These are the 9 books that I rated 2 stars this year. I didn’t really outwardly hate any these books, I was mostly either ambivalent, bored, underwhelmed or just didn’t really like..
The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen
Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan
Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore
The Havoc We Wreak by Becca Steele
This is my final Quarterly Reading Recommendation post for 2020. I will be listing my top 10 favourite books I read during the last 3 months before I start compiling my lists and picking out my top ten overall of 2020 which I will post in a few days! If you want to check out my third quarterly reading recommendations click HERE!
My recommendations for October – November – December are:
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
No Exit by Taylor Adams
All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace
The Toll by Neal Shusterman
Hold Back the Tide by Melinda Salisbury
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour
Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London
I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I really liked this book!
The Last Time I Lied is about a woman named Emma who attended a summer camp when she was 13 and while she was there three of her bunk mates went missing and were never found. Now 15 years later Emma has been invited back to Camp Nightingale where she vows to figure out what really happened all those years ago.
Emma I really formed an attachment to right at the start. She is likeable and realistic I think and over the course of the storyline her character shifts and we find out she might not be as reliable a narrator as we might have thought. The mystery surrounding the missing girls has really taken over her life and I liked the fact that she decides to take up Franny’s offer and go back. She is definitely an enigmatic character and I was constantly being surprised by her. I really thought for a minute that she might of been capable of murdering the girls or at least knew who did it and was covering for whoever that was.
I think I would of liked and appreciated this even more if it was maybe a dual perspective with Theo. Seeing how similar his and Emma’s lives were affected after everything happens and have their perspectives interwoven would of added that extra layer of depth and doubt to the reader. I would of liked to get more of an insight from his character and how the whole situation effected his family.
The format of the story with the flashbacks kept me highly engaged and eager to find out what really happened. There are various twists and turns that occur throughout the course of the storyline that was a little predictable and then would completely take me by surprise. I was on the edge of my seat while I was reading this book.
The ending I didn’t really need. I would of liked more of an ambiguous ending where we don’t know for sure whether or not Vivian was still alive or not. The meeting between them wasn’t really necessary in my opinion though I did appreciate that Emma doesn’t let her get away with it!
⭐️4/5 stars atmospheric, thrilling, unexpected twists, highly recommend!
These are five backlist books that I had every intention of reading this year but somehow time got away from me and unfortunately it didn’t happen… I will definitely be prioritising these books for 2021 though!!
The Lies of Locke L’Amora by Scott Lynch
Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty
Amy Leigh Reads 