Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I Read in 2024

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

I always find “best” lists very hard – I feel very blessed when it comes to books, as I feel like I do read a lot of really good ones! And I feel differently about different books at different times. Maybe it doesn’t help that I also read so many different genres, but even if I did a best per genre I’d struggle! Anyway, as of right now this is my top ten books I read in 2024!

Top Ten Books I Read in 2024

The Valkyrie
Kate Heartfield

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Adult
Format: ebook
Published: January 1st, 2023

Brynhild is a shieldmaiden of the Allfather, chooser of the slain. But now she too has fallen, flightless in her exile.

Gudrun is a princess of Burgundy, a daughter of the Rhine, a prize for an invading king – a king whose brother Attila has other plans, and a dragon to call upon.

And in the songs to be sung, there is another Sigurd, a warrior with a sword sharper than the new moon.

As the legends tell, these names are destined to be lovers, fated as enemies. But here on Midgard, legends can be lies…

For not all heroes are heroic, nor all monsters monstrous. And a shieldmaiden may yet find that love is the greatest weapon of all.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me
Jamison Shea

Genre: Horror
Age: Young Adult
Format: ebook
Published: August 29th, 2023

There will be blood.

Ace of Spades meets House of Hollow in this villain origin story.

Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet, she will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take center stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood.

The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she’s dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she surpasses her bitter and privileged peers, leaving broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom.

But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter. As she descends into madness and the mystifying underworld beneath her, she is faced with the ultimate choice: continue to break herself for scraps of validation or succumb to the darkness that wants her exactly as she is—monstrous heart and all. That is, if the god-killer doesn’t catch her first.

From debut author Jamison Shea comes I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me, a slow-burn horror that lifts a veil on the institutions that profit on exclusion and the toll of giving everything to a world that will never love you back.

My Throat an Open Grave
Tori Bovalino

Genre: Horror
Age: Young Adult
Format: ebook
Published: February 20th, 2024

Labyrinth meets folk horror in this dark and romantic tale of a lost girl and the shadows that lurk in the forest.

Fall under the spell of the Lord of the Wood and uncover the dark past of a village that will go to any lengths to ensure its maidens stay good.

In the small town of Winston, Pennsylvania, they fear the Lord of the Wood almost as much as they fear God. According to legend, ghosts of the nearby forest steal unattended babies, leaving enigmatic tokens of wood and bone in their place. Leah Jones didn’t believe the legend, thinking it just a way to scare the local kids—until her baby brother disappears.

Filled with shame and the weight of the town’s judgment, Leah crosses the river into the Lord of the Wood’s domain to bring her brother back. But the devilish figure who has haunted Winston for generations isn’t what she expects. He tells her she can have her brother back… for a price.

It’s a bargain that will uncover secrets her hometown has tried to keep buried for decades. And what she unearths will have her questioning everything she’s been taught to fear.

Six Crimson Cranes
Elizabeth Lim

Genre: Fantasy
Age: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Published: July 6th, 2021

A princess in exile, a shapeshifting dragon, six enchanted cranes, and an unspeakable curse…

Shiori’anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she’s been taught all her life to forswear–no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

Say You’ll Be My Jaan
Naina Kumar

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age: Adult
Format: ebook
Published: January 16th, 2024

Meghna has tried everything when it comes to dating: blind dates, apps, attempting to drum up conversations with strangers at bars (ew). Everything except arranged marriage.

But then Seth, her best friend and the-one-who-got-away asks her to be his “best man” and suddenly her parent’s taste doesn’t seem so bad . . . Which is how she meets the grumpy but handsome Karthik, who has seen enough of his parents’ relationship to know marriage is not for him.

Turns out, Meghna and Karthik are a match made in heaven (if not the match their parents think they are making) – and a deal is struck. They will be fake-engaged for three months. That way Karthik will get out of the absurd number of arranged set-ups his mother has planned and Meghna will have a date to the wedding from her worst nightmares.

But what will happen when the wedding is over? And might they find that what they thought the other was faking could be real after all?

Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up
Alexandra Potter

Genre: Contemporary
Age: Adult
Format: Paperback
Published: December 31st, 2020

A funny and heartfelt novel for any woman who wonders how the hell she got here and why life isn’t quite how she imagined it was going to be…

Meet Nell. Her life is a mess.

When her business goes bust and her fiancé with it, Nell’s happy ever after in California falls apart and she moves back to London to start over. But a lot has changed since she’s been gone. All her single friends are now married with children, a sky-high real estate market forces her to rent a room in a stranger’s house, and everyone has seemingly perfect Instagram-ready lives. Starting from scratch she feels like a f**k up . . . a forty-something f**k up.

Landing a job writing obituaries, Nell meets the fabulous Cricket, an 80-something widow with challenges of her own. Together they begin to help each other heal their aching hearts, cope with the loss of the lives they had planned, and push each other into new adventures and joy. With Cricket’s help, Nell is determined to turn her life around. First, though, she has a confession . . .

Laugh-out-loud funny and painfully relatable, Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up is a celebration of friendship and a reminder that while life doesn’t always go according to plan, it doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness.

Gay Aliens and Queer Folk: How Russell T Davies Changed TV
Emily Garside

Genre: Nonfiction
Age: Adult
Format: Hardback
Published: September 21st, 2023

The television writing of Russell T Davies defies easy categorisation, ranging from children’s programmes, across Shakespeare, historical drama and comedy, to the landmark series that have made him a household Queer As Folk, Doctor Who and It’s a Sin.

Gay Aliens and Queer Folk takes a deep dive into the queer narratives Russell T Davies has brought to our screens, exploring how each work created new space for LGBTQ+ stories to enter our living rooms and looking at their impact on the people who saw themselves reflected on mainstream television, often for the first time.

Covering Russell T Davies’ career from his earliest work to his highly anticipated return to the TARDIS for Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, and highlighting key themes such as politics, sex, AIDS and the role of Wales in his writing, Emily Garside reveals how Davies broke down barriers, showing gay characters unapologetically living their lives to the full and celebrating the complexity and joy of queer identities.

Bury Your Gays
Chuck Tingle

Genre: Horror
Age: Adult
Format: Paperback
Published: July 9th, 2024

From Chuck Tingle, author of the USA Today bestselling Camp Damascus, comes a new heart-pounding story about what it takes to succeed in a world that wants you dead.

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for decades, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he’s pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale—”for the algorithm “—Misha discovers that it’s not that simple.

As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what’s right—before it’s too late.

Jacked Up
Latrexa Nova

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Age: Adult
Format: ebook
Published: November 24th, 2023

Some people kill for fame and fortune. I’m killing for the chance to bang my Jack-in-the-box.

Yes, I mean that literally—but hear me

My life blows worse than my ex. The only family member I like just died, my Mom’s married to a POS perv, and if you look up ‘slum lord’ in the dictionary, there’s a picture of my property managers.

Three steps away from needing a short vacation in a grippy-sock house, I find the antique Jack-in-the-box that used to terrify me as a kid. Sure, it scared me back then, but now… It’s always there for me. I start talking to it like it’s actually alive—

—And then he invades my dreams.

There, he’s real—a surprisingly sexy, lanky, sad little clown man called Claus with a spring where his legs should be. But that doesn’t stop him from using that painted smile of his to bring me more pleasure than I’ve ever known.

Then he tells me he can join me in the real world—just one he needs a human sacrifice.

…I’m seriously considering it, if it means I can bounce on more than just his coil.

Four Eids and a Funeral
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Adiba Jaigirdar

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age: Young Adult
Format: ebook
Published: June 4th, 2024

Ex-best friends, Tiwa and Said, must work together to save their Islamic Center from demolition, in this romantic story of rekindling and rebuilding by award-winning authors Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé & Adiba Jaigirdar!

Let’s get one thing straight: this is a love story.

These days, Said Hossain spends most of his time away at boarding school. But when his favorite hometown librarian Ms. Barnes dies, he must return home to New Crosshaven for her funeral and for the summer. Too bad being home makes it a lot harder to avoid facing his ex-best friend, Tiwa Olatunji, or facing the daunting task of telling his Bangladeshi parents that he would rather be an artist than a doctor.

Tiwa doesn’t understand what made Said start ignoring her, but it’s probably that fancy boarding school of his. Though he’s unexpectedly staying through the summer, she’s determined to take a page from him and pretend he doesn’t exist. Besides, she has more than enough going on, between grieving her broken family and helping her mother throw the upcoming Eid celebration at the Islamic Center—a place that means so much to Tiwa.

But when the Islamic Center accidentally catches fire, it turns out the mayor plans to demolish the center entirely. Things are still tense between the ex-friends but Tiwa needs Said’s help if there’s any hope of changing the mayor’s mind, and Said needs a project to submit to art school (unbeknownst to anyone). Will all their efforts be enough to save the Islamic Center, save Eid, and maybe save their relationship?

I hope you’ve had a good reading year and enjoyed most of your books! If you have a “best of 2024” or similar list, feel free to drop the link below – I’d love to see what others have been loving this year!