It's FRIDAY and time for Fast Five Fiction. If you've glanced through my Goodreads, you know I read A LOT of books each year. I read an eclectic mix of middle grade, young adult, and adult books in various genres. So far this year, I've read 234. It was hard to narrow it down to my five favorite books/series of 2020 but that's what I'm sharing with you today. Click on the link to be directed to the catalog. Book descriptions are from Goodreads.
Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger
This series has been flying off the shelves this year, as soon as they're checked in, they're checked out again. I was a little late to the game reading this series, as the first book was published in 2012 but once I started I couldn't put them down. If your child is looking for a clean read with lots of action and adventure than this would be a great choice.
From the first book in the series:
Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath—someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain. Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known. Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” There are secrets buried deep in Sophie’s memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.
These titles are now available in our all-in-one audiobook format, Playaways. Place that format on hold here.
Pages & Co. series by Anna James
An enchanting story about the magic of books and the power of imagination. Since her mother’s disappearance, eleven-year-old Tilly Pages has found comfort in the stories at Pages & Co., her grandparents’ bookshop. But when her favorite characters, Anne of Green Gables and Alice from Wonderland, start showing up at the shop, Tilly’s adventures become very real. Not only can she follow Anne and Alice into their books, she discovers she can bookwander into any story she chooses. Tilly’s new ability leads her to fun and exciting adventures, but danger may be lurking on the very next page…
When new secrets are uncovered, it’s up to Tilly to solve the mystery of what happened to her mother all those years ago. From debut author Anna James comes a charming and exciting adventure about a bookish young heroine, a mysterious librarian, and a magical bookshop that will delight book lovers everywhere.
Twilight Hauntings: Enchanter's Child # 1 by Angie Sage
This is the first in a new series, and I can't wait for the next one. Alex has a set of Enchanted cards. When she flutters her fingers above them, something magical happens: the cards come alive and create moving pictures of what is now and what is yet to come. But Enchantment is illegal in the city of Luma, and those who practice it are imprisoned forever in the Vaults—dark dungeons deep below the city.
When Alex is betrayed by her foster sister Zerra, she knows she is in great danger. With the help of her little foster brother, Louie, she makes a daring escape.
But Alex discovers she is not safe outside Luma either. Here lurk deadly Hauntings that seek out those who practice magic: Enchanters and their children. The Hauntings take many forms and Alex is hunted by a giant bird of prey, the Hawke, a murderous Night Wraith called the Grey Walker, and the eerie Xin.
But why do the Hauntings haunt Alex?
Alex doesn’t believe she’s an Enchanter’s Child, but she has no idea who her parents are. Her precious Enchanted cards are her only clue to her true identity, and she becomes determined to find out who she is. And, while she is at it, to get rid of the deadly Twilight Hauntings forever.
Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter
April didn’t mean to start the fire. She wasn’t even the one who broke the vase.
She had absolutely no intention of becoming the only person who knows that Gabriel Winterborne, the missing-and-presumed-dead billionaire, is neither missing nor dead and is actually living in the basement of Winterborne House, sharpening his swords and looking for vengeance.
Now that April knows Gabriel Winterborne is alive, it’s up to her to keep him that way. But there’s only so much a twelve-year-old girl can do, so April must turn to the other orphans for help. Together, they’ll have to unravel the riddle of a missing heir and a creepy legend, and find a secret key, before the only home they’ve ever known is lost to them forever.
I've read everything Ally Carter has ever written. While most of her books are geared towards teens her middle grade debut did not disappoint.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, crisscrossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash.
Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished - the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box - she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it.
Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys....
Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after”.
And because I just can't stop myself from recommending some Young Adult titles too, here's my five favorite YA books for the year:
- The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Barnes
- The Grace Year by Kim Ligget
- Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson
- The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black
- The Clue Mysteries: In the Hall with the Knife and In the Study with the Wrench by Diana Peterfreund
Happy Friday, and happy reading!
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