The #Bookvent Calendar 2020: Day 1

Happy December everybody and welcome to this year’s #Bookvent Countdown where I count down my favourite reads of 2020 in a bid to narrow them all down to my book of the year. It’s all been a bit different this year as I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading from my TBR mountain back catalogue, and so my usual rules of must be published in this year have gone out of the window. now. the only rules are that I must have reviewed it this year, and if it was awarded a RED HOT READ badge, no matter which year it was published, it is guaranteed a spot in the countdown. So which books made the cut? Well – I’ve read a lot of excellent books this year. Less books because, like many, I think my reading mojo has been badly impacted by global events, but what I read I made count, so choosing a top list has been really tough. But I managed it – I think. The only logic in terms of the order is that I list my Red Hot Reads towards the end (as one of more of them will be my top read of the year) and everything else is in review date order. So here we go …

#Bookvent – Celebrating my top reads of 2020

My first #bookvent choice is a book I had mixed emotions about when I read it, and I suppose that I still do to some extent now. So why did it make the list? Well there is absolutely no denying the raw emotion of the book and the way in which the author has built the tension and drama, and the whole story unfolds in a way that draws readers in and plays upon their fears with a story that is so undeniably plausible that is reads like fact not fiction. My first #bookvent selection of 2020 is …

Three Hours By Rosamund Lupton

THREE HOURS TO SAVE THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE

In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. Children and teachers barricade themselves into classrooms, the library, the theatre. The headmaster lies wounded in the library, unable to help his trapped students and staff. Outside, a police psychiatrist must identify the gunmen, while parents gather desperate for news. In three intense hours, all must find the courage to stand up to evil and save the people they love.

It took me by surprise a little when I looked down my reading list for 2020 to pick my top reads of the year just how much this book leapt out from the page. I hadn’t realised quite what an impact it made when I read it, but when I saw the title near the bottom of the list, the memories of what I read came flooding back to me. The feelings of fear and hopelessnesses that flooded the parents, teachers and students alike. That sense of people trying their hardest to survive and of the police trying to understand why this school, and these students, had been targeted in such away. Of the two brothers Rafi and Basi, who had escaped from a life of violence and war to find themselves caught up in a siege that brings back such violent and terrifying memories. Their love for each other, the desperate way in which they try to find each other will soften even the hardest heart. The imagery in this book is stark, the setting so isolated and chilling, the atmosphere so packed with tension, and the language so perfectly pitched that you cannot help but be absolutely absorbed in what you are reading. It has been nearly twelve months since I read this book, as I actually read it over Christmas last year, but thinking about the story, about the bravery, the strength and the utter emotion wrapped up in it’s pages, it’s bringing a tear to my eye again now. A definitely recommended read.

If you would like to read my full review, you will find it here.

Happy #bookvent reading all

Jen