Hello!

Much like many others, I am too baffled by the passing of time – how is it June?? How are we nearly halfway through the year? And why am I suddenly feeling so inadequate about how much I have or haven’t achieved?

(let’s not dwell on the last one)

What I have done is finish reading 24 books and as that is that number of the year, I thought I’d do a quick little run down of the books I read, what I rated them and what I thought about them in one sentence.

I’ve read quite a variety this year, but Storygraph tells me my top ‘moods’ are emotional, adventurous and lighthearted, 70% of the books I’ve read are medium paced, 55% are between 300-499 pages with 60% of my audiobooks being between 8-16 hours. I’ve read 100% fiction so far, my top genres are romance, fantasy and mystery (thank you Famous Five), closely followed by contemporary, predominantly read in a print format (67%). My most read author is Enid Blyton (thank you again, Famous Five) and my number of books, pages and minutes graph looks like this:

And lastly, my average star rating has been 3.44 which I honestly think is okay! Anything above 3 is a win in my books (lol) so without further ado – here are the first 24 books I’ve read in 2024 in chronological order:

1. Galatea – Madeline Miller ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love a Greek story, but a novella this short was quite difficult to get attached to, but a nice quick win to start the year!

2. Bloodmarked – Tracy Deonn ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is the one book I didn’t finish off before the end of 2023, and I’m still so wildly indifferent to it.

3. The Principle of Moments – Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson ⭐️⭐️

The first book I really actively disliked this year and the further away I get from reading it, the more I want to take away one of those stars.

4. With This Kiss – Carrie Hope Fletcher ⭐️

Painful to read and desperately needed a trigger warnings page, incredibly uncomfortable read.

5. Murder Most Unladylike – Robin Stevens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A book I wen from thinking ‘it’s good for a middle grade book’ to just ‘it’s good’ without noticing.

6. Five On A Treasure Island – Enid Blyton ⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you read about George’s character through a trans lens, it’s a surprisingly accepting book considering it was written in the 40s!

7. Bride – Ali Hazelwood ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love Ali Hazelwood’s writing style, but it didn’t reignite my Twilight phase.

8. The Cheat Sheet – Sarah Adams ⭐️⭐️

To make reading this book bearable, I assigned one of my tab colours as a ‘cringe tab’ and I reckon I used about 70.

9. Five Go Adventuring Again – Enid Blyton ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It really is all in the title… four cousins and their dog went adventuring… again.

10. Revolution – Jennifer Donnelly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I so nearly gave this five stars – the writing style made me feel so nostalgic for John Green when I was 15, but the ending just didn’t go the way I was hoping or expecting.

11. A Game of Retribution – Scarlett St Clair ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The companion series of this author’s Hades x Persephone saga told from Hades point of view, but I don’t know if it really added anything to the main romance plot (could have been a novella).

12. A Game of Gods – Scarlett St Clair ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The last book in the Hades trilogy and the plot is getting juicy (whilst ironically focusing less on the romance, which I liked).

13. A Touch of Chaos – Scarlett St Clair ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My first five star book of the year and I stand by it – all of the political fantasy aspects of Greek mythology that I love, to distract me from the horror of ‘real life’ politics.

14. The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Much less complex than I thought it would be and unquestionably the Andy Serkis audiobook is the best narration I’ve ever listened to.

15. The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This audiobook took me three months to finish and it still didn’t feel slow – it felt like an example of storytelling at it’s core and I’m worried that the series is incomplete.

16. Five Run Away Together – Enid Blyton ⭐️⭐️

They may only be 11 ish, but that doesn’t mean they have to act like brats.

17. To Love Jason Thorn – Ella Maise ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I needed a three star easy cheesy romance after finishing The Name of the Wind and Jason Thorn did not disappoint – it was exactly what I expected.

18. The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have no doubt that I would have rated this higher if I hadn’t read book 2 before reading book 1.

19. Five Go to Smuggler’s Top – Enid Blyton ⭐️⭐️⭐️

They were way less bratty and reacted in a much more appropriate manor to the severity of the situation they found themselves in.

20. To Hate Adam Connor – Ella Maise ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Completely exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed this one far more than the first in the duology – it’s nothing ground breaking, but I think the single dad thing got me.

21. The Reappearance of Rachel Price – Holly Jackson ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I don’t know if I’ve ever rated a book that made me feel so stressed for the entire duration of reading it so highly without question.

22. Daisy Jones and The Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s gone on my list of my favourite books of all time – the audiobook is incredible and I often had to remind myself it wasn’t non-fiction.

23. Funny Story – Emily Henry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For such an outlandish concept, I don’t think I should have been allowed to enjoy this one as much as I did, but I really did.

24. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely understand why it’s a modern classic and it’s the first book I’ve read this year that I felt the five star rating in my gut.

I’ve read three further books since realising I’d hit this milestone, but I don’t think ‘the first 28 books I read in 2024’ has the same ring to it! If you want to be kept up to date with everything I’m reading, you can follow me on Storygraph but I’ll be sure to post more updates here! I keep considering doing individual book reviews but then time catches up with me!

Thank you so much for taking some time out of your book,

Sophie xx