Best Books of 2024!
At our Park City Booked Retreat, we shared some of favorite books of the year. We also discussed the best audiobooks and a few books to avoid. Below is the lengthy, swollen list of the what we loved and why. Enjoy!
Kristy:
The House in the Cerulean Sea: This is one of her all-time favorites, and is especially great to listen to. Heartwarming and lovely, this book covers some tough topics, but could make for a good introduction for those less familiar with those topics.
Seven Year Slip: Four other ladies agreed, this is a fave! Sweet, loving rom-com.
Assistant to the Villain: Goofy, silly, and charming. This is a two-book series.
Draco Malfoy & the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love: Perfect intro to fan fiction. Has action and is hot. Download direct to Kindle.
None of This is True: recommended for the audiobook.
Aimee:
People We Meet on Vacation & Book Lovers: Emily Henry’s two best books! 5 stars.
The Powerless & Reckless: Two book fantasy series. “The smut could have been better.” Tessie and Shawni recommended this as an audiobook.
Six of Crows: Liked this book, but does not recommend it for an audiobook.
Tessie:
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue: “Altered my brain chemistry.”
The Unmaking of June Farrow: Similar to Addie LaRue.
Erin:
Covenant of Water: Madi, Jeri, and Quinn also had this in their top list for the year. Read it! It’s long, but so so incredible.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: Beautiful book about friendship and love (and video games).
Demon Copperhead: Jeri and Quinn also had this one in their top books! Moving story about family, addiction, and growing up. Seriously one of the best books ever.
Project Hail Mary: Recommended (also by Quinn) as an audiobook. Futuristic sci-fi novel about a mission to space in attempt to save Earth.
Madi:
City of Brass: Middle East fantasy. Trilogy that is spellbinding and adventurous.
Great Alone: Adventure in Alaska. Covers a deep connection and respect of nature and isolation.
Pillars of the Earth & The Century Trilogy: Both series are by Ken Follett. They are lengthy, extraordinary historical epics.
Shawni:
Thirsty: A biracial queer teen’s dizzying story. Really powerful.
Shadow & Bone: Lightly recommends reading prior to Six of Crows for added context.
Emily:
Giver of Stars: Beautiful book about a traveling librarian.
The Sun Does Shine: A powerful nonfiction memoir of a wrongful conviction from a man that spent 30 years on death row.
The Women: A nurse in the Vietnam War. Was especially moving to Emily as it paralleled her experience with COVID. Also on Jeri’s top list.
The Windy City Series: Sports romances. Basketball, hockey, and two baseball romances. “Smut and substance.”
By Any Other Name: Could be a good book discussion book! Shakespeare had a female ghostwriter.
Daisy Jones & the Six: Recommended as an audiobook. Each character is a different narrator. Almost sounds like you are listening to an interview with all of the characters.
In general, Emily recommends Abby Jimenez and Carley Fortune is you are looking for Emily Henry-esque novels!
Mikelle:
Love & Other Words: Sweet and tender.
The Ravenhood Series: Dirty, smutty, and sweet. Does have a traumatic ending.
All the Colors of the Dark: Heavy and very long, but so good!
Echo of Old Books: One of her favorites, and a great book to gift. The protagonist can feel the emotions of the person who read the book prior to her.
1000 Boy Kisses: (Ignore the bad title and cover!) Sobbed from beginning to end. A girl with cancer is told by her grandmother to collect “1000 really good kisses.” Recommended as an audiobook.
The Heart’s Invisible Furies: Recommended as an audiobook. Follows a gay Irish man in 7 year intervals. Will make you laugh and cry.
Quinn:
The Hero of Ages: This is the third book in the Mistborn Series, and while I recommend all of them, this one rocked my world at there end in the best possible way. There’s a reason Brandon Sanderson has a cult following AND his female characters are strong, powerful, and compelling!
Carrie Soto is Back: Everything by Taylor Jenkins Reid is great, but this one is particularly fun and will make you want to become a tennis player.
The Alice Network & The Diamond Eye: Kate Quinn’s two best historical fictions (IMO). The first is based on a real group of women who smuggled secrets across Europe in WWII, and The Diamond Eye is based on a real, Russian, female assassin who was one of the deadliest allies in WWII. Kate Quinn is also a fantastic historical fiction author!
Ready Player One: Recommended as an audiobook. This one I listened to with my husband on a long roadtrip, and we both couldn’t wait to get back to it. Very fun and has great pop culture references.
Tom Lake: Recommended as an audiobook. Read by Meryl Streep! While the plot isn’t super intense/driving, it’s a beautifully written book about a mother and her three daughters who are back together on her farm during COVID. She regales them with stories of when she dated the hottest actor around back in the day.
Laura:
Throne of Glass Series: Got her back into reading! “Halfway through the series I thought, ‘holy shit!’”
Fourth Wing: Absolutely loved!
When the Moon Hatched: Fantasy novel that’s incredible. Be warned, it’s a series (and the next book isn’t out) and it ends on a cliffhanger!
Jeri:
Stolen Focus: Everyone should read this (because it will make you put your phone down and read more)! It’s all about how phones are designed to be addictive and steal your focus.
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women: Historical novel based on the true story of a female physician in 15th-century China.
Small & Mighty: The stories of 12 unsung heroes who have shaped history in profound, yet unsung ways.
The Little Liar: Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, does it again. You will be sobbing. Your husband will be sobbing. Everyone will sob.
Broken Horses: Brandi Carlile’s memoir. At the end of every chapter she sings a song, tying it back to where she was in her life when she wrote it. Recommended as an audiobook.
Poet X: Spoken word poetry. Very quick, yet beautiful read. Coming of age. Recommended as an audiobook.
Books we DID NOT love (in no particular order):
Blood & Ash, Sex & Rage, One Italian Summer, The Power, The Lux, Wuthering Heights, Gild, It Ends with Us, Bye Baby, Verity, Haunting of Adeline, Shadow of the Gods