I would say 2024 is my official year of rebirth into the reading community, and I read a whopping 37 books in the first quarter of the year. π₯³π
This is the year where I ventured more into the realm of adult romance reads, as well as the year where I re-discovered my love of historical fantasies. Of course, while I found a few new gems to gush over, I also read a few… not-so-great books. Books I might remember for the wrong reasons.
Anyway! I’m going to rank every single book I’ve read so far in 2024… tier style. And with an actual difinitive ranking. I know, who am I?!
Also a quick disclaimer: the rankings are not based off my ratings of the books, but more of how I feel after comparing them to one another. I could have some 3-star books in a higher tier than a 4-star read. π€·ββοΈ I tried to explain my thought process in this post.
Enough chit-chat, and let’s get into it!
Owners of my heart
I’m placing my two 5-star reads of the year in this tier as they, clearly, own my heart. I loved these books for different reasons — A Far Wilder Magic for its lovable characters, amazing character growth, and gorgeous vibes; A Crane Among Wolves for its power, honesty, and perfect ending. It’s tough to rank them, but I think A Crane Among Wolves was more impactful (maybe because I read it while I was actually in Korea? π)… so I’ll leave that at #1 for now. Come back to me at the end of the year to see if my ranking’s still the same. π
#1. A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
#2. A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
Why I love rereading
I reread the Addicted books by Krista and Becca Ritchie just this April, because I suddenly wanted to be hit in the feels with angst. I was a Coballoway stan when I first read the books, and I’m happy to say that I still am! π Neither of these books are particularly amazing or well-written, but the attachment I have to these characters made me keep my 5-star rating way back from 2015. I did love Kiss the Sky more, and it has a lot more memorable scenes.
#3. Kiss the Sky by Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
#4. Fuel the Fire by Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
I believe in love again
These books are the ones that made my heart want nothing but the best for the main couples (both as individuals and as a couple)! Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows are the stars of this tier, mixing in a touch of fantasy to add to the angst and vibes of the book. β¨ I Hope This Doesn’t Find You was not the most unique read ever, but I related to Sadie so much and loved the cute scenes with the ML. π₯Ί To a Darker Shore was a surprise for me! I loved how dark this book was, and yet the ML was such a light to the whole story. I was definitely rooting for him (and, fine, the FL) the entire time.
Where these books stand in the rankings:
#5. Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
#6. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
#7. I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang
#8. To a Darker Shore by Leanne Schwartz
Expectations were met (and were kind of exceeded?)
Here are the books that met my expectations, and exceeded them juuust a bit.
We have one lone romcom in this list, People We Meet on Vacation, which was charming and gorgeously angsty. Where the Dark Stands Still and Down Comes the Night are some darker fantasies, with the former winning over the latter with its intricate setting and deep lore. Down Comes the Night is still a good read with a lovable ML. π Of course, the 6th Percy Jackson book sits on this tier. It was a light, low-stakes read with the perfect hint of nostalgia and wit to be an enjoyable read. π
#9. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
#10. Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
#11. The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan
#12. Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft
Toxic, but I like toxic
Like I said, I reread the Addicted books (minus the Raisy books), which I realized were incredibly toxic… but I really do love these characters. Not a series I would recommend personally, but this is definitely one of my guilty pleasure reads.
I’m lumping these books together, so the’re all in the same rank essentially.
#13 – #17. Addicted to You, Ricochet, Addicted for Now, Thrive, Addicted After All by Krista Ritchie and Becca Ritchie
Good, could have been great
Unfortunately, I have a bunch of books on this tier… books I thought were good or okay, but definitely could have been better!
The Emily Wilde books had a gorgeous premise and amazing setting, but the writing wasn’t for me. The first half of One Dark Window made the book feel so 2010s YA paranormal romance, but the second half picked up pretty well.πββοΈ Book Lovers was not that special, and I thought the characters were a bit caricature-ish. The story was cute, though. Dreams Lie Beneath had such a unique concept behind it, but the characters were unremarkable. The Familiar was written so smartly, but the characters felt detached. This Time It’s Real was cute, but I couldn’t remember much about it past a scene or two.
#18. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett
#19. Emily Wildeβs Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
#20. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
#21. Book Lovers by Emily Henry
#22. Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross
#23. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
#24. This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
The bar was low
This tier breaks my heart, because I have TWO authors I consider to be favorites of mine, but these books of theirs were not what I expected… in a bad way. Marie Lu usually writes awesome characters and interesting politics, but Skyhunter and Steelstriker were dreadfully boring. It read like a 2015 dystopia with no unique elements to it. π I LOVED a few of the romantasies Danielle L. Jensen has written before, but A Fate Inked in Blood felt like it had no story beyond the MCs lusting after each other 24/7. π¬
We also have some new-to-me authors on this tier. Bride was my introduction to Ali Hazelwood, and I get why people like her writing, but this definitely wasn’t my style. I’ve heard her YA romances are good, though, so maybe I’ll try those. The Friend Zone was my first Abby Jimenez, and I kind of regret starting with this one. It was… a lot. I don’t really know how to describe it.
Here’s my ranking of this tier:
#25. Skyhunter by Marie Lu
#26. Bride by Ali Hazelwood
#27. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
#28. Steelstriker by Marie Lu
#29. A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen
Lowkey forgot I read these
I wasn’t sure if I was going to rank this tier above or below the bar was low, but I feel like it’s worse to be forgetful than to be oddly dissatisfying. I know, that sounds weird! But that’s how I feel for now. π I don’t even have a lot to say about these books because I can’t remember too much about them so… here’s the ranking!
#30. Song of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin
#31. A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
#32. The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent
#33. Rules for Rule Breaking by Talia Tucker
Destroyed my brain cells
Yep. This trilogy gets its own tier. π I read Once Upon a Broken Heart thinking that I was completely going to love it. It started off like I wanted it to… but the heroine really was not it for me. I couldn’t stand her. Jacks was also (SORRY OUABH FANS!) the most boring ML I’ve read about in a while, which is saying something. MLs usually make me either swoon or rage, but Jacks did none of that! He had zero personality. π€·ββοΈ Anyway, I finished the series out of spite. The Ballad of Never After was almost seond place for my ranking of this tier, but the ending saved it. It was the only good part of the series.
#34. The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
#35. Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
#36. A Curse for True Love by Stephanie Garber
I wish I read this with my eyes closed
And let’s give a hand to the absolute worst book I’ve read so far this year… Twisted Love. This book made me so angry… I’m getting worked up just thinking about it. The hero stalked the heroine and continued to do so even when she rejected him. My full thoughts are on my GR review. I still want to give Ana Huang’s other books a chance though. I’ve heard her other heroes don’t necessarily belong in jail. We’ll see. Let me know in the comments if you think her other books are better and are not rage-inducing.
#37. Twisted Love by Ana Huang
And here’s the final tier list and ranking:
Owners of my heart
Why I love rereading
I believe in love again
Expectations were met (and were kind of exceeded?)
Toxic, but I like toxic
Good, could have been great
The bar was low
Lowkey forgot I read these
I wish I read this with my eyes closed
Let’s chat!
Which of these books have you read? Do you agree with my tiers? Are there any books on this list that you want to read? What’s your favorite read so far this year?
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@aimeecanread ranks all 37 books she's read from January to April 2024! Check it out! Share on X
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