I’ve been going back and forth between ways to recognize my favorite reads. Throughout the year, I was tracking which books I rated the highest each month, but that came with multiple issues. First, some months had multiple books with a high rating and it was difficult to just choose one winner. Second, some months had a book that was… good, but just not on the same level as multiple books from other months. And third, I’m not even a fan of ratings at all so I’m only tracking them because some sites still require them. So my top 12 didn’t feel like they genuinely represented my favorite books of the year. Sometimes a 4 star book was just more memorable than a 5 star read for various reasons.
I’ve also always liked having a pretty number of things so 12 was my first go to. But with over 180 books read, that felt too low. I also didn’t want to split it up by genre since that always resulted in multiple lists of varying lengths. I know. I’m weird sometimes. I never claimed otherwise.
Eventually, I just decided to mark all the most memorable books I read this year and present those to you. My only stipulations were to not repeat authors and not count rereads. These aren’t sorted by rank in any way. I’m leaving them in the order I read them in. These also aren’t the only good books I read this year, of course. At over 180 reads, there were many more. But these are the ones that stood out to me the most. They represent my likes pretty well so I’m excited to share this list with you.
Hills of Heather and Bone by K.E. Andrews
I read this for SPFBO and have failed to write a review all year. I was dreading reading it, not because I thought I wouldn’t like it but because I knew it would have similar vibes to the book I’m writing and I was worried about their similarities. I didn’t want to feel like I’d be drawing too much from someone else’s book. I’m so glad I read it though, because despite having some theme similarities, the story is definitely very different and I enjoyed it so much. I want to reread and annotate it in 2025 because it made that much of an impact on me. The signed edition I have is one of my favorite books I own.
The Last Ranger (Rangers of the Titan Wilds #1) by J.D.L Rosell
This is one I’m surprised on this list, to be honest. I definitely enjoyed it when I read it for SPFBO and said so in my review as well since epic fantasy has been difficult for me this year. It’s the book I was most worried about during my judge reading. But I loved the world building and enjoyed the character development a lot too. While I did have some issues with this book, I can confidently say it has really stuck with me all year and I was excited to return to this world with a novella recently. I’m looking forward to continuing the main series soon.
Thrill Switch by Tim Hawken
This is one of my most recommended books this year. I loved it and bought a copy so I could reread it as a buddy read with my husband. I’ve suggested it to so many people across various platforms and have a review post ready for FFA in a few days as well. The world was just so vivid, the plot exciting, and the characters drew me right in. This is one of my all-time favorite scifi reads and I want more books set in this world so badly.
The Fractured Dark (The Devoured Worlds #2) by Megan E. O’Keefe
Megan E. O’Keefe is one of my favorite scifi authors and I will read anything she puts out. I read this whole series this year (the first was a reread) and decided to highlight this one because I’m usually super picky with middle books but this one blew me away! I loved the disorientation, the political twists, the relationships, and more. I continued to be surprised by reveals and was so excited that I didn’t have to wait very long for the last book.
Monstress (Book 1) by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
The only graphic novel I read this year, I think, and it was amazing. Stunning illustrations and the story was really compelling. This edition includes the first 18 issues of the story and I haven’t continued on yet. While I did love it, it was very heavy and I knew I needed some distance from it before continuing, which I hope to do in 2025. I haven’t looked yet, but I’m hoping they’re all available in these pretty hardcover collections.
Leather & Lark (The Ruinous Love Trilogy #1) by Brynne Weaver
You’ll mostly see me blogging about SFFH books on FFA but I do also love two other genres: romance and nonfiction. You’ll see both reflected on this post and here’s my first most memorable romance read of the year. Serial killers, leather work, crafts, snark, and romance? Yes, please. This was so much fun despite the issues I had with the plot. Unhinged, yes, but also fun! If you decide to read this, make sure to get the bonus chapter at the end too. You won’t regret it!
One Dark Window (The Shepherd King #1) by Rachel Gillig
This is currently my favorite finished fantasy series. I adored the world building, the poetry, the plot, everything. I loved following the characters and discovering everything they did. This is legit the best fantasy/romance story I have read so far. Both aspects were represented well and the balance between them was great. It was chosen by my in-person book club and I’m so glad I came along for the ride. I can still feel the emotions I went through while reading this book. While the second book is a teensy bit lower on my list, I still think it was a great way to round out this duology. It took me longer to be as invested in the couple but once I found out what was going on, I was all in again!
Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood
I read almost all of Hazelwood’s books this year. It was a bit of an obsession a few months ago. This was easily my favorite though. I know some loyal AH readers weren’t as happy with this one, but it hit just the right spots for me. I enjoyed the serious topics that were included, how the spice was done, the plot was exciting, and the various relationships felt very real to me. It was more serious than her STEM books but still had some good humor mixed in as well. I really hope we get more serious books like this from her.
The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean
Now that I have this right after Not In Love, I think there’s a lot of overlap in why I love them both. The serious topics, the characters, and the relationship dynamics. I’ve read several times that people didn’t like the MC in this book because she seemed too weird. But oh man, was she relatable for me. Her character made so much sense to me. The anxiety, the awkwardness, the obsessiveness, the memories… On top of that, I loved how the zoo setting allowed for so much incredible world building! While the plot was a little predictable in some aspects, I really didn’t mind at all because there was so much I loved about this book!
The Fake Out (Vancouver Storm #2) by Stephanie Archer
I can’t remember right now how I discovered this author but she’s my favorite romance writer right now. I’m so obsessed with this series! I love how the characters can be so badass or grumpy or larger than life in some aspects while still staying so respectful towards their partners. I’m a sucker for dark romances sometimes but I recognize the issues that come with the relationships in that subgenre. This series though is so wholesome but still has really fun spice and plots I love to follow. I also appreciate that the author manages to inject drama without relying on miscommunication trope I hate so much. You’ll think it’s coming sometimes but then is handled so maturely by the characters. I love it. All three books that are out so far are great but this second book is definitely my current favorite!
Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski
This isn’t the first female sexuality book I’ve read and loved and it definitely won’t be the last. I’m a sucker for nonfiction in general but this one blew me away. It was a buddy read with my husband and led to so many good discussions for us. I learned so much about myself and it has helped me in surprising ways with other aspects of my life as well. I highly recommend this one, especially as a buddy read for couples.
The Wild Robot (Wild Robot #1) by Peter Brown
This is the only middle grade book I read this year and I had to put it on my favorites list. This story was just so compelling. The friendship development was awesome and I loved the community feeling of it. The paperback copy is really gorgeous too with tons of illustrations. I’m looking forward to reading this with my daughter one day. We also watched the movie right after I read it. While I didn’t like some of the changes that were made (mainly how the friendships developed), the graphics were absolutely gorgeous and worth a watch just for that.
The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle by Steve Hugh Westenra
This was one of those books I really wasn’t sure I should read because I used to protect my boundaries so much when it came to my reading. I’m not sure what convinced me to change my mind, but I’m glad I did. This is the book responsible for my foray into horror. This is the reason I decided to open up my reading to a whole new genre. While there were pros and cons to this story for me, I still think of it very fondly and call it one of my most memorable reads of the year. Humor is something that’s really difficult for me in most books but I actually enjoyed that here. Maybe because of the contrast to the darkness of horror?
Pen Pal by J.T. Geissinger
This is another one I read with my husband and another I was surprised to hear he loved. Having read it together is definitely a big reason it’s on this list because we again had some awesome discussions together. But the book itself was really fun as well and deserves to be on the list even without that. I just thought this was a dark romance. I didn’t know about a specific detail until later on. So I was completely caught off guard by the major reveal. It totally blew my mind. Same with my husband. We were so excited about it when we discussed it and kept on bringing up different scenes in the days after we finished it to look at them from that new perspective. Who would’ve thought my non-reader husband would enjoy a romance? I sure didn’t but this one had him glued to the pages!
Far Removed (The Apidecca Duology #1) by CB Lansdell
The cover on this one has always stood out to me and the author was generous in sending me a copy for my shelves. It took me a little while to get into the story because I think I picked it up at the wrong time, but once I was invested, I was obsessed. I adored the POV characters and the world building especially raised this into my most memorable list. The politics were so interesting and I found myself thinking about the book and what I think will happen in the next book many times over the weeks that followed. I have a short story for this on my kindle but keep pushing it back because while I do really want to be back in this world, that also means I’ll have to go back to having to wait for the next book without having anything else to tide me over!
Defectors by Paola Ramos
This is the third book I read with my husband (he’s still working on it though). It’s almost like there’s a pattern, huh? This book was offered as an ARC and I immediately jumped at it. Wow. This topic is very personal to our family and answered questions we have asked each other for years. Absolutely fascinating and horrifying in equal parts, and while I now understand people’s motivations a lot more, it also makes me so incredibly sad for some of them. Because of how much it applies to our real lives, this will probably be memorable for a very long time.
Howling Dark (Sun Eater #2) by Christopher Ruocchio
This series party sticks in my mind purely based on how many hours I’ve spent with it already and party because of its stunning world building (have you noticed I’m a sucker for that yet?). I’m only two books and a novella into this series so far, but I know I’m in it for the long run. While the main books always feel a bit too long, I also have no idea what I would take out of them to make them shorter! This second book in particular added tons of interesting details in terms of politics, races, relationships, and drama. I”ll be doing the next novella soon and then it’ll be back to the main series again. I’m really thankful that the narrator is one of my favorite voice actors (Samuel Roukin) because I foresee myself spending a looot of time with him in my ears in 2025!
101 Horror Books To Read Before You’re Murdered by Sadie Hartmann
I need this book in print. I want to mark all the books I want to read for sure, those that I’m super nervous about trying, and those that are way out of my comfort zone but on my TBR nonetheless. This author can sell almost any book to me apparently. The way she describes them makes them sound just so awesome. While I do have some horror recs from friends, most of the ones I’ll be trying in the near future will be those I picked from this book. I’ll be tracking my personal experiences and am hoping to have a cool post for you all at the end of 2025 to talk about my foray into horror as a newbie!
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