our best-of-the-year pick will shock you, SHOCK YOU, I SAY...

CC: @quicunquevult https://twitter.com/NetGalley/status/1338515165109751811

We don't really have favorites, though, and so if you wanted more books that we have loved this year, here is a mini thread:

THE ROOMMATE, by Rosie Danan. Feminist, irreverent, sexy, surprising. We both loved it. If possible, I love her upcoming THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT even more

SPOILER ALERT, by @OliviaWrites. A love sonnet to fandom. A love sonnet to our bodies. I loved the tenderness and heat and humor and creativity.

Also should have tagged @rosiedanan in last tweet. I must be new to twitter.

DARING AND THE DUKE by our queen, @sarahmaclean. Third book in Bareknuckle Bastards. The whole series is pitch perfect. I could gush, I always do, but you know how we feel about her. She makes us want to be better! She's talented. Ugh, we hate her. No we don't we love her.

LOVE LETTERING, by @kateclayborn. If you're one of our 2 followers who hasn't read this, I don't know what you're waiting on. Technically a 2019 release (just barely) it is lyrical and tightly paced and just a perfect romance in every way.

BOYFRIEND PROJECT by @FarrahRochon . I love everything Farrah writes (if you want a seasonal rec, I'm over here constantly shouting about A Mistletoe Affair) but TBP is smart and current and hot and is one of those one-sitting books that make you decide to order delivery dinner.

YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER by @witchofthewords. I read this in Summer 2019, before it was out, before the pandemic, when I was on vacation. A person in the cabin next to ours finally came up to me and said, "What are you reading? I need it. I've never heard someone laugh so much."

BEACH READ by Emily Henry. Yes, to the one person who hasn't heard of it. It's a big, voicy enemies to lovers about writers block and family secrets and misconceptions and youth and growing up, and it's delightful.

oh my GOD I just realized THE RAKESS by @scarlettpeckham came out this year. I thought it came out the year I was born because I can't imagine my life without it. WHEW THIS BOOK. Is badass and sexxxxxy and smart and sharp as a blade.

WILD AT HEART, by @kathleenatucker. This is the second, and if you haven't read THE SIMPLE WILD I really urge you to because it's one of my all time favorites. Kathleen is lovely, which is good, b/c if she was a jerk I'd feel justified hating her for writing this before we could.

(I kid. Only Kathleen can write Kathleen.)

HANDS DOWN by @marianazapata_. I swear it is Mariana's intent to kill us all with the slow burns but we must love it because we keep coming back for it. *shakes fist*

I can't just put one @ReidRomance title down but if you're not reading her yet, it really is time to start. I know everyone says her books are smart, and they are, but they're also brillliantly emotional too and I *clenches fist* love them. New to her? Start with TOTALLY FOLKED.

I feel like I need an entire thread dedicated just to @RdotSpoon because every book she does is so different and SO GOOD but 2020 gave us HARBOR and IF THE BOOT FITS and both are spectacular. Also RAFE is a must-read for everyone.

QUEEN MOVE! QUEEN MOVE! OH MY GOD THIS BOOK. Okay sorry for yelling but @kennedyrwrites is a genius and I spent the first half of the year screaming about this book and want to spend the last few days of December doing the same. (also the cover melts my brain i love it so much)

We spend a lot of time on here talking about our love for @Sonali_Dev and I really can't recommend her books highly enough. I first met her with THE BOLLYWOOD BRIDE and guys--it's a classic. It just is. But Sonali gets better with every book and RECIPE FOR PERSUASION is brilliant

Okay I intentionally saved @AlishaRai for the end (for now; I gotta go work) because my next read is her upcoming FIRST COMES LIKE and we get to do a giveaway of an ARC soon!! But first: 2020 gave us GIRL GONE VIRAL. HAVE YOU READ IT? Tonally spot on. Hilarious & hot. STRONG REC.

WAIT ONE MORE!!! TO HAVE AND TO HOAX by @marthabwaters was this year!! Oh my god what is TIME???? This book is so delightful we thanked it in our acknowledgements for In A Holidaze lol but really. DEE-LIGHT-FULL

[doing a thread like this is stressful because I know I am forgetting things that literally (hee!) rocked my world this year so if I come back screaming about more 2020 romance do not consider them somehow lower on my list!! THESE ARE ALL BRILLIANT BOOKS I LOVE IT HERE]

Or, maybe instead of working I yell about THINGS YOU MUST PREORDER NOW?

OK Let's start with
LOVE AT FIRST, by @kateclayborn. If you're sick of me yelling about this everywhere, too bad. It's out Feb 23 and I swear to goddess it is so beautiful it makes me scream.

THE GIRL WITH STARS IN HER EYES by @XioAxelrod somehow made me nostalgic and REALLY wound up inside in the best way? You know that feeling? Where you just ACHE because you love something so much? I felt that way about this book. Out April 6.

I already mentioned FIRST COMES LIKE by @AlishaRai, which is out Feb 16, and I've adored the first two books in this series (THE RIGHT SWIPE, GIRL GONE VIRAL) and Alisha is on my preorder-the-second-the-link-is-up list. No one is blending internet+dating world like she is.

HEART AND SEOUL by @JenSFred. Christina and I have both read this early and - whew. Just--I'm genuinely in love with this book. 25-yo Hara Wilson returns to Korea to find out about her birth parents. There is family drama and romance and KISSING and it's beautiful. Out May 25.

If you haven't preordered SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS by @Sally__Thorne then I assume you haven't had access to the internet in months & probably won't see this tweet either, but it's perfectly Sally & so hilarious and hot. I got in bed at 7 so I could read this & be left alone.

oh OH OH!!! THE EX TALK by @rlynn_solomon holy SH******** this book is so funny and perfect. Out Jan 26 and expect to hear me screaming about this for the next month, I'm totally serious, go buy it, I'll wait.

But while I wait I will also recommend HONEY GIRL by @garnetmorgue. We both loved this, we love Morgan, and we want this debut to get all of the love it deserves because it is truly stunning.

THE INTIMACY EXPERIMENT by @rosiedanan. April 6. I have read this. And I have read it again. I'm not over Naomi and will never be over Naomi and that's okay, this book will live forever on my shelf.