Hello friends! I cannot believe we are into the New Year already! 2024 went too quickly and I sometimes wish time could slow down so that I could take my time reading a few extra books. There were a few months where I was not able to squeeze any books in due to work, but life happens. With that being said, here are my 2024 reads for the year with a little snippet/review and rating on each of them. What books made it to your top 3? Let me know in the comments below!
2024 Book Reviews
JANUARY:
·
The Marlow Murder Club
o Rating: 4/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: Such a delightful whodunit! I
listened to the audiobook version and Nicolette McKenzie was wonderful with
bringing each character to life. Thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this. Will
look forward to reading the next book in this series!
·
Death Comes to Marlow
o
Rating: 4.5/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: Nicollete McKenzie comes back for
another Robert Thorogood narration! I actually liked this second novel more
than the first. It is fun and whimsical, and you cannot help but to fall in
love with the quirky characters. Really enjoyed this series.
FEBRUARY:
·
Red String Theory
o
Rating: 1/5
o
UNFINISHED: I really could not finish this book,
but I really think these types of novels are just not for me. I could see why
others may enjoy this, but certain parts did feel a bit…juvenile? Again, maybe
it is just a personal preference.
·
Verity
o
Rating: 5/5
o
This is my first Colleen Hoover novel, and it
was so hard to put this book down. It had me hooked from the beginning. The
twists and wondering had me on the edge of my bed. Would recommend for someone
who enjoys mysteries and psychological thrillers. The steamy parts were written
very well too!
·
Banyan Moon
o
Rating: 5/5
o
This one tugged at some heart strings for me as
a first gen Cambodian American. Thao Thai does a phenomenal job at painting a
familiar picture that many first gen American women go through with their
mothers and matriarch figures in their lives. These interfamilial relationships
between a mother and a daughter can be very complicated…adding onto the
cultural differences in growing up in very different times and different
worlds. This was a great read and quite comforting as it makes me think of my
late grandmother. There were some nice twists in this as well. Would highly
recommend it.
MARCH:
·
The Handyman Method
o
Rating: 1/5
o
DNF: I could not get through this book as
the writing, quite honestly, annoyed me. The only way I could really describe
it is if the douchey guy you went to high school with wrote a dialogue of the
thoughts he had living with his wife and kids and being miserable at work. I’m
sure the author may have wanted to convey the character that way, but it
honestly wore me out.
·
Hidden Pictures
o
Rating: 5/5
o
Absolutely loved this book! I may be a bit
biased but the setting of the novel being in both Philadelphia and South Jersey
made it really easy for me to paint a picture of the story. I enjoyed the
character building and
APRIL:
·
Fourth Wing
o
Rating: 5/5
o
This was my first time in a very long time
getting back into the fantasy genre and safe to say this was such an easy and
great read! There were some romance parts and self-loathing that I tend to
really hate, but the action in this book was great. I really felt myself diving
into the world building and action scenes. I cannot wait to reach the next
books in this series.
·
A Court of Thorns and Roses
o
Rating: 1/5
o DNF: I am very confused how this book even made
sense. I unfortunately got about 75% of the way through and could not complete
it. It is definitely not my cup of tea and honestly just left me with more
questions.
·
The Fury
o
Rating: 3.5/5
o
I was really looking forward to reading this
novel as I was a big fan of this author’s work with ‘The Silent Patient’. This
book was a bit frustrating as the main character was very annoying. I must give
it to the author as it was understood that the main character/narrator was
insufferable, which the author wrote very well, so kudos to that. The storyline
itself could have used some more work.
MAY:
·
The Paris Apartment
o
Rating: 3/5
o
This was enjoyable for what it was. I liked how
short and to the point the chapters were but it definitely took some getting
used to reading from a different character’s perspective each time.
SEPTEMBER:
·
It Ends with Us
o
Rating: 1/5
o
I don’t really know if I have the words to describe
how much I did not like this book. Maybe it was just for a younger audience…
·
It Starts with Us
o
Rating: 1/5
o DNF: No desire to find out what
happens.
OCTOBER:
·
The Maidens
o
Rating: 4/5
o
This was a solid read! I enjoyed the storyline
and perspective of the main character. The twist at the end was good.
NOVEMBER:
·
First Lie Wins
o
Rating: 5/5
o
It’s giving Mr. and Mrs. Smith! I enjoyed this
one as I love a good ‘flash back to how I became the person that I am’
storyline. I enjoyed the main character because she was intelligent, witty/on
her feet, and rough around the edges. The backstory of her past really gave the
readers some insight as to how she made the connections she has, where she
acquired certain skills, and how they all came in handy when push came to
shove. Parts of it reminded me of the movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’…to understand
the me of today is to know who I was in the past.
DECEMBER:
·
The Chain
o
Rating: 5/5
o
Wow I felt like I was watching a mini-series on
Netflix and at one point felt like screaming at the characters to fill them in
on what was going on! This was not only a great read, but an easy one as well.
The chapters were quite short and to the point without missing all the details
you need to figure out what was going on. I appreciated this book a lot and
thoroughly enjoyed the writing. The characters were a bit aggravating, but I
think that’s what Adrian McKinty was going for.
·
Twisted Love
o
Rating: 2/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: It’s giving early 2000s Nika couped
up in her room reading fanfiction. With that being said, it was so cheesy and
all over the place with too many different tropes going on…yet I could not stop
listening. It was nice to put something like this on while I was on the train
or on a long drive. I definitely see the appeal in why others rave about this
author and series. The side characters were interesting so it’s making me
gravitate towards giving the other books in this series a try. I will say I think
I will opt for the audiobook again as I don’t think I would enjoy reading it as
much as I do aimlessly listening to it. Definitely would consider this a guilty
pleasure and outside of my typical reading interest. It’s nice to take a break
from all the psychological mysteries and drama from time to time!
·
The Coworker
o
Rating: 2.5/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: Starting to get into Frieda McFadden
books and more audiobooks so this was my first! This was written in an interesting
way as it kept referring back to the ‘emails’ in the storyline, which of course
come in handy later. I enjoyed listening to this as it was easy to follow and entertaining.
I will say the storyline really is not that great, but it helped me be sure
productive when I was cleaning. I will say that in this book in particular,
there are so many references to TURTLES… IYKYK.
·
The Teacher
o
Rating: 3/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: This was another solid listen. The
storyline was good, and the twists kept me on my toes. However, I pretty much
hated every character. Lol.
·
The Perfect Son
o
Rating: 1.5/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: This was very, very bad. It’s like
you kind of knew where the twist was and then kind of didn’t if you tried not
to ruin it for yourself. Everyone in the story really just sucked, I guess. I
listened all the way through as I am growing quite fond of McFadden’s work.
·
Never Lie
o
Rating: 5/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: I loved this one! It was really well written
and again easy to follow. The anticipation and build up was great as of course
with any McFadden book, there are going to be twists. I really went through the
book feeling quite confident that I figured everything out only to be proven
wrong again.
·
Do You Remember
o
Rating: 1/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: As with any story that mentions
memory loss, it’s going to feel repetitive…and this one certainly did. The
story line was frustrating, the characters were all over the place, and ending
was not satisfying at all.
·
Twisted Games
o
Rating: 0/5
o
AUDIOBOOK: I thought I would give this 2nd
book on the Twisted series a try as I finished the first one. I could not
finish this and barely made it past chapter 3. All I can ask is... are we 12
years old??
·
The Mistletoe Mystery
o
Rating: 5/5
o
IMMERSION READING: This was the cutest little
mystery novella to finish out the year on! This book was short and sweet and
follows our sweet Molly the Maid. I had a feeling I already knew what this book
was going to be about, and it ended as I expected. I was so happy to end my 2024
year of books with this one as it was perfect for this season!
~What is Immersion Reading?~
Something that I started doing when I got into audiobooks is
that if I am able to get the audiobook as well as a digital copy at the same
time, I will do something called Immersion reading. It basically is reading on
my Kindle while playing the audiobook and it is a game changer! I feel like I
am just reading captions and am able to really immerse myself into the story. I
also feel that because I can change the speed of the audiobook, I am able to
get through the book even faster!
That's a wrap! What are your 2025 reading goals? Follow me on GOODREADS to share!
