2024 Reading Revisited: Top 10 Recommendations

1/16/2025

In my previous blog post, I shared my 2024 reading list, categorized by genre. I’m just as happy as I was then when looking through them.

But out of the 74 books I read, which 10 would I read again or recommend?

1. Your Coffin or Mine by Jacklyn Hyde (Fantasy Romance)

Perhaps the first rom-com I have genuinely read before, Your Coffin or Mine had me laughing throughout. It was a unique experience for me, to laugh that much, in sheer joy. I felt as if I was there right with the main characters, a mid-twenties social media influencer named Aubrey who winds up staying prematurely in Vlad’s castle-turned-hotel before it’s set to open to the public. To humans, specifically, since Vlad is a centuries-old vampire. If you enjoy fantasy romance and don’t mind a bit of good humor, I’d recommend this indie book. I bought it immediately.

If you end up reading and enjoying, another stand-alone was released in December featuring two other beloved castle characters! I plan to read it this year, once I finish the books I started at the end of 2024. The third book is set to release December 5, 2025, so there’s plenty of time to read the first 2 again!

2. I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer (Hybrid Poetry Collection)

As a fan of hybrid forms, I was so pleased to find this innovative collection of erasure poetry. In this collection, Kate provides both versions of the piece. On the left page, the original post, comment, email, whathaveyou. On the right page, her erasure. Sometimes, it is a reinvention of the original artifact. Other times, it is a poignant response.

I read this book while on a plane. Though a quick read, I didn’t pick up the other books I had packed away in my carry-on bag immediately. Instead, I flipped through this piece to revisit certain pages, to put them altogether in my mind. As written in the piece’s Amazon description, this “book of poetry [was] birthed in the darkness of the internet that offers light and hope.”

There’s always something to be said about light and hope. How even little goes a long way.

3. Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing by Jen Soriano (Nonfiction)

I discovered Nervous while reading for a literary contest last Spring. Early on, I was captivated by the cover, description, and introduction. In fact, I immediately highlighted her opening line:

“We are nervous beings, in nervous nations, at an increasingly nervous time.”

Through anecdotes and research, Jen opened my eyes to a new way of understanding what it means to have a life experienced.

You always expected nonfiction to imbue a certain level of perspective, and this read did that for me. I look forward to rereading it when I need it most.

4. Gentle Writing Advice by Chuck Wendig (Writing / Craft)

If you have heard of Chuck Wendig, you will know him for his brashness and humor. I have a unique love of writing books since I began writing in middle school. I would even read them at the gym while on the bike or treadmill. Gentle Writing Advice inspired the same behavior from me, and looks from other gym-goers when I couldn’t help but react!

While this book on writing and the writing life certainly contains the lovable quirks of Wendig’s personality, I firmly believe he digs deeper. Cracks himself open, just so, to give what he calls gentle writing advice. It is gentle, in the best way. Honest, how we so often need. I felt comforted by his experience and wisdom throughout the entire book. Understood, too. He captures an important aspect of the writing life that I’ve seen so few discuss in published books:

Yes, our writing will change and grow, but so will we. It’s unrealistic to expect how we practice writing not to change at all.

Published in 2023, it ranks among one of my favorite books on craft. I look forward to rereading it again this year!

5. The Winter Princess by Keira Dominguez (Contemporary Romance, Book 2)

I’ll be the first one to admit, I read this series out of order. First Book 3, then Book 1, and finally Book 2. I could easily recommend the entire Royals of Sondmark series--yet to be completed, if we also receive their brother’s stand-alone and see the conclusion of another subplot... Fingers crossed!

The historical, artistic, and political layers of The Winter Princess has stuck with me. I always love when characters feel dimensional, and Keira does a wonderful job of this throughout the series.

All three books are on my “For the Shelf” wish list--a list I keep of eBooks I have read that I want for my physical bookshelves as well—and I am eagerly looking for news of another installment. Really, I’ve checked the author’s pages at least 3 times by now!

6. The Boy Who Killed Demons by Dave Zeltserman (Horror / Thriller)

Because of my love for the television series Grimm, I gravitated toward this book on the shelves at my library. A YA epistolary style horror/thriller with some of the same themes? Sign me up!

Dave’s voice read so authentically, it was hard to put the book down sometimes. I think there’s always a risk of balance in epistolary works, between saying too much or too little, and also telling too much vs. showing too little. This book struck the right balance for me overall, to the point I’m excited to read more epistolary works in 2025.

And just maybe, another of Dave’s books. While this piece was published in 2014, it’s in the middle of a long list of his work!

7. Writing on Empty by Natalie Goldberg (Writing / Craft Memoir)

Confession: I’m a bit of a Natalie Goldberg fan.

While this is not the first book I have read by her--even in 2024--the comfort found in this piece is unmatched. Natalie has always been raw in her writing, and Writing on Empty was no exception. It’s rare that I find myself so overcome by craft books (if we can call this that, of course) but the pages mirrored my own struggle to return to the page after, as many say, “life happened.”

I closed this book feeling seen yet renewed. Since it was a library copy, I’ve added it to my wish list as well. It would be worth a whole shelf in my home library.

8. The Teacher by Frieda McFadden (Thriller)

I discovered this book via a friend’s book club. With the short chapters and multiple, engaging points of views, I can definitely understand the hype around Frieda McFadden lately!

While so many denounce the function of prologues, The Teacher makes a beautiful case for how they can be so effective. As I read, I kept returning to those initial pages in my mind, wondering just when the timelines would converge.

Though the final plot twists were heavily debated in my friend group—especially if it ever has its own movie or show adaptation—it’s a book I would read again and recommend wholeheartedly for its plot, pacing, and characters. I think I’ll read more from McFadden as well in 2025!

9. Assistant to the Villain & 10. Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (Fantasy Romance)

Some of you may recognize this series from the hype--on or off--TikTok. Hannah earnestly took BookTok by storm with her videos about the leading couple, who were first realized in print in 2023. For me, spots #9 and #10 belong to both books of this in-progress series.

Yes, Hannah captured our hearts online, but she does so on the page as well. Like with Your Coffin or Mine, I found myself laughing early on at the beloved main character, Evie. I don’t think I’ve laughed so much because of books this year. But…

I also found myself crying for Evie, too.

As readers, Hannah gave us what we needed to know while still surprising us. I find myself eager to read the third installment of the series, Accomplice to the Villian, which is expected to publish August 5, 2025.

Well, that’s 10! While in no particular order, each found their way into my heart. It’s my sincerest hope at least one finds its way into yours.

With a few books read already for 2025, I’m eager to read even more—please feel free to comment or reach out with your own recommendations!

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