- Talia Basma
Reviewing 25 books for 2020
For this year, I made a goal: Review EVERY book I read. And honestly, it's hard. I'm not sure if I believe in giving books less that 3 stars, but then that only gives me 3 stars to really work with, so I'm using all numbers (a one has not yet been used) but I want to remind you to take book reviews with a grain of salt because, at the end of the day they are subjective.
That being said, I'm ahead on my GoodRead's 2020 goal and wanted to list off the books I've been reading. I decided for my blog to only do one sentence reviews (OSR) because sometime longer reviews are just too much and I like the challenge for putting every thing I want to say into ONE sentence (some books are easier than others). If you like a review and want more than a sentence, I do that on GoodReads so you can follow me there if you also lean more towards the YA & contemporary romance genres.

1. "Faker" by Sarah Smith
Hearts: 3
OSR: The romance was simple but had a cute uniqueness to it as Emmie is figuring out love in her construction office.

2. "Intercepted" by Alexa Martin
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: I am generally not a fan of hashtags so Marlee's use of them did distract from the enjoyment of the plot and humor, but I do love that Marlee does eventually have a great character arc/transformation. #hashtag

3. "The Bromance Book Club" by Lyssa Kay Adams
Hearts: 5
OSR: I could not go to sleep without finishing this novel, it was refreshing, new, and different as it follows a struggling couple that's already married with kids–this isn't completely new but it is rare. #bromance

4. "Tangled Up" by Robyn Neeley
Hearts: 3
OSR: I liked the ~magical~ element (very Good Witch vibes) and that it was about the pair RE-falling in love. #magical

5. "Twice in a Blue Moon" by Christina Lauren
Hearts: 3
OSR: This book had a great plot potential but didn’t feel a legitimate climax, in fact I felt I was literally reading the same story twice with the way the time jump was set so something about this book didn’t leave me fully satisfied unfortunately. #ifwewereamovie

6. "Husband Material" by Emily Belden
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: This book is actually not set up in the “normal” way that a romance is set up, the writing was slow at first but the feelings of Char as a widow were real and raw. #selfdiscovery

7. "Supernova" by Marissa Meyer
Hearts: 5
OSR: I cannot emphasize enough how much I enjoyed this whole series and to have the last book bring everything together so smoothly is a legit reader high. #goodvsadifferentkindofgood#superheros

8. "Fight or Flight" by Samantha Young
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: I enjoyed the creativity of this book, especially their meet cute. #thor #travelplans

9. "What If It's Us" by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: It was such a warm and fuzzy read and I will forever ship Arthur and Ben because WHAT IF, but, on that note, the end does leave much to be desired. #angst #LGBTQ

10. "Block Shot" by Kennedy Ryan
Hearts: 3
OSR: I don't love it when a random character is clearly in the right but they get burned by the protagonists, which was most of what happened in this book so I personally was too conflicted to be rooting for the main characters. #repressedpassion

11. "The Storm Crow" by Kalyn Josephson
Hearts: 4
OSR: I think the world was built beautifully and it had a GREAT climax so now I’m very eager to see the action of the next book that this first book was building towards. #flybirdy #depression #coping #fantasy

12. "Royal Holiday" by Jasmine Guillory
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: This book was a cute cosy winter read. #whirlwindromance

13. "Don't Call Us Dead" by Danez Smith
Hearts: 4.5
OSR: The way Smith constructed their words was mesmerizing and my favorite poem was “every day is a funeral & a miracle”. #heartwrenching

14. "The Worst Best Man" by Mia Sosa
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: The author found a balance between cliché and creative despite the fact that the complications that arise between the love interests was something I personally wouldn’t have picked if I had the choice. #lovenotunrequited

15. "The Trouble with Valentine’s Day" by Rachel Gibson
Hearts: 3
OSR: The story has potential but the “issue/climax” was delayed for so long that the resolution was rushed and didn’t feel as satisfying as it could have. #valentines

16. "The Fix Up" by Kendall Ryan
Hearts: 2.5
OSR: I felt there was no character arc for either of them even though it’s stated that the characters have changed, a lot happened “off scene” so I didn’t fall in love with either character. #angst

17. "Mermaid Inn" by Jenny Holiday
Hearts: 3
OSR: The pair were cute and I liked the mermaid influence and quirky town. #quirky

18. "Get a Life, Chloe Brown" by Talia Hibbert
Hearts: 5
OSR: This book has it all–a diverse feminine (not femme fatale) woman and a swoon worthy mr. soft love interest. #adorable

19. "Hooking Up" by Helena Hunting
Hearts: 4
OSR: I was shipping the pair from day one but WOW was that ex-husband was SO FREAKING ANNOYING (which is only proof of Hunting's great writing). #lusttolove

20. "The Foxe & the Hound" by R.S. Grey
Hearts: 2.5
OSR: I just felt like nothing really happened in the book until the last 15% of it. #doggyromance

21. "The Billionaire’s Wake-Up-Call Girl" by Annika Martin
Hearts: 4
OSR: The main draw back of the story would be the “climax” which I felt didn’t really have like a two way street resolution, but I don't think it bothered me the first time I had read it. #billionaires

22. "Marriage of Inconvenience" by Penny Reid
Hearts: 4.5
OSR: It had romance, it had action, it had desire, and of course a marriage of convenience–what's not to love? #billionaresvsmillionares

23. "Work for It" by Talia Hibbert
Hearts: 4
OSR: We love a romance that has the characters fighting their own demons together and loving each other through ups and downs. #angsty #greenthumb #LGBTQ

24. "If I Never Met You" by Mhairi McFarlane
Hearts: 3.5
OSR: This book has GREAT scenes, but a lot of the time, the words just didn't click for me and I'd kind of zone out. #officeromance #dumbex

25. "Hate to Want You" by Alisha Rai
Hearts: 4
OSR: Give me that Romeo and Juliet angst but make it with POC and characters that show growth.
#angsty #loverstoenemiestoloversagain #familydrammaaaa
Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you thought of them! Or tell me what I should read next, my TBR is already longer than my life span so why not just push on?