Top 5 books I meant to read in 2024

NOTE: Ok, so Jason who I mentioned in my top 5 bookish content creators post has a publishing imprint, and this is his first book. It did come out in 2024, but I got it the week it came out, and I have been meaning to read it!!

Powerless witch Saika is ready to enact her sister’s final to plant her remains at the famed Ash Gardens. When Saika arrives at the always-stormy sanctuary, she is welcomed by its owner, an enormous, knit-cardiganed mythical beast named Frank, who offers her a role as one of the estate’s caretakers.

Overcome with grief, Saika accepts, desperate to put off her final farewell to her sister. But the work requires a witch with intrinsic power, and Saika’s been disconnected from her magic since her sister’s death two years prior. Saika gets by at the sanctuary using a fragment of a fallen star to cast enchantments — while hiding the embarrassing truth about herself.

As Saika works harder in avoidance of her pain, she learns more about Frank, the decaying house at Ash Gardens, and the lives of the motley staff, including bickering twin cherubs, a mute ghost, a cantankerous elf, and an irritating half witch, among others. Over time, she rediscovers what it means to love and be wholly loved and how to allow her joy and grief to coexist.

NOTE: This is the 6th and final book in the Crave series.

So it wasn’t on my top 5 series I want to finish in 2024, but it was in my brain as that. But this series now also makes me want to scream. I want it over, but I don’t know if I actually want to read it… LOL

It’s been over three months since my friends and I took down Cyrus. Three months where my biggest fear was what paper was due next… But I should have known it was too good to last. Now everything is falling apart.

The Vampire Court has no king, the Dragon Court has no heart, and the Gargoyle Court has me — a teenager in way over her head. And it’s the worst possible timing, because a threat is brewing just as the Circle is collapsing.

I have no choice but to return to the Shadow Realm and face the terrifying queen who nearly ended us… and make a deal with her to save Mekhi. But this time, I’m bringing my powerful friends with me — and Hudson. Except something is wrong with him, too. He’s keeping a secret — even from me.

All I know is that everyone’s life hangs in the balance. And it’s my fault — because I still owe the Crone a favor… and now she’s come to collect.

NOTE: Urgh… another book that I meant to read and was on a TBR in 2024. But I just never read. Seriously, I’ve read 800 romances this year, but not this one. And I read book 1 in 2022.

When former bad girl Genevieve West returns home for her mother’s funeral, she’s prepared to keep her distance from her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Their history is rife with turbulence. And passion. A heck of a lot of passion… which she’s trying desperately to forget.

But it’s impossible not to run into Evan in the small coastal town where they once ran wild. And the moment she sees her gorgeous ex again, it’s clear to Gen that Evan is still as unruly, sexy, and irresistible as ever. This time around, however, she’s resolved to walk a new path. No more partying. No more foolish mistakes. Her plan is to temporarily remain in town to help her father run his business, but the second he finds somebody else, she’s out of there.

Evan has other ideas. He knows they can be good together, but he just has to convince Genevieve of that, even if it means turning over a new leaf himself. But can a bad reputation ever truly be shed? Do second chances really work? Genevieve and Evan are about to find out.

NOTE: This is the 4th book in The Inheritance Games series.

Way back in January this year I finished books 2 and 3 of this series. And then I thought, ah yes, I’ll take a small break since these are so good. And I never went back again. Shame on me.

Grayson Hawthorne was raised as the heir apparent to his billionaire grandfather, taught from the cradle to put family first. Now the great Tobias Hawthorne is dead and his family disinherited, but some lessons linger. When Grayson’s half-sisters find themselves in trouble, he swoops in to do what he does best: take care of the problem — efficiently, effectively, mercilessly. And without getting bogged down in emotional entanglements.

Jameson Hawthorne is a risk-taker, a sensation-seeker, a player of games. When his mysterious father appears and asks for a favor, Jameson can’t resist the challenge. Now he must infiltrate London’s most exclusive underground gambling club, which caters to the rich, the powerful, and the aristocratic, and win an impossible game of greatest stakes. Luckily, Jameson Hawthorne lives for impossible.

Drawn into twisted games on opposite sides of the globe, Grayson and Jameson — with the help of their brothers and the girl who inherited their grandfather’s fortune — must dig deep to decide who they want to be and what each of them will sacrifice to win.