After the longest and most intense reading drought of my life, 2024 was a record-breaking year for me. I consumed books as if my life depended on it. And in many ways, it did.

Okay, so context. My mental health imploded somewhere during the pandemic. The last book I read (that wasn’t a storytime book with my kid—I mean books I read purely for myself) was Legendary by Stephenie Garber in March 2021. Yeah. A writer who couldn’t read or write for years.

The already devastating burnout worsened as it readily seeped into other aspects of my life. Creativity dried up. I couldn’t blog. I lost touch with myself and just kind of drifted along.

But I took those first hard steps and did the work, and as I returned to myself, I remembered how much I love to read.

This isn’t a sponsored post (though I wouldn’t mind being sponsored by them) but thank goodness for the Libby app because my need to read didn’t rekindle slowly. Oh no, it was a nuclear explosion.

I went from zero books to 194 in 10 months. And that’s not even counting the books I read more than once last year (looking at you, Fourth Wing, Iron Flame, and anything with Mercy Thompson).

My Favourite Reads of 2024:

• Have I mentioned Fourth Wing and Iron Flame? Yeah? Well, allow me a moment to mention them again anyway. I love this franchise. And the audiobooks are great, too. I’ve listened to/read both FW and IF multiple times since discovering the series in April, and am gearing up for a re-read before Onyx Storm publishes this month. Also, can the production company please speed up and film the TV series already? Our tiny fan hearts can’t stand it!!
• As I mentioned above, I really enjoyed reading the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs. Like, really-really. Mercy might be one of the most true-to-herself characters I’ve ever read, and I adore the way Briggs handles the alpha trope. I’ve read all the books in the series save Winter Lost (which I’ll devour as soon as I reach the front of the waiting list on Libby), and I’ve listened to most of them on audiobook, too. I love the way Lorelei King brings Mercy to life. What’s great about this series is I can jump in at any audiobook, even the ones I’ve already listened to, and fall effortlessly into the story. This is fast becoming one of my creature comforts, like The Office or Friends.
• Never have I ever come across a book beloved by all of my friends on Goodreads until Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. And I mean it. None of my reader buddies have ever put their hands on this book and not given it a five-star review, so I obviously had to check it out. And I wasn’t disappointed. The story unfolds slowly, but this lush, gothic read soon becomes un-put-downable.
• Bride by Ali Hazelwood was such a fun read! The one-liners and snark had me laughing out loud. Misery was another of my favourite protagonists of 2024.
• The Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh quickly became one of my favourite paranormal romance worlds. The character growth is fantastic, and this is one of the few authors I’ve ever found who can have you equally invested in the main ship and any of the side cast members. If you’re into romance featuring angels, this is better than other uber-popular series, IMO.
• I enjoyed Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, but the sequel, Apprentice to the Villain blew off my socks. Evie is super relatable and so frigging hilarious! Also, the way she talks to herself was like a step into my brain—I love reading realistic representations of ADHD!!
• A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet was an unexpected find through the ‘random’ filter on Libby, but what a find it was! Another fun, funny series for lovers of romantacy novels.

The Books I Did Not Finish:

• I don’t particularly like the alphahole trope, but it comes with the paranormal romance/romantacy genre, and that’s fine. That is, until he doesn’t grasp the word ‘no.’ If I, the reader, must love the romantic interest as much as the protagonist does, don’t expect me to forgive dubcon. No amount of ‘oh, but he’s so misunderstood and he loves her so much’ will ever change my mind. That’s an immediate DNF for me. (I didn’t list all the books I DNF-ed, because many of them broke this rule.)
• I also DNF-ed books that didn’t grab my attention, dragged, or confused me. I’ve read so many glowing reviews of The Night Circus, for example, but the multiple viewpoints and shifts from third to second POV confused me, and ultimately convinced me that this isn’t the book for me.
• I really wanted to love Someone You Can Build A Nest In, but I have an intense fear of worms, specifically maggots, and something about Shesheshen was just too maggoty for me.

That said, one of the greatest lessons 2024 taught me is to read even those books I don’t like. Knowing what not to write is a pretty useful tool—a skill we can hone easily enough by reading widely, including books we wouldn’t normally read.

Which books did you love in 2024? Please share your recommendations in the comments!

Until next time.

Yolandie