Good morning! It's time again to unveil the best books that I read this year. This is the sixth consecutive year I do this since I started this blog. In fact, I've been making these lists for a bit longer than that. They're a bit too long to post on normal social media, like Facebook or Threads. Even sites like Goodreads and The Storygraph aren't well suited for this. That's why I launched this blog. I wanted a place where I could share my reviews and opinions with the world.
This year, I decided to post this list now, rather than in December as usual. That makes it less likely that a great read I finish last-minute doesn't make it as one of the picks. It almost happened with Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson. It was a fantastic book, but I read it very late in 2023. I just would rather not cut it too close again. Without further ado, here are my choices for the top 10 books I read in 2024:
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10. YOU’D LOOK BETTER AS A GHOST by Joanna Wallace
Genre: Thriller
Initial release year: 2023
My rating: 4 stars
My rating: 4 stars
Of the books I read this year, this one was perhaps the least like my usual choices. The premise was fascinating, though. A part-time serial killer? It sounds outlandish, and yet I wanted to know more. The main character is Claire, an unapologetic killer who spends most of her time alone in her apartment. She’s one of those characters who can’t seem to function like a normal person, murderous tendencies aside. Claire spends the book trying to uncover the identity of a person who stumbles onto her secret. Despite the way this sounds, and the fact the protagonist is a serial killer, this book wasn’t as dark as I expected. I still liked it, and the final twist was pretty good.
9. THE NATURALS by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Initial release year: 2013
My rating: 4 stars
This book caught my eye because it seemed like one of those really hyped novels with ardent fans, such as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder or Skyward. I also thought the characters would have comic book-esque superpowers. That was not the case, but it didn’t keep me from enjoying to read The Naturals. Cassie, the protagonist, is a seventeen year old with a superhuman ability to deduce facts about other people. Think Sherlock Holmes turned up to eleven. This gift draws the attention of the FBI, who recruit Cassie to be part of a program that includes other young people with similarly incredible aptitudes. Their goal' will be to solve cold cases. However, a killer emerges who threatens Cassie and her teammates. They’ll have to use their gifts to their full extent in order to outwit this killer and survive.
Genre: Science fiction
Initial release year: 2021
My rating: 4.5 stars
Initial release year: 2021
My rating: 4.5 stars
Apart from the great cover design, Constance drew me in because of the synopsis. The eponymous main character is a clone who wakes up after her original dies. In this world, a company sells clones to wealthy or important people who want to have a ‘backup’ of themselves. If something happens to the original, the clone is immediately woken up. Their memories are refreshed regularly. Con wakes up with an eighteen-month gap, though. She has no idea why her original was killed. When the very company that created Con threatens to kill her, she is forced to go on the run. Con joins forces with a detective to figure out what happened to her original and how to stay alive.
Genre: Mystery
Initial release year: 2020
My rating: 4.5 stars
Initial release year: 2020
My rating: 4.5 stars
This is a thriller centering on FBI Special Agent Lisa Tanchik. It’s the second entry in her duology. Lisa specializes in cybercrime. In this book, Lisa faces a very different adversary from the one she clashed with in book one. This antagonist is incredibly smart and seems to be several steps ahead of the authorities. It all kicks off with an attack that cuts off power to the East Coast. Lisa joins a task force whose mission it is to find and stop the party responsible. She also partners with a computer specialist with special knowledge on how to counter the new threat.
Genre: Science fiction, mystery
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 4 stars
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 4 stars
Another book I got because I really like stories that include characters with special abilities. In this case, it’s the protagonist, Teagan Frost. She’s a young woman with telekinetic powers. Because of it, Teagan got recruited for a covert organization that sends her and a small team on black ops missions. The latest one doesn’t go so well; Teagan has to overexert her telekinesis just to survive. This reveals that Teagan isn’t particularly strong. She can only lift so much, and she can wear out her telekinesis just like any muscle. When Teagan is framed for murder, she’ll have to rely on more than her power to clear her name and track down the real culprit.
Genre: Mystery
Initial release year: 2016
My rating: 4 stars
Initial release year: 2016
My rating: 4 stars
Yeah, this is another book with a character who can do something others can’t. The main character is John Smith (seriously), a man who used to work as an operative for the CIA. He left them sometime ago and now works on his own. Unlike most other books with characters that have special powers, Killfile doesn’t reveal how John Smith got his. He’s also the only person with a power. The story begins when John is hired to search a tech mogul’s mind for stolen intellectual property. When things go wrong, John goes on the run with Kelsey, his employer’s assistant. Together they must find out what’s going on and how to beat someone with one of the sharpest minds John’s ever read.
Genre: Romance
Initial release year: 2021
My rating: 4.5 stars
Initial release year: 2021
My rating: 4.5 stars
If you’re in the mood for an uplifting contemporary romance, The Stand-In may be up your street. This story is about Gracie Reed, an Asian-American woman who gets mistaken for a famous Chinese actress one day. The actress in question, Wei Fangli, tracks down Gracie and makes her a surprising offer. Wei wants Gracie to take her place in front of the world for a little while. She’s going through…stuff and needs a breather. In exchange, Gracie will get the money that she needs for her mother. And on top of that, Gracie also gets to hang out with Sam Yao, Wei’s constant companion who’s also an actor. It’s a no-brainer, right? The Stand-In is more layered than that. It was fun, and though the twist wasn’t hard to see coming, it wasn’t bad either. I enjoyed this book.
Genre: Thriller
Initial release year: 2023
My rating: 4.5 stars
My rating: 4.5 stars
With such a compelling synopsis, I got my own copy of Those Empty Eyes. This is a suspense novel whose protagonist is Alex Armstrong. She’s a woman who works as a legal investigator. Ten years ago, she used to go by Alexandra Quinlan. After being framed for the murder of her family and earning the nickname Empty Eyes, Alex went into hiding and then reinvented herself. Now she’s working a high-profile case where it appears another innocent person is being framed for a crime. The victim was a promising aspiring journalist who was about to publish a stunning expose. Powerful people, including a presidential hopeful, are very interested in covering up what the young journalist was about to bring to light.
Genre: Romance
Initial release year: 2023
My rating: 5 stars
My rating: 5 stars
It’s been a little while since a romance novel appeals to me as much as The Edge of Never or More than Forever did. I liked Sweet Dandelion as well, but in the end I picked Pretty Little Mistake for this list. The story follows Lennon Wells and Beckham Sullivan (I know, the names!), two people who’ve known each other from childhood. They ended up falling in love, but it didn’t end well. Several years later, Lennon and Beckham reunite where they least expected to: at their job. Lennon has just started her new job at the magazine where Beckham works. Things are quite bitter between them, but they manage to stay mostly professional. Until their boss pairs Lennon and Beckham for a project and sends them on a trip to interview someone. Will Lennon be able to resist her strong attraction toward Beckham, or are they meant to be after all?
Genre: Science fiction, romance
Initial release year: 2019
My rating: 5 stars
My rating: 5 stars
After finishing the Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson, I went looking for other, gripping space opera novels. Polaris Rising fit the bill really well. It’s a debut novel focusing on Ada von Hasenberg, a daughter from one of the three High Houses in the Royal Consortium. She’s the fifth of six children, so Ada doesn’t really have important duties as a royal. Still, her father wants her to marry someone she doesn’t love. In an act of rebellion, Ada runs off on her own. Two years later, a gang of mercenaries finally capture her. To escape from them, Ada makes a deal with a fellow prisoner: Marcus Loch, a notorious fugitive known as the Devil of Fornax Zero. Is this a misguided deal, or is Marcus just the man Ada needs? With plenty of intrigue, adequate world-building, and compelling characters, Polaris Rising became my newest favorite space opera. I’m definitely getting the next two books in the trilogy.
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