My Top 5 Reads of 2024
The year was a slow reading year for me. I made it about halfway to my usual 100 books by the fall and managed to get about 10 books away from my Goodreads goal of 80 (thank you audiobooks and novellas for getting me through). A lot of life changes have happened this year. The owners of the apartment that I loved with my whole heart decided not to renew leases of all long-term tenants so I had to move cities, I finally found a house in my price range and became a homeowner, and my job recently faced many layoffs with a lot of my friends and coworkers being cut loose. It’s been a challenging year full of changes (I hate change) but once again, reading provided the perfect escape. Here are some of the reads that pulled me through this year:
5. Funny Story // Emily Henry
Emily Henry is an auto-buy author for me and ends up on my top reading list every year. She just gets in your head and manages to write characters that feel and portray all your deepest thoughts, desires, and insecurities with just the perfect touch of humour for the story to still be considered “feel-good”.
When Daphne’s fiance leaves her for his best friend, she ends up rooming with Miles, who’s long-time girlfriend left him for her best friend. This book shows the other side of the “fell in love with my best friend” romance, showcasing the ones that get left behind in the name of love. Miles, easy-going and adventurous, is the exact opposite of Daphne, secure and dependable. Watching her learn how to have fun and let go after spending so long being everyone else’s perfect someone managed to both tear my heart in half, and stitch it back up. Perfect for if you’re a fan of New Girl.
Read the full review here.
4. Graveyard Shift // M.L. Rio
The short story that got me out of one of the toughest reading slumps of the year. I love spooky season and I love spooky reads but this year I just wasn’t feeling it. Until this book.
Easily read in one sitting, this book takes the creepiest parts of horror and science and combines them into an eerie graveyard story reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. If rats eek you out, this is perfect. You’ll be horrified for weeks. For as short as this book is, it digs in deep. Each character only has about 2 chapters each and there are a lot of characters, and yet it was told in such a way that I felt like I knew each of them pretty well.
Read the full review here.
3. The Familiar // Leigh Bardugo
What’s better than a mix of historical fiction with a touch of magical realism? I’m a sucker for immortal love stories and this one was done so intricately and tastefully that our two lovers felt like equals in every way.
Being Jewish and having magic in a time in Spain when neither were acceptable, Luzia is an outcast who is forced to live in fear and in secret. But when her little miracles are discovered, she’s forced into a competition of magic while toeing the line of not revealing her true power and keeping her calm while being trained by a frustrating immortal man. Bardugo never misses and the prose in this book was nothing short of poetic. I’m jonesing for a re-read.
Read the full review here.
2. Where the Dark Stands Still // A.B. Poranek
This book is a beautiful adventure through Polish folklore. If you’re in the mood for a cozy fantasy but need something with a bit higher stakes and angst then this is the book for you.
Liska is raised in a village at the edge of a dark forest. A village where her magic is seen as monstrous and she doesn’t fit in. In an effort to rid herself of it and become more normal, she wanders into the woods and comes across the Leszy, king of the forest. As she discovers more about this mysterious being and the importance and roots of her own power, danger rises up. Very much of the Howl’s Moving Castle vibe when concerning romance, you don’t want to miss this one.
Read the full review here.
1. Vampires of El Norte // Isabel Cañas
My top read of the year, this horror romance will have you on the edge of your seat. Childhood sweathearts separated by death and circumstance, reunited in anger nearly a decade later and faced with an invading American army and monsters around every corner. This was a slow-burn that I couldn’t put down.
Nina nearly dies one night when her and Néstor are children. Nina survives, but Néstor flees in fear that he couldn’t save the person who means most to him. As Nena trains to be a healer she begins to see things she can’t explain and having experienced an attack similar to what she’s seeing, she’s forced to face the fact that supernatural monsters might exist alongside the ones in real life. All while trying not to soften towards the man she believes abandoned her. This book wowed me from the start and made Cañas an auto-buy author for me.
Read the full review here.