Best of 2024

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

How's everyone doing today?

We’ve done it. We’ve made it to the end of 2024. I read 90 books this year. I cried over fictional characters and situations, I’ve yelled at people acting stupid in novels, I’ve read some long time favorites for the umpteenth time and found some new ones to obsess over.

With it being the last Wednesday of 2024, we all know what that means. It’s time to wrap up the year. It’s time for me to announce the best books I read this year.

But before we get to that, I must say thank you. Thank you to everyone who has joined me on RHRML at any point this year. Thank you all, dear readers, for stopping by to read a post or two. I’m very grateful for all of you and I hope you’ve enjoyed your time here. I’ve had the most fun reading and reviewing so many books this year and delving into some madness. Cheers to the new year!

Now let’s get into why we’re all here. What were my favorite reads from 2024? What reads have stayed in my mind since I cracked into them? Let’s find out. As always, I’m going to try to pick reads that released this year, but I never manage to keep that promise. At this point, I just like writing the prior sentence. Anyway, here are my top five reads of 2024!

5. The Gravekeeper series by Darcy Coates 

One of these books came out in 2024 so I’m counting this as a new release. I’ve kept my promise of only including 2024 releases so far. Now the Gravekeeper series is my version of a cozy mystery. The main setting is a beautiful old graveyard, there are ghosties, there’s a supporting character who is me but more unhinged, there are people out there who are basically hunting the main character; the vibes are immaculate. I sped read this series and I love it!  

4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Hi, would you like to cry? Then this read is for you. And yes, this is the second year in a row where I’ve failed in picking my best reads of the year by putting a non 2024 read in the number four spot. Go me! Anyway, The Midnight Library destroyed me. I found it to paint a hyper-realistic picture of snowballing depression. You can read more of my thoughts on this novel in the review I wrote on it earlier this year.

3. Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman

Let’s get back to the ghosties now. Cause the next read on my Best of 2024 list is some modern Southern Gothic. Though I do have to question, are all the ghosts in this novel real? Or are they all drug hallucinations? Read the book and you can decide. I won’t get into too much detail about this read cause I have a review on it as well. But I will say this was a quick read with some body horror that made my skin crawl. Ten-out-of-ten. Go read this book if you like Gothic lit.

2. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Want a dystopian-esque novel set in a fantasy world where the stakes are extremely high? I got you covered. The Book Eaters has such a simple yet interesting premise: there’s a group of people who survive by eating books. And what if this book also made readers question who/what is a monster? What makes a monster? The Book Eaters really made me think, and now I want to go and reread it and think more deeply on the question. I highly recommend you give this book a read. You can also check out my review after you finish reading this novel.

1. Weyward by Emilia Hart

Finally, at number one, we have a book that broke me into a million pieces, it’s Weyward by Emilia Hart. Note that this is a very heavy read and details rape and abusive relationships throughout the entire novel, and Emilia Hart does a fantastic job at discussing these topics. She also does an amazing job with making this novel insanely immersive. There are three compelling narratives surrounded by vivid imagery and just a tad bit of gothic atmosphere. I do not think I could recommend this read enough. And if you need any more reasons to read this novel then you can read my review.

Thus endeth our list! Thank you for joining me today and for the entirety of 2024. The year went by far too fast for my taste. Nevertheless, I do hope you’ve enjoyed another year’s worth of reviews, listicles, Death Matches, and the trials and tribulations of falling in love with a new book nearly every week. I will see you all again next week on January 1st for a new review. If you can’t wait that long then you can always check out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. You can find the show on Spotify and YouTube. Listen to me and my two co-stars talk Scooby-Doo, gay vampires, cryptids, Disney, and lots of other wild topics; there is bound to be something that strikes your fancy.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all next year, bye!