What I read (books) and recommend for 2024

I read about 150 books this year. Most of them were Regency Romance novels because I could not get out of the headspace I was in with everything happening; globally, personally and so on.

It was only around November that I started to break out of the mental despair I was wallowing in, to try and bring back some of myself via reading.

I will not list all the books I read, but I did keep note of which ones I would 100% recommend others read.

No book links because I thoroughly encourage you to use a library or a local, independent bookseller and absolutely by all means possible, avoid Indigo/Chapters, and Amazon.

If you need one that delivers in Canada, I very much like McNally Robinson. They can order any book you like.

Onto the books from 2024!

 

The Power of the Past: Jessi Streib

Quite an interesting, insightful book about class differences in marriages, from the perspective of both women and men. I would not say it was a gripping book, where I was unable to put it down, but I liked reading about the differences in their words, and thinking about how I was raised and its effect on my own relationships.

Own your Space: Alexandra Gater

I recently discovered Gater on YouTube and I am in love with the whole channel and her team. She has an especially wonderful series called STUDIO FIX where she makes spaces less than a certain square footage, work for the person who gets the makeover. Her ideas and fixes are DIY, maybe with a bit of help with a carpenter here and there, but she offers plenty of solutions on how to make a space better on a budget and with barely any skills. Her book was equally as thoughtful.

An Honest Woman: Charlotte Shane

Totally unexpected. I mean, I expected some of it, but it was more of a real memoir or psychological deep dive into why someone becomes an escort. I did not expect the storyline to arc the way it did with one of her clients, in such a touching.. rather loving way. It was a book I could not put down. Really well done.

What Artists Wear: Charlie Porter

More of a coffee table book but I enjoyed getting into the minds of each artist and why they chose their ‘uniform’ so to speak, and to hear how the clothing affected them (or did not!)… and how they saw themselves.

Blue Sisters: Coco Mellors

Translated from Spanish, but so incredibly compelling, about different sisters and their lives. It was unexpected, and I could not put it down. Mellors is a gifted author, and her words absolutely wove a spell around my brain.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb: Cat Sebastian

This was an odd book. I was sort of hesitant to recommend it, but ultimately, I found it quite entrancing, even if I found the storytelling a bit convoluted in this particular plotline. In the end, everything resolved itself satisfactorily which is my main goal in a GOOD BOOK (I hate it when endings are open or leave you feeling a bit empty). There is a sequel by the way, which I also read because I needed to know what happened.

A Study in Charlotte: Brittany Cavallaro

The WHOLE series of this is freakin’ brilliant. Honestly. I devoured the entire series back to back, staying up late to read just one more chapter. I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and this twist and spinoff with Charlotte Holmes + James Watson was beyond excellent. Cavallaro is a fantastic author, it was a mystery I could not solve until the end, and it brought me from page to page until I finished the (currently 4) books in the series, in a span of 3 days while working full-time and having a child at home. The stories are brilliant, along with the details and richness of each character.

Art in the Blood: Bonnie Macbird

Another Sherlock Holmes series, but this one is less lighthearted (?), I mean comparatively speaking to the Cavallaro spinoff series. This one really hit me deep in my core and I was not sure if I could continue with the themes of how horrific and disgusting some of the crimes are. I think it is a sign of an excellent writer to be able to get to my core like that, but I was sort of coming off the mental funk I have been in for a long time (see above), and it was not entirely comfortable for me.

If you are less sensitive, and okay with very disturbing storyline themes and depictions of murder and horror (which unfortunately I am not, as I have been glued to global social media and horrified by in-real-life videos), then please feel free to skip it until you are in a better place, mentally. The problem with my brain is once I start a book and it is GOOD (even if 5% of it was quite disturbing to imagine), I have to finish the whole series, and finish it, I did in a span of a week. I feel like I did all my reading in just the months of November and December, honestly.

Funny Story: Emily Henry

A fun, light-hearted chicklit book, I rather enjoyed it because it took a wonderful twist and turn. I would not say however, that it warranted the social media crazed buzz that this book got, because there are other authors (like the next one – Abby Jimenez) who do an excellent job and hit it out of the park each time with plotline and character development, but this book was a great read. I could not put it down. I just did not think it was a 100%. More like 90%.

The Friend Zone: Abby Jimenez

I read ONE of her books – this one – and then fell down an entire rabbit hole of devouring all the others. I read them all back to back, forsaking sleep … LOL .. and enjoyed the plotlines, story development, character development…. it was just beyond excellent. 11 out of 10, no notes to give. 100% read all of her books, and I am envious you get to enjoy them for the first time. She is the first chick-lit author I think I might want to reread…

Falling for your Best Friend’s Twin: Emma St. Clair

This series of books (which I also read), fall in the category of the Emily Henry books. Great reads, great everything, but not OMG FANTASTIC. I would still recommend them, and I could not put down the second one in this series (Falling for your boss), but that is likely because the storyline was better there than in this one. The rest of the series is also quite entrancing, a fun lighthearted read, and I like that she wrote from both sides of the story rather than it being so one-sided.

This author however, only had one hit with this series, and the rest of her books which I started reading, hoping it would be similar, are really lacklustre, I am sorry to report. I cut my losses short and stopped after trying a few.

Same time next summer: Annabel Monaghan

Another good read. Not as light or as fluffy as Emily Henry or Emma St. Clair, but a deeper character development and storyline that is more Abby Jimenez, but not as funny or humourous. This book is darker, with less sugary feel-good moments, and more deep introspective insights into the characters and their intentions. I very much enjoyed it, and REALLY love it when they flip back and forth from the guy to the girl’s perspective.

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I hope your 2024 has been healthy, wonderful and kind to you. Wishing you the absolute best for 2025. If you have any other book recommendations, drop them below. I have a growing pile of over 1000 books to read, but that is not stopping me from wanting to know what else is out there that people could not put down!!!

Want more book recommendations?

They are all here – I post what I read and my book recommendations from previous years.