My Top 10 Reads of 2020 Part 2

Hi everyone!  Today post is a continuation of my Top 10 Reads of 2020 that I started in a post last week.  If you haven’t already, you may want to read Part 1 .

Here are the remaining 5 of my Top Ten Reads of 2020:

I love this author’s way of storytelling, combining humour and well-developed, likeable characters.  

The story centres around a bank robber who enters a cashless bank only to recognize their mistake. Panicking, the robber flees across the street to an apartment where there is a real-estate showing to potential buyers. Upon entering, the robber is alarmed to see the expression of the apartment viewers and realizes their error of still carrying the gun. And so begins a hostage-taking. 

My review of Anxious People

The book tells a provocative story of a pharmaceutical company who has developed a drug said to help couples suffering from infertility to become pregnant more easily. There are physicians who work with the company who are seeing patients looking for a miracle. What these physicians aren’t telling their patients before starting treatment is that in some cases patients will have an allergic reaction which causes them to be permanently sterile.  These patients sign a form, but there is no discussion of this allergic reaction life-changing side effect. Simply put, this is completely unethical practice and certainly not out of the scope of reality. 

There are several characters who are undercover in trying to investigate the company about this drug. Not everything is at it seems in the twisted, suspenseful story. It is obvious that one or more of our characters isn’t who we think they are.

My review of The First to Lie

The story begins in New York in the late spring of 2001, with our protagonist Cecily Gardner making a decision to get dressed one night to go to a bar. She has recently broken up with Matthew, her boyfriend of several years.  While at the bar she meets Grant who she feels an instant, overwhelming connection with. Over the next month, the relationship between the two intensifies. Grant reveals he is a twin and that his twin brother Byron has been inflicted with ALS – the same disease that killed their mother. Byron has been accepted into a clinical trial in London, and Grant has decided to accompany Byron for the next three months to support him. 

Grant returns from London on September 10.  They have a night of passion before she awakens the next morning to see that he has already left – presumably to go to work. Cecily is soon alerted of the 9/11 events and fears that Grant may have died in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.  What she soon finds out is that Grant had not been as transparent about his life as she thought he had.

This is a love story – but not one most of us strive for. Lydia and Freddie have known each other most of their lives. They are engaged to be married, very much in love and have their whole lives ahead of them. Tragically, Freddie dies in a car accident on Lydia’s twenty eighth birthday.  

The story is about Lydia trying to find a life without Freddie. Unable to sleep, her physician prescribes a pill to help her sleep. When she takes the pill, she enters a parallel universe where Freddie is very much alive. She looks forward to entering this universe and continuing her life with Freddie as often as possible. Unfortunately, not everything is perfect in this parallel universe. Difficult decisions must be made as Lydia continues her journey towards a life that has meaning without Freddie. 

My review of The Two Lives of Lydia Bird

 

The Star-Cross Sisters of Tuscany is a beautifully written love affair not only between two people, but also of an enchanting country.

Emilia Fontana is a woman living a safe life in her family’s bakery in Brooklyn. She is the second born daughter of an Italian family said to have a curse that has lasted 200 years preventing second daughters from finding love. Indeed, no woman in their family born in this birth order has married. The legend that surrounds the curse is strong in many of the older generations, while some of the younger members of the family are somewhat skeptical. 

Emilia’s Aunt Poppy is also a second daughter. Approaching her eightieth birthday, she invites Emilia and her cousin Lucy on a second daughter trip to Italy to prove to all the curse has been broken. The vacation not only bonds the three, but is a journey of personal growth and finding one’s true identity. It is also a trip down memory lane as Aunt Poppy reveals her one great love, and the promise she is determined to keep.