl Of Hawthorn And Glass is the debut book from the author Adan Jerreat Poole. This YA fantasy is the first book I completed in October. It was the cover that drew me in, and the synopsis also sounded promising to me. The story is of a young girl Eli who is the daughter of one of the witches. Eli is a trained ghost hunter and comes to earth to hunt the ghosts living among humans. She has lived her whole life with a tyrant witch-mother with the fear of being unmade into her original parts. On of the ghost hunting missions, things go wrong, making her question all…
BOOK REVIEW : HOME BEFORE DARK BY RILEY SAGER
Home Before Dark is my second book from Riley Sager. I read Lock Every Door last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the author's writing and was fascinated by his style of storytelling. This story was no different. I am also excited about the arrival of my copy of this book from a book subscription box!! It was an alternate choice for a different book and I am so glad I picked this one. The whole ambiance of the book is the perfect setting for horror. The paranormal elements in the book within the book were brilliant. I did get scared at times, and I had a difficult time…
BOOK REVIEW : THE IMMORTAL WORDS (THE GRAVE KINGDOM #3) BY JEFF WHEELER
The Immortal Words picks up right from where the story left off in The Buried World. Bingmei is set out to accomplish her task of fulfilling the prophecy while having to escape both Echion and Xisi. The challenges that are in front of her keep on getting tougher with each step. She has to deal with her fear of death and also do something that will put an end to the era of cruelty and destruction brought forward by the reign of the dragons. The story was interesting and had raised the stakes higher with lots of fight sequences and near-death moments. The story and history are slowly unraveled and…