**Books sit in piles around me on the floor. I decided to take every book that I read in the year off my shelf to determine my favorites. As an indecisive mind, it helps to flip through each one and let my memories of reading it come back to me. I sip on my hot chocolate and take a bite of biscuit as I sit and contemplate. I start to move the books around into different piles for no, maybe, and yes. I sigh. This will take longer than I thought.**

Just like in my intro, I am not a great decision maker, but I do enjoy deciding my top 10 favorite books of the year. This has been an even harder year since nothing has completely stood out to me like in previous years. This made it quite difficult to make the list. Because of that, I also wanted to do an honorable mentions list since it was hard to cut a few. Even though the list is in order, I am not fully sure about the order. This is a good starting point though and I think each book would be somewhere around that place.

10. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
    • This was a very shocking decision for me. I really liked this book but had no idea it would be on my top ten of the year. It was hard to narrow down this one, #9, and one of my honorable mentions, but I ultimately decided on this book. I loved the story. Narnia is one of those magical stories you get lost in. This is one of the Pevensie’s books and we see Prince Caspian again as well. While the writing is not always something I get sucked into, the story compensated and I really enjoyed this book and it is one of my favorites in the series.
11. Spells For Lost Things by Jenna Evans Welch
    • I realized either this year or last year that Jenna Evans Welch is a pretty good writer. I read Love & Gelato back in 2018 or 2019, so I couldn’t really remember the book or how I felt. Love & Luck was not my favorite, but I really enjoyed Love & Olives in 2022. This book was her first outside of the Love & series and it did not disappoint. It follows two teens who find themselves in Salem, Massachusetts and it is a story about learning about yourself and your family. I had a great time with this book. I enjoyed both perspectives and the writing was well done. I was interested in the story and there were a few emotional moments as well.
12. Funny Story by Emily Henry
    • Talk about shocking, but I had no clue that this book would be in my top 10. I’ve said it many times before, but I can’t always get invested in adult books. I have read all of Emily Henry’s and she is a good author and one that I can actually get into. However, her books aren’t ones I absolutely love like everyone else. This book was one that I didn’t think I would like. The beginning was written in a way where I didn’t think I would like it at all, but once I got into the story, I was invested. I love that Daphne worked as a children’s librarian. I could see her passion for her job and it made her easier to connect to as a reader. I also liked Miles’s character and think that he had a lot of great moments. The story was engaging and there were a lot of aspects I liked. I always thought that Beach Read was my favorite, followed by Book Lovers, but Funny Story was honestly the one that I was most invested in, so that list may have to change.
13. Never a Hero be Vanessa Len
    • I started the Monsters series by this author in 2023 and enjoyed the first book Only a Monster. It’s not a book I think about much, and the same goes for this one. Even though I don’t really think about it, I really enjoyed it while reading it. This has one of the most unique magic systems I have ever read about. The story is about a girl who discovers she is a monster, and in this world, monsters can time travel by taking time away from humans. The time travel mechanics were extremely unique and unlike anything I have ever seen. I feel like this is a really great book and look forward to book 3.
14. Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    • After I read Little White Lies, the first book in this duology, I didn’t think I would love it. It’s basically a rich people drama with a girl that is meeting her extended family for the first time. I didn’t love the first book and didn’t think I was enjoying this one either. This one took a darker turn that really made the story better. It has darker twists and secrets that make it much more engaging and I really started to get invested after this started happening. Because of that, this was a book I actually did enjoy.
15. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
    • Yeah, I’m not too surprised about this. I read this book for the fourth time this year and actually fully annotated it as well, which was a fun experience. This is a ya contemporary that follows a girl who has her entire summer planned out, but when her dad is in the middle of a political scandal, her plans get canceled and she’s home for the first time in years with her dad trying to find something else to do. I couldn’t even really tell you what it is that I love about this book. I think part of it is that it feels so real. I’ve read a lot of contemporaries and this one always felt the most like it could be a true story. I just get sucked into this story and love it every time I read it.
16. The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken
    • I finally read this book after finishing the original series in 2022. This is an added book in the Darkest Minds series, which is a ya dystopian about kids getting powers if they make it past the age of 10. This one follows a character from the original series. I can’t fully remember this one since I read it back in January, but I remember really liking it while I was reading it. It was nice to get back in this world and see the characters again. It was the most nostalgic feeling I have gotten while reading a book.
17. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
    • I know that there were a lot of people disappointed in this book, but I really liked it. Of course, it has its flaws, like Violet trying to get information out of Xaden when it is for the best that she doesn’t know. If you somehow haven’t heard of the Fourth Wing series, it’s about a war academy with dragons. I really liked this second book. It had lots of action still and emotional parts as well. I was really invested in this story.
18. Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer
    • I can’t believe that this series is over. Brigid Kemmerer is such an amazing author, and this was another highlight of her talent. I love Tessa and Corrick and loved watching them in this final book. This was the third book in the Defy the Night series which is about a kingdom suffering from an illness. Tessa Cade, apothecary assistant and outlaw, tries to distribute the cure to the poor with her friend Wes. Corrick is our other perspective who is the prince and king’s justice. I loved the world, the characters, and the story. Tessa and Corrick are definitely the highlight and I loved seeing them in one final book. My only complaint is that I wish they had more time together in the book.
19. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
    • I didn’t think I would like this nearly as much as I did. After I heard that this book was sold out almost everywhere and that it was gaining lots of hype, I got curious and wanted to give it a try. This is so different from anything I have ever read, with a war college and dragons, and more simply, an adult fantasy. I was so invested in this story. I liked that Violet was an underdog character that we could root for and I loved Xaden’s morally grey-like personality. There was a lot of action and a few humorous moments, mostly coming in the form of Tairn. This was a very pleasant surprise for me and I can’t wait for Onyx Storm.

Getting into the honorable mentions, we can start with Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I’ve talked about this series more than enough this year, so you all probably know that it is a ya alien sci-fi series following a girl named Kat who discovers that the annoying boy next door is an alien. This was such a fun series and this was one of my favorites in it. I really enjoyed Kat and Daemon’s story and had a fun time reading this, but I think I had some books I enjoyed more.

My next honorable mention goes to A Hunt of Shadows by Elise Kova. I loved the first book and enjoyed the trials aspect. In this one, we see the aftermath of A Trial of Sorcerers and it was a great continuation. I think I was expecting a little more and I did enjoy book 1 better, but it was still a great read.

Next is Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer. If there’s something you should know about me, it’s that I’m a huge fan of her books. This is one of her contemporary novels following two high schoolers who are left as outcasts after incidents that leave everyone mad at them. Her contemporary stories are always hard hitting and emotional, with this one being no exception. The main reason that it’s not in the top ten was because I don’t remember the story so well.

Finally, my honorable mentions end with Forging Silver Into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer. I so badly wanted this to be in the top ten, and it was one that I went back and forth on many times, but while I did enjoy the story and the return to Emberfall, I decided to not have this as a top ten because my favorite part was Rhen and Harper who are barely on page. If this was a story that never had cameos from old characters, I don’t know if I would have liked it as much. I still am back and forth and may end up switching this in for another book later on, but for now, it’s an honorable mention.

Thank you for going through my top 10 books of 2024 with me. I had a very hard time narrowing this list down, but I think I would leave it at this. I would love to hear any of your top favorites of last year. Friday we will be going over my worst books of 2024, so I will see you then.

xoxo,

Just another reader