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by Susan Roberts
Just 2 more days of 2024. I'm sharing some of my reading statistics for the year as well as my favorite books of the year. If you are a fantasy fan, be sure to check out MK's list of favorite reads.
Amazon affiliate links are used on this site.
After a couple of lackluster years, my reading results for 2024 are finally at a higher level. As of December 20, I have read and reviewed 157 books. My Goodreads reading goal was 150! I expect to read another 5 or 6 books by the end of the year. Here are some of my stats for the year:
- Read 47,917 pages
- Average rating for the year was 4.4
- The average book length was 305 pages
- 92% were by female authors
- 6% were DNF (Did Not Finish)
- 40% were Historical fiction, 40% were women's fiction, 10% were suspense and 10% were miscellaneous genres
Top 12 Books of the Year
Summer at The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help—including the daughter of her estranged best friend—Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair. (Goodreads)
Mary Kay Andrews never disappoints! If you want a beachy read in the dead of winter, you can't go wrong with this one. Read my review.
Buy Summer at The Saint at Amazon
The Goddess of Warsaw by Lisa Barr
The Goddess of Warsaw is an enthralling story of a legendary Hollywood screen goddess with a dark secret. When the famous actress Lena Browning is threatened by someone from her war-time past, she must put her skills into play to protect herself, her illustrious career, and those she loves, then and now. (Goodreads)
This beautifully written and well-researched book takes the readers back to the horrors of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII when the Nazis were determined to rid Warsaw of any Jewish people. Read my review.
Buy The Goddess of Warsaw at Amazon
The Boy with the Star Tattoo by Talia Carner
1942: As the Vichy government hunts for Jews across France, Claudette Pelletier, a young and talented seamstress and lover of romance novels, falls in love with a Jewish man who seeks shelter at the château where she works. Their whirlwind and desperate romance before he must flee leaves her pregnant and terrified. (Goodreads)
I learned so much in this book -- I had never heard of Youth Aliya and wasn't aware of their work to find abandoned Jewish children and send them to Israel and I wasn't aware of the escape of the five boats in 1969. Read my review.
Buy The Boy with the Star Tattoo at Amazon
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference. (Goodreads)
As always with Stephanie Dray's books, the research was intensive and the story was well written. Read my review.
Buy Becoming Madam Secretary at Amazon
When Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart
Talk of impending war is a steady drumbeat throughout North Carolina, though Joetta McBride pays it little heed. The small farm she tends with her husband, Ennis, and their two sons provides all they need. Those who want to fight can fight, but Joetta considers her family to be neutral. (Goodreads)
This book about the Civil War was a good reminder of what it was like when people in the same country turned against each other. Read my review.
Buy When Jessamine Grows at Amazon
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. (Goodreads)
This story is going to cause tears of sadness, frustration, and joy throughout. Read my review.
Buy The Women at Amazon
A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market—the home that Keaton didn’t know existed until now—she jumps at the chance to head south. But the moment she steps foot inside the abandoned house, she’s confronted with secrets about grandparents who died before she was born. And as she gets to know her charming next-door neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, she soon finds she has more questions than answers. (Goodreads)
This book is a look at life in the South in a small town full of nosey neighbors along with strong women who live their lives to the fullest. Read my review.
Buy A Happier Life at Amazon
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life. (Goodreads)
This is a book that you don't want to miss! Read my review.
Buy Darling Girls at Amazon
Echoes of Us by Joy Jordan-Lake
In the midst of World War II, a Tennessee farm boy, a Jewish Cambridge student, and a German POW forge a connection that endures—against all odds. (Goodreads)
I absolutely loved this book. Find out why in my review.
Buy Echoes of Us at Amazon
(Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read the ebook for free)
The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone by Randy Susan Meyers
Annabel Cooper wants to save the world. Her story begins in 1964 with her journey to Freedom Summer in Mississippi, where the disappearance of her first love ignites a lifelong fight for justice. Years later, she, her husband, and four other couples form a Boston political collective where they live together with their children in a rambling Boston house. As the era's social upheaval intensifies, they move their children to a Vermont Eden, where they can remain safe from the world's threats; their parents continue their political work, taking turns traveling to Vermont to care for the children. (Goodreads)
I loved this book and if possible I would give it more than 5 stars. Read my review.
Buy The Many Mothers of Ivy Puddingstone at Amazon
After Annie by Anna Quindlen
When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her four young children and her closest friend are left to struggle without the woman who centered their lives. Bill Brown finds himself overwhelmed, and Annie’s best friend Annemarie is lost to old bad habits without Annie’s support. It is Annie’s daughter, Ali, forced to try to care for her younger brothers and even her father, who manages to maintain some semblance of their former lives for them all, and who confronts the complicated truths of adulthood. (Goodreads)
This is a story about how love and loss can splinter a family and that they have to work very hard to become a different family than what they were before the death. Read my review.
Buy After Annie at Amazon
Mind Games by Nora Roberts
As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb. (Goodreads)
This book is full of suspense but it's also emotional in parts (yes, I cried). Read my review.
Buy Mind Games at Amazon
Goals for 2025
- Read some of the older books on my shelf
- Increase my NetGalley percentage
- Get caught up on my advance reader copies
Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina. She grew up in Michigan but now calls North Carolina home. She enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and historical fiction.
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