I discovered in 2020 that I didn't really know exactly what I loved in my romance, as I am relatively new to the genre, and so was finding my romance reads to be a bit hit or miss. One of my unofficial goals of 2021 is to try and find out a bit more about what I love in romance, and I have been figuring out a few different ways to do that. I decided the best place to start would be to try out other people's favourites. I picked out three of my favourite booktubers and chose one book from each of their favourite romance books of 2020 to try out.
One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London - Favourite of Heather from Bookables
This is one that has been on my radar since it's release but I have heard a lot of mixed things about it. Some of those I follow, like Heather, absolutely loved it, while others, including people I have taken recommendations from for these books, had to DNF. I love fiction that deals with reality TV, so I am definitely intrigued by the synopsis, as this follows a woman who is asked to be the first plus size contestant on a Bachelorette style TV show.
Heather is someone I have watched for years and have taken a lot of recommendations from in that time. We do enjoy a lot of the same books, but also have very differing opinions on others. It will be interesting to see which way this one goes.
My Thoughts: This had so much potential! As I said, it follows Bea, a plus size fashion blogger who is approached by the producer of Main Squeeze, a bachelorette style reality show, and asked to be the show's first plus size 'Main Squeeze'. Despite her reservations, and the fact she is still trying to get over a recent heartbreak, she agrees, and we follow her journey on the show. It is told in chat conversations, interview transcripts, tweets and news articles, alongside regular prose, which made it a fun reading experience as I love that kind of thing.
I really enjoyed Bea as a main character, for the most part. She was a very real character with very real and relatable struggles and fears. A lot of the negative reviews I have seen for this book are from people who felt this book did not portray a body positive main character, as you are lead to believe from the synopsis. Bea loves her body, but she is very aware of how society perceives her and her size. She has struggle and insecurities, just like every person, and I loved reading her journey with those throughout this book. Bea overcomes a lot of her self-doubt and I found that added a whole other layer to her character. She was just a great main character to follow. What I didn't like about her, however, was the fact she knowing slept with an engaged man and the fact he was engaged to someone else was just brushed under the rug and she felt no guilt.
The story itself was a lot of fun. We follow Bea throughout her time on the show, getting to know the guys fighting for her attention, going on fun dates. While her time on the show wasn't all fun, there is a lot of blatant fatphobia so be aware of that, it was mostly enjoyable to read about. I do wish we had gotten to know the men a little bit more as they were all quite similar to me and I struggled to work out who to root for. In the end, I just didn't really care who she ended up with. Everything started going downhill in the later part of the book and the ending was just a bit meh.
My only other issue with this book was the way the diversity of characters was written. On paper, this book had a very diverse cast of characters. However, they were thrown in almost as if to check off boxes, as though race, sexuality or gender identity of characters were just added in as an afterthought to make the book a bit more diverse. It just didn't come off as genuine to me.
Overall though, this book was a pretty good read. As I said, I enjoyed Bea as a main character and the discussions around body positivity and how society views plus size individuals. I enjoyed the reality TV storyline. However, I got bored towards the end and didn't care who she ended up with. It was an average read.
Rating: ★★★
Inevitable Conclusions by Christina C Jones - Favourite of Jessica from PeaceLoveBooksxo
I had never even heard of this book until Jessica mentioned it in her favourites video, which is why I knew this is the one I wanted to choose from her. This is a friends to lovers, second chance romance with, it seems, some secrets and dramas in their past. I have also been following Jessica for years, her channel is the first romance channel I ever found and has been one of my top places to get recommendations from since I started watching her videos. I'm not really sure how our tastes align, so it will be interesting to see if one of her favourites is also going to be one of mine.
My Thoughts: This book follows Kora, a single mother of a teenage daughter, and her best friend since childhood, Tariq. When the book begins, they have a friends with benefits arrangement going on and you get thrown right into that from the first chapter. This books starts STEAMY, which caught me off guard a bit, and that steam level stays throughout. This was my introduction to Christina C Jones, and boy can she write a steamy scene.
This was a really adorable friends to lovers romance and I especially loved the fact that they were so close, despite having tried to have a relationship when they were younger that didn't work out. With friends to lovers, I often find it hard to believe when the reason a couple have for not being together is not wanting to risk their friendship. However, in this book you could see just how important their friendship was to the both of them, and how much they would be risking by getting together. I also really loved the fact we had older characters to those you usually see in romance, both in their late thirties, which made for a more mature feel to the book without any childish drama.
As well as the relationship between the main characters, I loved all the other relationships in the book. Both Kora and Tariq's relationships with Kora's daughter were so great to read about, particularly how fatherly and protective Tariq is. We also get some really healthy and supportive friendships within this book as well, which I loved.
Both main characters are dealing with, and supporting each other through, traumatic pasts and difficult family circumstances. Trigger warnings for sexual assault and attempted suicide, there may be others but those are the things that stick out in my memory.
There were a couple of things that stopped me from completely loving this book. The first was the kind of cheating. They make a point of stating that their friends with benefits arrangement only happens when they are not in relationships, but the two do sleep together while Tariq is seeing someone, which I wasn't really on board with. The other issue was that it is a bit forgettable. Just a week after reading it I am struggling to remember what happened. That doesn't make it bad in any way, I'm just disappointed that I can't fully remember why I enjoyed it so much at the time.
Rating: ★★★★
Dear Ava by Ilsa Madden-Mills - Favourite of Chandler from Chandler Ainsley
This is a book I have seen a lot around the book community in 2020. A lot of people have read and loved this book in the past year, so I have high hopes. Not only was this on Chandler's favourites list, Jessica from PeaceLoveBooksxo also gave it an honourable mention on her list. Chandler is someone I discovered in 2020 and really enjoy her videos. She reads such a variety of books and I don't think our tastes are all that similar, but I am really intrigued by this book.
My Thoughts: This is a New Adult high school enemies to lovers romance, following Ava, who is sexually assaulted at a party by one of the popular guys in the school, though she doesn't know which one, and is now returning to school a year later. Upon her return to school, she finds a note from a secret admirer in her locker, and then is forced to pair up with the most popular guy in the school, Knox, who she hates, on a class project.
There were a lot of things I liked about this book. I liked Ava as a main character. She has had a really rough childhood and is now essentially an orphan looking after her younger brother, and is at this prestigious school on a scholarship. Despite the horrific treatment she gets at school, both from being the 'charity case' and for having reported her sexual assault, she returns to the school in order to give her brother the best chance. She is incredibly brave, but also takes no shit. I enjoyed the banter between her and Knox, though they didn't quite have the enemies to lovers relationship I was looking for. They were really good together and I loved how they could both be themselves around each other. I also really loved the way Knox stood up for Ava whenever anyone spoke badly about her in relation to her sexual assault. He was one of the few people who always believed her. The family aspect of the book was one of my favourite parts. Both Ava and Knox have such close relationships with their brother's and would do anything for them.
As for things I didn't like, there were a few of them too. As I said already, it wasn't really an enemies to lovers relationship. They were never really enemies and that aspect was a bit disappointing to me. I didn't see the point in the secret admirer storyline, which seemed so prevalent from the synopsis. It seemed like an afterthought and was only really brought up on the few occasions it would help explain a plot hole. It just seemed really unnecessary, especially as the identity wasn't much of a secret. In fact, nothing about this story was surprising. It was so clear where this book was going from the first few chapters and it meant I got kind of bored. I also really didn't like all of the epilogues. I will put up with one epilogue, any more than that are just not needed.
Overall, while I loved the main characters and enjoyed their relationship, everything else about this book was a bit disappointing. I was sure this one would be my favourite of the three but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. That being said, it wasn't a bad book and I did enjoy it for the most part.
Trigger warnings for sexual assault, suicide, suicidal thoughts, drug use and addiction, bullying, assault, I'm worried that I'm missing things but that's all I can remember.
Rating: ★★★
I'm quite disappointed that I ended up with two books that were just average, since that's what I was trying to avoid. I guess I can't love everything. I did find a new author I am definitely reading more from in Christina C Jones, and may try out some more from the other two authors at some point. Hopefully the more of these experiments I do, the more new favourites I will find.
What was your favourite romance book of 2020? If you've read any of these three books, what were your thoughts?
Sophie :)
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