Best Books of 2020| Carenza Bramwell

As 2020 is officially over (hurrah!), it is time to reflect on the best books of the year. I read 75 books in 2020, which is something I am proud of as I was in a bit of a reading slump for most of 2020. I will admit that there are very few books I loved, so most of the entries on this list are books I enjoyed and really stood out to me.  

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

It will come as no surprise that one of the only five star reads on this list is Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. Cassie is an auto-buy author for me. I have loved her books for almost eight years now. Being brutally honest, this wasn't my favourite one I've read, but I'll reserve judgement until I've read the whole series. I have a full review, which you can read here. I throughly enjoyed being back in this world and will always be excited for the next Cassie Clare book.  

The Diviners by Libba Bray 

This might be a new favourite series, but I read the entire Diviners series in 2020. My favourite though, without a shadow of a doubt, was the first book. It had everything I wanted in it. There were moments when I was genuinely scared. Evie, Sam and Henry (and the remaining Diviners) are some of my favourite characters. Again, this is another one I gave five stars to and have a review for, which you can read here. If you are looking for a YA historical paranormal book set in the 1920s, then this is the book for you. 

You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson 

The only YA contemporary to make it onto this list. I'm not usually a fan of gush romance, but this was an LGBTQIA+ black girl romance. It was sweet and funny, yet it also tackled some serious issues such as racism and homophobia. It was the perfect summer contemporary. I know Leah has another book coming out this year, which I will be reading as soon as it's released. I gave it 4/5 stars.  

The Confession by Jessie Burton 

I was debating which of Jessie's books to put on this list as I adored both The Muse and The Confession, but this one had to win. I read it in about two days, which for me at the moment, is very impressive. Jessie writes very strong feminist books, with historical mysteries at there core. I couldn't put this book down, I wanted to know what happened next. I hope she has another book coming out soon as I can't wait to dive into it. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

This is the book that restored my faith in VE Schwab and has convinced me to give her books another go. I loved it. I am so buzzed for the film adaptation that Schwab herself is working on. I have been a big fan of faustian retellings for a while, but this one was amazing. Spread over three hundred years, you can see the passion and dedication that went into it. I have a review of it, which you can read here. If you are looking for an epic historical urban fantasy, then look no further. 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

I was unsure if I wanted to put this book on this list, but I knew I had to as I haven't read anything like it. It tackles a relationship between a fifteen year old girl and her teacher. Set when the victim is 15 and in her thirties, it asks if victims really consider themselves victims. It was a dense read, with times when I had to put it down as it was so dark. As it tackles sensitive subjects such as sexual abuse and death, I would read it, but only if you feel mentally up to it. I have a review of it, which you can read here. 

That concludes my best books of 2020. What were some of your best books of the year?

Carenza :) x

The King of Crows by Libba Bray Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- The King of Crows

Author- Libba Bray

Series- The Diviners

Published- 2020

Page Count- 547 pages

Publishing House- Little Brown Books

Rating- 3/5 stars 

Photo taken from Goodreads.

About the Author

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series. She is originally from Texas but makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and two sociopathic cats.  You can find her at…oh, wait. You already did. Nevermind—you are a genius!

Taken from Libba's website. 

Plot

The breath-taking finale to the epic New York Times bestseller, The Diviners, from Printz winner and beloved author, Libba Bray.

After the horrifying explosion that claimed one of their own, the Diviners find themselves wanted by the US government, and on the brink of war with the King of Crows.

While Memphis and Isaiah run for their lives from the mysterious Shadow Men, Isaiah receives a startling vision of a girl, Sarah Beth Olson, who could shift the balance in their struggle for peace. Sarah Beth says she knows how to stop the King of Crows-but, she will need the Diviners' help to do it.

Elsewhere, Jericho has returned after his escape from Jake Marlowe's estate, where he has learned the shocking truth behind the King of Crow's plans. Now, the Diviners must travel to Bountiful, Nebraska, in hopes of joining forces with Sarah Beth and to stop the King of Crows and his army of the dead forever.

But as rumors of towns becoming ghost towns and the dead developing unprecedented powers begin to surface, all hope seems to be lost.

In this sweeping finale, The Diviners will be forced to confront their greatest fears and learn to rely on one another if they hope to save the nation, and world from catastrophe...

Taken from Goodreads

Opinions

Here we are. My final review for The Diviners series. I've been reading this for the past two months and I finally finished it. I have to admit that this was my least favourite in the series. With each instalment, I've lost interest. This is heartbreaking as I adored the first book and really enjoyed the next two, but this one just wasn't for me. I've seen a lot of reviews from die-hard fans saying how they felt let down by this ending. I've noticed this is becoming a reoccurring trend in YA books, that they don't seem to have as good endings as they did back in the day. 

As I've already touched on, I found this an unsatisfying and slightly disappointing conclusion to what should have been an epic series. This was essentially over 500 pages of a journey across America told from multiple perspectives. There were moments of action, but I just didn't care about half of them. It became a bit repetitive at times as they were split into three groups and all went through similar experiences. I wanted an epic finale and this is what I got. I'm glad I came to this series quite late as if I had waited that long for the finale I would be beyond upset. 

Something I touched on in my review for Before the Devil Breaks you was that I was let down by how Jericho's character was ruined by the scene with Evie and the serum. I liked Jericho. He was one of my favourite characters. This book also ruined his character for me. I didn't like that he fell in love with the first women he met after his disastrous relationship with Evie. To me, he was still in love with Evie and to then go and fall in love with someone else felt very odd. He then went and slept with that woman. I just miss Jericho from book one, he was my favourite and I wish he had stayed like that. Poor Jericho then went and died (disappeared?). His character was just unrecognisable by the end of this series and it was sad that this happened to him.

I have to admit that I'm slightly confused by what happened in this book. Did we find out who the King of Crows was? How did they defeat him? I just felt a bit lost due to the amble like pace of this book. I know that some characters died, such as Jericho and Jake Marlowe. I was also very confused when Isaiah seemed to die but then didn't. Also by the end of the book, The Diviners had all lost their powers. As I've said, I'm very lost with what actually happened in this book. 

I can't just mention negatives in this review, I do have to mention something positive. Evie is still one of my favourite female fictional characters. I was unsurprised but happy that she and Sam are getting married. Henry is also another all time favourite fictional character as he is the biggest softie and I would be very happy to have him as a friend in real life. The cast of characters has always been one of my favourite things about this series and I am a bit sad to see them go.

I know that I will reread this series again, as despite the issues I had with it, I adored Libba's writing style. I've already spoken about my love for the cast of characters. I could also see this becoming a really good TV show, if in the write hands. I will revisit these characters again and pray for a good TV show adaptation.     

That concludes my review of King of Crows and The Diviners series. What did you think about this series?

Carenza :) x

What I've Been Reading Recently- Summer Edition| Carenza Bramwell

 As we gradually shift from the bright blues of summer to the softer hues of autumn, it is time for me to share the books I read this summer. I managed to read a total of sixteen books over July and August. My reading has been staying pretty consistent, with my average amount of books read per month staying at eight.  

July 

As I mentioned, I've been reading roughly eight books a month and July was no exception. I read a lot of new releases as well as continuing to tackle my TBR pile.

The first book I read in July was The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant. I had heard good things about this book and it was supposed to be a fantastical retelling of Les Miserables. I have a weakness for stories set in France, specifically Paris. I saw that this was on offer on the Kindle store and bought it for a mere 99p. I'm glad I decided against buying it in physical format as I ended up not enjoying it as much as I hoped. I have a full spoiler filled review, which you can read here. I would say my main complaint is that the narrative jumped around too much for my liking and offered very little explanation as to why. I ended up being underwhelmed by this book and have no intentions of continuing the series. I gave it 3/5 stars. 

Next I read Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge. I picked this up three years ago as a World Book Day book as I knew Frances had won a Costa award for her other works. I enjoyed the first chapter and that was about it. I think this was aimed at someone a lot younger than me and I could see the appeal in why a younger audience would enjoy this. I struggled with staying engaged with it and was very glad when my time with it came to an end. I gave it 2/5 stars.  

Then I read a book I was really excited for, it was probably in my top three books for the year, and that was Loveless by Alice Oseman. Alice has become a favourite author of mine in the past year and I will order anything she writes. This is another one I have a full review of, which you can read here. It had amazing ace/aro rep and was another classic YA Contemporary from Alice. I did find it a bit repetitive at times, but apart from that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I gave it 4/5 stars.  

An unexpected love of mine was the Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa. I had bought this years ago and had decided to finally pick it up. It's about a Japanese man who adopts a cat from the streets and their lives together. It is told mostly from the perspective of the cat, which added a lot of humour to the book. It was a very easy, yet highly entertaining read. I believe there are plans for it to become a film at some point in the future. I gave it 4/5 stars.

A hyped up book that I decided to purchase was You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson. I knew that this was a Black Girl LGBT+ Rom Com going in and if that doesn't get you to want to read it, then I don't know what would. I found it very funny and sweet. It was the perfect summer contemporary. My only complaint is a personal one and that it was written in first person. I generally struggle with first person, I just don't vibe well with it for some reason. Apart from that, it was a solid cute contemporary. I gave it 4/5 stars.

The next book I read has become a new favourite of mine. That is The Diviners by Libba Bray. Evie O'Neil is my new favourite female fictional character. I loved the setting and the mystery. I will say that it does take a while to get to the central plot but once you're there, then it gets really good. I also have a review for this one, which you can read here. I had the audiobook from before I cancelled my subscription and the audiobook was superb. I gave it 4.5/5 stars.

Moving away from 4 star books, my next read was Girl, Serpent Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. Again, I had heard good things about it, particularly the LGBT+ rep. In the end I had mixed feelings about this book. I felt it could have been shorter as it dragged out the story quite a bit. I enjoyed the first section of this book, but I struggled with the middle and ending. I had wanted to really enjoy this but it ended up falling flat for me. I gave it 3.5/5 stars.

My final read of July was The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutowski. Back in the day, I had heard amazing things about this book, especially about the political side of it. What I read, I found dull and unenjoyable. Nothing happened in this book. I didn't care for either of the main characters. I just found it disappointing. I gave it 3/5 stars.

August

August is my favourite month of the year as it is my birthday month. I also had quite a good reading month too, which made August an even better month. I managed to read eight books in August.

The first one is actually one I started in July but finished in August and that was Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. I know there is lots of controversy around Rainbow at the moment, due to some accusations of racism in her book Eleanor&Park. I have decided to donate all of the books of hers that I own as I have come to the conclusion I'm not a big fan of her work and I don't want to support someone like that. Carry On is a well loved book, but personally I had a lot of issues with it. My main one was you could tell it was written by an American author trying to make it sound authentically British. I also found the characters very annoying and didn't care for the plot. I've seen a lot of descriptions of it being a "knock off Harry Potter", which I agree with to some extent. This did start as fan-fiction from one of her other books, so I don't know why it became an actual book. It was not for me in the end, so I gave it 3/5 stars.

I then jumped back into The Diviners series, by reading Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray. This is the second book in the series. While I still enjoyed it, Lair of Dreams suffered from second book slump syndrome and was not as engaging as the first book. I did love reading more from Henry, who has become another favourite character of mine. I didn't like the introduction of a love square. The romance felt kinda unnecessary. The mystery was not as engaging as the first book as well. I have a full review of this book, which you can read here. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

A quick read for me was the script for In Bruges by Martin McDonagh. Martin is one of my favourite screenwriters and In Bruges is a family favourite film. I've watched about six times in the last year, so I finally decided to read the script for it. There were some bits that were different from the film, but apart from that it was an easy and fun read. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Next I read Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. Laini is one of my favourite authors, I adore the Strange the Dreamer duology. I had actually read the first book in this series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, over two years ago. I decided to finally continue with this series. I think leaving such a big gap between books was a mistake. I struggled to understand the world and the plot, but Laini's writing is so beautiful it makes up for that. I was glad to be back in that world, but the two year gap between instalments was a bit confusing. I should have probably reread the first book, but I really wanted to finish this series. I gave it 4/5 stars. 

Once again, I jumped back to the Diviners with Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray, the third book in this series. For a series I loved so much, I found with each book I enjoyed it less and less. I had major issues with a certain element of this book, which I will be writing about in my review of this book. Again, I didn't care for the mystery as much. But I adore these characters and the setting so much. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Another Alice Oseman book I read was the newly released paperback for Nick and Charlie, a Solitaire novella. While I found this a cute and easy read, it was filled with far too much drama for my liking. It was also fairly predictable. I did read this in one sitting, which was nice. I love Alice, so I gave this 4/5 stars.

I finally finished the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, by reading the final book, Dreams of Gods and Monsters. Now that I was back in this world, I had a grasp on what was happening. I really enjoyed the first part, but ended up struggling quite a bit with the second half. Laini is a great writer and I really admire her writing style. I'm glad that I've finally finished this series, even if it did take me over two years. I gave it 4/5 stars.

My final read for August was a slightly unsual one and that was The Promise: An Avatar the Last Airbender Comic bind-up. I recently rewatched ATLA for the first time in many years and fell head over heels in love with it again. I had been meaning to pick the comics up for a while, so I treated myself to one. I found it enjoyable. It takes place after the series has ended, so I won't go into details about the plot as to avoid spoilers. I will say that it felt a bit filler-esque and was setting it up for the next comic book. I gave it 4/5 stars.

That concludes my wrap up for July and August. I'm really happy with all the books I've been reading lately.

Carenza :) x 

Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Taken from Google Images

Title- Lair of Dreams
Author- Libba Bray
Series- The Diviners
Published- 2015
Page Count- 613 pages 
Publishing House- Little Brown Books
Rating- 4/5 stars

About the Author

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series. She is originally from Texas but makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and two sociopathic cats.  You can find her at…oh, wait. You already did. Nevermind—you are a genius!

Taken from Libba's website. 

The Plot

After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O'Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. Now that the world knows of her ability to "read" objects, and therefore, read the past, she has become a media darling, earning the title, "America's Sweetheart Seer." But not everyone is so accepting of the Diviners' abilities...

Meanwhile, mysterious deaths have been turning up in the city, victims of an unknown sleeping sickness. Can the Diviners descend into the dreamworld and catch a killer?

Taken from Goodreads.

Opinions

If for some reason you haven't read my review of The Diviners, then click here to read it. 

After finishing The Diviners and being totally swept away by it, I had to get my hands on the remaining books in the series. I would say that I picked the best time to read this series as there are no more agonising waits for books to come out. This book is a beast of a book at 613 pages yet I read it in three days. Why? Because I love this world and these characters so much. It was so good to be back with them, even though I had only just finished the first book. Libba's writing just invites you to keep on reading and to want to know what happens next. 

In this book, compared to the first one, the main perspective shifts away from Evie. Evie was one of the reasons I fell in love with this series and at first I was sad that we weren't getting as much page time from her as we had been. Then I realised that the main character in this book was Henry and I totally fell for him. He is the sweetest little bean ever and I will protect him at all costs. If anything bad happens to him, I will be very angry at Libba (though not really). It was also finally confirmed that Henry is gay and why he had ended up in New York. Learning about his backstory made me want to crawl into the book and give him the biggest hug. He's just so nice and to have had all these things happen to him made me very sad. I think I've expressed enough how much I adore Henry DuBois IV. He's the best. He's in a league of his own now. 

A bit of a pet peeve of mine is the love square developing between Sam, Jericho, Evie and Mabel in this book. At the end of the last book, Evie kissed Jericho and I was okay with it as they did make a good if unlikely couple. But now Evie and Sam are fake dating but also might be falling in love? That just didn't sit well with me. I feel sorry for Mabel, even though she does annoy me at times. I'm hoping it resolves itself soon as I'm now torn about who Evie should end up with. It also bothered me a bit as Sam and Jericho have a great dynamic and they do not need a girl ruining that. The banter between the two of them is top notch. 

Something I've spotted with this series is that it does take quite a while to get to the central mystery. I didn't mind it as much when I was listening to The Diviners on audiobook, but I really wanted to get to the central mystery quicker this time. It felt like it took half of the book to get there and then it wasn't until the last quarter that all the pieces fell into place. Maybe I'm just very impatient and can't wait for things, but it could have been a little bit quicker. It's the only reason I took my rating down from 4.5 to 4 stars as I just wanted to get to the mystery element straight away. 

One of the things I did love about this book was finally seeing the "squad", for want of a better word, coming together. They all knew each other in various ways but seeing them come together as one big group was so satisfying. I also really enjoyed the new addition of Ling to the group. She does not take any nonsense from the group and is 100% the sensible one to put them all in their place. Her relationship with Henry is so sweet and wholesome. The character relationships and dynamics that have been built up in this series are some of the best I've read about. Normally I hate this many perspectives in a book, but this cast of characters is the berries, to use a term of endearment from the book. 

I'm halfway through the third book as I write this and I can't wait to see what Libba does with the story. I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen to one of my favourites and I will be devastated if it does. No doubt I will be writing reviews for the third and fourth books once I've read them. If you're a fan of The Diviners series, then stick around for more content about them.

Carenza :) x  

The Diviners by Libba Bray Book Review (Contains Spoilers)| Carenza Bramwell

Title- The Diviners
Author- Libba Bray
Series- The Diviners
Published- 2012
Page Count- 578 (18 hours audiobook time)
Publishing House- Little Brown Books
Rating- 4.5/5 stars
Note- I listened to this on audiobook so the stats are for the audiobook

About the Author

Libba Bray is the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series. She is originally from Texas but makes her home in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, son, and two sociopathic cats.  You can find her at…oh, wait. You already did. Nevermind—you are a genius!

Taken from Libba's website

Plot

SOMETHING DARK AND EVIL HAS AWAKENED… Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho is hiding a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened…

Taken from Goodreads

Opinions

Just before I cancelled my audible subscription in November/December 2019, I decided to get a copy of the Diviners. I kept on forgetting that I had to listen to it. I started going on a lot more walks than normal during lockdown, so to fill the half an hour I was outside, I would listen to it. I would recommend the audiobooks as the bits that are about music or sung are actually sung by the audiobook narrator. I decided to get this because I had seen emmmabooks rave about it for several years and it did sound really interesting. 

At first, it was quite slow to get into. I knew that it was supposed to be about some kind of murder mystery and the first few hours were about getting to know the characters. It wasn't until I had listened to maybe a quarter of the book that the characters started to investigate the murders. While it was a slowish start, I did quite like trying to figure out how these characters were all connected. It was like I was trying to solve my own little mystery. 

One of the things that made me fall in love with this series was the cast of characters. It has one of the best set of characters I've encountered. Evie was a character I fell for instantly. She has that quality that I really like in female characters of them being no nonsense. She was fierce and fun. Theta was also another character I adored. Each character had something unique about them and they all felt very real. Asides from the characters you weren't supposed to like, there wasn't a character I didn't adore. 

The other thing that made me really enjoy this book was the detailed world building. Libba clearly researched the hell out of 1920s New York. The world felt so well developed. The backstory of every character was explored, but it never felt like you were being told random things that derailed the story. The "magic" system of the Diviners was well explained and you believed these individuals had these incredible powers.  

Since finishing the audiobook of The Diviners, I have bought all the other books in the series in physical format. I am so excited to continue with this series. There have been very few books like this that I've felt like this about in the past year or so. It had great characters and an amazing setting. I am very excited to see where this series goes. If you enjoy YA Paranormal books, then I would recommend this one. 

Carenza :) x