Welcome sapphic reading friends to what I hope will be the first Cate’s Top 10 list. Amidst all the turmoil that was 2020, I feel so lucky to have gotten a chance to read so many fantastic books.
For every bad moment of 2020, there were so many amazing books released. If it weren’t for all the reading I got done maybe I would have contributed more of my own books to that list.
I loved every book on this list for a different reason, some for their amazing characters (looking at you numbers 1 and 2), some for their ability to transport me to another time or place (number 5), and a couple just because they gave me the warm and fuzzies (numbers 3 and 4). In case you hadn’t guessed I’m a huge romance fan. Normally, you’d see a little more diversity in my reading habits because I’ve never met a genre I didn’t enjoy. However, for 2020 it felt right to indulge the part of me that just wanted to devour happy things (or at least things that I knew would turn out happy in the end).
1 Must Love Silence by Lucy Bexley
Published by Indie Author
Audiobook No
Synopsis
What happens when a misanthrope meets the one person she doesn’t want to be without?
Reese Walker doesn’t like people. What she likes is silence and being left alone. The thing she loves most about recording audiobooks is that she doesn’t have to leave her Chicago apartment to do it. And she hasn’t for nearly a year. But with an unavoidable bill going to collections that puts her sister’s treatment at risk, she has no choice but to take a job that pushes her out of her comfort zone.
After a disastrous blow to her career, Arden Abbott needs a comeback. Step one: a successful book launch, including an audiobook. She doesn’t trust anyone else to oversee every aspect of the project. It has to be flawless. Arden knows she’s ready to resume the life she had before her dreams fell apart, all she has to do is prove it to everyone around her.
When Reese and Arden meet, sparks fly and then they combust. Will Reese crack under the constant pressure from Arden? Can she possibly read a sex scene with the woman who wrote it interrupting to correct her pronunciation of words she is saying 100% correctly? Or can they step outside their comfort zones long enough to meet in the middle…
Must Love Silence is an enemies-to-lovers slow burn workplace lesbian romance featuring a lovable misanthrope and a heroine in recovery. It’s funny and a little dark, and it firmly believes that everyone deserves a chance to change.
Why I love it
Must Love Silence is Bexley’s debut novel but you would never know that from reading it. She does a fantastic job of offering up two main characters who are both struggling in different ways in a way that feels real. For the time it took me to read this book, I was part of that world. Despite the heavy topics it delves into, the novel has a lot of humor and feels a little like an old-school romantic comedy with plenty of awkward circumstances and clumsy moments that just make the characters even more endearing.
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2 Finding Jessica Lambert by Clare Ashton
Published by Indie Author
Audiobook Yes, narrated by Narrator Name/No
Synopsis
Movie star Jessica Lambert is in danger of burning out. Returning to London for the premiere of her latest film, she’s recognised everywhere she goes. When she runs away through the streets of London, she’s taken in by the beautiful and more mature Anna. The two hide in the sanctuary of Anna’s roof-top flat, a haven away from the crowds, but why has Anna removed herself from the world?
As the two women get to know each other, stripping away the layers, both appreciate what each does for the other. This could be the start of something wonderful, more than either of them know.
Why I love it
This is the first Clare Ashton novel I’ve read, but I can promise you it won’t be the last. It’s a long read and also a bit of a heavier novel. That being said, I could not put it down. It’s a long read but I blazed through it in just a day or two which is unusual for me. I stayed up well past my bedtime trying to get to the end.
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3 Tack and Jibe by Lilah Suzanne
Published by Interlude Press
Audiobook No
Synopsis
Raised on a small island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Willa has a picture-perfect life: hanging out at the beach with her friends, living in a cozy sea-side cottage, working at a sailing store, and running a hugely popular sailing Instagram. When a group of followers enters her into High Seas, a televised national sailing championship, it should be no problem. Too bad Willa doesn’t actually know how to sail at all. Desperate to avoid having her carefully curated life come crashing down around her, Willa tracks down Lane Cordova, the winner of four previous High Seas competitions, and begs her for a crash course in sailing before the race begins. But Lane’s competence on the water is only matched by Willa’s ineptitude, and her growing crush on Lane isn’t helping matters. The competition threatens to go awry and take her entire idealized life with it.
Why I love it
This little book didn’t make a huge splash (at least not as far as I saw), but I loved this novel. I picked it up as an ARC early in 2020 and it gave me all the warm fuzzy feelings I needed to get through those early days of the pandemic. It’s got a little enemies to lovers vibe, a little ice-queen, and plenty of small town charm which ticks all of my favorite romance boxes.
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4 Twice Shy by Aurora Rey
Published by Bold Strokes Books
Audiobook Yes, narrated by Keira Grace
Synopsis
Sometimes, you get a second chance at love. Sometimes, you hook up with your ex and remember why you broke up in the first place.
Amanda Russo knows better than to give her failed marriage another try, but the brief fling reminds her there’s more to life than work and parenting. When the architect she hires to remodel her bakery turns out to be as charming as she is talented, Amanda finds herself ready to take a chance on new love. The only problem? Her ex-wife didn’t get the memo.
For Quinn Sullivan, the sting of divorce is still fresh. Getting set up by pretty much everyone she knows hasn’t inspired her to give love another shot. Meeting Amanda does. Sure, they’re working together, but that’s not a deal breaker. Amanda’s ex might be another story.
Why I love it
Bold Strokes Books is the first lesfic publisher I found (going on ten years ago now), and they’re still putting out consistently enjoyable and high quality novels. I don’t think I’ve read a book published by them that I didn’t enjoy, but Twice Shy was a cut above the rest. This novel is a foodie lover’s delight which would be enough for it to make this list, but it also has fantastic characterization and a compelling plot that has me adding every future Aurora Rey book to my must read pile.
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5 The Love Factor by Quinn Ivins
Published by Ylva Publishing
Audiobook Yes, narrated by Lori Prince
Synopsis
Molly Cook is almost 30, with dismal career prospects, and has given up on saving the world. It might be the 90s, and everything’s shoulder pads, Doc Martens, and The X-Files, but people won’t budge on gay rights. Molly decides to give a PhD a whirl but finds herself more interested in campus politics…and her strict and sexy statistics professor.
Professor Carmen Vaughn is stuck in small-town Maryland with smarmy blowhards for colleagues and ungrateful students who can’t handle her high standards. She has no intention of coming out, least of all to Molly, a troublemaking grad student who can’t stop picking fights with the conservative faculty.
But when Molly discovers evidence implicating a homophobic colleague in a scandal, Carmen can’t ignore it – even if the subject hits too close to home. As the two women work together to make their case, they grow closer than Carmen ever imagined. But she absolutely refuses to get involved with a student.
The thing is, as the chemistry builds between them, Molly isn’t sure she wants to be a grad student anymore…if she ever did.
Why I love it
I’m a nineties kid through and through so this book had me intrigued from the first time I heard about it. When I found out the plot centered around a graduate student and her professor I almost skipped it because that’s not usually something I enjoy (even less so after a rather disastrous attempt at my own PhD). I picked this up right at the end of 2020 and fell deep into the world Ivins imagined. For a couple of glorious days, I forgot about everything else happening in the real world and fell into the story of Molly and Carmen and LGBTQ rights in the nineties. Any book that can truly transport me to another place deserves a place on this list.
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We hope you have enjoyed Cate’s Top 5 Books of 2020.
