What I Read - December 2020

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2020 wasn’t a great reading year for me. Trying to get through each day solo parenting through a global pandemic and our first deployment as a military family left me wanting to do anything but spend the energy reading at the end of the day. But by December, I was craving a break from social media and desperately wanting to read. When I stopped spending endless hours scrolling on Instagram, I realized how many books I could actually read in a week.

I’m warning you, this post is gonna be a long one. I read 7 books over the course of December. Let me just be completely honest that this is not normal for me. I’m lucky if I get through one book a month these days. With a second baby on the way, I didn’t even up my reading goal for the year despite hitting my 2020 goal at the last possible minute. Moving forward you can expect two or three books a month so don’t let What I Read in December make you feel overwhelmed.

A final note before we get into what I actually read during December. I will no longer be giving star ratings in these posts or on Goodreads. I’ll do my best to provide accurate reviews but I don’t want my star ratings to affect someone else’s decision to pick up a book they might like or not give a book I really enjoyed and loved a certain star rating because of what other people typically rate it at based on things like plot, character development, etc. 

RELATED: 2020 Made in Mom Jeans Reading Challenge

I am also happy to report that all of the books linked here in this post and every book related post moving forward (I hope to go back and update old posts as well) will now be affiliate links with BookShop, an online bookstore dedicated to supporting local, independent bookstores. Have a specific local bookstore you want to support? Find them on the map and they’ll receive the full profit off your order. Otherwise, your order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookstores (even those that don’t use Bookshop).

Alright, here’s the very long list of books I read in December 2020.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

I had heard so many great things about The Silent Patient a lot leading up to the chance encounter I had to find it at the thrift store. I remember enjoying the book while I was reading it and even recommended it to Justin to read but honestly, now that it’s been over a month since I finished reading it, I don’t really remember much about it other than the twist at the end. I love a good thriller and usually, I’m pretty good at guessing what the twist is going to be but The Silent Patient definitely kept me guessing and guessing wrong at that.  A few things I didn’t particularly enjoy about The Silent Patient were the constant referencing of Greek history/mythology throughout the beginning of the novel. It makes sense after a while but at first, I found it really unnecessary and distracting. I also don’t typically gravitate towards books written by men so that might be part of the reason this book isn’t really that memorable to me now. If you’re into thrillers, I’d recommend picking up The Silent Patient and adding it to your to be read pile for 2021.

Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein 

Head Over Heels was the second book by Hannah Orenstein in 2020 and I’m so glad I saved it for an end of the year read. There truly hasn’t been an Orenstein book that I haven’t liked so far. I don’t read a lot of the adult contemporary romance genre so to find an auto-buy author I love within that genre is fantastic. I truly found myself connecting with the characters in this book and found the plot timely in that it deals with the current controversies surrounding USA gymnastics and even provided an alternate timeline to 2020 that no one could have predicted. Content warning for discussions of sexual assault. 

One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus

I wasn’t sure if I would like the sequel to One of Us is Lying after my glowing review of it a few years ago but I’m happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised. The story includes some familiar faces but kept the plot unique enough from its companion that I didn’t feel as though it was repetitive. I do wish I had been able to enjoy this book on audio as I did with the first one but I found it an enjoyable read nonetheless. I definitely didn’t see the plot twist at the end coming. I plan on including the other two McManus books on my list of books to read in 2021.

Kingdom of the Wicked by Keri Maniscalco 

I almost don’t know what to say about Kingdom of the Wicked, honestly. Kingdom of the Wicked is a VERY slow burn but there was enough about the world and plot that I found compelling enough to keep reading. I’m not really big on YA fantasy series. I’ve picked up and put down the ACOTAR series numerous times. But I found this one more enjoyable than the ACOTAR books I’ve tried to read. It definitely wasn’t my favorite book of 2020 and wouldn’t even make my top ten books of 2020 list. The characters were shallow and there were aspects of the plot that I found confusing (like when the heck is this taking place?) but I’m interested in the idea of it enough to most likely pick up the second book when it comes out.

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Tiffany D. Jackson is a new-to-me author that I picked up after seeing many many many booktubers talk about her over the course of 2020. I’ve already chosen to read Grown as my first book of 2021 mainly because I read Monday’s Not Coming, a book with over 400 pages, from cover to cover in less than 8 hours. This book shook me emotionally and I think it would be a great book club pick.

American Royals by Katherine McGee

If you’re like me and obsessed with all things royalty then you’ll likely enjoy this version of American History that includes America’s very own royal family. It definitely gave me Gossip Girl meets Bridgerton vibes. You follow the intertwining lives of a few teenagers who range in their connections to royalty from the future queen to a commoner. American Royals is a quick and easy read and I can’t wait to pick up the sequel to see what happens next. 

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

The writing style of this book wasn’t my favorite and I think if it had been any other time of the year other than the holiday season I would have found this book harder to work my way through but that being said I do believe that it was a very important read. I particularly liked that this was a work of historical fiction and that the author chose to include the Rodney King riots as opposed to a fictionalized tale of police brutality.  The overall coming-of-age theme was a unique experience for me to view through the lens of a Black female lead and the up and down experiences of the characters made me want to keep reading despite the sometimes clunky feeling writing. A great pick for anyone who wants to read more from Black authors.

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