2024 Book Roundup

This is where I would normally do my top non-fiction of the year but I only read six non-fiction books last year so this time I'm doing a selection of my favorite first-time reads. I'm also sharing my Goodreads stats!

All of these books are first-time reads but for sorting purposes, I'm putting the stand-alone books that I got from the library or own under the "First Time" heading. The rest will be self-explanatory.

FIRST TIME

• Just Once by Karen Kingsbury. I read this at the beginning of the year and didn't recall Irvel from the Baxter series. Then I got to watch The Baxters show on Amazon and that led to me re-reading the original five books (also known as the Redemption series). So I got to see Irvel at the beginning and end of this year! Warning: this book will make you cry!
• The Hudson Collection by Jocelyn Green. Officially the second book in a series, but can totally be read as a stand-alone. An impactful book that I want to read again soon!
• Christmas In The Castle Library by Ann Swindell. I'm such a sucker for fictional modern European kingdoms. Add in a library and a beautiful story and this is a yearly-must read!
• Lowcountry Lost by T.I. Lowe. A beautiful and devastating book. I don't like books if they don't have happy endings, but I'm finding a lot of really beautiful books have really tough themes in them. It's done tastefully but this is not a book for teens.
• Between The Sound And Sea by Amanda Cox. I want to recommend this to everyone! Beautifully poignant. Not as hard as the previous book but has richness to it, for sure.
  
• Across The Ages by Gabrielle Meyers. I love this whole series but this is the best one since the first book! I'm glad she kept going and is even releasing two more!
• What Comes Of Attending The Commoner's Ball by Elisabeth Aimee Brown. Such a fun book for my last read of 2024! I got this one for free in a massive giveaway that some authors did at the beginning of December. It sounded fun and it was!

SERIES (I read all of these on Kindle Unlimited)

• Divine Courage trilogy by C.C. Urie. A series I was a little surprised how much I liked. Dystopian/war/sci-fi is not normally my thing but this was so good that I want to own the series! This is the Hunger Games as it should have been and I recommend it for 16+ #1, #2, #3
• Fate of Eyrinthia series by Heather Frost. Explosive from almost the first page, this series has become one of my favorites! It's original, creative, captivating, and I'm slowly dying not having the resolution yet! My one beef is that Clare NEVER learns her lesson. Yes, these reviews are kind of vague but it's almost impossible to write reviews without spoilers! #0.5, #1, #2, #3, #3.5, #4
• Muir Harbor trilogy by Melissa Tagg. This series is enchanting. The setting, the characters, and it's super sweet but also full of surprises! . #1, #2, #3
• Lauren Holbrook series by Erynn Mangum. Oh my word, this series was HILARIOUS! It's also very unique in that the first three focus on Lauren/Laurie but then the last two, while still the same series and Laurie is around, are focused on Annie. And there are some large time jumps. None of this is bad, just unusual for a series. #1, #2, #3, #4, #5

KU STAND ALONES

• Mind The Gap by Erynn Mangum. Hilarious (because it's Erynn Mangum), British, beautiful, and moving. I have to own this book! I recommend it to everyone!
• The Lies We Believe by Lisa Harris. This is about as thriller as I can do. It's twisted and kind of scary but very good! And there are three more books in the series (if I can get my hands on them).
• A Winter At The White Queen by Denise Weimer. Technically this is a novella, but it was just so good and I want to own it too so it had to make the recap!

NETGALLEY
I read and reviewed 19 books through Netgalley this year; a mix of fiction and non. But the very best were A Lady's Guide To Marvels And Misadventures by Angela Bell and the first Gossamer Falls book, Never Fall Again by Lynn H. Blackburn.