It’s astonishing to me there are just two months left in 2024. That adage about parenting–the days are long but the years are short–gets truer for me every year. Time is just a great WHOOSH racing by–I feel as though I’ll look around tomorrow and it will be Christmas Eve.
I woke up this morning and, for no discernable reason I can credit, asked myself “What’s the best book you read this years?” (Hands down, The Light Pirate, followed by The Guns of August.) Then, “What’s the best romance you’ve read this year?”* (The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch, published in 2023.)
But, despite my best romance read being from last year, I have read several 2024 romances/romance adjacent reads I thoroughly enjoyed! They are: The Deer and the Dragon, Under Your Spell, Look on the Bright Side, Funny Story, Compass and Blade, Never Blow a Kiss, Listen for the Lie, First Lie Wins, Viscount in Love, Molly Malloy and the Angel of Death, and Bride. Of these, six are straight up romances and of those, my favorite is probably Bride followed by Molly Malloy and the Angel of Death. I’m rather shocked my two top romances are paranormals but there you go.
How about you? What’s the best romance you’ve read this year? Best one published in 2024?
*I am discounting re-reads here. I’ve done a lot of re-reading this year–my love for Bench Player continues as does my adoration of just about everything Meredith Duran has written.
Hands down, my favorite romance of the year so far is Nicky James’s PROMISES OF FOREVER, the extremely angsty story of two men who were friends in their childhood & early teens until “something” tore them apart. They reconnect thirty years later—but it’s not an easy road to love. The book is beautifully written and full of melancholy—yet ultimately hopeful. I loved, loved, loved it!
Yeah, melancholy is not my thing but I’m glad you found a love story you so love!
That’s a great romance and a great choice! I’m hoping Niles’ story when it comes out in December, will be equally good.
Fearne Hill’s latest series has been excellent in terms of its romamces and treatment of mental health issues – Salt is my favourite; and KJ Charles’ The Duke at Hazard was sweet and lovely but still had some bite.
The entire Chaos Station series by Jenn Burke & Kelly Jensen is fantastic, even though it’s almost 10 years old.
But my favourite (so far) is a book that won’t be published until December, and it’s an urban fantasy/paranormal rather than a straightforward romance.
[spoiler title=”For anyone dying to know”]Twisted Shadows by Allie Therin[/spoiler]
I am enjoying the Salt books too. And I read the first Chaos Station last year or the year before. I keep meaning to get back to the series. SciFi in general is not really my thing – perhaps that why it keeps getting pushed down on the tbr? At some point, though, I’m going to need something completely different to clear my reading palate and this series will be it.
I enjoyed this one too; although I don’t think it will make my top 10 reads of the year.
My favorites are The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest (high school sweethearts reunite) and Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon (a veterinarian meets a grumpy veteran who doesn’t much like dogs).
Not new for this year but I read them only this year. Both are series: C.J. Archer’s Glass and Steel 13 book series and K.J. Charles’s The Will Darling Adventure 3-book series. C.J. Archer is quite prolific but for some reason she has not been reviewed here at all. Glass and Steel series combines magic, mystery and romance fabulously and romance is front and center always.
Contemporary romance is the moment now. Don’t buy into BookTok’s romantasy obsession. I’d choose Funny Story by Emily Henry and Not In Love by Ali Hazelwood. Funny Story wins, but both are fun.
Lots of rereading this year but my favorite published in 2024 romances are HIggins’ Look on the Bright Side and Abby Jimenez’ Just for the Summer. Surprisingly, both are contemporary romances which are not normally my thing. It’s the “published this year” driving most of that I think. I used to enjoy paranormals but they’ve gotten really dark in recent years, generally speaking. I’ve got Langston’s The Fine Print in my tbr, so maybe that HR will make my list by the end of the year.
New to me reads, but not necessarily published in 2024, were Karina Bliss’ Rock Solid series and Courtney Milan’s Unveiled (which was just recommended in Dabney’s recent blog post about heroes 😉 TW: Unveiled is a problematic read for people for whom the rules of succession in Britain – among other historical details – are important but I did enjoy thoroughly the characters Milan created.
Coven of Ill Repute by S.L. Prater. Seems to be getting back into Prater’s glory days (for my tastes) of Kriegspiel.
SIGH. I miss the days when we would get a Lucy Parker and a Tessa Dare every year.
I saw that a sequel to Bride will be coming next fall! Higgins’ Look on the Bright Side, Hazelwood’s Not in Love, James’ Viscount in Love Henry’s Funny Story and Soto’s Not Another Love Song are my favorites plus there are a few more yet to come out that I loved (Sophie Cousens and Kerry Rea).
I’ve been reading mostly contemporary romances this year. Several very good romances but my absolute favorite book this year is Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan. Another favorite is Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez.
The Jimenez is on so many readers’ lists. It’s going to be my next read!
So much depressing crazy IMHO.
I dunno. I haven’t read it. That said, it does feel to me as though contemporary romances have a lot more people struggling with serious mental health issues than they did in the past.
Oh Yes, Summer Romance by Monaghan is one of my top ten for sure!
I’m curious–how big a plot part is the mental health thing?
Mental health isn’t any part of the plot in Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan. It is an issue with one of the main character’s parent in Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez. (Not a spoiler – mentioned on the back cover of the book and in the review posted here.)
Like Dagmar said, one of the main characters in Just for the Summer has been affected by her parent’s mental health all her life and the other lead also has challenges with his family life. I thought the way Jimenez portrayed it all in the story felt very real and I was very moved by it. Someone at the book club I go to was just saying we should read this as a fun beach read. While there would be a lot of great discussions and it’s got humor, it’s not a light read.
OK. Thanks! I’m up for light these days so… maybe later.
Right now my top romances released in 2024 would be DiscoDollyDeb’s pick, Promise of Forever by Nicky James (narrated by Nick J Russo), and Death in Spires (narrated by Tom Lawrence) which K.J. Charles is quick to say is “not a romance” but had great relationship arcs (healthy and unhealthy).
Two runner-ups would be You Could Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (narrated by Joel Leslie) and Fen, by Barbara Elsborg.
I’m currently listening to The Duke At Hazard by K.J. Charles (narrated by Cornell Collins) so that could well take a top spot when I’m done.
For a book I loved this year published before 2024, I would pick Beautiful Hearts by Jax Calder (2022) and Julian and the Ghosts of Morrcliffe Hall (2023) by Rowan McAllister.
Funny little aside: One night as my husband and I were reading before bed, he said, “I’m reading this great ghost story. It’s so much fun. It’s called Julian and the Ghosts of Moorcliffe Hall.” I looked down at my kindle just then and it was telling me I needed to go to a different page in my book because it wanted me to sync with my husband’s kindle. We didn’t realize we were reading the same book. 🙂 He finished it first and enjoyed it so much he went on to read two more of this author’s book in the next few days.