Magdalene's Favourite Books of 2024

In 2024 I read another ABSURD amount of books, and I will not be commenting on what that says about me, my decisions, or the state of my mental health.

So I'm just going to go straight into my favourite books of the year! I've posted about a lot of these in my monthly faves, but now you get to see which ones made it to my favourites of the year list! They're in no particular order.

A Pacific Islander-inspired fantasy with unique, refreshing vibes. Hanalei returns to her home island, Her childhood best friend is looking for a dragonfruit to heal his mother, and Hanalei will use her connection with the seadragons to help. Lucier has a pretty simple way of writing, but the story was fun and beautiful, and it really took me on an adventure.

Sid is a Korean adoptee living in a very white town that is over a crack where magic can get through. One day a Guardian falls, releasing magic and zombies, and it becomes a fight to survive. This is such an interesting blend of fantasy and superheroes and horror and zombies and a bit of romance, and also a girl trying to feel comfortable in her city and with herself.

Nelson writes with this purplish prose that's high emotion and full of metaphor that just WORKS for me. It starts with the three Fall siblings, whose father disappeared years ago. They all have their own issues - bullying, being closeted, substance abuse - but their worlds change when they all meet a strange new girl. It's about messed up people having messed up kids, and mental health and trauma and how one moment can change the direction of our lives. I inhaled it.

Elliott finds out he is one of few who can see the wall to the Borderlands, so he decides to stay and attend Border Guard school. He is very obnoxious, but he befriends elf Serene and golden boy Luke. We follow the three over four years as they fight battles, write up peace treaties, bicker, date, and become better people. I've never read anything else like it. It is deeply hilarious and a takedown of YA fantasy tropes while also loving it.

Ante is a young Sami boy, and ever since he realized he had a crush on his friend Erik, he's had trouble feeling like he belongs. This book viscerally captures the painful feeling of an all-consuming crush! The relationship between them is the driving force of the book, but there's also Ante's exploration of his Sami identity, which gives this book more weight than a typical queer awakening story. It's very emotional and contains some homophobia, but is ultimately hopeful.

A non-fiction collection of essays from a truly gifted poet and essayist. He writes about big cultural moments, mostly revolving around music or basketball, but finds a way to make them meaningful and impactful for the reader, even if you have no connection to that thing. I'll be reading his other books for sure.

There's nothing particularly unique about this contemporary romance, but I always love Katherine Center's books, and this was no exception. A rom-com lover helps a rom-com hater write a rom-com movie script. Perfection! It's light and funny but with emotional depth. No spice, with a focus on banter and the horrors of a huge crush - just how I like it!

his book is so weird, I love it. Adina is an alien sent to Earth to report on Earth and humans, which she finds out as a kid through the power of a fax machine. As she grows up, she has to deal with everything regular humans do, all while wondering which planet is truly her own. This book uses this wild concept to portray growing up and living as a person from a somewhat-outsider's perspective to great effect. It was funny and poignant and thought-provoking.

I have no idea how I ended up with TWO adult contemporary romances on my best-of list, but Rainbow Rowell also came out with an adult romance this year, so I guess it was inevitable. This is peak friends to lovers, with so much yearning and desperation in every word. I love the realistic dialogue that mirrors the messiness of real people.

I love Alix E. Harrow and creepy houses, so I wasn't surprised I loved this. Opal is poor and struggling, but she feels drawn to the mysterious Starling House and convinces its only habitant, the recluse Arthur, to give her a job cleaning it.

Both Opal and Arthur are described as ugly, and both have difficult personalities, but you can't help but love them. And I loved their romance and the setting and the brother-sister relationship and the absolutely gorgeous writing.

Don't tell the others, but I think this was my favourite read of 2024. A dying woman enters the story of her favourite book to save her life, but in the body of the villain. Now she has to embrace her role and survive the book if she wants to survive irl. A hilarious and meta take on fantasy, what it means to be a hero or villain, and what's real and what's not. This book surprised me, and I love when that happens.

Margaret is living in her dream home... except that there are a bunch of ghosts and every September the walls bleed. But it's fine, just follow the rules and everything is survivable! The way this house works and its ghosts are fascinating, but so is Margaret and the way she's learned to deal with everything life throws at her, to her detriment. This book is quite scary and gross, and also so fascinating. It's elevated horror in the best way.

I'm becoming a huge Emily Austin fan. Enid is anxious, half deaf, space-obsessed, and afraid of bald men. There's not much plot beyond hearing her interior dialogue about all this, but it still feels like there's a lot going on. The narration is quirky and weird, and it was fascinating being in this odd woman's head. There were elements of a thriller, as well as romance, since she starts seriously dating a former lover's wife. It just works!

Another book about messy people having messy lives! Greta and Valdin are Russian-Maori siblings living together and trying to get their acts together. Both are queer, and Valdin is still hung up on his ex. It has that unique offbeat New Zealand humour that I love, that still somehow felt so singular. This book had me laughing out loud pretty much every page, and I loved seeing these weirdos navigating their everyday lives.

his was actually my first read of 2024, and the fact that I still think of it so fondly means something. It's just so charming! It's set in the late 1800s, has a mystery to be solved, and has a romantic subplot, so a bit hard to define. Violet is a spinster trying to find her mom, liking the idea of becoming a Lady Detective more and more and trying not to fall for the local detective. I loved Violet, and there are some lines that I STILL think and laugh about.

Lou is a Metis girl who is going through a tough summer after a breakup and having her lies about her identity being revealed. This book had everything I love about YA contemporaries - themes of identity and family that are explored with nuance and self-discovery, and a romance that's meaningful and realistic. The writing was mature while still feeling accurate for a 17-year-old. I especially appreciated Lou's discovery of her ace/demi identity.