I know we’re closing in on the first half of 2024, but there’s never a bad time for book recommendations right? Since this year’s full list will probably be a secret until closer to the end of the year, I thought I’d share what I read last year!
It’s a hefty list, with a total of 41 books! I tend to challenge myself to match my reading amount from the year before or beat it by one book. I’m going to include the title, author, and my rating out of 5 stars, 5 being the best, and 1 the worst, with a brief description of what I thought. I wasn’t a huge fan of every book I read, but it is of course no hate to the author and all their hard work.
I do not own the right to any of the pictures shown, and I gave credit to where I could find it! Most are screenshots from the internet.
Here we go!
The Rogue Crown (The Five Crowns of Okrith, #3) by A.K. Mulford
☆☆☆
I enjoyed the first two books of this series a lot more than the rest. I thought the world building and plot were good, and very comparable to the romantasy books we know and love, with just the right amount of spice. I simply don’t care as much when authors begin to write books based in other characters POVs, which this entire book was mostly in the POV of a character I didn’t care about. Otherwise it was great and I highly recommend this series if you’re ok with perspective changes and multiple storylines.
The Harpy by Megan Hunter
☆☆☆☆☆
This book was a literary piece of art. Written so beautifully, and with so much depth, I thought it was incredible, and so different from anything else I’ve read. A great narrative into female rage, female perspective and the world it creates around you. So well done!
How the Pill Changes Everything: Your Brain on Birth Control by Sarah E. Hill
☆☆☆☆☆
There’s nothing that I’ve been more passionate about as I’ve gotten older than my physical, emotional and spiritual health. I sat through the period talk in grade school like any other kid, but never did I understand just how much we weren’t being taught. I was put on hormonal birth control at age 14, but was never sexually active until my 20’s. I didn’t realize just how much my body and mind was being effected by what I was doing to it, and when I started to learn, I couldn’t stop. I read this book years after I left hormonal birth control behind, but it was an amazing learning experience regardless. The author does a great job at adding comedy to hard-to-digest information, and brings the information to real life situations we can all understand and relate to. I highly recommend this read, whether you own a uterus or not, we can all benefit from understanding women’s bodies better.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
☆☆☆☆
This book was highly emotional. Exploring a family after the tragic death of one of their children, it was a tough read, but entirely worth it.
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
☆☆☆☆
I never got around to reading these as a kid, and I can’t remember why! It was such a throwback for me, and I really enjoyed getting in touch with the magical YA novels I used to adore as a kid. A classic story that I wish had more buzz!
Galatea by Madeline Miller
☆☆☆☆☆
I love EVERYTHING this author comes out with, she is undoubtedly one of my top authors. The same author of our beloved The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller explores the Greek myths from different perspectives, which I have a special place in my heart for. Her writing is incredible, gorgeous even, and wildly impactful and touching. There isn’t a single character or world that isn’t perfectly portraited, and her unique perspective I think sets her apart from other myth re-tellers. Galatea is a super fast read, and worth every word!
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
☆☆
It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
☆☆
Verity by Colleen Hoover
☆☆☆☆
I’m going to combine my review of all the Colleen Hoover books I’ve read. These will likely be the only books of hers I ever read because I don’t enjoy them as much as other authors I read. I think that they can be fun and quick reads, but I don’t prefer her writing style. However I gave these three a try, and of them my favorite was Verity. Which is insane to say the least! An awesome thriller with twists and turns, I certainly wasn’t expecting what ended up happening. The other two books were good in my opinion, with a nice storyline and well paced, but I won’t be reaching for them again. I think it’s amazing that Colleen Hoover can come out with so many books so frequently, but when that starts to happen with authors, I notice the quality of the stories takes the hit in exchange. If Colleen Hoover is your favorite author, keep enjoying them! They’re worth all their success, just not my favorite.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
☆☆☆☆☆
Completely and totally wonderful. Very different from other things I have read, and I’m glad it was. I really wish I could watch the TV series that recently came out following this book, anyone wanna share their password with me?
Photo: Bloomsbury Publishing
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas
☆☆☆☆☆
This was the second time I’ve read through this series. Whenever I get into a reading rut, I know I can pick up a SJM book and fall back in love with her characters and worlds. The whole world is obsessed with her, and in my opinion she’s worth every single hype she gets. We still don’t know what a vulgar gesture means, but boy oh boy do we love our High Lord of the Night Court. I could re-read these a million times and never grow tired of it. There’s also a fanfic of ACOMAF through Rhysand’s perspective, that I also highly recommend you try to find.
Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
☆☆
I wanted to like this book so badly. It was another super popular book on TikTok that I read, but I don’t think I experienced it the same way others did. Maybe I’ll have to give it another try someday, but it just didn’t work for me!
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
☆☆☆☆☆
What a fun read, and incredibly thrilling. I don’t usually gravitate towards thrillers, but this one wasn’t one of the ones that traumatized me. I highly recommend this if you’re looking to branch out into thrillers, but if you’re not a horror fan like me.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 5 stars
☆☆☆☆☆
Taylor Jenkins Reid is another favorite author of mine. She’s simply an immense pleasure to read. My favorite will always be The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but anything TJR comes out with is unique and powerful.
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
☆☆☆
This was another re-read for me. I ate these up as a teenager, and re-reading it made me question my choices, but it’s so hard to not ironically love The Twilight Series. They’ll always have a special place in my heart and past!
Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1) by Tirzah Price
☆☆☆☆☆
I have yet to read the others in this series, but I already know I’m going to love them. This book was so fun! I am a huge Pride and Prejudice/Jane Austen fan, and all the spin-offs from the classic works are hard to not love. These in particular! If you love historical fiction, as well as murder-mysteries, definitely check this out! Also the book covers for these are absolutely adorable.
Final Offer (Dreamland Billionaires, #3) by Lauren Asher – 2 stars
☆☆
Another book where the final ones in the series didn’t grab me as much as the first, but I read it anyways. Smutty books are always a love of mine, but the toxic male behavior trope is cringey in real life and on the page. I still think these were a fun enough read, but I was a lot happier when they were over. Good quality smut, and a decent storyline, worth the read if you’re into stuff like this, but I won’t be re-reading these.
Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert
☆
I’ve really enjoyed Katee Robert books in the past, but this one was the worst. Shallow characters, zero world building, and dare I say too much smut? To the point that every scene in every chapter was complete and total smut. Sometimes I won’t complain about that, but in this case the rest of the book didn’t make up for it.
A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows (Stars and Shadows, #1) by Holly Renee
A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal (Stars and Shadows, #2) by Holly Renee
A Kingdom of Venom and Vows (Stars and Shadows, #3) by Holly Renee
A Kingdom of Fire and Fate (Stars and Shadows, #4) by Holly Renee
☆☆☆☆☆
As you might be able to guess…these are very similar to our highly-esteemed ACOTAR series. Truthfully, they are REALLY similar. Not enough to be copied by any means, but comparable worlds and tropes, which I don’t think any of us will complain about. I genuinely enjoyed all these books and highly recommend them if you want a similar feel to the books we love but with new characters with different problems.
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
☆☆☆☆
A non-fiction, Dolly Alderton gives many anecdotal stories regarding love throughout her life. It was fun, it made me laugh, and makes you think about your own life. No matter what stage of life you’re in, I think you’d enjoy this book. I tend to find it hard to understand the point of books like these until the end, but Dolly Alderton does a good job at keeping her readers involved until that’s uncovered. Even inspired me to do some writing of my own!
If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin – 5 stars
☆☆☆☆☆
This book was so simple and so lovely. Don’t get me wrong, completely heart wrenching too, I cried like a baby at the end. It checked every box I was looking for at the time and I really enjoyed it. I think this would be an excellent book as a stand-alone novel, but we’ll see how the second book, If Only I Had Told Her compares!
The Sumer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han –
It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
☆☆☆☆☆
So good…so, so, good! I flew through the entire series in maybe a week or less than that, and it was a beautiful story. For me this became a classic, and one I can definitely see myself re-reading for comfort. I’ll definitely need to check out the tv series for this as well!
Fourth Wing (The Empryean, #1) by Rebecca Yarros
Iron Flame (The Empryean, #2) by Rebecca Yarros
☆☆☆☆☆
Give me any rooftop, any soapbox, hell put me on national news, and I will scream and shout about how amazing these books are. I will re-read these over and over and over and over and love them every single time. I was lucky I caught onto the Fourth Wing train late, so I didn’t have to wait long to read Iron Flame, but I will patiently and impatiently wait for the next installment with everyone else. The ending of the second book is shocking to say the least, and I am giddy with excitement to see where this story goes!
Enemies With Benefits (Loveless Brothers, #1) by Roxie Noir
☆☆☆☆
A fun twist to the enemies to lover trope, two people join together in loathing to accomplish a similar goal, but the outcome is not what they expected. This was a quick and fun romantic read, and I highly recommend it!
Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 4 stars
☆☆☆☆
Another great TJR book. Well, technically a short story. I think it took me a half hour to read the entire thing, and I enjoyed every page. Written in letter format, it’s unique for TJR, but still follows her timeless style.
Where Good Girls Go to Die by Holly Renee – 2 stars
Where Bad Girls Go to Fall by Holly Renee – 2 stars
☆☆
Not all smut is created equal. I thought these were ok enough to read the second one, but that’s where I’ll stop. I’ve found that character and world building is really important for me to stay engaged, even if I’m only there for the smut. These didn’t cut it for me. They also were all from different characters perspectives, which we already know I’m not always a fan of.
How to Choose a Guy in 10 Days by Lila Monroe – 4 stars
☆☆☆☆
Another cute, fun, and easy romantic read. A nice dose of everything in a romantic comedy book, and set in modern time which is always a fun palette cleanser.
Call It What You Want by Alissa DeRogatis
☆☆☆
I gave this a 3 star rating because I thought the concept was really good, but unfortunately this story didn’t go the distance like I thought it could. The characters lacked depth, the main character a bit of an annoyance, and it sometimes felt like the story went in circles, never quite giving us what we wanted, but not toying with us like most books do. It just didn’t give it to us at all. I enjoyed the read, but felt it could have done a lot more, but I also loved the title and cover art.
In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros – 5 stars
☆☆☆☆☆
Rebecca Yarros never disappoints, at least not for me. This was a page turner, and just so well thought out and done. Her writing is great, her characters all have depth, and the way she can weave a story is unlike many we see today. I loved everything about this book! The perfect romantic, stand-alone novel.
Cross My Heart (The Oxford Legacy, #1) by Roxy Sloane – 3 stars
☆☆☆
This book had a cool story line, with mystery, betrayal, history and romance. Personally, like many other books the writing itself wasn’t there for me, and the characters lacked depth, so I won’t be reading the others in this series, but the concept is incredibly cool!
If you made it this far, thank you! I hope you enjoyed hearing my thoughts about all the books I read last year. I’d love for more book recommendations (as if my TBR pile isn’t actually a mountain). If you’ve read any of these and wish to share your thoughts, start a conversation in the comments! I’ll talk to you guys soon.
A Series of Observations 