Post harvest I was finally able to have the mental bandwidth to get back into reading. This year I didn't set a specific goal for books and, reflectively, I think I'll do the same in 2024. I felt like this really allowed my to enjoy and digest each book without running off to the next book because I was chasing a goal. That being said I'm ending the year at 37 books 📚🎉
Here's what I finished out the year with:
28.Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment, #1) by Rebecca Ross
"After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.
To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love."
I breezed through this book and really enjoyed it. I do wish there was a little more world building and a little more relationship building. At times it felt a little rushed and wish that this was a trilogy instead of a duology to give the characters a little more time to develop otherwise I can't wait for book two!
29.City of Ruin (Witch Walker, #2) by Charissa Weaks
"The night the Prince of the East razed her village, Raina Bloodgood’s life changed forever. Forced into someone else’s war—and into the arms of the Witch Collector, Alexus Thibault—Raina discovered that everything she believed was wrong, and that she was capable of far more than anyone imagined.
Now, the Prince of the East has taken the Frost King as a pawn in his war against the Summerlands, causing Alexus’s life to hang in the balance. To thwart the prince’s endgame and prevent the Tiressian empire from returning to an age of gods, Raina, Alexus, and a band of Northlanders race against the sands of time to reach a mystical desert land where merciless assassins lurk around every corner.
In the midst of tragedy, Raina and Alexus fight to stay together and alive, all while a nefarious presence follows them straight to the jeweled gates of the Summerland queen’s citadel—the City of Ruin. With much to fear, it’s the terror of a past she shouldn't remember that Raina cannot cast from her dreams.
A past that's determined to find her. One way or another."
This is another book that I really wish had a "Previously on our last episode" prologue. I even searched the internet for cliffnotes version of book one to no avail. That being said... this was a great continuation of the storyline. I really enjoyed the multiple character POV. Maybe I would have gotten more out of it if I could have remembered the back story of all the Gods drama but I was able to follow along even so. (TBH I remember the world building being a little confusing in the first book so maybe not 🙃)
30.Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) by Rebecca Yaros
"Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College—Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.
Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.
Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits—and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.
But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.
Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College—and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end."
Absolutely no surprise this book made the list. After seeing tiktoks of people finding this book out early, I STALKED my walmart. Seriously, I think I went to walmart 5 times that week just to see- and even on drop day TWICE because the book didn't hit the shelf until 6pm.
Compared to Fourth Wing I was.. whelmed? It really took me awhile to get into this book and overall I feel like you can tell there was a rush to get this book out. In this book's defense I did plow through it because I was scared to get spoilers online so maybe I'll do a reread and see if I like it more the second time through.
31.The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
"After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket descended from a gilded age gem to a mediocre budget-friendly lodge to inevitably an abandoned eyesore — until it's purchased and renovated top to bottom by London billionaire, Xavier Darling. Xavier hires Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton as his general manager, and Lizbet, in turn, pulls together a charismatic, if inexperienced, staff who share the vision of turning the fate of the hotel around. They face challenges in getting along with one another (and with the guests), in overcoming the hotel's bad reputation, and in surviving the (mostly) harmless shenanigans of Grace Hadley herself — who won't stop haunting the hotel until her murder is acknowledged.
Filled with the emotional tension and multiple points of view that characterize Elin's books (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added touch of historical reality, Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this summer drama for the ages."
It's no surprise from my reading list that I typically stay in the Fantasy/Romantasy genre of books. However, as per some new year's resolution once upon a time I try and dip into other genres. So I took a screeching 180º turn into the world of Elin Hilderbrand. I've seen her books all over Instagram and at my Costco so I finally took the leap and I'm glad I did. I started with The Hotel Nantucket and really enjoyed all the different POVs (including a ghost 👻) and how we got bits and pieces of everyone's story. I was surprised in the end to find out who was the secret hotel reviewer was and really liked this book.
32. 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
"When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.
There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?
Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere -- through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise -- until Mallory learns she's dying.
Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love."
Welp. Here we are again on Nantucket and let me just say that Nantucket has moved up higher on my travel bucket list. Maybe I'm starting to yearn for summer, but a coastal (or I guess island in this case) sounds amaaaazing. I mixed feelings about this book. I did like this book but I think my mixed feelings come from wanting more for Mallory's character. It's a different kind of love story but I still wanted her to have more.
33.Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
"Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo."
Aesthetically, I looooove the 50s and 60s. But the treatment of women during this time is so infuriating. I never was able to get into the show "Mad Men" because of this. This was a good read and I'm looking forward to watching the TV series of this. My favorite POV was Six Thirty 🐶
34.The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
"Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.
So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.
The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it hap- pens, has many secrets.
The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other."
The style of this book reminds me a lot of "The Hotel Nantucket". You get a lot of different POVs and get to dive into each characters backstory and build little by little to the current situation. All I can say is Hollis is a better person than me because I would have put Gigi on blast for sure.
35.Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand
"Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, while each of them hides a troubling secret.
As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel."
I'm not going to admit how many times I've googled Nantucket and looked at hotels at this point 🙈 But here we are back on the island for the Five-Star Weekend. So far this has been my least favorite Hilderbrand book. There's nothing outwardly bad or wrong with this book, the story just didn't captivate me like the others.
36.Feels Like Falling by Kristy Woodson
"It's summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin' is easy. Unless, that is, you've just lost your mother to cancer, your sister to her extremist husband, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life, she inadvertently gets a stranger, Diana Harrington, fired from her job at the local pharmacy. Diana Harrington's summer isn't off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience. With Gray's kindness, Diana's tide begins to turn. But when her first love returns, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail, she discovers, with Diana's help, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all"
I liked each of these characters and the story line but for me it was all too rushed. The relationship between Gray and Andrew didn't seem that "deep" to me. I enjoyed Diana's story more than Gray's and happy for her ending. On a weird, real life note, a person named Gray dating a person named Greg is a total disaster. This is literally how every conversation starts for my Gray:
Stranger: What's the name?
Gray: Gray.
Stranger: Greg?
Gray: No, Gray like the color.
37.Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
"After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.
Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?"
This was a cutesy, make you smile romancy read. That's not to say there wasn't a few times I wanted to bonk Alexis on the head for being so dumb but obviously there's gotta be a little drama for the story.
I devoured this book and I'm picking up "Yours Truly" (Part of Your World, #2) to end this year and start the new year!
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