I surpassed my reading goal and read 78 books in 2024! With that many books, I thankfully was able to read a number of books that I considered 5 star reads (or at least rounded up to 5 stars). 😉 These are the best books I read in 2024!!

P.S. I tried to give my best books list some organization by grouping them by genre and to help if you are looking for something in a specific category!

@saraannsutton I gave 5 stars to 16 books from romantasy, to thriller, memoirs, and non-fiction sociology! #booktok #bookrecommendations #romantasy #thriller #books ♬ original sound – Sara Ann Sutton

Best Books I Read in 2024

Romance

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

FIVE STARS!!! Out of this list of best books, this was probably my favorite in 2024. Beautiful, fun, dynamic. Just for the Summer was everything I could ever want in a romance. I actually did a full review of Just for the Summer in December if you want to know more about my thoughts on it!

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

THIS BOOK!!!!!! The Paradise Problem was an absolute delight to read. It is a perfect romance book with a fake dating trope and I really have nothing negative to say about this book. The banter and chemistry is perfection. It’s fun but also randomly addresses some big themes very well– notably: wealth and the impact on family. It very much has some “Succession” vibes with spicy romance scenes. This is probably going to be on of my top books for the year! I did a full review on The Paradise Problem in October if you want to read more of my thoughts!

Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren

A year or 2 ago, I read a Christina Lauren book and hated it, so I almost swore them off as authors, and I’m so glad I didn’t because 2 of their books made my list of best books in 2024! This one is so sweet, if you enjoy a chick-lit book, especially with some throwback to being teenagers, I recommend it.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

This is one of my favorite Emily Henry books. As always, such a fun, cute book! The pairing, realness, and timing of everything was perfection. This book felt more “women’s fiction” book than romance, so just be aware of that going into it!

General Fiction

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

This one is SO sweet! I don’t know how to classify it other than general fiction, but it is such a sweet story and made me cry.

Thriller & Mystery

No Exit by Taylor Adams

No Exit is a thriller following college student, Darby Thorne, when she gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. She is forced to wait things out at a rest stop with 4 strangers. As she is searching for a cell signal, she discovers a young girl trapped in a dog crate in the van parked next to her car. They are all trapped with no phone service and a kidnapper, but Darby doesn’t know who.

This book was SO good and totally will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is pretty gory and violent so I did struggle with that, but I otherwise flew through this book!

Never Lie by Frieda McFadden

Never Lie follows a couple, Tricia and Ethan, who are going to tour a house, but get stuck in a huge snowstorm. They are forced to bunker down in the house, but quickly realize it was previously owned by a famous psychiatrist, Dr. Adrienne Hale, who was murdered years back. Tricia stumbles upon a secret room filled with tape recordings off all of the sessions Dr. Hale did with her patients. Tricia begins listening to some of the tapes and starts to uncover a story of the events leading up to Dr. Hale’s death. Creepy things start happening in the house too, but with the snowstorm outside, there is no where for them to run.

I never would have been able to figure out the twist of this book and it felt so creepy reading about this potentially haunted house. Truthfully, the actual writing skill of this book is meh at best, but it didn’t stop me from being glued to this book and enjoying it.

Fantasy & “Romantasy”

The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent

This one is so fun! I haven’t enjoyed a roman-tasy book this much in a while. If you enjoy ACOTAR, Throne of Glass, and Hunger Games, I think you will like The Serpent of the Wings of Night! The main character, Oraya, is a human living in a vampire dominated world, but she has the opportunity to become something other than prey in the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

This one is not really a romantasy so much as a cozy fantasy. It is such a sweet book, it will just make you feel good while reading it!

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

I debated adding A Court of Mist and Fury in this post because this was not my first time reading it. However, when I read it the first time, I probably ranked it a little lower (although I still LOVED IT).

I rarely re-read books but this is my favorite book in the ACOTAR series so far. It’s just so good. Chapters 54 and 55???? Incredible. I read it the first time about a year and a half ago and it still holds up. I do wish I could go back and read it again for the first time, but it is very fun to re-read and pick up on things that you didn’t 100% know the first time around.

Manacled by SenLinYu

Manacled is actually not a formally published book. It is a free, super popular and well-written piece of Harry Potter fan-fiction. It is long. It is dark. There are a bunch of TWs to check out before you start this. But it is REALLY good. If you enjoy fantasy and Handmaid’s tale, you will enjoy (and you don’t have to really read Harry Potter before you read this).

Manacled was actually removed from it’s original published location at the end of 2024, because the author got a book deal (I presume that her forthcoming book has a similar premise to this one), but I have found it on Archive.org, so I have directions on how to access it on this blog post:

Manacled Review (+ How to Read on Kindle!)

Non-Fiction

The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron

This book is a little cheesy at time but I think it’s a good intro into the enneagram. Which, I think, is better/more accurate than the previously discussed color theory written about in Surrounded by Idiots (see October read round-up). I’m hope to read more books about ennegram (so let me know if you want more of that content!) but this felt like a really good overarching book for someone just getting into it.

What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

I think this is a great book to read if someone in your life has gone through a trauma or perhaps if you work in a setting where you will be around people who have experienced traumas (eg. teacher, medical, etc.). It serves to help people better understand why people may respond the way they do.

Thrivers by Michele Borba

This one is so great if you are a parent. This talks about the traits we can encourage and foster in children so that they grow up to thrive instead of just succeed. So much of the culture today is trying to make sure kids get perfect grades so that they get into the best schools and can work the best jobs, but anxiety for kids is at a high. Encouraging things traits like resilience and empathy in kids can help fight that.

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

This one was so interesting. Garrett and I listened to a good chunk of it on our drive home from Isle of Palms over the summer. There were a couple of times where we had to pause it and just sit to absorb some of the information. Some of the topics are tough to sit with, and I don’t know if I 100% agree with everything that Gladwell argues, but he makes really compelling arguments and it is a fascinating book.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls whom I actually did not know before reading this book. Jeannette is a journalist and had a very unique upbringing by parents that were dysfunctional and often negligent. However, her story balances the positives and negatives of her upbringing in a really interesting way. If you every read and enjoyed Educated by Tara Westover, you will likely also enjoy this book.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

I read this one while I was doing the 75 Medium challenge earlier this year. If you have New Year’s resolutions of any kind and you’ve never read this book, this one is a great read. It’s not long but it is filled with practical advice to help you change your habits to do the things you want to do.

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