In 2024, I read 75 books – tied for the most books I’ve ever read in one year! And looking back over what I’ve read, I’ve read some pretty great books this year so I’d like to share my favorites with you.

I’ve been keeping track of my reading for over 10 years (the old-fashioned way, in an excel spreadsheet!) and here are some fun stats from my year of reading:

• Total of 28,389 pages read
• 77% Fiction vs 23% Non-fiction
• 79% Female Authors vs 21% Male Authors
• And a new stat that I kept track of this year: 63% eBooks vs 37% regular books

Another thing that was new this year, this year I started rating the books I read! So looking back now that the year is over, it made it easy to identify my top reads of the year. There were 9 books that I gave 5 stars to!

I tend to read many different genres and my 5-star reads reflect that! They are a mix of genres: 2 historical fictions, 2 thrillers, 2 fantasy, 1 romance and 2 non-fictions.

Before I get into the list, two things I want to note… One is that these are not necessarily books published in 2024 but they are books that I read in 2024 – a couple of them are new but most are a couple years old! And the other thing, I just could not rank these against each other so they are in order by genre.

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And now to get to the books, here are my 5-star reads from 2024…

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

A new historical fiction published in 2024, The Frozen River is inspired by a real woman, Martha Ballard, who was a midwife in Maine in the winter of 1789. The story begins when a man was found frozen in the river and Martha was called to examine the body. The story unfolds as everyone in town is trying to determine what happened and Martha and her diary end up right in the middle of it all. I loved the main character and the mystery hooked me from the start!

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

This is a historical fiction that explores the question “Did Jesus have a wife?” This story centers around Ana, who grew up in a wealthy family in Galilee but left her family and riches behind to marry a poor carpenter named Jesus. Ana defies the expectations of women at the time, not only by marrying for love, but she also pursues education and writing, something unheard of for the poor and for women. No matter what your religious beliefs, you can appreciate the strong female character of Ana and the insight this book gives into the lives of women during a time when they were expected to be invisible.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

I love an unputdownable twisty thriller and this one did not disappoint! It’s about Alicia, a famous artist who shoots her husband five times and then never speaks another word. Psychotherapist Theo is fascinated by Alicia’s story and when he has the opportunity to work with her, he hopes he can get her to speak again and reveal why she killed her husband.

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

The second thriller on my 5-star reads list is First Lie Wins, centered around Evie Porter, a nice southern girl with a perfect life – or is she? I loved how as this book went on, you learn more about Evie’s background and realize that Evie Porter doesn’t actually exist, she’s just working a job for her mysterious boss and her perfect boyfriend Ryan is her latest mark. This story sucked me in and kept me guessing the whole time!

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

This year, I finally hopped on the ACOTAR train and binged the series when I had some time over the summer and it pulled me in! A Court of Mist and Fury is the 2^nd of the series so don’t read it without reading the first one (A Court of Thorns and Roses) but it was incredible! It’s hard to write about this one without spoilers of the first one, so I will just say that the series follows Feyre, a human huntress who, after killing a wolf in the woods, finds herself mixed up in all of the drama, magic and politics in Prythian, the magical land of Fae.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

I’m not much for re-reading books, but this one was a re-read for me and was just as good as the first time! My sister Kathryn had chosen it as her pick for Snail Mail Book Club a couple years ago and then we selected it for our family book club, when we wanted to read a good “starter” fantasy for some of our family who hadn’t read much of the genre. The characters, the world building and the magic system in this book are incredible! It follows the poor Skaa orphan Vin as she is recruited by the charming leader Kelsier to join his crew in their plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler.

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

This one is the only romance on the list and it was just so good! It tells the story of Clementine, who inherits her aunt’s apartment when she passes away. While she’s still grieving, she moves in and one day she encounters a handsome stranger in the apartment. She discovers something her aunt had hinted at before, that the magical apartment goes back in time, exactly 7 years. It’s a “right-person, wrong time” story – literally the wrong time —and I loved it!

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson

I read Isabel Wilkerson’s first book, The Warmth of Other Suns a couple of years ago before she came to do an author talk through our local libraries here in Cincinnati. This year I picked up her second book, Caste, and it was one of my top reads of 2024! In it Wilkerson examines the hidden caste system here in America built around a racial hierarchy. By comparing society in America to those of India’s caste system and Nazi Germany, she gives a new perspective of history and how hierarchy comes into play in everyday aspects of life.

Finding Me by Viola Davis

Last but not least, Finding Me was actually the first book I read in 2024 so I started strong with a 5-star read! I enjoy celebrity memoirs and getting to see behind the curtain so to speak, but this one was so much more than that! I love Viola Davis as an actress but didn’t know much at all about her background or personal life. In her memoir, she really opens up starting with her childhood growing up in extreme poverty up through her career in Hollywood. Her writing is powerful and filled with emotion to share all that she has overcome to get to where she is today.

And that wraps up my list of 5-star reads from 2024! Have you read any of them? What 5-star reads should I pick up in 2025?

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