2024 Reading Wrap-Up

Happy end of year everyone! This one has been absolutely crazy for me, dealing with some of the uppiest ups and the downiest downs. I would summarize this year in one word: a rollercoaster. But throughout this year, one thing has been pretty consistent for me, and that would be reading. Through all of the crazy events of my life this year, it was rare when I was without a book (or e-reader) in hand. I actually read so much, that...

I read 110 books this year! Go me!

I'm very proud of myself for achieving this goal, as I've never read 100 books before, much less 110. My previous record was 79 books in 2021, and my original goal for this year was 80. I credit my ability to read so much more due to two things: one, the Kindle Fire HD 8 I received for Christmas in 2023, and two, my job allowing me ample reading time (while the kiddos sleep, of course). And with so many books comes many feelings, particularly of like and dislike, some of which I felt stronger for than others. Listed below are my favorite and most hated least favorite books that I read in the past 365 days.

My Favorite Books of the Year

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

I can't mention favorite books without mentioning Sarah J. Maas, it's impossible. Being a fan since 2016 and considering her my favorite author of all time, House of Flame and Shadow was my most anticipated release of the year... and it certainly did not disappoint! It was the epic conclusion to the Crescent City trilogy, the third of Maas' series that I've so deeply loved. Spoiler alert: all of my favorite characters got a happy ending! Well, except for one... but Sarah has teased that there is something in the works for Tharion, and I am at the edge of my seat anticipating for what's to come. (If you're interested in my extended thoughts on House of Flame and Shadow, you can read my full blog post right here!)

A Good Girl's Guide To Murder trilogy by Holly Jackson

I decided to go a little out of my sci-fi/fantasy comfort zone this year and delve into some murder mysteries. I thought, why not go with the one everyone is talking about (and the one that has a Netflix series I can binge later)? I finally picked up Holly Jackson's viral A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, and all I can say is... I. Was. HOOKED. So hooked, I ended up reading all three books back-to-back. Good Girl, Bad Blood had me shook to my core as well, but I didn't love it more than the first. As Good As Dead, though, is simply the best in the series and one of my favorite books of all time. There's also a short prequel novella, Kill Joy, which contains plenty of easter eggs for those who read all three books prior. The series starts as a lighthearted mystery and twists into a dark thriller as the series goes on. I later picked up Jackson's other novels, Five Survive and The Reappearance of Rachel Price, both of which I loved but not more than the A Good Girl's Guide To Murder trilogy.

Ali Hazelwood's STEMinists

2024 was also the year I decided to finally read one of the most popular authors out there right now, Ali Hazelwood. Across the year, I read all nine works written by her, some I loved more than others. I found myself loving her "STEMinist" rom-coms best: The Love Hypothesis, Love On the Brain, and Love, Theoretically (with each one getting better and better). That's not to say I didn't enjoy her young adult debut Check & Mate, her paranormal-romance debut Bride, or her less-com-more-rom Not In Love. And I can't leave this without giving a shoutout to her triple novella bind-up Loathe To Love You, her audiobook-exclusive Two Can Play, or her Christmastime short story Cruel Winter With You. Ali Hazelwood's books are such a treat, and I have yet to find another author whose books give me the same warm and fuzzy feelings hers do.

Honorable Mentions: The Letters of Enchantment duology by Rebecca Ross, the Belladonna trilogy by Adalyn Grace, Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

My Least Favorite Books of the Year

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

For every popular book I love, there is an equally popular book that I absolutely loathe. Nora Sakavic's All In The Game series has been around for a decade now, and while it remains underground to the general public, those who have been in the book community have been aware of this one for a while. It's received never-ending praise on TikTok and Goodreads alike, so when I finally picked it up I was expecting something great. Unfortunately, I was met with a sports drama pretending to be a mafia romance. It also doesn't help that the main character is relentlessly bullied, drugged, kidnapped, and sexually assaulted by his teammates (no trigger warnings provided, by the way, so this was very unexpected). Needless to say, this was an extremely disappointing read, and I'm surprised I made it all the way through.

House of Ash and Shadow by Leia Stone

I always try to give indie books a fair chance, and in my defense, I gave this one as fair a chance as I could. House of Ash and Shadow doesn't know what it wants to be; a high fantasy or an urban fantasy, a middle grade book or a young adult book, a book about a girl who wants to be a hero or a book about a girl who wants to wallow in self-pity and act like a child all the time? This book was not ready for publication, and it's disappointing considering that this book had so much potential. You can't claim that your book is 'high fantasy, set in ancient times, fae that have never even heard of humans before' and then use modern colloquialisms such as "dude," "bro," "bestie," "jamming out," etc in every single chapter. It got to a point where I was so frustrated that it was funny. I have twelve Kindle highlights of my pure suffering on display for my Goodreads profile, if anyone's interested.

The Wren In The Holly Library by K.A. Linde

And the award for my most hated book of the year award goes to... The Wren In The Holly Library! This book was an absolute mess, and I genuinely don't understand how it made it to traditional publication, or how I keep seeing four- and five-star reviews being mindlessly handed to it on Goodreads. The Wren In The Holly Library is a Red Tower release, and I have a love-hate relationship with Entangled's Red Tower publication imprint- an imprint that focuses on my favorite book genre, fantasy romance (aka "romantasy"). They've published books I've liked (Assistant To The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer), books I've loved (Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros), and books I've hated (this one... it's this one). For a traditionally published book, the lack of both developmental and line editing is appalling. The fact that this book is littered with typos and that nothing is consistent in the book made it a frustrating reading experience for me. Reading this felt like reading a first draft, or an amateur fanfiction. There is a common writer saying, “show, don’t tell”, that I am certain the author has never heard of in her life. "Kierse did this," "Graves did this," "Then, Kierse did this," "Then this happened." "Finally, Graves did this." is what 90% of the book consisted of. Beyond that, there were plenty of inconsistencies in the writing; for example, the author reveals that Graves is a warlock in chapter 14 on page 92, a species Kierse was unaware of prior to their conversation. However, Kierse calls him a warlock in the previous chapter on page 88. There are so many instances like this, to the point where I was ready to throw this book at the wall. What's most shocking of all to me is that this book has maintained a 3.78 average rating on Goodreads, but circus-themed fellow Red Tower release Sanctuary of the Shadow by Aurora Ascher (which I enjoyed) has a 2.91 average rating for...(*checking my notes*)...not having enough circus? What has this world gone to???

Okay. I need to calm down. 🙂 Everything's fine, I'm an adult. 🫠

Honorable Mentions: The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han (lord I could go on a whole rant about this one), Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard, A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, and Gild by Raven Kennedy (could go on a rant about this one too).

Among tons of books I will read, I have come across many I won't- most of which have become popular this year. It Ends With Us is a huge nope for the content alone, but the controversy and drama surrounding Colleen Hoover, Blake Lively, and Justin Baldoni has only given me further reason to keep away. Haunting Adeline, the face of a popular genre on TikTok known as "dark romance" is an absolute NOPE. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (I'm not paying time and money to torture myself), the Twisted and Kings of Sin series by Ana Huang, Credence by Penelope Douglas, and anything by Rina Kent, RuNyx, or any other "dark romance" authors are also big ol' NOPES. I'll stick to my usual sci-fi/fantasies, romantasies, mystery/thrillers, and rom-coms, thanks.

As I reminisce about the past, I also hope for the future. I have some high hopes about some upcoming releases for the coming year. I've shared below which upcoming releases I'm most anticipating!

My Most Anticipated Releases of 2025

• A Court of Thorns and Roses #5 (Untitled) by Sarah J. Maas - The fifth book in my favorite series of all time, which will hopefully follow the middle Archeron sister, Elain and her love triangle between the fox shifter, Lucien, and the Shadowsinger, Azriel.
• Deep End by Ali Hazelwood - Straying away from STEM, this fake-dating rom-com follows two college competitive swimmers as they fake it... until they make it?
• Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson - In her New Adult debut, a girl has seven days left to live, and it's up to her and her childhood best friend to find out who murders her before it's too late.
• Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
• Accomplice To The Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
• Holly by Adalyn Grace
• Arcana Academy by Elise Kova
• Dragon Cursed by Elise Kova
• Barbarian's Hope by Ruby Dixon
• Keeper of the Lost Cities #10 (Untitled) by Shannon Messenger
• Silverborn by Jessica Townsend

I'm so excited to read these in the new year, and you can expect incoming reviews of ARCs I've already received in the coming months! (Hint: They're not any of the books listed above... 😉)

And what would a New Year's celebration be without any resolutions? I have some reading goals as well as some books I'd finally like to get around to reading going into 2025...

Planned Reads & Reading Goals

• My initial reading goal for the year is 50 books, but I think it would be cool to beat 100 books again now that I know it's achievable for me.
• I have a few series I want to finish where I just have one book left; in particular the Serpent & Dove trilogy by Shelby Mahurin, the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer, and the Something Dark and Holy trilogy by Emily A. Duncan.
• I also want to get into some new series that I've been hearing about for a while; Powerless by Lauren Roberts, Crowns of Nyaxia by Carissa Broadbent, Fae & Alchemy by Callie Hart, and The Housemaid by Freida McFadden being the main ones I'm interested in at the moment.
• Some new authors I want to try are Lana Ferguson (I've heard that she's pretty similar to Ali Hazelwood), Laura Thalassa, Rachel Gillig, and Chloe C. Penaranda.
• I want to explore another new genre like how I did this year with mystery/thrillers. Historical fiction or historical romance, possibly?
• I'd like to allow myself to DNF (did-not-finish) more freely instead of forcing myself to finish books I'm not enjoying. God this is a problem every year and I never learn.

Hoping to achieve these goals with some great books at my side!

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for checking out my reading wrap-up for 2024! It was basically just an excuse to yap about my favorite books lol. Let me know what books you liked and didn't like this year, and I'll see you next year!