Wow, last snapshot of 2020! What a year! According to Goodreads, I have read 206 books this year. I am proud of that. It’s been a good year for books, and I am looking forward to the books of 2021.

A note about this week’s blog: I wanted to keep writing new posts through the new year, but all the everything of the last couple of months has caught up with me, and I am just exhausted. So this week I will be featuring my favorite books of 2020. I had so many that I decided to double up on the posts, so there will be posts every morning and evening with my favorites, broken up into categories. There were some tough choices, but I had a lot of fun revisiting all my blog posts from the year. I hope you all have an amazing end to the year and a lovely 2021!

just finished: Kate Carlisle’s The Grim Reader, about a book festival in wine country. This is the second I’ve read in this series, and while I like Brooklyn the bookbinder, I don’t feel like we have much in common other than a love of books. Still, these are fun to read.

currently reading: I started reading a couple of the novels that come out on Tuesday. Pretty Little Wife is a thriller about a controlling husband and how his wife decides to deal with that. It hooks you in pretty good pretty early, and I can’t wait to find some time to dig in more. I also started Ten Rules to Faking It, about a radio producer who turns 30, is publicly humiliated, and then comes up with rules to live by to help her create the life she’s always wanted. The main character, Everly Dean, is smart, funny, strong, and I am cheering for her to figure things out. (I think she will.) And because it’s that time of year, I have once again started reading Bridget Jones’ Diary. It’s great for the New Year. Actually, it’s probably because of Ten Rules that I thought to start it again. The rules that the character comes up with reminded me of another strong woman character with rules, Olivia Joules. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination is also by Helen Fielding. Why I didn’t re-read that one, I’m not sure. It’s just the time of year my thoughts turn to Bridget and Mark Darcy and all the other colorful characters who shape her world.

up next: I did get a new cookbook for Christmas, and while I have flipped through it, I need to spend some more time with it (below, I’ve been wanting this one for a while!). Also, January is coming hard and fast with a huge list of good new books coming out, so be ready to hear about lots of new books. Thrillers like The Wife Upstairs and The Woman Outside My Door. YA like You Have a Match (from the author of last year’s Tweet Cute). Romance like Enjoy the View (Moose Springs number 3!) and Shipped. A middle grade book about a girl who wants to be a wrestler (Bump!). SO! MANY! GOOD! BOOKS! TO! READ! I can’t wait to get started!