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The Best of 2020 – Lisa’s List

This has been a Year to Read, and spending a lot of time stuck in the house, making minimal contact with the outside world, has resulted in a bumper crop of Good Books popping into my hand.  Here, in no particular order, are my favorite reads of 2020.


Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Hibbert is the queen of contemporary romance and a master craftperson of character writing and romance.  There is no better love story than Dani’s and Zaf’s available this year.  It’ a wonderful, heart-gladdening trip, and I enjoyed every second I spent with them.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore

Headliners by Lucy Parker

Fabulous contemporary romances have been a theme for me this year.  Also: books set in the entertainment industry.  Parker made a hell of a debut with Act Like It, and Headliners is more than its equal.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent bookstore

Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase

Loretta Chase is BACK, and this is a terrific historical has spice, wit, a toasty love story and a great sense of humor.

Buy it at: AmazonAudible, or your local independent bookstore

Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthon

This was a heck of a year for YA novels – I could have made a top ten entirely of them (For those who want extended recs: Deep breath: Thorn by Intisar Khanani, Girl Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust,  Charming as a Verb by Ben Phillipe, 10 Thing I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon and Early Departures by Justin A Reynolds.  All are good, all will enrich the lives of the teens in your world, or folks who like YAs.) But at the top of the heap is this transcendent story about a girl coming into her powers and falling in love for the first time in the middle of the Jim Crow era south.  A stunner, with the most unforgettable YA heroine I’ve read of all year.

Buy it at: Amazon or shop at your local independent bookstore

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade

Sometimes you just need some pure, fluffy wish fulfillment in your life.  Dade gives us that, teaming a fanfiction author and the actor she admires (who’s been doubling as her writing partner) in a fun romance.

Buy it at: AmazonAudible, or your local independent bookstore

You Had Me At Hola by Alexis Daria

Telenovelas are a weakness of mine, so Daria’s romance set within this world had me nodding along in pleasure and sympathy the whole time.

Buy it at: AmazonAudible, or your local independent bookstore

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Gorgeous writing, sweet romance and a tribute to gothic tropes kept me turning the pages with this one

Buy it at: AmazonAudible, or your local independent bookstore

Confessions in B-Flat by Donna Hill

Sixties  romances were very much my thing this year – Hill’s wonderfully done book, about two people with opposing ideologies learning how to live with one another.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer

A Dangerous Kind of Lady by Mia Vincy

No one’s doing historical romances like Vincy does, and her latest kept me grinning and turning the pages.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent bookstore

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Supernatural elements and warring gangs make this Romeo and Juliet retelling one of the most absorbing pieces of action-adventure fiction I read all year.

Buy it at: Amazon or shop at your local independent bookstore

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite

A total delight of a warm embrace of a book.  Romantic and sweet-tempered, it captivated me from the very start.

Buy it at: AmazonAudible, or your local independent bookstore

The Secret Ingredient by  KD Fisher

Delicious food descriptions and a genuinely sweet romance highlight a beautiful novel.

Buy it at: AmazonAudible, or your local independent bookstore

Find all our Best of 2020 books at Amazon!

Visit our Amazon Storefront

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