My Best Books of 2024

 As you'll be able to tell as you read through my list of my best books of 2024, I had a wonderful year for fantasy. Fantasy is my favorite genre, but because it's one I have been both reading and writing for years it's the one I'm most critical of in my reviews. So, when I give a fantasy 5 stars that means it met my incredibly high standards! If you don't like fantasy, there are also a few non-fantasy picks in here worth checking out!

1. Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

If you like the dynamic of a bunch of different personalities and backgrounds all coming together in a heist scenario, such as in Six of Crows, then I can’t recommend this book enough. Royo, a mercenary, Euyn, a banished prince, Mikhail, Eyun’s royal spy ex-lover, Sora, a poison maiden, Tiyung, the son of a count, and the bubbly thief Aeri all join forces to kill a god-king.

The novel’s characters were so well developed and the world building is immersive. The six main characters manage to be synchronized while also eager to stab each other in the back to get the upper hand. Even while you’re in their heads, there are still reveals that will leave you gobsmacked.

2. The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

This book is about a pair of boys, Jeremy and Rafe, who go missing in Red Crow state forest, West Virginia, only to come back – with Rafe having no memories of their time gone. 15 years later, the boys return to the forest with a vet tech named Emilie to help her find her lost sister.

The author herself described this book as Lord of the Flies meets the Chronicles of Narnia - it may sound like an odd combination, but give it a chance. If you love found family stories then you’ll adore these characters and the bonds they form. It’s a book filled with childhood magic that tugs at your heartstrings.

3. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

This is the kind of book that’s difficult to put in a box. It doesn’t neatly fit into one genre. Despite only highlighting one character in its title, the book actually follows four: Tuesday, her best friend Dex, her love interest Archie, and her neighbor Dorry. The simplest explanation is that it’s about a rich man who dies and leaves behind a scavenger hunt around the city of Boston with a prize for whoever solves it.

This book has some of the best dialogue I’ve read, with witty and entertaining banner between the characters. The novel perfectly balances light fun with heavier themes like grief and guilt among others, making it both charming and touching. The characters are so well written that it’s near impossible to not completely fall for them.

4. Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson

This YA book is criminally under read. It follows a group of teens who all work at the Pink Mountain Pizza shop. This novel is an important read as it deals with a lot of social issues; capitalism, racism, abuse, consent, and mental health. It also highlights the epidemic of how Native American women go missing and are murdered at an alarming rate. As someone with clinical depression who especially struggled in her teens, I wish I’d had this book then. I hope more young readers find this hidden gem of a book!

5. The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson

This is a YA novel about Calvin, a young black boy who is white passing. The novel takes place in the 1950s. This is a book that ignites a fiery storm of emotions in its reader. While reading this book I experienced great fury and sadness in my heart because, while Calvin may be fictional, the inhumane treatment of black people in this country isn’t. Even today racism unfortunately prevails.

This isn’t an easy read, but it’s a necessary one. I wish books like this were read in schools instead of the classics. There's nothing wrong with classics, of course, but books like these teach history and social justice issues in a way that is more engaging to a young reader.

 

6. Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gilig

This is the sequel to One Dark Window and is the final book in the Shepherd King duology. The series follows a group of characters who are aiming to unite a deck of magical cards to save their kingdom from a fever that leaves its victims with volatile magic. This is my all-time favorite fantasy series.

The writing is spellbinding and poetic. Reading this book is like stepping into a gothic fairytale. I never wanted to leave this world. Gilig has become one of my favorite fantasy authors. As a fantasy writer myself, I can only dream of having her writing talents.

7. What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

This is Ibañez’s first venture into writing a historical book. It’s technically a historical fantasy, but it leans a lot more into the historical and adventure genres and is just lightly fantasy. The novel is set in 1880s Egypt with our protagonist, Inez Olivera, looking for her parents who went missing there.

Inez and her love interest, Whitford ‘Whit’ Hayes, have a will they, won’t they enemies to lovers relationship. One of the best parts of this novel is how you’re constantly second guessing which characters you can trust. Ibañez actually traveled to Egypt to do research for this book and reading it you can really tell just how passionate she was about this project.

 

8. After the Forest by Kell Woods

This is a Hansel and Gretel retelling in which, 15 years after escaping the witch, Hansel and Gretel, here called Greta and Hans, live as village outcasts. Greta is in possession of the dead witch’s grimoire and uses it to make gingerbread cookies to earn a living.

The characters in this novel are complex – even when they make choices you as the reader don’t agree with you understand how those choices were shaped by their pasts. Hansel and Gretel is my favorite fairytale, so I’m obvious biased in my review of this book. I really liked, however, how it takes a unique approach to a retelling – instead of retelling the events of the fairytale it images the aftermath which is something I’d never encountered before.