Reader – Welcome to Your Early 30s

It’s my favorite time of year — finding books to anxiously anticipate during the year and hoping my expectations are not too high by the time I read them! Without further ado, here’s my list of this year’s highly anticipated books releasing January through June.

JANUARY

Release Date: January 2nd, 2024
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Elston wrote one of my favorite YA novels, This is Our Story, and I cannot wait to see what she does for Adult Thriller.

Release Date: January 13th, 2024
Genre: Fantasy
This is apparently only available on Kindle Unlimited which makes me really sad. But it sounds like a beautiful fantasy book. I saw a TikTok about it and immediately knew I needed to read it – I mean, LOOK AT THAT COVER.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Release Date: January 16th, 2024
Genre: Fantasy
I adored the first in this series. It was slow but in the best way. I’m sure this will be the same and I’ll have to be in the right mood to read it.

Release Date: January 16th, 2024
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
I have tickets to see Michaelides at book signing in February and I absolutely can’t wait. The Silent Patient is one of my favorite thrillers EVER.

House of Flame and Shadow – Sarah J Maas

Release Date: January 30th 2024
Genre: Fantasy
I think Crescent City is my favorite SJM series. I’m very much looking forward to devouring this next installment.

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FEBRUARY

Release Date: February 6th, 2024
Genre: Romance/ Fantasy
Hazelwood is known for her women in STEM romance novels so I cannot wait to see her dive into the world of vampires & werewolves. I mean, talk about forbidden romance!

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Release Date: February 13th, 2024
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Arden wrote one of my favorite series of all time, The Winternight Trilogy. Arden can write a grocery list and I will read it.

Release Date: February 20th, 2024
Genre: Fantasy
I’ve heard a lot of good buzz around this book and I’m excited to hear more about it.

Release Date: February 27th, 2024
Genre: Romantasy
A debut author writing a romantasy about humans & fae. SIGN ME UP.

MARCH

Release Date: March 5, 2024
Genre: Fiction/ Romance
Serle’s last book was a miss for me but I’m hoping this will be a better one for me.

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano

Release Date: March 5th, 2024
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Finlay Finlay Finlay. These books are just SO FUN. I cannot get enough of this series.

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APRIL

Release Date: April 2nd, 2024
Genre: Romance
Jimenez is one of my favorite romance authors now. I absolutely cannot wait to read her novels, they have been firmly cemented into as an auto-buy author.

Release Date: April 23, 2024
Genre: Romance
Emily Henry is another one of my favorite authors. Her romance novels are so full of heart and are completely relatable. They are also completely devourable. I don’t need to know what her books are about for me to add this to my “must-read” pile.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

Release Date: April 25th, 2024
Genre: Fantasy
A whimsical fantasy set in an underwater world filled with mystery & romance.

MAY

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

Release Date: May 14th, 2024
Genre: Romance
Christina(&)Lauren are powerhouses in the romance genre. I think there will come a time where I’ve read all their books (I am working on the backlog).

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

Release Date: May 21st, 2024
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
If you haven’t read the 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hugo by now, what are you doing? It’s absolutely one of my favorite novels so OF COURSE I’m picking this up blind.

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JUNE

Release Date: June 11th, 2024
Genre: Romance
Hazelwood is another one of my auto-read authors. I am thrilled to have two of books on my lists this year.

Release Date: June 11th, 2024
Genre: Romance
Hazelwood is another one of my auto-read authors. I am thrilled to have two of books I’ve enjoyed Center’s previous novels and this seems like it’ll be a grumpy x sunshine romance which is one of my favorite tropes.

Release Date: June 25th, 2024
Genre: Romance
Poston is a recent auto-buy author for me and I’m so excited for this to be my birthday book this year. Her novels are woven with magic realism & the romance is just *chef’s kiss*.

This year I decided to split my favorite books out into categories. I read a good variety of books this year that I thought it was best to do it this way because there was no way I could rank them. I read a lot of not fantastic reads this year, too, so I was a little frustrated with that.

Makes you think:

This wasn’t perfect but I liked the way Erlick approached the premise. The question that was explored in the novel is what would you do if you knew down to the day how much longer you had to live? It was thought-provoking and intriguing. The book stayed with me for a long while after I finished it. It’s definitely a good book club book and it can be interesting conversation fodder.

Favorite Series & Longest Reads: Crescent City by Sarah J Maas

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J Maas

I am not a SJM fangirl (anymore). I think her books are too hyped without enough diversity. The main characters from all 3 of her series are pretty similar, to boot. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading them. I read most of the ToG series and the first 3 or 4 books of ACOTAR. I think my problem with her series is that they just go on for far too long. I forgot what happened in the previous novels and was so lost by the time the next one came out. I think if I binged both series while all the books were published, I would probably finished them. ANYWAY. I avoided it on principle at first so I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I will definitely be getting the next one at least.

New Favorite Author: Ali Hazelwood

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

I don’t care what problems people have with these books, I LOVE THEM. They’re not groundbreaking. I wouldn’t say it’s novel to have main characters that are women in STEM. But I will say it’s a big deal to have these BESTSELLING, highly talked about, & TIKTOK sensational books be about women in STEM. And yes, The Love Hypothesis is Reylo inspired and you know what? I LOVE IT. Rey & Kylo SHOULD HAVE ended up together. If you’re not a Star Wars person, it’s not in your face so it won’t effect the book’s readability. I love Hazelwood’s writing, I really do. Her books are fun, witty, and smutty.

Most Unexpected Books I’ve Read This Year:

Both Sign Here by Claudia Lux and Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn were Book of the Month picks for me. Before I chose them for my boxes, I didn’t know they existed. I didn’t look much into Killers because I had read Raybourn before and I knew I liked her writing. But I was intrigued by the premise of Sign Here so I added that my box and read it as soon as it arrived. They were both fun & different in various ways.

Best Fantasy

I adored this book! Its sequel came out in December but I’m a freak and need my book editions to match so since I have the paperback of the first one, the second one also needs to be in paperback. Therefore, I can’t buy/read it until SEPTEMBER 2023. AHH! After I read it, I could not stop thinking about it or wondering was going to happen in the next book. My head remained in Cadence and with all the characters.

Most Anticipated Book of the Year (that I read & LOVED):

I had to go back & read my list of books I was looking forward to in 2022. I’m sad to say I didn’t read a good amount of them, I did purchase a bunch of them… the reading them part is lacking. Some I did read and I was disappointed. While others I was happy my excitement for them had not been misplaced. Book Lovers is one of them. Though, if Henry writes an adult romance that I DON’T actually love, I’ll be shocked. I love reading about the literary world and having a romcom set in publishing was awesome. The writing was witty and fun and the small town setting was cute & fun. The book isn’t perfect by any means but I enjoyed reading it and it didn’t let me down.

Best Romance:

So obviously I couldn’t pick just one since it’s the genre I read the most books in this year. I loved them all for different reasons. The Dead Romantics is a beautiful look at grief and how to deal with loss while also discovering yourself. It also has awesome quirky main characters who grow to love one another despite their circumstances. It’s pitched as a ghostwriter with literal ghosts in her life and I just can’t. TOO GOOD. I do not have enough good things to say about this book but I will give the trigger warning for death of a family member that may be hard to read if you’re grieving yourself. I had read a couple of Poston’s YA novels when they first came out and I loved them so I had good feeling about this book before I picked it up.

The Bodyguard... I honestly don’t remember too many details but I devoured the book and remember having good happy feelings while reading it. Sometimes that’s the most important part. I also read it in a single sitting one evening

Part of Your World was my first time reading Jimenez but I had followed her on TikTok without realizing she was the person who wrote this book! Her dog Stuntman Mike is the CUTEST. IYKYK. I digress, the book was wonderful. The romance was awesome. There’s a hint of magic. There was a lot of Princess Bride references, which I loved. I honestly wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. It’s a solid read.

I think that’s a wrap on my absolute favorites! What did you love reading in 2022?

Tag: Reader

Books of 2024

Favorite Reads of 2022