Here’s a list of all the books I read or started in the year 2024, I know no one asked for this but I’d love to know your thoughts if you’ve read any of these books.
Context: I am a pretty avid reader but sometimes get busy… and don’t read for a few months and then will binge for 3 months. It’s a constant cycle. So here is my book list of 2024, please don’t judge it, I will cry.
One for My Enemy; By: Olivie Blake
My Summary: A Romeo and Juliet retelling, two pairs of star-crossed lovers. Two Crime Families, Witches, Twelve years of co-existence, one brother fucks everything up, set in Manhattan.
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Stars: 3/5
Review: I wanted to like it more but I just didn’t… I was very confused at points about what was happening. I liked the writing style but I felt the book had a little too much going on and not enough explanation. However, this book had a ton of good quotes. A favorite being, “Write me a tragedy, Lev Fedorov. Write me a litany of sins. Write me a plague of devastation. Write me lonely, write me wanting, write me shattered and fearful…” - Page 144. And “There are better loves…love that enrich us, that don’t cost up our lives or our sanity…” - Page 150.
Icebreaker; By: Hannah Grace
My Summary: A hockey romance, figure skater Anastasia,, hockey player Nathan, navigate athletics, college, and a toxic friendship. And yes, there is a scene where they do Ice Breakers.
Genre: Romance
Stars: 3/5
Review: I started reading this book as an easy read between fantasy books and I was really surprised how much I liked it. The book has dual POV, which I don’t usually like but actually enjoyed it in this book. This book was the spiciest I’ve ever read (Side note: oh boy… at this point in time it was the spiciest I’d have ever read). Definitely cringy but an easy read and a happy ending.
Powerless; By: Lauren Roberts
My Summary: Paedyn a secret ordinary serving in the slums after the death of her father. Her father trained her to be overly observant because she is “ordinary.” She is thrust into the world where she must hide, but with no where to hide, she must fight.
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Stars: 4/5
Review: I really wanted to give this book five stars but I have to give it a five. The author started writing it in 2020 and I remember seeing her on tik Tok when she was still in the writing stage of this book and now she’s published two more! The book is an easy read. Relates to the Hunger Games and Red Queen and there was some controversy with her “copying” them, but the author has literally said that if you liked those two books you would probably like hers because she took inspiration from them. This book is an enemies to lovers and then back to enemies. The world building needs more development and the story was a little predictable and yet some events did surprise me. I have the next 2 book so we’ll see how it develops, once I get around to reading them.
The Butcher and the Wren; By: Alaina Urqhart
My Summary: A thriller serial killer and medical examiner horror. This book is definitely scary horror make sure you lock your doors thriller. A serial killer taunts a medical examiner by leaving clues to who he is and she is stunned to find out, he is from her past.
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Stars: 5/5
Review: Oh My Fuck! This book was so scary and made me want to lock my doors asap. The part where Jeremy sits outside the bedroom!!! WTF! This book scared the shit out of me, but I literally couldn’t put it down. I honestly can’t believe I read this but I love Alaina so much (I am a big fan of her and Ash’s podcast MORBID). Also, that ending?!?! WTF… how do you let a serial killer get away like that…
Vampire Academy #1; By: Richelle Mead
[Note: my review for these books are me just fangirling by the end… Sorry, not sorry]
My Summary: After Rose and Lissa are caught after being on the run for two years, they are brought back to St. Vladimir’s Academy. Rose, a dhampir, Lissa, a Moroi, they are bound in more ways than they realize.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, romance
Stars: 5/5
Review: I loved this book, I’ve seen the movie multiple times and I started the TV show while reading this book, and the book is so much better! I liked the story and topics are brought up in the book you really wouldn’t suspect. I’m actually really sad the movies and tv shows ended because these books seem like they have the potential to be like Harry Potter, twilight, etc.
Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2)
Summary: It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks.... This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, romance
Stars: 4/5
Review: This book in the series was my least favorite, nothing really happens until the end.. that something is big and very important but other than that it was a bit boring. But it is the shortest in the series so it wasn’t difficult to get through. If this is the book in the series you are struggling to get through… keep going! It gets so good! and if you still don’t like the series after the next book, you can tell me “I told you so…”
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy #3)
Summary: Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir guardian-in-training, grapples with the aftermath of her friend Mason's death at the hands of a Strigoi, experiencing disturbing visions and dark emotions that threaten her sanity and ability to protect her best friend, the Moroi princess Lissa Dragomir; as she struggles with these new feelings, her forbidden love for her tutor Dimitri becomes increasingly complicated, forcing her to choose between her loyalty to Lissa and her own desires.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, romance
Stars: 5/5
Review: Oh my goddddd!!! This one was so good! DIMITRIIIII Nooooo! The ending got me for real. The battle scenes in these books were the easiest to understand, out of every other book i’ve ever read. It was really easy to follow and made sense what was happening!
Blood Promise (Vampire Academy #4)
Summary: Rose leaves St. Vladimir's Academy to go after Dimitri, who has become Strigoi, and kill him. The only clue she has is that he might be somewhere in Siberia. After meeting an Alchemist named Sydney, they travel to Siberia, where she eventually finds Dimitri's family in the small town of Baia.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, romance
Stars: 5/5
Review: Controversial opinion but this was my favorite… The shit that happens to Rose is wild, but honestly I thought made her grow even more as a character. She had flaws and knew it, she had addictions and issues but still knew she had to do something. She struggled but still got out… (I know this doesn’t make much sense if you haven’t read the books…) the topics in these books that all the characters go though still are relevant today. Obviously without vampires, but Richelle Mead brilliantly combined an addictive fantasy world and with real world issues and I really admire her for it.
Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy #5)
Summary: Rose Hathaway returns to St. Vladimir's Academy after a harrowing journey to Siberia, still reeling from the loss of her love, Dimitri Belikov, who has transformed into a dangerous Strigoi vampire; she is determined to find a way to bring him back to his human self, even as she faces the looming threat of graduation and the reality that he may now hunt her down as a prey. Meanwhile, her best friend Lissa Dragomir, a powerful Moroi princess, grapples with her growing magical abilities and royal responsibilities, while Rose struggles with the complicated emotions of her forbidden love for Dimitri and the potential danger he poses to her and those around her.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, romance
Stars: 5/5
Review: This one was also really good, second favorite! In this book you kinda learn everything you need to know and it wraps up a lot of plots before the final book which put everything into place for the ending.
Last Sacrifice (Vampire Academy #6)
Summary: Rose Hathaway is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of the Moroi Queen and faces imminent execution, forcing her to rely on both Dimitri and Adrian to find a way to stall her execution by uncovering a hidden heir to the throne, Lissa's long-lost sibling, while simultaneously navigating Lissa's own perilous struggle to claim the royal position, ultimately putting their friendship and love lives to the ultimate test; all while battling against powerful enemies and confronting difficult choices about loyalty and sacrifice.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, romance
Stars: 5/5
Review: The conclusion to an amazing series… there is a series about the alchemists that I want to read but just haven’t yet. These book were hands down my favorite read of the year, and listen if Richelle Mead wants to make another movie… I would do anything to help! ANYTHING!
Manacled; By: SenLinYu
Summary: Harry Potter is dead. In the aftermath of the war, in order to strengthen the might of the magical world, Voldemort enacts a repopulation effort. Hermione Granger has an Order secret, lost but hidden in her mind, so she is sent as an enslaved surrogate to the High Reeve until her mind can be cracked.
Genre: FanFiction
Stars: 5/5
Review: I am so excited for Alchemised!! I have never pre-ordered a book so fast! I loved manacled, I devoured every page of this book! This was my first fan fiction read (besides wattpad stories) and the longest book I’ve ever read and I read it all on my laptop! I cannot brag about this book enough. I am not the first to say it but, SenLinYu proves that J.K. Rowling is not the best person to write in the Harry Potter universe! I am so sad this book is now off AO3, but it will live in my hard-drive forever!
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1); By: Cassandra Clare
Summary: Clary Fray, a fifteen-year-old head out in New York City one night and witnesses a murder at the club Pandemonium. Then she learns that “all the legends are true.” She then learns that she is actually a shadow hunter and her mom has been lying to her, her whole life.
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Stars: 2/5
Review: This is my second time reading this book and not because I liked it so much but because I forgot how bad it was…I bought the series back in 2017 and read the first book… never got around to reading the rest of the series and thought I should give it another go… now I remember why I never continued reading.
A friend said it gets a lot better but I just don’t know how and I love the Tv show (yes I know it was pretty bad but I loved it when I was 15/16!) lol
The main reason I’m giving this book two stars. Clary was so annoying for no reason but I could get over that! It was the way every single man shit on clary in this book that literally made me what to throw it across the room! Omg! I just felt like clary was GOING THROUGH IT like the worst two weeks of her life and Jace, Alec and Isabelle were kinda being shitty to her as well as her best friend Simon! They pitted the only two girls in this book against each other… but it wasn’t even that, it was the fact that when Simon confessed his love for Clary and when Jace found out they were siblings that Clary had to comfort them! Like what?! This girls life got turned upside down and found out her mom was lying to her her whole life, her father figure disappeared half the book and no one is really being nice to her and she has to comfort them?! It also does have themes of other books but I didn’t mind that too much, it’s a fantasy YA book, it wasn’t surprising.
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2)
Summary: “Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what's normal when you're a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries?”
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Stars: 3/5
Review: No, just no. I was going to try and power through this series but I just couldn’t. I know some people love these books but they’re just not for me anymore. Clary is just so annoying, and fr fuck all the men in these books they suck!
Corrupt; By: Penelope Douglas (DNF)
Summary: A dark romance novel that follows Erika Fane, a young woman haunted by a traumatic event involving her boyfriend's older brother, Michael Crist, a professional basketball player, who was part of a group known as the "Four Horsemen" notorious for their dangerous pranks; when the group's actions escalate, Erika inadvertently becomes entangled in their downfall, leading to years of simmering tension and a desire for revenge when the "Horsemen" are released from prison and seek retribution against her, forcing Erika to confront her past and navigate a complex, forbidden relationship with Michael.
Genre: Dark Romance
Stars: DNF
Review: I did not finish this book. This book was not my cup of tea… AT ALL. I know some people love dark romance and I’m not saying I’m 100 percent put off it, but this book was not for me. That’s all I’ll say because I did not get far enough into it to give it a proper review.
The Idea of You; By: Robinne Lee (DNF)
Summary: Story of Solène Marchand, a 40-year-old divorced art gallery owner who unexpectedly falls for Hayes Campbell, the young lead singer of a popular boy band, after encountering him at a music festival, leading to a passionate yet complicated romance as they navigate the challenges of their significant age gap and the intense scrutiny of the public eye, particularly from Solène's teenage daughter who is a devoted fan of the band.
Genre: Romance
Stars: DNF
Review: Yes, I read this because I watched the movie. The movie was alright. Started the book, learned he’s YOUNGER in the book and couldn’t do it. I know that’s what the book is supposed to be about but I couldn’t do it.
The Beautiful; By: Renee Ahdieh (DNF)
Summary: A 17-year-old dressmaker who flees Paris for New Orleans in 1872 to escape her past.
Genre: Fantasy, young adult
Stars: DNF
Review: This is a book I plan on finishing, I’ve just been in a reading slump. I only got to like chapter 10 of this book.
Please leave a comment if you’ve read one of these books or have opinions on one, agreeing or disagreeing with mine. I’d love to discuss!
Leave a comment
Note: I wrote the summaries that are labeled “My Summary,” because I wrote them right after I read the book. The summaries just labeled “Summary,” I copy and pasted, because I either don’t really remember or for the Vampire Academy series case, I just couldn’t give an exact summary of each book specially without reading them again (which I may do eventually, but not today.)
