My Favorite Books of 2024 (So Far)

Summer reading was always one of my favorite things as a kid.

My mom would take me to our local library branch where I’d get my tracker sheet and a fresh stack of books. There was no better feeling than getting to color in a space on that sheet and add the title as completed. (And now I’m realizing why I love Goodreads so much.)

Last year, my reading goal was to finish one book per week. And I did! It felt really good to hit that goal, but it was also a bit of pressure by the time the end-of-year holidays rolled around and I was behind. I cut my goal in half this year, and reading these days reminds me of those summers I spent in my local libraries.

So without further ado, here are the books I’ve rated five stars in the first half of 2024.

*Please note that these are my personal opinions. (Truthfully, I’ll give a book five stars for almost anything. Read it in a day? Five stars. Made me cry? Five stars. Obsessed with a singular character? Five stars.)

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep & Dreams by Matthew Walker

Read from: March 2-25

TLDR: “The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.” A humbling collection of data that proves something most of us already know: sleep is vital to our well-being.

This is one of the most informative, yet terrifying books I’ve ever read. I’ve always known that sleep is important and that I’m probably not getting enough of it. What I didn’t know is exactly how detrimental sleep deprivation is over the course of your life. If you have health anxieties, I would proceed with caution on this one. However, it’s an excellent wake-up call (no pun intended). It’s well-written, well-researched, and left me reevaluating my sleep habits and how they’ll affect me long term.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

Read from: April 3-9

A true-crime mystery thriller. Unexpected twists at every turn. A reappeared mother, a distant father, an untrusting daughter, and a web of lies throughout the whole family.

Holly Jackson is a queen when it comes to a mystery thriller. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Trilogy is easily one of my favorite trilogies of all time. Jackson pulls out the same beautifully twisted storytelling in this one, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it long after I closed it. I recommend reading this when you have a free weekend because you won’t be able to put it down.

The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace & Power by Katherine Morgan Schafler

Read from: March 25 - April 15

Find out what type of perfectionist you are: classic, intense, Parisian, messy, or procrastinator. Relinquish your need for control. Reflect on your tendencies.

This was one of those books where I felt like I underlined something on every page. It felt like someone had observed the perfectionist tendencies and feelings I’ve had around control my whole life and then wrote them into a book.

Schafler has a wonderful writing style that reflects on experiences she’s had with her patients over the course of her career, and she’s gentle, yet assertive when it comes to sharing the hard truths about perfectionism. The quiz on what type of perfectionist you are is super helpful to have in your back pocket as you read as well. If you consider yourself a perfectionist on any level, please pick this one up. I walked away from this read having learned so much about myself, but also so much on how to move forward and let go of things I cannot control.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Read from: April 25 - May 3

Friends to lovers. Forced proximity. The funny story is that this made me giddy like a teenager and then tugged my heart strings every other chapter.

Is anyone surprised that Emily Henry is on this list? I’m certainly not. Henry simply doesn’t miss when it comes to romance. Her books make me feel like I’m watching an early-2000s rom-com; you know how it’s going to end, but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. I loved that Miles is extremely Nick Miller coded, Miles and Daphne were perfectly opposite to each other, and the setting is beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan. Most of all, the depth of each character’s story painted a full picture for me. Julia and Ashleigh — although side characters — felt rich and just as colorful on the page as the main plot lines. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s certainly mine, and I’ll drink it up by the gallon.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Read from: May 4-7

A summer romance meet-cute. Complex characters with intricate stories. Found families and healing traumas. Corny in a way that makes me love it even more.

This was the first book by Abby Jimenez I’ve read, and to me, it lived up to the hype. From what I understand, this is part of the “Part of Your World” series, but it stood alone just fine. (I didn’t know it was part of a series until I finished.) I know that characters are written well when I feel strong emotions towards them, even if they’re negative. I was so frustrated with Emma and Justin at various points of the plot, but that seemed to be the point. These characters were dealing with immensely big traumas. Of course their communication wasn’t great! In the end, I loved every storyline in this book, and I felt closure to all of them (which is a rarity).

Overall, if I can feel completely immersed in a story and genuinely find myself rooting for characters, it’s five stars from me.

Honorable Mentions (Four-Stars):

Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver

• Wonderful to read in the morning or when you want to find yourself feeling connected to nature.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

• Written in a present/past sequencing, with the present day being during the 2020 pandemic. Pandemic books tend to read weird for me, but this one was more subtle since it wasn’t the main focus.

• Bonus: Meryl Streep narrates the audiobook, and it is chef’s kiss.

If Only I Had Told Her by Laura Nowlin

• A sequel to If He Had Been With Me - a YA read that completely captured and broke my heart last year.

• Shout-out to Laura Nowlin for being a fellow Missouri State grad - go Bears!

Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

• Feels like a season of White Lotus and has a little bit of everything — murder, betrayal, mysteries, embezzlement, fraud, forgiveness, wealth and power complexes, and more.

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley

• A mixture of White Lotus with Midsummer with The Crows Have Eyes Part 3: The Crowening (if you know, you know). Excellent world and character building.

If you want to keep up with my latest reads, follow me on Goodreads!

xo, Kristina