Disclosure
Affiliate links are used in this post. You can read my full disclosure here.
%20(Pinterest%20Pin%20(1000%20%C3%97%201500%20px)).png)
Here are the books I read in 2024 and my reviews!
1. Odd Birds by Ian Harding
I actually went to Mall of America to get a signed copy of Odd Birds and met Ian Harding! Back then I was a huge PLL fan, but I just never got around to reading it and I honestly probably wouldn't have appreciated this book as much then as I do now.
I have family members who are birders so it was fun to read Ian's adventures with birding and he did a wonderful job tying in his love of birds with his career. Also, I liked his humor and chuckled quite a few times.
My only disappointment was that the ending didn't feel like an end, but that's probably because he's still alive and has much more to do in his life. Also, I think I just didn't want it to end because I wanted more stories.
If you're a PLL fan or interested in birding, I definitely recommend giving this one a read!
4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available At:
2. The Whole Brain Child by Daniel J. Siegel
I highly recommend this book to all parents and anyone who works with children.
My only complaint is that the authors use "right brain" and "left brain" to describe how we respond, but science has shown that our brain doesn't actually work that way. Both sides of our brain function the same. I'm assuming the authors use these terms to help keep it simple, but I think it would've been better to say emotional response versus logical response.
4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3-10. Heaven Official's Blessing 1-8 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
I admit, I watched the animation before reading the books, but after season 2, I had to know how it ended so I dived into this books, finishing all 8 in a little over a week. They were so good, but there were some minor things I disliked, like the first flashback sequence felt happened abruptly and not in the best place.
Also, there are some really triggering moments such as suicide, murder, and violence in various forms. I think a content warning would have been helpful, but book 6 is soul-crushing. I don't know if I'll ever be able to read that one again, but I do have this on my to-read-again shelf as I just love Xie Lian and Hua Cheng.
5/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
11. The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
I always find it hard to leave reviews on memoirs because this is someone's life. This is their story, and you can't really review that. However, I will say I think this book is definitely worth reading. There's so much going on behind the scenes and a lot of people tend to forget that pop stars, movie stars, etc, are people too. This book made me so angry that all these things happened to her when they should never have in the first place.
5/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available At:
12. A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Mass
I know this book is popular, but it was not for me. I had a feeling from the first few pages that I wasn't going to like it and I was right (for one it's told in first person, which is my least favorite POV). It's basically Beauty and the Beast but with dark fairies and more blood and death.
Everyone talks about the spice, but there were only a couple of disappointing scenes. It came across as animalistic with very little passion or love. I guess if neck biting is your thing, this book may be for you.
The one thing I did appreciate is that the book can stand alone. You're not left hanging at the end, but at the same time, I'm not compelled to read the next book.
Some triggers to be aware of are abduction, murder, death, sexual assault, blood, and drugging/alcohol.
13-14. My Happy Marriage 5-6 by Akumi Agitogi
I read 1-4 last year and fell in love with this series, but book six had me losing interest. Book 7 got me hooked again and it felt like it had a good ending, yet apparently, there's one more to come out? I'm worried the 8th book is just going to fluff or it's going to lead into a whole other plot.
Knocking it down to four stars from my previous five stars as I'm not super satisfied with how this story is going anymore.
15. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber
While the title makes one believe this is a parenting book or a book for those who work with kids, it's a great book for anyone! There were so many tips in here with lots of examples, and while it's written with kids in mind, they show cases where these little lessons can apply to adults too.
The hard part of this book is actually using what I read, but I enjoyed the advice and will probably give this another read to refresh myself as I actively try to apply all of the tips to my own child.
16. The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
This book is marketed wrong. It is not a romantasy. When the book ended, I went "That's it?" I wasted all my time to be horribly let down. A romance is supposed to have a HEA ending, but this so does not. It's one of those endings where it echoes real life and when I read, I want to escape, I want that good feel ending. Reality is tough enough as it is.
While I love spicy scenes, I was irked by the author using "influence" and "pink plum." While I get that for the time period, that might have been the language used, I just couldn't get past it. I don't think I can ever look at a plum the same way again.
Also, talk about the overuse of italics! We get it, they are in China in the past. There is no need to italicize their speech to show that they are speaking Chinese.
In a romance, there needs to be a third thing to tie the couple together. The author does this well with one couple, but with the others, he fails to establish a third thing, so their relationship falls flat and it becomes just lust.
It was an entertaining read, but not one I would return to, so three stars.
17. DIY: The Wonderfully Weird History and Science of Masturbation by Eric Sprankle
This was an interesting book about the history of masturbation and while I knew it was frowned upon by society, I never really knew why. This book was very informative and at the same time, had me laughing out loud. Dr. Sprankle is humourous and if you haven't followed him on Instagram, I definitely recommend doing so for more laughs.
The section about inserting things into the urethra was hard to read (especially the magots, eep!). No shame if that's what you like, but it gives me the heeby jeebies just thinking about it and all the possible accidents that could happen (ouch!). So if you're like me, skip that part or you might have some crazy nightmares!
4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available At:
18. Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
This was a refreshing read! I really enjoyed the whimsical writing style. I was a little confused at first when the author switched from the third person to the first person (a character in the story is narrating the story). Once I understood this though, it was easy enough to wrap my head around and made the story more humourous.
I do feel a little jipped as it's labeled as a romance, but the only romance is at the beginning and at the end. The whole in-between is more of a personal growth story. It's about Tress leaving her tiny rock and going on an adventure to save her love.
The novel does contain some tropes that feel overused, such as a person who is cursed but can't tell others about it or how to break it. There was another trope that I feel is overused, but it completely flew over my head so kudos to the author on that one.
4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available At:
19-23. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
I loved Heaven Official's Blessing, so I had to check out this series and while it was rough getting into as book 1 felt like an info dump, book 2 spurred me on.
I didn't fall as much in love with it as I did Heaven Official's Blessing due to the lack of consent and "rape" scenes. While I like steamy books, I didn't particularly feel it was necessary for this one and I think the author did a poor at writing them. Maybe the author learned that this was a mistake, because there are 0 erotic scenes in Heaven Official's Blessing, which is why I was a little shocked to find this one to be so detailed!
I also found the time skips poorly timed as they always happened mid another plot. This is jarring and makes it harder for the reader to follow the story. I feel I need to give this series a second read before I can fully enjoy it.
4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Available At:
24. Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
This book is a combination of The Little Mermaid, Lost World, and the Pokemon Heros movie, but with more politics.
As much as I liked the story, I personally hated the ending so I can't give it 5 stars - to clarify it's not a bad ending, it's just not how I would have liked things to go down (won't go into details to avoid spoilers).
Being biracial, I related to Mira, and I felt the author did an excellent job portraying the issues biracial people face.
While I had no issues with the multi-POV, I would've preferred the titles to include the name of the character speaking. It's not an issue in a dual POV (it usually alternates chapters), but this one had 4 different people at the start so it was a little jarring starting each chapter unsure of whose voice I was reading.
There were also a lot of different fathomfolk and I felt the author was just throwing around random sea creatures. I think they wanted to show how diverse the fathomfolk are, but sometimes less is more.
This was also an issue with names as there were several languages used but the book specifically mentions two types of languages (tiankawi and yonakunish). so I'm not sure why there were English (Cordelia, Serena), Chinese (Qiuyue), and Japanese (Nami, Kai), etc. names being used. I get that the author is going for a mixed worldview, but why create two entirely new languages and not make new names to fit those, or maybe mention more languages?
4/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Posts
%20(Pinterest%20Pin%20(1000%20%C3%97%201500%20px)).png&description=2024 Reads){kind=link}