Hello!

Even though 2024 is firmly in the rear-view mirror, there’s still plenty of content I can make in January looking back on the reading year!

These trendy annual TBR lists have definitely become really popular as we get into the 20s of the 21st century and 2024 was my second year making one. My 23 in 2023 was a colossal failure because at that point I was exclusively letting my TBR jar choose what I was reading so the chances of picking those 23 titles out of the hundreds that were in that jar was statistically very low – I’m pretty sure I read 5 of my annual TBR that year.

So in 2024 I took a different approach – with 24 being divisible by 12, it was easy enough to plan to read 2 a month and towards the end of the year I got much better at sticking to it, but rather than immediately tell you how well I did, I shall leave you in suspense till the end of this post! (I’ve been told it’s meant to be good for reader retention lol, I’m just pretending that I’m edgy and mysterious).

Here are the 24 books that were on my list and whether or not I read them!

Note from future Sophie who’s finished writing this post: there was no way I was going to be able to write about 24 books concisely, so this is long! Get a drink, get a snack – enjoy!

The Worst of Me – Kate Le Vann

Starting well with a yes! This is about a girl who meets a new boy in her town and is thrown into a bit of whirlwind romance, but then it turns out he doesn’t always act as sweet at he is with her. I thought this author really well captured how messy it is to be a teenager and be so hormonal and feel such big emotions and not know how to handle them, whilst being painfully aware of how silly it seems to be feeling those feelings. It was a solid 3.5 the whole way through, but the ending was then so abrupt and inconclusive, while I fear it may have been intentional to ‘leave the ending up to the reader’, it just felt like they forgot to include the last 50 pages which knocked this down to a 3 star read for me.

Strong Female Character – Fern Brady

I only read this in December so I feel like I’ve talked about it a lot recently but I loved it. This non-fiction memoire by comedian Fern Brady talks about her life as an undiagnosed autistic woman and the signs and symptoms that made her life so challenging. I don’t know how I felt so simultaneously seen by a writer and not be able to relate at all to what they were talking about, but with how popular this book has been I’m so glad that Fern’s honest and realistic writing about a neurodiversity that is so commonly misunderstood is being seen. The audiobook is a must for this one! Easy 5 stars.

The Name of The Wind – Patrick Rothfuss

This one feels a little more complicated because it’s not technically this book that I added to my list – I bought ‘The Slow Regard of Silent Things’, which is a spin-off novella from this series in 2023 not realising that it was part of a series, let alone that it shouldn’t be read out of context. I started 2024 by taking three months to listen to this audiobook and I really enjoyed it – it feels like proper classic fantasy storytelling, the narrator was fantastic and despite how long it took me to listen, I always picked up where I left off without forgetting anything about the characters or plot and rated it 4 stars.

So I technically didn’t read the book that’s on my TBR, but I started this series. And it looks like this is the start of a never-going-to-be-finished trilogy anyway so the motivation to finish it off is quite low. I’m giving myself a tick on this one anyway though.

The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien

I feel like I really should have read this long time ago, but in a way I’m glad I didn’t because as I am now into audiobooks I listened to this narrated by Andy Serkis and it’s one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. I didn’t realise that this is technically a children’s book and was expecting the prose to be much more flowery and complex, but whilst it was very lyrical it wasn’t overwhelming at all. It did feel a little slow in places but it made me want to commit to reading the Lord of the Ring’s trilogy and I feel like that’s quite the commitment! This was a solid 4 stars.

Powerless – Lauren Roberts

I’d heard so many mixed reviews about this romantasy book that took BookTok by storm – in a world of Elite’s with powers that have outlawed being ‘Mundane’, Paedyn finds herself entwined with royalty and put into a ‘Hunger Games’-esque set of trials that have her faking a power she doesn’t have and getting ever closer to the Prince who owes her his life.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t particularly original and it gave me kind of fanfiction vibes. The whole experience made me feel nostalgic and considering this is a relatively new release that I’ve never read before, it clearly has a very similar tones to the dystopian fantasy I grew up with. But despite all that, I really enjoyed it – Paedyn was Katniss Everdeen with silver hair, Kai felt like the love interest from Divergent and the love triangle was very reminiscent of the 2010s, but I had a fun time and I couldn’t help but rate it 4.5 stars.

Girl, Goddess, Queen – Bea Fitzgerald

This is a YA Hades and Persephone Greek mythology retelling that I was mildly hesitant about only because I’d already read a Hades and Persephone series earlier in the year and I was worried about getting the characters confused but actually it helped. I felt a little bit smart to be able to recognise different characters from aspects of the Greek story and see how differently they were presented.

I loved that this was a YA book that didn’t pretend the sexuality of the Greek stories doesn’t exist – don’t get me wrong, I’m firmly against smut in YA books because I absolutely don’t want to be reading about YA aged characters doing that, but that doesn’t mean we have to pretend that teenagers don’t know anything about sex. They absolutely do and the way that was addressed in this book was brilliant. Another 5 star read! I picked a good bunch last year.

The Fine Print – Lauren Asher

This is a book that really could have gone either way – off-brand-Disneyland Granddad passes away and leaves conditions for each of his three grandson’s to meet before they’re allowed their inheritance. It’s part of a trilogy of three books – one for each brother – and this book follows Rowan, the youngest of the three, as he has to reinvigorate the park as temporary Director and present ideas to a hand selected committee. Zahra used to have dreams of becoming one of the parks Creators and after submitting a drunk proposal criticising one of the park’s most profitable rides, she finds herself sparking a long-lost creativity in Rowan. And obviously romance happens along the way.

At first, this gave me the same cheesy vibes as most fanfiction I read when I was 13 written by other 13 year olds, but then I kind of leant into the trashy nature of it all and found myself a little bit attached to the characters. What can I say, I had a good time! I rated it 4 stars and hope to be getting my hands on the sequels at some point.

Verity – Colleen Hoover

The thing with the books I didn’t get to is that it’s not a reflection on the book – I mostly used a spinner to choose which books from this list I would read each month and the ones I didn’t read didn’t come up before I ran out of time.

I will come back to Verity!

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love – Lex Croucher

Again, I ran out of time, but this LGBTQ take on descendants of key characters of Arthurian Legend still absolutely intrigues me – I’m still really excited to read this one.

Darkness On The Edge of Town – Adam Christopher

Now this official Stranger Things novel made it on to my monthly TBR at least once, but I didn’t get round to it however I have a plan.

I think 2025 is going to be the release of the final season of Stranger Things, so I have a plan in the run up to release to rewatch the whole series from the beginning, reread the first official Stranger Things novel I adored, ‘Suspicious Minds’ by Gwenda Bond, read this book and read ‘Flight of Icarus’ by Caitlin Schneiderhan so I’ll be up to my eyeballs in Stranger Things and at peak hype for the new series. This book will have it’s time!

House of Earth and Blood – Sarah J Maas

I read my first ever Sarah J Maas! A nearly 28 hour audiobook, 800-page brick and my most intimidating read of the year and I did it! This book starts the Crescent City series and introduces Bryce – half-human girl trying to make a way for herself in a world that sees her as half a person and planning her future with her best friend Danika, destined to be one of the strongest Wolf Alphas in history. Then Danika and her pack are brutally murdered. Two years later, the case is reopened and Bryce is prepositioned to solve it, partnered with fallen Angel Hunt, who has his own motivation to solve the case, they find out more about Crescent City and it’s many fantasy creatures than they ever thought they could know.

And just like how there’s no short way of summarising this book, this book was long but surprisingly evenly paced – I was never bored, I found the characters really engaging (especially to have a not-skinny-protagonist that is so breathtakingly gorgeous practically every character points it out? Yes please!) and I loved the urban fantasy setting. I’ve been told that it’s best to read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series before finishing Crescent City so that is one of my goals for 2025, but I am very excited to get stuck in to more of Sarah J Maas’ work this year. 5 stars!

Gild – Raven Kennedy

The first book in the Plated Prisoner series – we follow Auren who lives in the castle of King Midas, the man with the gold touch and she is his prized Golden saddle; the woman he turned pure gold. But he’s hungry for more than his golden palace and infinite riches – he wants more than the borders of Sixth Kingdom and he has an elaborate plot in place to secure it. Auren thinks she knows the man behind the Crown, but he slowly begins to crack the faith she has in him.

I thought this book was utterly pointless – Auren was a really whiny character, Midas was fairly obviously icky and the whole thing didn’t have much plot at all. It was incredibly slow, the pacing didn’t make much sense to me at all and I think I described it as the time as ‘could have been an email’! But something about it hooked me, particularly because I know of Midas as a Greek character and I’m a big fan of Greek mythology. So I borrowed the audiobook for book 2 from the library – my thoughts were much the same; it was very slow, nothing much happened and Auren was meant to be a woman in her mid-t0-late 20s who was written like an actual child.

Then I got the audiobook for book 3 and I get it. There was character development, there was an actual plot and I fully understand the hype for this series now. I stand by that book 1 and 2 should be rewritten, whether they’re combined or mashed into a prologue ahead of book 3 I don’t know, but I wish I didn’t have to read two books that were distinctly below average before I could enjoy this series! The audiobook for book 4, Glow, is waiting for me on Libro FM (my library only has book 1-3 😒) and I’m hoping to finish the series by the end of 2025.

One Of Us Is Lying – Karen M. McManus

This is another series that I managed to borrow all the audiobooks from the library and I’m so glad I did because I loved the entire series. Five teenagers enter a science lab for detention; only four come out. The teacher is immediately cleared as innocent and as press interest grows, secrets about each of the four that could be seen as motive come out. There’s no denying that someone did something, but who can spot the liar?

I devoured this book – 2024 was the year I discovered my love for mystery/thrillers. The suspense in this book was intense – each of the four protagonists had their own perspective and every time I listened to another chapter I got more wound up trying to figure out who I could trust and how it could possibly all come together. I rated this 4 stars in the end, exclusively because by the end I had figured out what was going on and thought it was a little bit predictable. I rated the second book, ‘One Of Us Is Next’ 4 stars as well because, again, I loved the characterisation and I thought the plot was clever, but while the ending felt less cliche, I did figure it out so it felt almost disappointing to be right. Book 3 though, ‘One Of Us Is Back’ – a full 5 stars, I did not see the ending coming and I loved how all of the characters came together. The Bayview gang have very sweet found family vibes and I will absolutely be revisiting this series again.

Stone Blind – Natalie Haynes

Another Greek mythology retelling… I was so excited to read a book reimagining Medusa’s Story too!

Immortal Longings – Chloe Gong

This one I really did try to squeeze in at the end of 2024 but I just didn’t make it. Depending on how long I can resist picking up the sequel that was just released completely controls when I get round to reading this. Considering I’ve now done an official count of my unread TBR and it’s currently sitting at 437, the motivation to not add to it is strong.

Sixteen Souls – Rosie Talbot

Another 5 star banger, honestly. A YA paranormal LGBTQ+ romance with incredible disability rep, a fantasy system that felt like it could actually be real and even got me to tolerate a little bit of horror? It says a lot.

This book follows Charlie, who after a serious illness that made him a double-below the knee amputee, can see ghosts. Feeling more isolated than ever, when the ghosts that have become his constant companions and friends start to go missing, he feels it’s his responsibility to find out why. Ambushed by new boy in the city, Sam, fairly new to the ‘Seer’ scene, together they find out more about their mystical power and what the underworld of York has in store for them.

Honestly, this was fantastic – all of the characters were incredibly well written, the diversity was so effortless that it showed how easy it is to make books inclusive, the mystery was really clever and I was hooked from beginning to end. It helped that I started this book shortly after a trip to York but I couldn’t recommend this one more, it was so much fun.

The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides

I meant it when I said 2024 was the year I discovered how much I love mystery thrillers!

Alicia Berenson lived a very normal life until she shot her husband in the head five times. She hasn’t spoken a single word in the six years since. Psychologist Theo Faber thinks he can be the one to find out why.

Having read through some of the reviews on Storygraph, it seems a lot of reviews saw the twist coming and lost interest, so I don’t know what that says about me but I didn’t see it coming from a mile away and it shocked me to my core. I ended up rambling the entire plot of the book to my husband as soon as I finished it because I had to talk to someone about it. I found the narrative completely compelling, the audiobook was incredible and I totally understand why this is considered a modern classic because I thought it was absolutely fantastic. 5 stars, no questions.

Legends and Lattes – Travis Baldree

I really expected this to become my new personality. A D&D style leading character, the cosiness and low-stakes of a small town romance and a little bit of the L from LGBTQ+? Yes please. Or so I thought.

Yes, the protagonist is an Orc called Viv who feels like she’s straight out of a D&D campaign. Yes, her mission to set up a coffee shop in an abandoned stable in a city that doesn’t know what coffee is gives all the small-town vibes. But that’s kind of it. There wasn’t much plot beyond that and there’s practically no romance. The people who are praising this as a sapphic romance are clutching at straws because whilst there is a building relationship and tension, the romance is a teeny tiny, minuscule, barely acknowledged part of the story.

I did enjoy it – I rated it 3.5 stars in the end, but I don’t know if I can be bothered with ‘Bookshops and Bonedust’ if I’m honest.

The Cheat Sheet – Sarah Adams

Quite simply the worst book I read in this list. A contemporary romance about a professional American football player and a dancer who couldn’t go pro so teaches kids who can’t afford classes should have been right up my street, but I learned a lot about my relationship with a friends-to-lovers romances in 2024.

Generally, I don’t like it if they’re already in love with each other. If it’s a dual perspective book and each character has separately admitted how much they’ve pined over the other character within the first 8 pages (I’m not exaggerating), I’m out. I want to watch them fall in love, I want to watch them get to know each other and find all the nuances that make them who they are but when they already know everything about each other, there’s nowhere left to go but get together.

I started hate-tabbing this book with what I fondly called ‘cringe tabs’ and I’m sure I used at least 100. This writing style was not for me at all and I will probably never read a book from this author again. It sounds dramatic, but it just wasn’t for me and I don’t need that much negative emotion about a book in my life 😂

I gave it 2 stars because while I may be dramatic, I appreciate that it wasn’t technically badly written, it just wasn’t for me.

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece – Tom Hanks

I was mostly intrigued as to what Tom Hanks is like as a writer. Back on the TBR it goes!

The life Changing Magic of Not Giving A F*ck – Sarah Knight

An annual TBR list with two non-fiction books on it? This is me pushing myself.

Unfortunately I think I’d have enjoyed this book a lot more if I hadn’t read ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck’ by Mark Manson the year before. It’s very much the same book in a different font and I think Mark Manson’s font just lined up with my personal style more. The principles were exactly the same and I still found them motivational in a way, but sometimes I found this author’s writing style a little cringy and I’m pretty sure at one point she censored saying ‘shit’ whilst using ‘fuck’ at least twice on every page and that felt weird.

3.5 stars that I probably won’t come back to, if I’m being honest (which I am) (lol).

0.4 – Mike Lancaster

This is a current-day dystopian (as opposed to dystopian set in the future) that made me genuinely wonder if it could be true. A take on humanity and human history and future that really got into my head and I would genuinely recommend to anyone.

This is a book I bought and read as a teenager and when I was organising my books in 2021, I decided to add a bunch of books from my childhood to my ‘unread TBR’ to evaluate whether I still wanted to keep them in my library. This was an easy 4 stars and will be staying – it’s YA but the narration is quite mature (i.e. not an annoying, whiny teenager), the way the story feels like it’s been annotated like a scientific artefact really enhanced the story and the concept was just fascinating. I genuinely might have to put this up to 5 stars just because of how much I’ve carried on thinking about it since reading it. It’s only got 700 reviews on Storygraph so it’s not particularly popular but I thoroughly recommend it.

Radio Silence – Alice Oseman

My first Alice Oseman that isn’t part of the Heartstopper series! I borrowed the audiobook from my library and devoured it in December. YA books that are set in the era where I was a teenager are much more my speed!

Frances doesn’t know when she made being academic her entire personality, but her friends expect her to turn down social plans because she’s studying, she’s her school’s model Head Girl and getting in to Cambridge is everything. Except when she’s listening to Universe City – a YouTube podcast that she adores so much that she has sketchbooks full of fan art and a whole community of fellow fans online. Then she accidentally finds out that the Creator lives across the road from her in Aled – a shy boy in the year above who’s twin sister, Carys, used to be Frances’ friend. Amongst a quickly developing friendship, Frances needs to figure out who she is beyond the academics and whether she can confess what really happened between her and Carys.

This was such a sweet story – Alice Oseman is an expert in writing in a really accessible, easy to read style with really important topics. The main themes of this story are identity, mental health, friendship and, much like Heartstopper, elements of sexuality. Aled was such a sweetheart and the way that he was just trying to cope was so accurate to teenagers doing what they feel they have to because school or parents or society at large has told them they should. I really loved Frances and Aled’s friendship, I love how accurately this narrative shows what being a teenager in the 2010s was like and how easy it is to feel like an alien amongst your school peers. Easy 5 stars – I can’t wait to read more of Alice Oseman’s work next year.

The Book of Two Ways – Jodi Picoult

So far I’ve managed to write descriptions of all these books myself and I don’t think I can for this book. So I’ll just paraphrase the blurb.

Dawn is abruptly faced with the realisation that her life is not as perfect as she thought – she thinks of the life she left behind fifteen years ago when she abandoned her career in Egyptology and the man she worked with. But she’s married and her daughter needs her. As the path of her life forks in two different directions, Dawn must confront the questions she’s always avoided – did she make the right choice?

I actually soft DNF-ed this book before so I was a bit hesitant going into it again, but having discovered audiobooks since then I decided to see if I could make it further with that. Through most of the reading experience I was thinking this was a 3 star read – I felt a bit confused between the two aspects of Dawn’s life and I couldn’t figure out how they related to each other and consequently couldn’t connect to the characters as much.

But then the ending happened. I didn’t see that twist coming from a mile away and the way that everything fell into place was so satisfyingly clever that it completely changed my perspective of the book. I couldn’t rate it higher than 4 stars because of how much I found the story dragging before, but I would love to reread it and see how much knowing what happens changes the reading experience. I don’t know if it would be higher than a 4 star book, but I was genuinely blown away.

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And that’s all 24 books – 18 read, 6 still on my TBR, 75% of the list achieved and I’m considering that a success!

I don’t know why I didn’t anticipate that I would end up writing a really long post about all of these books because we know I love a ramble and I’m incapable of shutting up, but I hope it’s given you a decent summary of the books I managed to read from my annual TBR!

The average rating of the 18 books I did manage to read is 4.1! Which either means I’m generally very good at picking books (both in terms of choosing what I put on this list and what I choose to buy) or I rate books very generously (this may be true, but I am more likely to rate a book 1 or 2 stars than DNF it 😂).

I don’t know if it’s how much I enjoyed these books that has restored my own faith in my physical TBR or having done an official count and knowing how many books I own that I haven’t read, but I’m feeling a really invigorated sense of determination to power through my own physical TBR! I mean, I went to Waterstones Picadilly this week (the biggest Waterstones in the UK, if not Europe) and didn’t buy anything because the thought of having to put my TBR counter up was such a deterrent for me.

My 25 in 2025 was chosen entirely from my TBR jar so I’m relying on my ability to buy books that I’m going to enjoy, but I’m excited about making a further dent in that physical TBR. I’ve done the maths and at my current annual rate it will take me approximately 6 years if I carry on and my current rate… and don’t buy any new books… as if I don’t already have a bunch of books pre-ordered…

The mission continues!

Thank you so much for reading,

Sophie xx