What I Read In December 2024
Happy new year, book babes! I hope you’re all finishing out your 2024 proud of your reading achievements, happy with the books you read and excited to read even more incredible books in 2025!
One of my favorite things to do before the new year is look at everything I read the previous year and reminisce. It’s so fun to look back at the books I enjoyed and think through how they made me feel and what I was going through while reading them.
As I did that this year, I picked out a few books in particular that stood out to me. These books are ones that impacted me deeply, that I still think about or that I look forward to re-reading one day. In other words, they’re my top reads from the year. Let me know what you think!
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It felt a little odd to read a romance book set in summer during the holiday season, but that didn’t stop me from truly enjoying this one. It follows a young woman starting out in her career in publishing in New York City in 1999. She’s slated to get married to her college sweetheart, a lawyer. As the summer begins her fiance begins to work longer and longer hours, leaving her lonely and suspicious, particularly when she meets the boyfriend of her fiance’s colleague and he shares his own suspicions that their partners are having an affair. A friendship blooms between the two as they spend their summer Fridays exploring the city, developing a connection and maybe even falling for each other.
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This was a fun, fast-paced thriller with some twists I certainly wasn’t expecting. It starts with the disappearance of a young woman, followed by the disappearance of another woman and her daughter. Eleven years later, the daughter reappears but with little memory of what’s happened to her. Some people will stop at nothing to keep secrets hidden.
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It’s not the holiday season if we don’t slip in a few holiday reads. Christmas In Spite Of You starts with a woman down on her luck renting out her apartment for a week to help make some extra money. A man with a powerful company rents it, but when the woman can’t go home for Christmas to see her family, the pair end up stuck together sharing space in a way they weren’t expecting. They’re total opposites, but are surprised to find they truly enjoy each other’s company. This was a cute, cozy and quick read.
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These books are a re-read for me in anticipation of the third book being released in just a few weeks! (Don’t forget you can preoder Onyx Storm here.)
There’s a reason this series has become a favorite among romantasy lovers, and I’m no different. Something about the story, Xaden and Violet’s relationship and the dragons keep me absolutely enthralled. I’ve truly enjoyed being back in this series.
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This young adult romance follows a senior in high school who’s spent her life hiding her true self in favor of making herself more palatable for her friends and family. Then, one day, her journal goes missing, with it her deepest darkest secrets, including her embarrassing unrequited crush, the anger she feels at the racism her friends casually display and her lack of acceptance into the Ivy League she told her parents she was accepted too. She finds an unlikely ally in a boy who doesn’t seem to care about anything and a few other friends, who help her find her journal and complete a senior year bucket list, helping her find herself in the meantime.
This was an adorable story. I loved the character growth for the main character (I couldn’t stand her at first) and the friendship and bonds she develops throughout the book.
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This queer holiday romance was everything I hoped for when I picked it up. It’s got all the fun tropes: grumpy/sunshine, fake dating and a third act break up. It follows an moony-eyed astrologer running a popular astrology account and a no-nonsense actuary. They share a disastrous date, but when the actuary’s brother insists on helping her find love, she decides to tell him they’re dating to get him off her back. What starts as a fake dating scheme meant to benefit both women ends up evolving into a real friendship and relationship.
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This memoir was everything I hoped it would be and more that I didn’t know I needed it to be. Kelly Bishop is brilliant, matter-of-fact and inspiring as she recounts her childhood, her love for dance, the rise of her career, her time on Gilmore Girls and her relationship with the love of her life and her best friend. I went into this book expecting it to really focus on the Gilmore Girl years, but honestly, the rest of her life and her experiences are just as interesting, if not more. This memoir is brilliantly written, full of gorgeous lessons and a wonderful reminder that the most important thing we can do on this earth is love deeply and truly.
Need other recommendations? Ask me for some ideas!