Today I bring you my “best books of 2020” list. As I was compiling this (very long) list, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by the poet Mary Oliver: “Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”
For many, many reasons this year has been one of the hardest, most tragic and unbearably stressful times of our lives. And like many of us who are starry-eyed bookworms, novels were a necessary escape I clung to every day of 2020. Like many authors, I treasured the privilege to write those escapes into the two romance novels I released this year. But after every finished draft, I’d grab my books and my Kindle and camp out on my couch, or by a pretty stream in Vermont, or on my back stoop here in South Philly. And I’d read for hours ❤
All of that to say - I am unbearably grateful to the incredible authors who gave me strange, unique, mysterious and romantic worlds to slip into. They were truly the rope I know many of us cherished.
Category: Historical Zombie Fiction
I heard 'Dread Nation' recommended by the author Elizabeth Acevedo and was immediately captivated by the concept. Let me tell you that Jane McKeene is one of the most amazing heroines I've ever read (as is Katherine, in The Deathless Divide) and the plot, the character-building and the dramatic pacing were sheer brilliance. These books, and this series, are utterly unique, utterly distinctive and some of the best story-telling I've read in years. I cannot recommend enough!
Category: Science Fiction
The first book in this series, GIDEON THE NINTH, was easily my favorite book of 2019. So I gobbled up this sequel voraciously and loved every single word. Like the first book, Harrow’s tale is gory, funny, pulpy, irreverent and one of the most unique voices I’ve ever read. It’s still about lesbian necromancers fighting skeletons for emperors in haunted space mansions. But, if you can believe it, the sequel was even more brilliant.
Very Close runner-up:
This dystopic sci-fi novel set in a future Baltimore was brilliant. It tackles the scourge of generational debt, the deep harm of capitalism and unpacks consent, fantasy, kink and power. Elijah and Alex’s love story is at turns startling and scary, tender and romantic - and set within a unique and terrifying world that looks an awful lot like our current one.
Category: Fantasy
Holy shit this book was perfect in every way. If you love witchy stories, but also loved the movie Heathers (who didn't??) and enjoy a heroine with a totally unique voice and a dark sense of a humor (and a penchant for magic) I cannot recommend this book enough! It's tough, funny, dark, queer, and absolutely the magical book I wished I'd had when I was a teenager.
Category: Horror
A dark feminist fantasy novel with bite to it. Read if you love witches/witchcraft, want to dismantle the patriarchy, and love a strong heroine. This book was creepy enough to be fun, atmospheric enough to suit the fall mood, and full of vivid imagery and precise story-telling.