Top 5 new-to-me authors of 2024

NOTE: I think I own every Emily Lloyd-Jones book in existence. OwlCrate and Illumicrate tend to do fancy editions of them. And I buy them because she writes stories grounded in Slavic folklore. Which is my JAM. But I was so scared I wouldn’t enjoy them that I kept putting them off. No more. 2025 is going to see a lot of Emily Lloyd-Jones books on my TBRs.

Seventeen-year-old Ryn only cares about two things: her family, and her family’s graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don’t always stay dead.

The risen corpses are known as bone houses, and legend says that they’re the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good?

Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them deep into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the long-hidden truths about themselves.

NOTE: I feel like Taylor Jenkins Reid is my white whale of authors. A few weeks ago I did my books on my TBR that intimidate me post. And if I hadn’t read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo this year, it would have been on that list. Not because the book itself was intimidating, but the hype around TJR is. I watched Daisy Hones and the Six but haven’t read it. In fact TSHoEH is the only TJR book I own. But it won’t be from next year on.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

NOTE: The Dangerous Damsels series was one that I was interested in, but hadn’t bought until last year. And, silly me, I bought book 3 first. When I got home I realised my error, and earlier this year I bought books 1 and 2. And then I read books 1 and 2. Book 3 is still on my TBR, but the first two exceeded my expectations so much. I really love Holton’s humour.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She’s also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it’s a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he’s under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her — hopefully proving, once and for all, that she’s as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

NOTE: I own three copies of Sorcery of Thorns. It was one of those books that was in every book box sub the month it came out. (Seriously, I have the OwlCrate, Fairyloot and LitJoy versions). In 2019. I also bought Mysteries of Thorn Manor when it came out. And this year I read both.

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery — magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. She hopes to become a warden, charged with protecting the kingdom from their power.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth’s desperate intervention implicates her in the crime, and she is torn from her home to face justice in the capital. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught — about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

NOTE: Elsie Silver was tangentially on my radar this year, but I was certain that I would never be in my cowboy era. So I never even considered picking up her books. And then my friend Sara badgered me until I caved. And now I am halfway through the Chestnut Springs series and never looking back.

I’m the face of professional bull riding — the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”

But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter — especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running.

A mouth I just can’t stop thinking about . . .

Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run — she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.

She says this means nothing — but I say this means everything.

Then she says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation can’t take any more hits — and neither can her damaged heart.

NOTE: Surprisingly, I finally read a TJ Klune book this year. Unsurprisingly, I absolutely adored it. Of all my new-to-me authors of 2o24, he will become an auto-buy author. Now I just need to read the eight other books of his I do own.

The Bennett family has a secret: They’re not just a family, they’re a pack. Wolfsong is Ox Matheson’s story.

Oxnard Matheson was twelve when his father taught him that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then his father left.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harboring a secret that would change him forever. The Bennetts are shapeshifters. They can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty, and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known, but he finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack, and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man — charming, handsome, but haunted — and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.