Books / Reviews

New Year! 10 Books I’m Excited To Read (2024 Reading Goals)

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Welcome To My Top 10 Books On My 2024 TBR! The 2024 Reading Goals have begun!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas, Yule and New Year. It’s a few weeks into 2024, and all of us bookish souls will have collected our books and decided on what we will hopefully read this year. I am no different. 

The 2023 Reading Goals & Success

First, I hope everyone did well with the 2023 bookish goals. It can be hard with new releases, discovering books and pretty editions of your favourites coming out. Whether you succeeded 100%, stumbled a little on the way – or stuck to absolutely none – 2024 is the year we can adjust and try again.

In 2023, I set a reading goal of ten books. It’s not a lot, but I struggled with reading pressure and didn’t want to feel it anymore. I always felt bad trying to manage my time, which is a weird thing where I feel I have to “earn” time to read. It’s a bit dumb, but my brain can be at times. So, I felt setting my goal nice and low would work. Over time, I broke through the foggy “earning” thing and managed to read THIRTY BOOKS. I’m so proud of myself. 

Writing reviews is another one of my 2024 reading goals I decided to start, and I’ve done well. A few reviews have fallen behind in writing, but that’s because I finished those books right in the middle of the assessment period and didn’t have time to flesh them out.

2024 Reading Goals

The first part of my 2024 reading goals is to read twenty books. It’s not a lot, but as a slow reader with a dissertation to write and a job to find in the spring, I don’t want to overwhelm myself trying to read too much. I also chose twenty books as 2023’s goal was to read ten, and I ended up reading thirty, so I feel twenty is a good middle ground. A nice wee push from last year’s goal, but also not too ambitious that I will feel like I’m drowning. I also want to read some Manga’s and Graphic Novels, so they will help me reach the goal quicker. 

Part of my 2024 reading goals this year is to use Literal more. I enjoy having places like Goodreads, but I prefer the interface and options available with Literal; plus, the only downfall I have with Literal is their database, which can always be updated, so it isn’t that much of an issue.

The last big thing on my 2024 reading goals is reading what I have. I do have some money from Christmas left for books, so I’ll use that to complete some series’ that I have.

The Top 10 2024 TBR Books/Series

~1~

An Heir Comes to Rise

By Chloe C. Peñaranda

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: An Heir Comes To Rise)

A SWORD…

In the impoverished outer town of a kingdom where fae outrank humans, Faythe, an orphan with a talent for swordplay, knows the importance of keeping her head down around the fae patrol. She and best friend Jakon long for a better life, and her desire to swing her sword in combat may bring the purpose and coin she’s yearned for.

A DREAM…

When she draws the attention of royal guard Nik, she soon learns that her mortal nature isn’t the only reason to remain out of sight. Nik is a Nightwalker, a silent assassin of the mind with the power to enter others’ dreams, and whether she trusts him or not, he’s about to awaken abilities in Faythe that shouldn’t exist in a human. Nightmarish abilities. Deadly abilities. Abilities that will teach Faythe blood really does run thicker than water…and if she doesn’t trust in higher powers soon, blood will run indeed.

AN HEIR…

For this is no battle Faythe can fight with steel. Within the city walls, suspicions are arising, and here in the outer town she has deeper bonds to protect. It seems everyone will die with a dark secret to tell, but what if one unlikely human girl was born harboring the darkest secret of all…?

In a clash of steel, a mortal body may fall. But in a clash of dreams, a powerful heir may rise.

Fans of THRONE OF GLASS and RED QUEEN will enjoy this first instalment in a gripping new fantasy series that portrays the unbreakable strength of friendship, the struggle for honor, and the ache of sacrifice.

~2~

Gumiho

By Kat Cho

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: Wicked Fox)

A fresh and addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.

Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret–she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead–her gumiho soul–in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl–he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to humans. He’s drawn to her anyway.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.

~3~

The Girl from the Other Side

(とつくにの少女 / Totsukuni no shōjo)

By Nagabe 

(Translation by Adrienne Beck)

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: The Girl From The Other Side Vol. 1)

Once upon a time…

In a land far away, there were two kingdoms: the Outside, where twisted beasts roamed that could curse with a touch, and the Inside, where humans lived in safety and peace. The girl and the beast should never have met, but when they do, a quiet fairytale begins.

This is a story of two people – one human, one inhuman – who linger in the hazy twilight that separates night from day.

~4~

The Folk of the Air

By Holly Black

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: The Cruel Prince)

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

~5~

Nytefall

By Chloe C. Peñaranda

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: The Stars Are Dying)

“The brightest star needs the darkest night.”

In a world abandoned by the celestial guardians and left to suffer a tyrant king’s reign, all Astraea knows is safety in seclusion. With fragmented memories of only five years of her life, she’s determined to discover more about her past, even if that means fleeing the cruel arms that hold her safe from the wicked vampires rumored to roam the land.

But when Astraea stumbles upon the mysterious Nyte, she soon realizes determination alone isn’t enough to guard her heart. He lingers like the darkness that expands between the stars, and soon she discovers her captor’s wicked means of control weren’t based on a lie to keep her under locks after all. In her desperation, Astraea accepts Nyte’s help before she can decide if she might have sold her allegiance to one of the bloodthirsty beings the people of her world fear.

Once their bargain is struck, Astraea’s chance to escape comes in the form of accompanying her best friend Cassia to the King’s Central. There on royal territory it’s the centenary of the Libertatem, a succession of trials hosted by the king in which five human lands compete for a cycle of safety from the vampires seeking blood, claiming souls, and savaging after dark. So when tragedy strikes, Astraea must decide if taking the place of a murdered participant for the safety of her kingdom is a ruse is worth dying for, or if protection—and the answers to her past—really are her strongest desires.

~6~

Nettle & Bone

By T. Kingfisher

Goodreads Blurb

After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.

Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.

On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra’s family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.

~7~

Thornhedge

By T. Kingfisher

Goodreads Blurb

Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

There’s a princess trapped in a tower. This isn’t her story.

Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He’s heard there’s a curse here that needs breaking, but it’s a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold…

~8~

Ravenfall

By Kalyn Josephson

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: Ravenfall)

One magical inn, two kids with supernatural powers, and an ancient Celtic creature trying to destroy their world by Halloween night…

Halloweentown meets Supernatural in this spooky middle-grade series from the acclaimed author of the Storm Crow duology!

Thirteen-year-old Annabella Ballinkay has never been normal, even by her psychic family’s standards. Every generation uses their abilities to help run the Ravenfall Inn, a sprawling, magical B&B at the crossroads of the human world and the Otherworld. But it’s hard to contribute when your only power is foreseeing death.

So when fourteen-year-old Colin Pierce arrives at Ravenfall searching for his missing older brother and the supernatural creature who killed their parents, Anna jumps at the chance to help. But the mysteries tied to Colin go much deeper than either of them expects. . . .

As the two team up to find answers, they unearth Colin’s family’s secret past and discover that Colin has powers beyond his imagination. And now the supernatural creature, one with eerie origins in Celtic mythology, is coming after him. If Anna and Colin can’t stop the creature by Halloween night, the veil to the Otherworld could be ripped open–which would spell destruction for their world as they know it.

~9~

The Dark Is Rising

By Susan Cooper

Goodreads Blurb

(First Book: Over Sea, Under Stone)

On holiday in Cornwall, the three Drew children discover an ancient map in the attic of the house that they are staying in. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that — the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril. This is the first volume of Susan Cooper’s brilliant and absorbing fantasy sequence known as The Dark Is Rising.

~10~

The Vessel

By Adam Nevill

Goodreads Blurb

‘A watcher may remark that after sleeping for so long, the building appears to have been roused.’

Struggling with money, raising a child alone and fleeing a volatile ex, Jess McMachen accepts a job caring for an elderly patient. Flo Gardner—a disturbed shut-in and invalid. But if Jess can hold this job down, she and her daughter, Izzy, can begin a new life.

Flo’s vast home, Nerthus House, may resemble a stately vicarage in an idyllic village, but the labyrinthine interior is a dark, cluttered warren filled with pagan artefacts.

And Nerthus House lives in the shadow of a malevolent secret. A sinister enigma determined to reveal itself to Jess and to drive her to the end of her tether. Not only is she stricken by the malign manipulation of the Vicarage’s bleak past, but mercurial Flo is soon casting a baleful influence over young Izzy. What appeared to be a routine job soon becomes a battle for Jess’s sanity and the control of her child.

It’s as if an ancient ritual was triggered when Jess crossed the threshold of the vicarage. A rite leading her and Izzy to a terrifying critical mass, where all will be lost or saved.

An eerie folk horror novel from the author of Cunning Folk, The Reddening, The Ritual, No One Gets Out Alive and the four times winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.

2024 Reading Goals: Thoughts

I think I’ve made the 2024 Reading Goals achievable and am desperate to get into this list. I have a few books ahead of these as I have them on my current reading list (one of them is Ravenfall, so I’m super happy about that). 

I’m not sure if I will get through all of these books. The An Heir Comes to Rise series has five books already, with a sixth book due out at some point, and the fifth book is a bit of a chunker; they might spill over into 2025. That doesn’t matter, though. 

I’m super excited about all the books! I hope to hear what you all have on your 2024 Reading List and your 2024 Reading Goals!