Hello, it’s Ely again, back with my monthly guest post! Today, I thought I’d share with you all a couple of the books that have really surprised me so far in 2020. So without further ado, let’s jump in.

Well Met by Jen DeLuca: I’m not really a contemporary romance reader. I’ll enjoy a contemporary YA every now and again, but rarely a general/adult romance. But the idea of a Ren faire romance sounded adorable to me. And guess what? I was right. This was just a sweet book and I really think that’s mostly down to the added element of that Ren faire.

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid: Again, literary fiction? Not really a genre I pick up often, at least not on my own. But I saw this starting to appear everywhere in January, and I thought ‘screw it’. I borrowed the ebook from my library and started it on my long haul flight to London. I didn’t take my eyes off it until I was finished. About four hours later when we made our stopover in Perth.

The House of Youssef by Yumna Kassab: This is really just a whole post of books from genres I don’t ever read. So I picked up The House of Youssef because it was nominated for this year’s Stella Prize, and I ended up really enjoying it.

Dominicana by Angie Cruz: This is 100% one of my favourite books of this year so far. I read it as part of the Women’s Prize longlist. And I drew me in instantly. As soon as I finished it, I went ahead and ordered Cruz’s other books because I just knew I would love them. 

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan: Despite many people telling me how amazing this book was, I was always kind of hesitant to pick it up. Crime is one of the genres I have the worst luck with. Other than Agatha Christie, I usually end up DNFing them but then along came The Ruin. This truly kept me on the edge of my toes—it was intriguing and none of the characters annoyed me. All in all, it was just very surprising.

 

 

Those are the books that have surprised me in 2020. What are some of your most surprising books so far this year? Let me know below and I’ll see you all next month!