Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where book bloggers are invited to share their top ten lists centered on a certain theme.
This week’s theme is new-to-me authors I read in 2020! While favorite authors are always great, discovering new authors is so much fun. 2020 pushed me to try a lot of new authors and genres and I definitely founds lots of unexpected favorites. For the purpose of this list, I didn’t include debut authors (since they’re new to everyone!), but I’ll definitely be making a list of those soon, too.
Note: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you choose to purchase via the links in this post. This is a way to support indie bookstores & the work I put into this blog! It’s appreciated, but never expected.
- Supriya Kelkar: I listened to Supriya’s middle grade novel American As Paneer Pie and absolutely loved it. Lekha is a girl who feels torn between her Indian heritage and the desire to be American. I thought this coming of age novel was so sweet, tender, and real!
2. Zoraida Córdova: I listened to the audiobook of Labyrinth Lost on a whim and loved it so much that I quickly tore through the entire trilogy! This is easily one of my favorite YA series now, and I definitely plan to pick up anything else Zoraida writes.
3. Saadia Faruqi: I listened to both A Thousand Questions and A Seat at the Table on audio, and adored both of these middle grade novels starring Pakistani-American girls (A Seat at the Table also stars a Jewish character!). I’m so looking forward to more MG books from Saadia!
4. Alyssa Cole: After hearing rave reviews for years, I finally picked up an Alyssa Cole book in 2020! I listened to When No One is Watching, which is her thriller debut. I loved her writing and will definitely be reading some of her romance novels soon!
5. Sarah Smith: I’m always looking for Filipino and Fil-Am authors to support! In 2020, I read and really enjoyed both of Sarah Smith’s romance novels, Simmer Down and Faker.
6. Lamar Giles: After hearing all about Lamar Giles for years, I finally picked up one of his YA books in 2020! Not So Pure and Simple was such a great look at friendship, faith, and first crushes.
7. Eric Smith: Another YA author I’ve heard all about but only had the chance to read in 2020! I really enjoyed Don’t Read the Comments and am so looking forward to more from Eric.
8. Samantha Mabry: Why didn’t anyone tell me how beautiful and poetic Samantha Mabry’s writing is? Or maybe y’all did and I just didn’t believe you until I read Tigers, Not Daughters!
9. Mia Sosa: The Worst Best Man was such a fun read and definitely made Mia Sosa a must-read romance author for me!
10. Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Mexican Gothic was totally outside my comfort zone but I’m so glad I picked up the audiobook! It was so engrossing and I definitely want to read all of Silvia’s backlist now.
What new-to-you authors did you discover in 2020?
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Books. Libraries. Also, cats. 
Mexicab Gothich is on my tbr and I wanna read it so bad!! Great post😊
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Thank you! I hope you get a chance to read it soon.
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I’ve yet to try listening to an audiobook. Would you recommend it? I hope you can stop by:
https://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2021/01/top-ten-tuesday-2020-new-to-me-authors.html
Colletta
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I personally really love audiobooks and highly recommend them! For your first audiobook, I definitely suggest trying a shorter one (7 hrs or less). I think it’s all about finding the right narrators that you find engaging and that make you want to keep listening. But audiobooks aren’t for everybody, and that’s totally okay!
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Silvia Moreno-Garcia is also on my list, though it’s because of her other book (Gods of Jade and Shadows). I haven’t read the other yet but Mia Sosa is definitely on my TBR!
My TTT
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I definitely want to read more from Silvia!
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Silvia Moreno-Garcia is brilliant! I’ve read all of her novels and enjoyed all of them and her debut, Signal to Noise, is still one of my all-time favourite novels so I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve heard such good things about The Worst Best Man and I really want to try Labyrinth Lost and When No One is Watching, too.
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I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from Silvia! Labyrinth Lost was really soooo good–I immediately read the entire trilogy within a couple of weeks.
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I so need to read Mexican Gothic! But my NetGalley backlist keeps getting in the way! Some great looking books here. These are the fifteen authors who were new to me last year – quite a few outside my usual reading genre.
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Yessss, Mexican Gothic was amazing! I hope you get a chance to read it soon.
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Oh wow these all sound so interesting! Especially, ‘A Thousand Questions!’
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i have the audiobook of When No One is Watching lined up, but I’m not in the mood for it now (obsessed with the Bridgerton show and making my way through the books now). Thanks for a great post this week. Happy reading! https://readwithstefani.com/popular-books-i-did-not-finish/
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I read Zoraida Cordova for the first time last year as well, but I read her latest book, Incendiary and wasn’t a massive fan. I’ll have to try Labyrinth Lost at some point though, it sounds really cool.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/26/top-ten-tuesday-300/
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I need to read Mexican Gothic! Hopefully sometime soon. 🙂
My post.
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Oooh, I have When No One is Watching on my Kindle! Will have to bump it up the list now!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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I need to read Don’t Read The Comments and Mexican Gothic. Mexican Gothic is outside of my TBR as well, but it looks so good.
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Some of these are on my TBR! Glad to know you enjoyed them!
My Top Ten
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I haven’t read any of these yet, but I have Sosa’s book as one I want to read. I’m glad all of these authors brought you joy this past year.
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I have Sosa’s book on my TBR for this year!
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The Best Worst Man is like fourth on my current TBR list. I can’t wait to dive into it. I’ve heard so many good things! 🙂
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I vowed that 2020 would be the year I finally read an Alyssa Cole book, but I didn’t quite make it to When No One is Watching. It looks excellent!
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I’m glad that you enjoyed Mexican Gothic enough to want to read Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s backlist! I read Certain Dark Things a couple of years back and I definitely recommend it 😀
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