My Favourite Books of 2020…So Far

I cannot believe it is already September and that there is less than four months until 2020 is over. It’s been a crazy year, that is for sure.

Today, I wanted to share my favourite books I’ve read during 2020…so far. Warning, this will probably be a short list because I’ve been in a HUGE reading slump since May. Nonetheless, I have read some good books so let’s talk about them!

Here are my favourite books of 2020…so far.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel eBook: Reid, Taylor Jenkins:  Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

If you follow my blog, you know Reid’s other book, Daisy Jones and the Six, is one of my all-time favaourite books. However, I do love The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo too. This story follows the life of Evelyn Hugo, an actress from the 50s who has finally allowed a reporter to come in and write the story of her life. Something she has never shared before. It is such an addicting story and I am pretty sure I read it in like three or so days. A lot of people prefer this over Daisy Jones, but I just love movies or books following bands from the 60s and 70s which is why it’s my favourite. This book still gauged an easy 4.5/5 stars from me though.

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Amazon.com: The Last Hours: Chain of Gold (9781406358094): Clare,  Cassandra: Books

Who saw this coming? Everyone, probably. Of course, Chain of Gold is on my favourites list because it was just amazing. Once I finish all the books I am halfway through (and have been for months), I am dying to give this book a re-read. Chain of Gold is the first book in another prequel to The Mortal Instruments and The Dark Artifices series, but a sequel to The Infernal Devices. It follows the children of The Infernal Devices characters and ugh, I love these new characters so much. I cannot wait for the next book! Honestly, this may be a favourite of all-time! 5/5 stars

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

It has been a while since I’ve found a new fantasy series that I wanted to explore. I’ve been caught in the vicious cycle of re-reading books, but The Last Magician took me by surprise. On a whim, I picked it up for cheap at a bookstore in Hawaii but I ended up loving it! I had heard good things about it, but I had NO idea what to expect which is why I liked it so much I think. It follows Esta, a talented thief who is transported back into 1902 to steal an ancient book. There is an abundance of morally grey characters (which I love) and the story sucked me in once I hit page 100. I highly recommend everyone check it out if you haven’t already! 4.5/5 stars


Like I said, this is a short list because I have only read 20/50 books this year…and most of them have been re-reads (I’ve read Daisy Jones twice this year!). However, I am happy I’ve explored some amazing new books like the ones listed above!

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April Favourites: Books, Movies, Music + More

A guide to everything I loved during April 2020.

Happy Wednesday!

Today, I am here to bring you a list of all my April favourites: everything from books to TV shows to music. Just the things that I have been loving.

These favourites are all new discoveries for me (except for one, but I think you can figure out which one it is), and are things I just want to praise and discuss with you all. Let me know if you have read, watched, or listened to any of these so we can discuss them in the comments below!

Books

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell

The Last Magician (The Last Magician, #1) by Lisa Maxwell

I have raved a lot about this book but I am going to rave about it again right now. The Last Magician takes place in New York during the 1920s. We follow Esta, a girl from the present who travels back in time to find a lost book that could set magicians free from New York by breaking the curse that keeps them trapped there. The story itself is entertaining enough, but what comes alive for me is the characters and their relationships. I love books with morally gray characters and this book is filled with them. I have mentioned before that this book took me about one hundred pages to really get into, but once you get past the intro, the story just flies.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy books like Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo because of the similar heist plotline, and The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater because of the great cast of characters.

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

The Toll | Book by Neal Shusterman | Official Publisher Page ...

As the final novel in the Arc of a Scythe trilogy by Neal Shusterman, I was not surprised that this became a favourite for the month. Would I say it is my favourite novel of the three in the series? No, I honestly think the first one remains my personal favourite of the three. However, I did really, really enjoy The Toll and just flew through it despite its 600+ page count. I think the reason I liked this book so much is because of the twists and turns the plot took, especially the ending. It caught me so off-guard and I love when stories do that because it is not often they achieve that for me anymore.

If you didn’t know, the first book in this series, Scythe, takes place in a dystopian world where humans have conquered everything from disease to death. To keep the population in balance, there are people called scythes who kill a certain quota of people at random each year. Our main characters, Citra and Rowan are chosen as scythe apprentices to a well-known scythe called Scythe Farady, but they realize that a life of killing may not be one they want to live.

TV Shows/Movies

Elite

Netflix's 'Elite' Review: 7 Moments You Didn't Appreciate at the ...

Oh my god. This TV show is SO addicting and if you like high school dramas intertwined with a murder-mystery, I highly recommend this show. It is in Spanish, but the English dubbed version is so well-done that it doesn’t take you out of the story at all. However, I am hoping that once I get better at my Spanish, I will be able to watch the original version and have some sense of what is going on.

In the first season, we follow a pretty big cast of characters who attend this preppy private school. Three of these characters are new to the school and are “scholarship” kids who are invited to attend after a terrible accident occurred at their last school. Soon after they arrive, a murder takes place at the school. Everyone turns to the scholarship students but the truth is a messy and winding road. Season one is all about finding out who died, what happened, and who did it. When I tell you that you will get sucked in, I MEAN it!

Stuck in Love

Amazon.com: Stuck in Love by Millennium by Josh Boone: Movies & TV

I know this is from 2013 but I didn’t watch this movie fully until this past month, which is crazy because Lily Collins AND Logan Lerman both star in this movie. To be honest, I am a sucker for romcoms or really any romantic movie. Especially the ones that follow multiple characters and storylines that eventually connect. How I randomly came to watching this movie is because I wanted some feel-good movies and stumbled across Crazy Stupid Love. I liked that movie but then I got recommended Stuck in Love and I was like, “Oh, I’ve heard of this. Let’s watch it now.” And I just ended up liking it even more. It is charming and entertaining enough. By no means does it come in contest with Love, Rosie which might be my favourite romantic movie of all time, but it was what I wanted at the moment. Hence, it makes the list.

I think it is better to go into this movie without a clear idea of what it is about so I am just going to leave it at that!

Music

Hamilton

Hamilton (musical) - Wikipedia

Obviously, I listened to the Hamilton soundtrack back in 2016, but I started listening to it again last month and was reminded of how much I love it. And also how excited I am for the film version to be released next year! Listening to these songs puts me in the best mood and just talking about it now makes me want to listen to it…so I think I am going to go put that on right now.

Radio by Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey โ€“ Radio Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

To be honest, this is the first Lana Del Rey song I have listened to in full which yes, it is crazy, I know. I was making a playlist on Spotify called “Like a Movie” and this song popped up. This is the sort of song that you play driving down the street at night. It is haunting and slow but so, so good. It was definitely a perfect match for the playlist I added it to.

Forever by CHVRCHES

CHVRCHES โ€“ Forever Lyrics | Genius Lyrics

I found this song because of the TV show, Elite. It plays in quite a few episodes but I was really sold on it while watching the final episode of the third season. It plays while they are at their graduation party and it is just a fun, upbeat song. It reminds me of something that would come out in the early 2010s and that I would be obsessed with. It just gives me that nostalgic feeling that I love.


Those are my April favourites and I hope you enjoyed! I haven’t done a favourites post for a while, but I think I will do them every so often because I really enjoy looking back on a month and remembering everything that made me happy. Let me know what some of your April favourites were!

Don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts which are linked down below.

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June + July Favourites

Happy Monday!

June and July have been two months where I have definitely found new favourites, and I cannot wait to share them!ย  Today, I will be discussing those favourites (books, TV, and movies) because I’ve discovered some good ones that if you haven’t checked out, you really should.

Books

Image result for a thousand splendid suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

 

This was a book I read for my English class back in June, and OH MY GOD, Hosseini may be the best writer I have ever come across. He paints such vivid stories that feel truly real. To be fair, most of the situations are situations that actually happened in the past sadly, but he brings them to life again on the page. In all of their painful and heartbreaking glory. I cannot wait to pick up his other book, The Kite Runner because I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about it.

Image result for vicious by ve schwabVicious by V.E. Schwab

 

Finally, I have ventured into the wonderful world of V.E. Schwab books, and I can confidently say I was NOT disappointed! Vicious is an adult paranormal/fantasy book that drew me in from the beginning with its superhero/villain story.ย  V.E. Schwab created characters who are neither truly good nor truly bad, and those are my FAVOURITE types of stories because they accurately reflect how most people are. I am tired of stories where a character is entirely good because that just isn’t reality!ย I cannot wait to pick up Vengeful next because I am craving to find out what happens next.

Image result for the raven cycle by maggie stiefvater

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

 

Yes, I’ve read these before, but currently, I am doing my re-read of them and can’t help but love them! They are so captivating and fun and interesting that I just want to rave about them non-stop. I love the incorporation of Welsh mythology and psychics and how Stiefvater blends them together because it makes for an amazing story. I finished the first one a few days ago and plan on jumping into the second one ASAP.

TV Shows

Image result for attack on titan

Attack on Titan

 

For whatever the reason, I always want to watch anime during the summertime. While I’m not done Fullmetal Alchemist yet, my friend has been poking at me to watch Attack on Titan and I finally gave it a shot…and I really like it! I’m not too far into it, but I find the plot already really enticing and I can’t wait to see how it plays out!

Image result for brooklyn 99

Brooklyn 99

 

This is another TV show I have been prodded to watch by my friends. While I am not HUGE on sitcoms at the moment (I enjoy them more during the fall/winter), I do like Brooklyn 99. I’ll put it on when I am doing some minimal tasks or when I am at the gym. It’s really funny and entertaining so I am sure I will be able to finish it all by the end of the summer.

Movies

large_yesterday-poster

Yesterday

 

I went to see this movie just after it came out, and it was everything I was expecting it to be! Yesterday was charming, funny, and adorable, all accompanied by, of course, an amazing soundtrack. It wasn’t the best movie ever, but it was enjoyable and I would definitely watch it again if it came on Netflix. If you love the Beatles or romcoms, definitely give this movie a watch!

 

 

Well, there you have it! Those are my current favourites from this past and current month. Don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts linked down below. Thanks for reading ๐Ÿ™‚

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