*being books I read in 2020, for the first time, rather than only limited to books published in 2020, and in no specific order, except for probably by author because I tend to read an author’s whole backlog when I ~discover~ them
**These are also, exclusively, books I gave 5 stars to. Didn’t intend it, but here we are.
Did this for my own gratification to sift through all the books I read this year, but thought it could serve as a recommendation list too! I pretty much exclusively read Historical (Regency) Romances, so that’s what this is.
1. The Captive by Grace Burrowes- Absolutely moving book, my new standard for hurt comfort
2. The Traitor by Grace Burrowes- ~villain~ from book 1 on this list as the MC and also super moving and just generally Great
3. Andrew: Lord of Despair by Grace Burrowes- I read the summary. I was not interested. I decided to read the first 10 pages before bed. Read the first 190 pages.
The rest of the list is under the cut, 29th entry has a spoiler so just be pre-warned.
4. Darius by Grace Burrows- I hate the trope this book covers, and yet I loved this book
5. The Seduction of an English Scoundrel by Jillian Hunter- So funny, actually I loved this whole series and since it is 15 books long, I won’t list them all. Just know I loved them. Most of them.
6. Teresa Medeiros. Seriously almost all of her books. Specifically, though: The Vampire Who Loved Me, After Midnight, One Night Of Scandal, Charming the Prince, and Thief of Hearts
7. Yours Until Dawn by Teresa Medeiros- This one was so good, it needs its own spot even though I also loved the ones above. This book though.
8. The Wedding Night by Barbara Dawson Smith- love people already married who come back together and fall in love, and this one delivered
9. The Markham Hall Series by Sierra Simone- erotica, Good book, I reread favorite scenes all the time
10. Duke I'd Like to F... and Naughty Brits- Two anthology that had to be read for their titles alone, liked all the stories which is all that really matters to me with anthologies
11. Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian- so sweet, another hurt/comfort
12. The entire Sebastian St. Cyr Series by C.S. Harris- murder mysteries set after the Napoleonic Wars. LOVED. Also nice to see a love story play out over several books.
13. Someone to Romance by Mary Balogh- I’m going to be honest: I love everything Mary Balogh writes. Her books just work for me.
14. The Deadly Hours- another anthology, but I really only liked Susanna Kearsley and C.S. Harris’ stories. Still, worth it for me!
15. The Will Darling Adventures Series by KJ Charles- these boys. Charles makes me feel her books viscerally in a way I like.
16. Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean- Another villain (sort of) turned MC for this one. MacLean makes me like characters I don’t expect to like, and I would legitimately like anything she wrote so here we are.
17. A Dark and Stormy Knight by Kerrigan Bryne- I hated the MC of this book in the rest of this series and now I like him, so again, here we are
18. The Earl of Christmas Past by Kerrigan Bryne- healed my pain from the Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and that is all I will say on the matter
19. All Scot and Bothered by Kerrigan Bryne- I think its clear that I just like Bryne’s books.
20. Marry in Scarlet by Anne Gracie- I was so excited for this book and it managed to exceed by expectations.
21. Amanda Quick- Just, all of them yet again. I literally gave most of them 5 stars and cannot reduce them to my favorites. I liked all of them. You can message me for specifics cause they do cross genres ect., but just know that I loved them all.
22. The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham- as a person with a complicated relationship with religion, this book appealed to me, and you know ~I hope that didn’t awaken anything in me~
23. The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham- loved the thesis of the book (if you can call it that in a fiction book). Thought it was really well done.
24. Something Wicked by Jo Beverly- it has been months since I read this book and every time I think about it, I’m like, damn that was a good book. Enemy-ish characters and like....my stomach hurt when I was reading it? I was that emotionally distressed. This book made me feel some kind of way.
25. That Scandalous Evening by Christina Dodd- young woman sculpts crush, gets the proportions of his....manly bits wrong because she’s an innocent, he’s embarrassed, she’s ostracized for 10 years! and then they meet again and its great and hilarious
26. My Favorite Bride by Christina Dodd- I’m 1000% sure this is a The Sound of Music retelling and it’s Perfect
27. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas- I just think it was Neat. World building, characters, Maas, I liked it.
28. Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas- there was a scene cut from a previous book in this series about the characters in this book and it appears in this book, but someone posted it and every so often, I would read that scene over and over because it was so good and the full book did not disappoint me.
29. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo- ok, this is a well written book but it has low ratings on goodreads for its ****SPOILERS**** psuedo-incest between two step-siblings. ***END SPOILERS*** I think its a little unfair, because it is a good book, and I love Choo’s writing, but I mean I understand that it can be a problematic read for some people.
and finally
30. Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase- I’ve been waiting 3! years! for this book and boy was it worth that wait. I’m not even done with it yet, but yeah, it’s working for me.
Listen, y’all are sleeping on the Sebastian St Cyr books and I don’t know what to do about that. The romance arc from book 4 (Where Serpents Sleep) through book 9 (Why Kings Confess) is basically everything I could ever want and deserves PAGES of fanfiction, especially since these books have no smut and, like, isn’t that fandom’s job or something? I mean, feel free to skip the first three books and stop at #9, but I read these books for Hero Jarvis, so. Do you hear me, CS Harris? We’re actually all here for Hero. But somehow I think you know that. And, like, these books are murder mysteries. So I’m like, yada yada murder mystery, whatever, and swooning and lingering and re-reading every bit of character development and romance. I would also die for you, Aunt Henrietta, and you know it.
And ViaLethe on AO3, who has not only written the only fics for these books on the entire site, has written TWO fics, will forever be my fandom MVP.
Wow, there is some serious secondary plot going on in this third book of Sebastian St. Cyr’s lil noble detective adventures. I didn’t really care for the author letting us believe that Sebastian and Kat were actually half siblings- that was gross tbh but I did appreciate at the end when we find out that it’s all just a ploy from his father. It really makes me wonder what he has against Kat so bad that he is going to offer her all this money and then has this whole plot to keep his son from marrying her. It’s just really interesting- like it has to go beyond the prejudices of the time period. Anyways. This book deals with a killer getting his revenge by killing and carving up the sons of nobleman because they ate his son on a sinking ship… and that was also kind of icky. A lot of this book was me being like uhh ummm what??? but also I’ve lowkey read worse so I don’t really know why I’m even acting like it was really bad- I think I just wasn’t expecting it to go there.
An intro in Sebastian St. Cyr's world, this book was fast faced and fun. Set in 19th century England, a young woman is murdered and Sebastian, an unruly heir fresh back from the Napolean war, is the prime suspect. He takes it upon himself to clear his name, probably breaking many more laws in the process. Despite being a nobleman, Sebastian is actually a pretty good man with a strong sense of justice and a desire to protect people (and definitely a loverboy at heart, if his relationship with Kat is any indication) (although his grumpy ass will probably deny it). This book 100% uses the classic mystery formula and does it well, I can see myself diving back into this world for some more action.
How do you see evil?” said Sebastian. “Me? I see it as the result of selfishness—the elevation of self-interest and personal desires above all else. That, and a lack of any sense of our interdependence or the value of other living things. (C.S. Harris: Who Cries for the Lost)
Review at AudioGals: When Blood Lies by CS Harris, narrated by Jenny Sterlin.
I’m over at AudioGals with a review of When Blood Lies by CS Harris, narrated by Jenny Sterlin. Great story but I did not like the narrator’s Sebastian voice.
