Favorites reads of 2024

 

Based on the fact that books from The Dandelion Dynasty series took the top three spots on my favorite reads list, you could say 2024 was the year of The Dandelion Dynasty. After reading the first book in 2023, I completed the series in 2024, and it has become one of my favorite series of all time.

Now, on to the list...

1. Speaking Bones - Ken Liu 

It was difficult to choose the top book in The Dandelion Dynasty because they were all great, but I gave the nod to Speaking Bones, the conclusion to the series. The final book wrapped up all of the story lines in a satisfactory, if not exactly happy, ending. As with the other books in the series, this one took me on an emotional roller coaster. Every time I thought something was going well for the characters I rooted for, they suffered a setback, and every time things looked grim, Ken Liu gave them a ray of hope. As with the other books in the series, Speaking Bones was full of thought-provoking insights and philosophical nuggets that I wrote down, which is something I rarely ever do when I read.

2. The Wall of Storms - Ken Liu

The Wall of Storms is the second book in the Dandelion Dynasty. Among all the books in the series, this one sent me to highs and lows more than the others. I was a wreck while reading this. The invasion by the Lyucu changed the tone of the book from what I was used to in The Grace of Kings, and Ken Liu didn't take his foot off the pedal from there.

3. The Veiled Throne - Ken Liu

One of the books in the Dandelion Dynasty series had to come in last, and for me, if was The Veiled Throne, the third book. Don't get me wrong, this was still a great book, and there's a reason it's on my list of top reads of 2024. Even when he takes a detour from the main story to spend a couple hundred pages on a competition between restaurants, Ken Liu's storytelling skills amaze me. The only reason this book doesn't rank as high as the others is because the third and fourth books were meant to be read together, so The Veiled Throne left me longing for the finale.

4. Still See You Everywhere - Lisa Gardner 

Lisa Gardner is one of my favorite authors, and Still See You Everywhere is my favorite book in her Frankie Elkin series so far. This book captures the best thriller elements of her D.D. Warren series (I still miss D.D. and hope Lisa Gardner will write more books in that series in the future) on a remote tropical island. The setting played a major role in the story, and the choice of placing the events on an island heightened the stakes and made everything more interesting for me. I was excited when I learned that there'd be a new Lisa Gardner book last year, and Still See You Everywhere lived up to my expectations and more.

 
5. Starter Villain - John Scalzi 

I've read two other John Scalzi novels (Redshirts and The Kaiju Preservation Society), and I've liked them both, but Starter Villain is my favorite of the bunch. This 2023 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Science Fiction was such a fun book to read. Some aspects of the novel required more suspension of disbelief (e.g., unionized dolphins), but the overall story was entertaining. If you're a fan of James Bond and parodies of evil organizations, Starter Villain will be right up your alley.

6. The Housemaid - Freida McFadden 

If you're a fan of psychological thrillers like Gone Girl and The Wife Between Us, this 2022 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller is for you. I've read a lot of books in the genre, and this is one of the better ones. It was the type of book that sucked me in and kept me engaged, making it easy to devour in just a couple of days. Because I've read a lot of thrillers, I could guess what the big twist was, but The Housemaid was still an entertaining ride, and I recommend it whether or not you're a fan of the genre.

7. Defiant - Brandon Sanderson 

What would a yearly top ten list be without a book by Brandon Sanderson? I only read two Sanderson books in 2024 (I haven't read Wind and Truth yet), and while I rated both as 5 stars, Defiant made my top ten list of favorite reads. I wasn't sure what to expect from this last book in the Skyward series since each book after the first one got worse for me, but Defiant turned things around in a big way. I got vibes like when I read the first book in the series, and Defiant may be my favorite in the series now.

8. The Ferryman - Justin Cronin

I've seen the plot and themes of The Ferryman told several times before. While this book doesn't add anything new to the trope, I happen to enjoy this type of story, and I liked how this book told the story. I don't want to spoil what happens (although some of you may be able to guess before the reveal, like I did), so it's difficult to say more. The first two-thirds of the book was a fairly standard something-is-wrong-with-society story, and I appreciated the way the protagonist's eyes slowly opened to reality. I would've enjoyed the book even without the later reveal.

9. The End of Men - Christina Sweeney-Baird 

I'm afraid that any book about diseases will bring to mind the COVID pandemic for me. While most of this book was written before COVID (based on the author's note), reading the first hundred pages gave me an eerily similar feeling to the first year of the pandemic. But The End of Men is much more than a pandemic novel. The reason I liked it so much was the way it spun its story across a diverse cast of characters and how the book was able to make me care about so many of them, even the ones that appear in short vignettes and aren't seen from again. The commentary on gender was also powerful without being in-your-face. What would the world be like if 90% of men are gone? Read The End of Men and find out!

10. The Future - Naomi Alderman 

This book paints a frightening future for the world that is eerily similar to today's reality. I connected with this book because it echoes many of my own concerns with technology, social media, climate change, and other problems plaguing our world today. The story itself was also structured and paced well, which made it entertaining for those who are looking for a good read without having to worry about the future of the world. That said, I was satisfied with the ending and the kind of world that emerged on the other side.

What I read in 2024

As we near the end of another year, it's time to look back on the books I read in 2024. At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to read at least 100 books, including re-reading some of my favorites, and I managed to read 102, the same number of books I read in 2023. (The graphic above shows 91 books because I didn't log the 11 books I re-read.)

As for the average rating for the books I read, if I exclude the re-reads, it was 4.04 stars, slightly higher than the 4.01 average from 2023's books read. The breakdown by star rating was:

• 5 stars - 30 books
• 4 stars - 35 books
• 3 stars - 26 books

If I include the re-reads, the average star rating for the books I read would jump to 4.15 since I would give them all 5 stars again. Overall, it was a very satisfying year of reading for me. Since I haven't decided yet how many of my favorite books I'll re-read in 2025, I don't know how 2025's ratings will fare.

In my next post, I'll list my top ten reads of 2024. Stay tuned!

Reading challenge recap - re-reading favorite books

In June, I gave an update on my reading "challenge" this year, which was to re-read some of my favorite books. In summary, the challenge has been great. 

These are the books I re-read this year:

• January - Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
• February - Find Her by Lisa Gardner
• March - The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
• April - When You See Me by Lisa Gardner
• May - Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson
• June - The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 
• July - Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
• August - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• September - Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
• October - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• November/December - The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson 

I only re-read eleven books instead of twelve because The Way of Kings took me longer than I had planned. I enjoyed every book and would rate them all 5 stars if I had read them for the first time this year. Although I had a great time with this reading challenge, I don't know if I'll repeat it next year since there are so many unread books on my TBR list, but I'm definitely more open to re-reading books now than I was before.

After Z-Day holiday sale

You can now buy the Kindle version of the books in the After Z-Day series for only 99 cents each! That means you only have to spend a total of $2.97 for all three books. This sale will last through the holidays. If you're a fan of the zombie apocalypse or want to give a gift to someone who is, consider the After Z-Day series.

• Book 1: Hopeless
• Book 2: Relentless
• Book 3: Soulless

 

George and the Galactic Games has a new cover!

My first published novel, George and the Galactic Games, has a new cover! This is the fifth cover for the book and definitely my favorite. I made the first two covers myself, and I wasn't too happy with either one, so I hired an artist to create a more professional cover. That cover lasted for a while until I tired of it and hired a different artist to create the fourth cover. The fourth one had served as the cover for the book for the last few years, longer than any of the previous three. I wasn't looking to replace the cover until this one came along, and I immediately wanted it to be the new face of the book. I love this cover because it not only conveys a scene from the story, but the style also fits the middle-grade level that is the book's target audience. I have a feeling I'll be keeping this cover for a long, long time.

Special edition books

 

 Midnight Edition of The Dandelion Dynasty from The Broken Binding

To the detriment of my bank account, I have become addicted to buying special edition books this year. If I had to trace the practice to any singular event, it would be Brandon Sanderson's Secret Projects Kickstarter. The premium hardcovers looked so much nicer than regular hardcovers that I wanted to populate my bookshelves with more special edition books. Now, a year later, I have one bookshelf where two-thirds of the books are special editions.

It's not just Brandon Sanderson and his premium hardcovers and leatherbound editions that fueled my new book buying addiction. Social media and the rise of book subscription boxes have made books with stenciled or sprayed edges enticing and easy to obtain. My latest arrival, shown in the photos above, are the Midnight Editions of Ken Liu's The Dandelion Dynasty series. I jumped on that purchase as soon as I saw The Broken Binding advertise the books. Given the amount of money I've spent on special editions in the past year, I need to be better about budgeting my book purchases. Because special edition books are more expensive than typical hardcovers, I will need to buy fewer books than before. That sounds outrageous to a book lover like me, but unless I want to go broke or until I win the lottery, it's the prudent thing to do. On the other hand, I consider it a price worth paying (pun intended) for filling my bookshelves with such pretty books.

The struggles of writing with an all-consuming, stressful day job

For those who aren't aware, I do not make my living as an author. I wish I could, but I don't sell nearly as many books as I need to in order to feed myself or keep a roof over my head. Instead, I have a day job that provides me with financial stability. I'm certainly not unique in that respect. Plenty of authors work a day job as their primary means of income.

I've been able to juggle writing and a day job for many years. All of the books I've written so far have been while I was working a full-time job. However, that has changed in the past year. I released my last book, Soulless, in November. I haven't written anything since. At the beginning of the year, I had fully intended to start drafting the next book in the After Z-Day series, but it's now August, and I haven't written a single word. Last fall, my day job ramped up in intensity to the point where I often work evenings and weekend. Even when I do have time when I'm not working, I'm so mentally exhausted that I can't think about telling a story.

What am I to do? To start with, I recognize I'm in a phase of life where writing is difficult for me. Instead of churning out words for the sake of releasing another book, I'm waiting until I can focus on writing a good book. I owe that to my readers. Although I'm not writing a first draft, I do think about the story for my next book every now and then. I have a brief outline, and I add to it or revise it when I can. I hope that when I finally have the time and mental energy to write again, thinking about the story in advance will make drafting easier. Finally, I'm still reading as much as I used to. Reading is easier than writing for me because I don't need to be in the proper state of mind to read. If anything, reading helps me de-stress from my day job. I've read some really good books this year, and I'm learning from the authors I read so that I can be a better author when I start writing again.

I don't know when my day job will let up enough to allow me to write, but I hope it's soon. I'm looking forward to writing the next installment of the After Z-Day series and sharing it with all of you.