My Favorite Novels of the Year

It's been a weird reading year

Dec 17, 2024

I love an end-of-the-year favorite books list, and it’s a tradition I do here in the newsletter, but I have to say…it’s been a weird reading year.

In my newsletter for writers, The Nourished Writer, I recently talked about how my reading can be an emotional barometer for me. In that post, I tracked my reading through the years and showed how signs of burnout were showing up years before I realized it. So, when I calculated my stats for this year’s reading, I definitely gave the results some side-eye. What did this list of books say about my year?

I don’t feel like I’m in burnout anymore. I’ve done a lot of work in that area and feel pretty good overall. But I think these stats show that maybe because of the long recovery from burnout, I’ve drifted further and further away from my reader self.

In what way? Well, let’s start with some stats.

The Stats

How many books I’ve read this year so far: 52 (respectable but the lowest number for me since 2016)

How many books I’ve DNFed: 13 (12 fiction, 1 non-fiction)

Format:

Print - 16
Ebook - 10
Audiobook - 19
Audio and Print combo (when I own a paper copy but get the audiobook from the library and bounce back and forth) - 6

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction: 17 fiction, 35 non-fiction

That last stat is the one that stood out most to me — 67% of my reading was non-fiction this year and 92% of my of my DNFs were fiction. Non-fiction is always an important part of my reading life, but this year it took over.

Also, audiobooks were my top way to read, which in some ways is great—yay, audio—but also indicates that I had trouble sitting still and just quietly reading. Audiobooks are listened to when I’m doing chores or cooking or driving somewhere. They are not me, cozy on the couch, escaping into a book.

So, these numbers are one of the reasons I’ve been making changes to this newsletter this month with plans to have a more book-focused newsletter in 2025. I need to refocus on reading fiction for pleasure. I need to make time for sitting still and getting quietly lost in a story. And good intentions aren’t enough for me. I need goals and obligations. :) So, you, dear reader, are my added motivation to amp up my fiction reading in 2025. I will read for me, but I will also be reading for you so that I can pass along the recommendations.

So, thank you for being here!

Alright, enough babbling about numbers. Let’s get to what made the fiction faves list this year.

*If this post cuts off in your email, just click through to see the whole post.

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025 - FICTION

Fave General Fiction

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

I talked about this one back in February and usually, if I read a book early in the year, it doesn’t hang on to make my favorite of the year because of the recency effect. However, this one has remained with me and gets the top fiction spot for me this year.

Bright Young Women is a fictionalized account of the Ted Bundy murders told from the perspective of the women—Pamela, a sorority sister of one of the victim’s who is also an eyewitness; Ruth, one of the Seattle victims; and, Tina, Ruth’s friend. It also jumps around in time from before the murders (for Ruth), the time of the sorority murders, and then modern day.

Don’t believe the marketing that calls this a thriller. The beginning reads like a thriller because it opens with the sorority murders, but after that, this becomes a story of tough, smart women not letting people dismiss them and not letting Bundy get away with it.

Fave Classic

Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery

Here’s what I said about it back in July:

“Next up is a classic that I somehow never read, and I’m so glad I’ve remedied that oversight now! Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery was an absolute joy and delight. And if you want to talk about sentence-level beauty, you can’t go wrong here. There are so many quotes worth underlining, I don’t even know where to start. The setting descriptions are magical and Anne is a ray of sunshine. This is the perfect escapist read for a tough day/week/month.”

Fave Thriller/Suspense

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I’m sure I’m not the first person you’ve seen rave about this book. It’s absolutely everywhere, but it is worth another mention. It almost was my top book of the year, but Bright Young Women barely edged it out because it stayed in my head more. This is sometimes labeled as a thriller, but I think that’s a misnomer. I would say this is solidly a slow-burn literary mystery. You need to give it some time to unfold, but the build up is worth it. This is a dual timeline (1975 and present day) following two mysteries, both surrounding a summer camp run by a rich family. It’s not a short book but I devoured this in almost a day.

Fave on Audio - Fiction

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

I love when a book has a podcast element to the mystery and then they bring that into the audiobook production. The opening line is “A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I’m buying a chicken.” ←-that gives you the idea of the voice

The basics: Lucy was accused of her best friend’s (Savvy’s) murder but there wasn’t enough evidence and she has no memory of that night. She’s called back home for her grandmother’s birthday party, but really, the grandmother wanted her home so she’ll participate in a podcast about the murder. Because we have an unreliable narrator, this one keeps you guessing. Usually, I hate the unreliable narrator thing, but here it worked for me because her unreliability is the fact that she has no memory of it, not that she’s purposely concealing something.

This is a popcorn suspense novel done right. It was fast-moving and compelling even when I sometimes actively disliked the protagonist.

Fave Romance

The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis

Full admission: I DNFed a lot of romance this year. I was having a really hard time finding something that clicked for me. Maybe it’s the current trends, maybe it’s me. Who knows? But what I do know is that Queen Jill Shalvis brought me joy with this fun, sweet story about Harper who escapes to Lake Tahoe to open a bakery but ends up dealing with a grumpy tavern owner and a local runaway teen. Funny, heartwarming, and just an all-around good time.

Honorable Mention - Fiction

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Sometimes you need a story about a lonely elderly woman befriending a sentient octopus named Marcellus. This was a lovely, beautiful story. The only reason it slid to honorable mention status was because it got a little slow in the middle for me. But it’s still very much worth the read.

Overall Thoughts

Well, one thing stood out. Book of the Month club brought me three of my faves. (Not all of their books were hits for me though. I finished one yesterday that I’m still mad about, lol. I’ll post about that one another day.) Still, my ongoing subscription seems to be worth it if it brings me faves of the year. (I’m an affiliate if anyone wants to try out a membership.)

The other thing that stood out is that literary mysteries/suspense seem to be a sweet spot for me. One of my faves from a previous year, I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai also fell under this category. So I need to be on the lookout for those types of books.

And lastly, on the romance front, I need to do some work. Maybe I need to dip into backlist and see if I can get my romance-reading groove back.

Alright, this letter is already getting on the long side, so I’m going to save my favorite non-fiction of the year for another installment, but I hope you found something to add to your list!

I’d love to hear what your favorite novels of the year were. Did you have a good reading year? A weird one? A bad one? Let me know!