So many good books! Romance books are consistently my second most read genre and there were an abundance of amazing reads this year.
If I was going to choose some stand-outs…okay I tried to do this and I can’t. I WON’T.
31/62 were indie books though and I’m happy with that statistic.
Take screenshots, share with others, and find some great books for 2025.
How is it the end of the year again? I wrapped it up with a few less books (reading Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth will do that to you). But a good month to end 2024.
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 360 pages
Author: Chloe Liese
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
Katerina Wilmot and Christopher Petruchio shared backyards as kids, but as adults they won’t even share the same hemisphere. That is, until Kate makes a rare visit home, and their fiery animosity rekindles into a raging inferno.
Despite their friends’ and families’ pleas for peace, Christopher is unconvinced Kate would willingly douse the flames of their enmity. But when a drunken Kate confesses she’s only been hostile because she thought he hated her, Christopher vows to make peace with Kate once and for all. Tempting as it is to be swept away by her nemesis-turned-gentleman, Kate isn’t sure she can trust his charming good-guy act.
When Christopher’s persistence and Kate’s curiosity lead to an impassioned kiss, they realize “peace” is the last thing that will ever be possible between them. As desire gives way to deeper feelings, Kate and Christopher must decide if it’s truly better to hate than to never risk their hearts—or if they already gave them away long ago.
I THINK I LIKED THIS.
I will say what I loved the most in this would be the mental health rep, and the migraine rep. Those both stood out to me as well written and I deeply connected with many facets of that storyline.
And I will say, this was absolutely enemies to lovers. THE HATE Y’ALL. But alongside that was some great angst and tension. I loved the dancing and paint ball and taking care of each other when sick. Many delicious moments that ramped things up.
I struggled in the second half where I felt the plot was kind of dropped to the side and the spice took over the story. It went from 0-100 real fast and then never stopped.
Honestly though, I did enjoy this. It had a fantastic fall atmosphere and all of these soft nuggets that I love about Chloe Liese’s storytelling.
Overall audience notes:
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 214 pages
Author: Esther Hatch
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: November 13th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
Ruben Palmer is on every woman’s Christmas wish list. Except mine.
I grew up with him and bested him in practically everything we did together–debate, grades, mini-golf, you name it. So I’ve built an immunity to his boy-next-door charm. Sure, sometimes I might accidentally type his name into my search engine, but his dimples, hotel empire and thirst-trap photos don’t tempt me. I’ve got my sights set on earning my way to the top of the Palmer Hotel empire, and nothing is going to get in my way.
Until my step-sister leaves her secret toddler with me before skipping town for three months. Now suddenly everyone thinks he’s mine, and instead of powering my way to the top, I’m struggling to not get fired. And instead of Ruben staying on the executive floor where he belongs, he’s invading my apartment, breaking dates with starlets, and looking disappointed that I decided to settle down with anyone except him.
But I know Ruben, and Ruben doesn’t settle down. So there’s no way I’m giving him my heart. Not even for Christmas.
WELL.
This wasn’t all bad, truly. I just feel like there was a whole lot going on for 200 pages and I think I got off on the wrong foot with the way the entire plot was set-up. It left me with more questions than answers.
There were a lot of good swoony moments and the kissing scenes were fantastic. I did like the second half more and I adored Ruben the most. He really did roll with the punches and had some of my favorite love confession scenes. I liked all of the holiday content and office place romance. There’s good banter and it’s witty. While things didn’t fully click for me, I look forward to more contemporaries from this author.
Overall audience notes:
GoodeyReads 