I had an excellent reading year, and choosing my favorite books was tough, which is why I’ve separated my favorites by genre, giving me a chance to highlight more books. As usual, I will start with my top 5 books, followed by everything else I loved. Yes, it’s way more than ten, but it was a really good year for books. Here we go! Clicking on the titles will take you to my reviews, and I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday.
This year I handed out eleven 5 star ratings, and out of those eleven, I had to choose my favorite five. That’s never easy to do, but these five books went above and beyond everything I hope for in a book. All five have stuck with me all year, refusing to be forgotten. I read The Heiress way back in January and knew it would make the top five, but I didn’t expect it to be the #1 book of the year! You’ll see a trend in my “nitty-gritty” statements below: “unforgettable characters” is just one element that solidifies a book as a favorite.
The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. The nitty-gritty: Scandals, secrets and lies abound in this twisty, tension-filled thriller about a dysfunctional family and the multi-million dollar inheritance they’re fighting over.
Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart. The nitty-gritty: Rob Hart delivers a thrilling assassin story with heart, humor and unforgettable characters.
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne. The nitty-gritty: Diavola has it all: a creepy, haunted villa, an uncomfortable, dysfunctional family gathering, an ominous Italian setting, and even some jump scares. Come for the well executed folk horror ambiance, stay for the unforgettable characters.
A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke. The nitty-gritty: Harrowing and addictive, A Haunting in the Arctic is a frozen, Gothic treat for horror lovers who appreciate a well told tale.
American Rapture by C.J. Leede. The nitty-gritty: A young girl navigates a terrifying world in this dangerous and bloody story, full of thrilling adventure and unforgettable characters.
And the rest of the best:
First Light by Liz Kerin | Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo | We Love the Nightlife by Rachel Koller Croft | The Unmothers by Leslie J. Anderson | The Redemption of Morgan Bright by Chris Panatier | I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones | Ghost Mother by Kelly Dwyer | We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer | Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman | The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett | The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong | Grimm Curiosities by Sharon Lynn Fisher | The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst | The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden | The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett | A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall | The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf | Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo | Rumor Has It by Cat Rambo | The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei | Fiasco by Constance Fay | Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead | Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Yay for excellent reading years! There’s definitely a few here I need to prioritise next year, so I’m hoping I stop falling into reading slumps. Happy new year!
Happy New Year!
Hey, we share TWO—I think that’s two more than last year lol. High five!! Hopefully 2025 will bring 15+ 5 star reviews!
High five, Will!
What fabulous lists, thanks for sharing your favourites!
Thanks for visiting!
I can’t wait to read Teller of Small Fortunes. I have a lovely fairyloot edition of it that is really tempting me right now but I have other stuff I need to read first. Happy new year!
Oh I bet that Fairyloot edition is pretty:-)
wow, sounds like it was an awesome year.
Alas, no book in common not even in scifi – because I tend to read older books:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2024/12/31/year-of-reading-2024-part-1-my-top-24-books/
It was an awesome year:-)
Our best ofs have a few in common, that’s awesome! I loved Morgan Bright and Ghosts too!
I’m not surprised we had a few in common. It was a very good year:-)
So many awesome books! Within your different categories, we have the most overlap in fantasy… and I hope to read the rest of the fantasy books you listed that I haven’t gotten to yet! I’m also looking forward to reading The Heiress in the coming year. Happy New Year!
Oooh definitely read The Heiress, it’s sooo good!
The two CJ books in yer top five have made it to the ports for plunder list. Now I just have to find time to read them. Happy New Yarrrrr!
x The Captain
Happy New Year Captain!
I love how you broke this up!
I read I Was a Teenage Slasher and found it to be kind of slow, which is so disappointing. A few of the others are on my TBR.
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Nice! I love all the categories. I picked up Diavola and The Teller of Small Fortunes based on your reviews and can’t wait to read them. Also looking forward to continuing Cat Rambo’s series.
I’m excited to continue the Cat Rambo series too, I think she’s working on book #4:-)
Honestly I’m jealous of your rating – mine was pretty low this year XD We both liked Ghost Station though!
I hope you have a better year in 2025:-)
I love how you divided your list into different genres! It was fun to see a few of my own favorites among your scifi and fantasy. They’re two genres I really want to read more of next year…so I’m adding several of your favs to my own TBR list. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Lark!
I’ve heard great things about Diavola.
It was amazing! Highly recommended:-)
We had none of the same favorites for the year, although there are several on your list on my Goodreads TBR because of your reviews! Lots of good books this year!
It was a great year:-)
I’ve heard excellent things about Remarkably Bright Creatures.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
I loved it so much, I wish the author would write another book:-)
I’ve been meaning to read A HAUNTING IN THE ARCTIC ever since I heard about it, but I still haven’t gotten to it. *Sigh* So many books, so little time…
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Yes, it’s impossible to read everything, right? A Haunting in the Arctic is worth reading:-)
A Hauting In the Arctic is one I’m curious about! I like how you did it by categories, I don’t think I would have enough books for that haha. Wishing you a super happy New Year, Tammy! I’ve really appreciated all of your comments and wonderful posts
Thank you Veros! I hope you have a wonderful New Year too, and thank you for your kind words!
Looks like you had a great reading year!
It was an excellent year:-)
Excellent selections! I see some titles I’m looking forward to reading very soon!
Thank you!
The Warm Hands of Ghosts made my best of list too!
I’m glad we both loved it:-)
I forgot about The Silverblood Promise. This reminds me to get back to it. Great list!
It’s so good!
I am glad you had such a good reading year, Tammy! I feel like I did too. Three of your top five books are on my TBR. I will have to make them a priority this year! Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands was one of my favorites of the year too. I plan to read The Tainted Cup early this year with my mystery book club. I can’t wait! I hope you have a Happy New Year!
Oooh enjoy The Tainted Cup! And happy New Year, Wendy:-)
Grimm Curiosities and Beneath the Poet’s House are both on my TBR list for this month. A few of the others you’ve mentioned are also books I want to read but these two both seem like winter sort of reads somehow so I’ll prioritise them
They would both work well for winter reads!
I love the way you’ve managed to fit so many more books into your list. I might have to steal this idea next week. It was so difficult trying to choose 10 favourites and I kept changing my mind!
Lynn
Emily Wilde made my list too. I’m glad you found so many good books.
I feel like I’ve seen a few people say they had a mediocre reading year so it’s nice to hear someone say they had an excellent one! This does look like a stellar list of stand out titles. I know I’ve added a few to my TBR based on your reviews!
What a wonderful list of books! So many of these are still on my TBR, so this makes me want to read them even more. I’m probably most excited to read A Haunting in the Arctic and We Used to Live Here! I have a number of these on my own list as well. I’m so thrilled you had such a wonderful reading year!
I hope your 2025 reading is just as good, if not even better!
What a fabulous list, Tammy:)). We have several favourites in common – the Emily Wilde book missed my Best Books list by a whisker. And I am definitely hunting down The Stardust Grail, after my experience with The Deep Sky – which I think was a recommendation of yours in the first place. Wishing you an equally good reading year for 2025.
Definitly have some overlap in our lists, and I hope the horror genre continues its upwards trend into 2025!
It’s wonderful that you had so many incredible books to choose from. Two of your top five are pretty high priority reads for me atm and your praise of the others is really intriguing me. Unsurprisingly I haven’t read any of the horror ones but a few are on my TBR and I’m hopeful that this year we may have some overlap there. Fantasy wise I also adores Emily Wilde & Luminous Deep and the rest are almost all high priority reads for me that I hope to get to this year. Sci Fi I’ve read nothing from but as a genre I want to explore more I have my eye on a couple of the authors. And out of your others I’m very curious about The Hitchcock Hotel which I’m 100% checking out this year. I hope 2025 brings even more favourites your way.
You had a great reading year!! On your list there are a lot of my favorite too, like The Spellshop and The Tainted Cup, just to name a couple. I have also read A Letter from the Luminous Deep and Remarkably Bright Creatures mostly thanks to you, and I really enjoyed them, so thank you!!
I see some books of my tbr on your best books of fantasy. I hope I can prioritize those this year