I really knocked it out of the water last year on the topic of books read. I think I read more books this year than I have in any single year EVER. Being on maternity leave definitely helped, that’s for sure! And I know my goals with reading are never astronomical ( I set out to read at least 6 books a year), but this year I read 13 books! A few of which were like 600+ pages long, so I’m pretty estatic about it.

Here’s a list of what I read, and my reviews!

+ In Five Years by Rebecca Serle : 5/10 literally wish I could get the time I spent reading this one, back. It was so blehhh, kinda boring but I just kept reading because I was waiting for it to get better and give me more, which it never did. Cute story but very predictable. Quick read for sure, would be good for an airplane ride or road trip!

+ Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros : 10/10 ya’ll…when I say it feels like I’ve joined a cult by dipping my toe into this romantasy fiction world, I mean it. My girlfriend had been begging me to read this book for a while. And throughout my pregnancy, I finally did because I wanted something to escape into before going to bed at night. This book is AMAZING!! The third installment comes out the end of this month and I CANNOT WAIT! There are literally no words to really get you to read this one, you’re either in or your not, but I can tell you- I don’t think you’ll regret it! (Although you might spiral into this world of never ending sagas like I did– see the following 6 books on my list LOL).

+ Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros : 11/10 I could not jump into the second book fast enough! The same girlfriend who had to force me to start the first one (see above), warned me to order the second one after finishing the first and to already have it ready to go. I did not listen, and the week it took for this book to get to me was PAINFUL. Talk about a crazy cliffhanger. Second book was definitely better than the first, the first takes about half the book to really get into, but there’s a lot of backstory and really “painting” the world in your head that the author had to do, so I get it and it’s worth it. I LOVED this book and am literally on pins and needles waiting for the third to come out this month! Already have it on pre-order!

* okay, after I finished this book (^^), said girlfriend also very much wanted me to read a little series called ACOTAR (another romantasy series), I have to admit here, I was so pissed at the cliffhanger of Iron Flame that I boycott the entire genre and needed to cleanse my soul with some non-romantasy related books for a little bit LOL

+ The Maid, Nita Prose : 3/10 very meh. This book came recommended by a handful of people and I didn’t like it at all. Main character was super annoying to me, nonetheless, finished it but would not recommend.

+ Elon Musk, by Walter Isaacson : 10/10 LOVED. So intriguing and genuinely interesting. I drive a Tesla and love it, but never knew much about Elon Musk. I know lately he’s been in the media a lot (good or bad I’m not always sure) but the man is a genius. If you don’t think so, I suggest you read the book! Other than his at times trigger friendly X rants, I’m a supporter of his overall mission which is really to be as efficient and as successful as possible in everything/anything he does.

* after finishing this book (^^), soul was cleansed and I had had our baby boy so I wanted something to read while we contact napped or while I was up overnight feeding him, which led me back to the romantasy world and ACOTAR entered the chat– here we go.

+ A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah Maas : 7/10 so this one was hard for me, again I know they really need to create this fantasy world with some backstory in order for the reader to be able to really immerse themselves into, but it was very slow for me. I also think I was immediately comparing it to Fourth Wing and liked that series better from the start, nonetheless, I kept reading because my girl doesn’t falter when it comes to her book recs and she told me the second book was much better anyway! So basically to give you a rough run down, this series is about a young mortal girl who enters the land of immortal faeries and magical beings, this first book is about how she finds herself in the world of faeries!

*this is a 5 book journey we’re about to embark on, I am linking each book separately but you can also buy the series together, which is actually what I did on my kindle, which I’ll link here if you’re interested!

+ A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah Mass : 9/10 this one really saved the entire series for me because I absolutely loved it. SO much better than book 1 and after completing it, I was so invested in the storyline I immediately started book 3! Also, I’m not trying to give anything away with my reviews here, but the love interests are love interesting in this one!!

+ A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah Mass : 9/10 really loved! Storyline and character development just kept getting better! Also, little shoutout to the happy version of a cliffhanger at the end of this one!

+ A Court of Frost and Starlight, Sarah Mass : 8/10 everyone warned me that this was the most boring book of the series. It’s also a much shorter book (apparently it was a little holiday edition when it originally came out), but I liked it more than I thought I would. The first 3 books were all from the main characters point of view and with this one, we get the points of view from a few of the other characters which I thought was pretty interesting!

+ A Court of Silver Flames, Sarah Mass : 7/10 the last book of the series!! And literally probably my least favorite lol. sadly I only loved the last 200 pages or so. It took me longer to get through this one because it’s from the point of view of literally my least favorite character of the series, which was a draaaaggggg for me. But the last 200 pages were worth it!

* with this last book, I left the world of romantasy and will not dabble until January 21st when the third book in the Fourth Wing Saga comes out!! Also, in comparing the two fantasy series, I definitely like the Fourth Wing series better!

+ Demon of Unrest, Erik Larson : 10/10 was happy to be back at home in my historical non-fiction genre with this one! This is probably my favorite book of Erik Larson’s. Really interesting insight into the start of the Civil War and key players on both sides.

+ You Can’t Have it All, Stassi Schroeder : 7/10 read this on our road trip to Zion. Super easy, light read. Totally relatable as a mom and especially as a mom of 2! I’d recommend if you’re a mom for sure! It’s lighthearted and makes you laugh at all the fun things kids do or we as moms find ourselves doing (or not doing) as we journey through motherhood!

+ The Expectation Effect, David Robson : kinda hard to rate, maybe like a 6/10? It was super interesting and thought provoking but read like a textbook. Took me a while to digest and get through it. Very informational and dense, but my favorite part was at the end of each “segment”, there were reflection questions and tips. Ended up being the perfect last book for 2024!

Well, that’s it! I’ve already got 3 books lined up for the new year! What was your favorite book you read this year?