Best Books We’ve Read This Year: 2019/2020 New Releases

by Abi Dare

Adunni is a young girl living in poverty in a Nigerian village. She loves school and knows that learning all she can is the key to achieving a better life. Despite promising to allow Adunni's schooling to continue after her mother's death, Adunni's father makes a decision that ends her education in the village and changes the trajectory of her life.

You'll be moved to both tears and cheers as Adunni endures and overcomes heartbreaking challenges while keeping her focus on her dream of an education.

We would both give this one more than 5 stars if we could, and really hope that Abi Daré writes a sequel so we can see the next phase in Adunni's life.

by Lily King

Writers & Lovers is a classic coming of age struggle of an in-debt 20-something working as a waitress to pay the bills while trying not to give up her bigger dream of writing a novel. We thought it was the perfect mix of literary fiction and reality TV as the book follows the main character through every aspect of her daily life.

After reading so many reviews from people that found this book boring, we went in skeptical but fell in love.

by Fredrik Backman

We both love all of Fredrik Backman's books, and Anxious People - with it's quirky characters and witty prose is no exception. Backman has such a knack for writing in a way that is both entertaining, but also gets right to the heart of the matter!

Anxious People is about a failed bank robber that stumbles in to an apartment open house and inadvertently holds hostage a group of strangers. The eclectic group of captives may just be the worst hostages in the world, and none of them are quite who they appear to be. Throughout the ordeal, they divulge secrets, form allegiances, and set into motion a chain of events so unexpected that, when questioned by the police, they can hardly explain what happens next.

by Anne Glenconner

Oh my goodness. While you may think the Jessica Simpson memoir is a bit juicy, it has nothing on Anne Glenconner, who served as a friend and official Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret.

The book covers her full life to date, from teenage years through her late 80s. While Princess Margaret is involved in some of the stories, the book is not directly focused on the royal family. Instead, it's all about Anne's unbelievable life.

Her husband, Colin, was...eccentric to put it mildly. He took her into situations that will make your jaw drop over and over. Although even when not with Colin, she gets herself into some very interesting circumstances.

This is another great listen as Anne Glenconner narrates and her proper British voice adds magic to the unbelievable stories.

WARNING: Don't listen with your kiddos around. Some of the stories go from innocent to risque with no warning.

by Beth O'Leary

When night-shift worker Leon needs some extra cash to help a family member, he decides to get a roommate.

The problem is that he has a one-bedroom apartment, with one bed. So he places an ad for someone to sleep in his bed while he's at work. They'll never be home at the same time, but it's still a crazy plan.

Thankfully, it's just the solution newly-single Tiffy needs.

Several of their post-it note conversations back and forth made us laugh out loud. There's also a mix of humor and more serious topics if you're looking for a rom com with substance.

by Jessica Simpson

If you would have told us last year that we would put a Jessica Simpson memoir on a best of the year list, we would have scoffed.

But it's good. Really good.

Open Book is full of heartfelt human self-examination with sides of juicy celeb gossip and humor. It's a true tell-all, and Jessica is bold enough to address the mistakes she has made, along with the mistakes of others when they directly impacted her.

She somehow found the perfect balance and speaking the reality of situations without bashing or only telling the negative. For example, she talks about the problems in her relationship with Nick Lachey leading to their divorce but also talks about why she loved him. It's a true tell-all, but each story has a purpose and depth.

We highly recommend listening to the audio version as Jessica narrates it herself. Hearing her voice break at times adds more emotion than you would get from reading, although she's a talented writer and we're sure the paper version is still great.

by Elin Hilderbrand

This is our pick for favorite beach read of 2020. The book is based on the movie Same Time Next Year in which a couple decides that no matter what is happening in their lives, they'll meet back at the beach on the same days each year.

As the title suggests, the book spans 28 years of these secret meetings, one chapter per year. You'll see the characters go from college through career and through love and loss. It's a true page-turner as you can't wait to see what has happened in life between the meetings year after year.

by Britt Bennett

This story centers on light-skinned Black twins who take very divergent paths in life after leaving their small town. One marries a man with very dark skin and has a dark-skinned daughter, while the other decides to hide her heritage and live as a white woman and has a white daughter.

While that sets up the initial premise of the book, it was more about identity issues well-beyond skin color. Brit Bennett has a gift for words and is able to boil down significant moments/concepts within this book into single poignant, powerful sentences sprinkled throughout. Each character has their own complicated relationship with their identity, and it was really interesting to see how those feelings about themselves impacted everything in their lives.

Melissa didn't feel fully engaged in the story until the 2nd section, but once she was in, she didn't want to put it down.

by Elizabeth Letts

This historical fiction follows the life of Maud Baum, wife to the author of Wizard of Oz.

She was raised by a suffragette mother in the late 1800s, attended college when it was rare for girls to be educated, and then met Frank. He was a big dreamer in a time when creativity was not praised as a career path.

Their life was fascinating, even before he wrote Wizard of Oz. Finding Dorothy switches between Maud's earlier years and her quest at age 77 to make sure the Wizard of Oz movie stayed true to the book. She becomes determined to protect the actress playing Dorothy, Judy Garland.

This is a 5 star read whether or not you are a big fan of the Wizard of Oz, it's very much Maud's story and stands alone.

by Kate Stayman-London

Are you a fan of The Bachelorette? If so, this may be a fun 5 star read for you too.

Bea is a plus-sized fashion blogger tired of watching casts full of size 0 models. After a drunken post about the un-realness of the reality dating show Main Squeeze, she gets a shocking call asking HER to be the next star of the show.

Can she trust the male contestants with her heart or is it safer to remember she's on the show largely for her career?

As the season progresses throughout the book, you'll forget about the real-life craziness of 2020 and root for Bea to find love.

We enjoyed that the story varies between the actual narrative/ standard book format and snippets of podcast dialog, emails, etc ABOUT the show as fans watched. All the aspects came together and serve as a great way to help your brain fully engage in the story.

by Emily Henry

Beach Read was a close 2nd behind 28 Summers as our favorite summer books this year.

Set on Lake Michigan, Beach Read has moments of cute sitcom comedy while also digging deeper at times as the characters try to overcome family betrayals and writer's block.

The two authors decide to swap genres, leaving a romance writer researching a local cult and an often-cranky literary author writing a love story.

We fell in love with the characters and would love to see a sequel.

by Elizabeth Wetmore

Melissa was concerned going into this book based on other reviews stating there were too many disconnected characters. She didn't find that at all and thought the author made all the proper connections between them. However, it is a book you have to be paying full attention to in order to catch everything.

That said, she really enjoyed each woman's story and loved how they intertwined. While some thought it was depressing, Melissa found it to be a story of survival in terrible circumstances and how we often have to rely on each other. Each character was saved by others in different ways. It's a heavy read, but worth it.

by Ann Napolitano

Twelve-year-old Edward boards a plane with his beloved older brother and his parents, bound for their new home and life in California, but when the plane tragically crashes, Edward emerges as the sole survivor. After recovering from is injuries, he goes to live with his mom's sister and her husband with the eyes of the world on him and everyone eager to hear his story.

His aunt and uncle work hard to shield him from all the attention and to allow him time to process his loss, but when Edward uncovers a stack of letters, he discovers an unexpected path to healing.

The chapters in the book alternate between Edward's current day, and a minute by minute recounting of the ill-fated flight, through which we are introduced to many of the other passengers.

by Josie Silver

After Lydia's finance, Freddy, dies in a car crash on the way to her 28th birthday dinner, she wants nothing more than to be alone with her grief. But soon she discovers that she's not alone after all - in fact, she wakes up in bed next to Freddy alive and well, but she then she wakes up again and he's gone. In this alternative reality, her life with Freddy continues to move forward toward their impending wedding.

As Lydia leads these two parallel lives, a new relationship causes her to question where she really belongs. Weaving together grief, humor, and heart, this book will give you all the feels.

by Julie Clark

Looking for something suspenseful but not too scary? The Last Flight follows two women trying to escape their own lives. When they meet at the airport, they decide to swap identities and truly leave their own old lives behind.

Things don't go quite as expected when one of the planes crash, which means the surviving woman is the only one who knows about their arrangement.

The twists and turns will keep you guessing until the end, and you won't want to put this book down until the final page!

Alix Chamberlain has built a career she loves helping other women, but to have it all, she needs a little help of her own. She hires Emira, a young Black woman to babysit her toddler daughter several times a week, and the two adore each other. When Emira takes the young girl to the grocery store in Alix's wealthy, white neighborhood and is accused of kidnapping, Alix is determined to make things right, whether Emira wants her to or not.