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We all know 2020 was a complete mess and I think I speak for a lot of us when I say it was tough to get through. There were moments I didn’t understand how we got there or how we would ever get out. Frankly, things got a bit dark. But I was able to escape into a few good books and there were some key authors who gave me a place to escape and helped me through until the ball dropped. (I’ll only be linking first in a series and standalones.)

JOANNA RUTH MEYER

At the top of this list is my new favorite author. I started with Echo North in early 2020 and fell in love with her writing. Her books are modern fairy tales, some of them inspired by classics, and others her own mythology. Echo North is a retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and its beautiful romance and lush world building made me a fan for life. Beneath the Haunting Sea and Beyond the Shadowed Earth are companion novels that can be read separately but are even better together. Into the Heartless Wood is a genderbent Beauty and the Beast retelling that will be published next week that I can’t recommend enough! 

ECHO NORTH
BENEATH THE HAUNTING SEA
INTO THE HEARTLESS WOOD

EVAN WINTER

This African-inspired epic fantasy swept me up and consumed my every waking thought even after I finished binging it. The Rage of Dragons is the story of Tau and his vengeance, but the second book becomes so much more! I don’t know if there’s ever been a character I connected with more than this one and I am absolutely dying to get back into his story, although I suppose I’ll have to wait awhile. This incredibly fast paced has everything from fighting to unique magic systems, to dragons, and gave me major Spartacus vibes!

THE RAGE OF DRAGONS

JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT
While JLA was not a new-to-me author, I had never met a book of her’s that I loved before 2020. This was a year that I needed to escape desperately and her books let me do just that. First I dived into From Blood and Ash, skeptical, but with an open mind. Thankfully, I ended up loving the unique world and enemies-to-lovers romance, so I kept going with book two, which was a bit slower but still incredible. Then I went back to 2014 with White Hot Kiss and continued the series once I was fully sucked in. The Dark Elements series certainly isn’t great literature, but it’s a great, quick romance about a gargoyle and a demon prince. 
FROM BLOOD AND ASH
Goodreads | Amazon

WHITE HOT KISS

KENDARE BLAKE

I was way behind on this series, but the world Kendare Blake created definitely drew me in. It was so much darker than I expected it to be and I realized pretty quickly that I was going to love it! This series is about triplets separated at birth and raised knowing they would have to kill the others to take the throne when the time came. I struggled to pick a favorite queen throughout the first book and the ending made me immediately jump into the next one. I put it down after book two, but the others are on my shelf waiting to be read. 
THREE DARK CROWNS

SARAH J. MAAS

Listen, I didn’t say I was proud of all of them, just that they got me through the year. Sometimes escapism is about going back to something familiar and A Court of Thorns and Roses has been that for me for several years now. When everything feels like it’s falling apart, I always find myself falling back into Prythian and losing myself there for awhile. After I finished A Court of Mist and Fury I decided to give Throne of Glass another try and made it through four books before I wasn’t in the mood for SJM anymore. These books helped me get through a really difficult event this year, so I can’t be mad at them. 
A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES
THRONE OF GLASS
HONORABLE MENTIONS


Okay, these are actually all just as amazing as the others I shared, but I didn’t have multiples from each author to share. The Year of the Witching was spooky and atmospheric and the characters had my heart! I recently saw that the author is working on book two and I am dying to get a copy! A Song of Wraiths and Ruin was an amazing African-inspired fantasy debut with incredible world building and characters. I’ve already preordered my copy of the second book! Finally, A House at the Bottom of a Lake was the kind of book that takes you to a completely different world within our own and using a very small amount of pages. It was one of the weirdest and creepiest books I’ve read in awhile and I loved it so much. 

THE YEAR OF THE WITCHING
My Review | Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org

A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN
Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org

A HOUSE AT THE BOTTOM OF A LAKE
Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org

What books got you through the year? 
Do you have comfort re-reads?
Let me know in the comments!


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