2024 Book Superlatives

2024 started off kind of rocky. I didn’t get my first 5 star read until April which had me a bit worried! However, the year ended strong with me reading 75 books and having 17 5 Star reads total! I am so happy with how my reading year went and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you!

Heading into 2025, I have plans to be more active in posting my book reviews. This past year I took time to just enjoy reading and took a step back from posting content so I could focus on my mental health and overall enjoyment of my hobbies. Clearly, this step back really helped me as I read 20 more books this year than the last. I am excited to see where 2025 will take me.


Reading Stats

These stats are brought to you by StoryGraph! This is my favorite way to track my reading, if you would like to follow me my username is Bai_Books.

2024 Reading Goal

I planned on reading only 55 books this year, but I quickly surpassed this!

This is by far the most successful year yet!

So many pages!!! It’s wild!

I would love to read some longer books going into 2025. However, this seems like a good mix to me.

Every year I say I am going to read more non-fiction. However, This graph looks pretty similar to previous years.

Maybe 2025 will be my non-fiction era…Who knows?

I used to say that thrillers and mysteries were my favorite genre, I don’t think I can say that any longer. This makes me sad but I did read a lot of great romance books which changed my life.

I do think I had a decent mix of genres this year but I would love to see some of these other genres rise in ranks in the coming years. Mostly fantasy as I would like to dip my toe into this genre a bit further and step out of my comfort zone a bit more.

This year was the best for me format wise! I found my love for E-books this year and I foresee this section growing exponentially next year. Also, I would love to see more audiobooks next year as well, I plan on focusing on more of my hobbies in the new year so audiobooks will be great as background noise!

Jennifer Lynn Barnes really killed it this year! The Inheritance Games Series really sucked me in! She solidified herself as an all time favorite author for me!

I started to use a .25 rating system this year and I really enjoyed it! I do think I will go to a .50 system next year as my tracking sheet on google docs will only calculate .50 and not the .25 and that’s ok! I like being able to have more options than just a flat number rating as books don’t always fit into those categories for me.


Top 10 Books

As mentioned above, I read 17 5 star books but some of my first top ten will be my 4.5 Star reads. I read a lot of manga and graphic novels which made it in my 5 star reads this year so they will be getting their own category. Also I rate my books on vibes so my Top 10 books are all ones that really stuck with me!

10th Place

Rating: 4 out of 5.

9th Place

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

8th Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

7th Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review

6th Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review

5th Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review

4th Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review

3rd Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review

2nd Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review

2024 Book Of The Year

Play Along

By Liz Tomforde

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Full Book Review


Top 5 Manga

5th Place

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

4th Place

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

3rd Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

2nd Place

Rating: 5 out of 5.

2024 Manga Book of The Year

Creepy Cat Volume 1

By Cotton Valent

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Additional Awards

Best Series

This series was everything I have ever wanted! The men in this series are all god tier!

All books were 5 stars!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Best Re-Read

I re-read both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame this year and I fell in love with them all over again. I picked up on new things especially in Iron Flame that really brought my enjoyment up! I originally rated this book 4 Stars but after my re-read the rating went up to 5 Stars!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lowest Rated Book

Rating: 2 out of 5.

I didn’t have high hopes for this novella and I was right to think that. Where was the Christmas?

Most Disappointing Book

I had such high hopes for this book but I ended up DNF’ing this book along with many of my fellow book club members.

Most Surprising Book

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I never wanted to read this series but I devoured this book in two days….

It doesn’t have the best writing but it kept me interested and left me wanting to know more.

2024 Book Boyfriend

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Isaiah Rhodes is a King! I will marry him right here, right now!

Prettiest Cover

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This is a poetry book that I absolutely adored! The cover is simple but gorgeous!

Spiciest Book

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This is a Why Choose Hockey Romance… Enough said…

An Overhyped Book

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

This book was just not for me… Everyone on Booktok Hyped up this book saying “OMG, The candy cane scene!” Let me save you some time… The candy cane scene was all of two seconds and wasn’t that crazy…

A Book I Wished I Had Read

This is a prequel to Legends and Lattes which was one of my favorite books of 2023. I am so sad I didn’t pick this one up but I feel like it is due to me being worried it won’t be nearly as good as the first…


Favorite Quotes

“Sugar, you deserve to go out on your own terms. Just because you got dusted doesn’t mean you’re done.”

Lyla Sage, Done and Dusted

“You’ve never gotten a say in your own life, and the last thing I’m going to do is take that away from you again. Every option is yours, Kenny. Whatever you want to do, I will be your biggest supporter. But I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t allow you the space to fulfill your goals, to live up to everything you’ve worked so hard for.”

Liz Tomforde, Play Along

“If you ever decide to stop running and make a home…” His eyes are begging, pleading. “Make it with me.”

Liz Tomforde, Caught Up

“This is practically a how-to manual on how to please a woman. How are more men not reading these?”

Liz Tomforde, The Right Move

“Being vulnerable and authentic is scary, man. Terrifying. But to the people who matter to you, the ones you’ve shown your true self to, they love you unconditionally. Why not let others love you unconditionally too? At least give them a chance to.”

Liz Tomforde, Mile High

This was an amazing year for reading for me. I truly fell back in love with this hobby due to the social media and blog posting break I took. I hope to come out swinging next year and to hopefully create more content. Thank you 2024 for being a great year for me and my favorite Hobby.

2023 Book Superlatives

2023 was not the best reading year for me but I also didn’t do to terrible either. I read a lot of graphic novels and manga though and I really did enjoy most everything I read so overall I am pretty happy with my year. I think reading 55 books is my max goal for at least this year if not even for 2025 but I guess we shall see!


Fun Stats

My Goal: 57/55 Books Read

Moods

Lighthearted, Funny and Adventurous I guess are the three words that can describe my reading year for 2023. I think this is because I read a bit of cozy Fantasy and also a lot of Easy Manga and Graphic Novels which were all pretty lighthearted.

Main Genres

This list makes me think I have diverse reading tastes but that couldn’t be farther from the case. I did read a lot more fantasy than I would typically read, however I am still surprised that it tied with Manga! Thriller and Horror are also a lot lower than I expected, I plan on reading a lot more thrillers and horrors in 2024 for sure.

Format

I am really happy with my format ratios. I would like to read more audio and digital books but overall this looks better than previous years. 2024 is going to be my digital era, I am calling it now!

Most Read Authors

Tatsuya Endo is the author for the Spy Family Manga Series and I read 9 of those! For sure am not surprised by this list.

Page Number

This feels pretty typical to me as I try to stay away from books that have more than 500 pages. Maybe this should be a goal of mine in 2024.

Pace

Not surprised by this at all seeing how I mostly read short books this year that I flew through! I hardly read any books that were really drug out, thank heavens.

Fiction/Nonfiction

This is one of my biggest goals for 2024, I really want to start reading more nonfiction reads, whether this is memoirs, self-help or even just general nonfiction. I feel hungry for knowledge this year.

Ratings

This Average Rating blows my mind, 4.31 is really high! But again I read so many short and cozy books that it was hard to not give everything 5 stars. I honestly am trying to get tighter with my ratings so I don’t expect this many 5 stars in one year for awhile.


Book of the Year

This is probably the biggest surprise of 2023 for me.  Before I read this book I couldn’t have ever guessed I was going to read it let alone LOVE it! I’m not a huge fantasy reader so I was scared to pick this one up along with the huge amount of hype surrounding it, I just had no desire to read it. But then came along @bees.book.buzz and she somehow convinced me to read this one before Iron Flame was released and I can’t thank her enough for introducing me to this world!

Make sure to read my Review for both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame


Top 5

These are my top 5 Books in no particular order and not including my Book of the Year

Top 5 Graphic Novels/Manga


Awards

Favorite Book Club Read

“Divine Rivals” By Rebecca Ross

This was a hard one to pick a winner for because my book club genuinely read quite a few fantastic books this year but this is the one that I had the most fun reading and doing the live show for.

Make sure to check out my book club @bais.reading.corner we have some amazing books planned for the new year!

Best Dressed (Prettiest Cover)

“Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” By Gabrielle Zevin

This cover is honestly so gorgeous! I have the Book of the Month copy which is exactly what you see here but I am so jealous of the people who have the paperback, as from what I have seen, the cover is holographic! Just Gorgeous!

Least Favorite Book

“Penpal” By Dathan Auerbach

Oh man, I had some really high hopes for this book and it truly fell flat. I normally don’t rate books I haven’t finished but I made it like 80% of the way through before I decided I had had enough so I am going to rate this one star. If you liked this book I envy you cause I tried so hard!

Favorite Blog Post

“Iron Flame” By Rebecca Yarros

I devoured this book and really got sucked into the hype and all of the what if’s for the future of this series. This review took me literally 8 hours to write but I had so much fun and to this date is my best review view wise.

A Book That Surprised Me

“Babel” By R.F. Kuang

I rated this book 4 stars and honestly I didn’t have that high of hopes for it as this is not a genre I would typically go for along with the fact that it was so long and felt “Educational” . Overall very happy with this book! The audio was amazing for it as well.

Most Likely To Make You Swoon

“A Cat Cafe Christmas” By Codi Gary

This was the last romance I read this year and it was seriously so cute! The romance was a little bit of a slow burn but while you wait for them to click you get to fall in love with all the cute kitties! This is the perfect setting for a swoon worthy Book.

An Overhyped Book

“The Writing Retreat” By Julia Bartz

Before I picked up this book I was hearing so many great reviews from booktubers I truly love and typically have similar taste’s too so I was so excited to pick this one up. Guys…This book was a major flop and not worth your time! The twists weren’t even that good TBH. I suppose it wasn’t even worth a review because I never wrote one haha.

Spiciest Book

“Icebreaker” By Hannah Grace

I went into this book pretty much blind, I knew there was spice but I really thought I would get more time out on the ice but I got mostly bed scenes. I still liked this book but honestly I could have used more plot and less sex lol but to each their own.

A Book That I Wish I Read In 2023

“In The Lives Of Puppets” By TJ Klune

This book has been on my radar since it was announced. I have no clue why I haven’t picked this one up yet as it has been on my shelf since it came out. However, I have heard it isn’t his best work which I guess makes me push it off cause he is one of my favorite authors to date.


Overall I am very happy with my 2023 reading. I met all the goals I had set up for myself so that makes me even more excited for 2024. I can’t wait to see how well this next year goes. Thank you for all the support I have gotten this past year and all of the friendships I have made. Here’s to another fantastic year!

2022 Book Superlatives

Wow! 2022 was such a great year for reading for me! I read 62 books and found a few of my all time favorite books. I even started to DNF books that didn’t bring me joy which was a huge win for this year! Lets dive in and see all the best and worst books I read last year.


Top Ten Books

In no particular order here are my top ten books of the year!


Awards

Book Of The Year

“Caraval” By Stephanie Garber

This book caught me by surprise! This was one of the last books I finished this year and I was obsessed! I typically don’t read fantasy but this one was a great way to get me excited to read more.

Least Favorite Book

“Leave The World Behind” By Rumaan Alam

I really wished I would have DNF’d this book. Honestly, this was one huge waste of time and I do not recommend it!

I don’t have a link for this review because I listened to it on audio and really didn’t have anything worth while to say about it.

Best Dressed (Prettiest Cover)

“Under The Whispering Door” By TJ Klune

I love this cover because it really shows the magical capabilities that this book will offer you while you read it. The weird shaped house really shouldn’t be able to exist yet it does. I just love the colors as well.

Most Likely To Make You Swoon

“Things We Never Got Over” By Lucy Score

I would say this is one of the most rememberable romance book I read this year with some of the best steamy scenes as well. I just overall loved this book and the beautifully written characters.

Most Likely To Be Reread

“A Man Called Ove” By Fredrik Backman

I had sworn off this author after reading “Anxious People” Last year but I picked this one up on audio and my heart broke! This was such a sad book but I can see myself rereading it just to have those feelings again.

Best Graphic Novel

“Heartstopper” By Alice Oseman

This Graphic Novel Series took the world by storm and much like everyone else, I fell madly in love with them! I highly recommend these books and even the TV show on Netflix.

A Book That Was Over Hyped

“Daisy Jones and The Six” By Taylor Jenkins Reid

I had heard some amazing things about this book but honestly I didn’t understand the hype. It was hard to really care for the characters with the way this book was writen.

A Book That Surprised Me

“House Of Earth And Blood” By Sarah L. Maas

This was a huge book and also the first fantasy book that I really dove into. I read this book super quick and fell in love with the characters. However, it did also put me in a book slump and made me scared to read big books.

A Book That Got Me Out Of A Reading Slump

“Every Heart A Doorway” By Seanan McGuire

This was a super fun and quick read. Sometimes all you need is to just finish a book to get out of a slump so anything small is a great option! This was so magical and fun that I think anyone can get into it.

A Book That Put Me Into A Reading Slump

“The Ex Talk” By Rachel Lynn Solomon

I honestly had high hopes for this book and it let me down. This book was the one that helped me to learn that I am not a fan of enemy to lovers. The book moved very slowly and just left me feeling meh.

A Book I Wish I Had Read

“The Thursday Murder Club” By Richard Osman

This book sounds like everything I would want from a book. I am a sucker for a good mystery and I think this would hit the spot!

A Book I Would Like To Read In 2023

“Babel” By R.F. Kuang

This book has been talked about by literally everyone on Bookstagram and I am so jealous of everyone who has read it. This is very high on my TBR and I can’t wait to dive into it!


2022 has been my best reading year ever and I really hope I can keep this momentum going into 2023. I have many reading challenges I would like to get to this coming year in hopes to be able to finish not only more books but a wider range of genres this year. I can’t wait to see what this coming year has in store for me and my blog.

QOTD: What is a book you are excited to read this year?

2021 Book Superlatives

It is finally that time of year where we have read an impressive amount of books and now we need to rank them. I know I had a handful of books that drove me nuts and then I also had a decent sized stack that I really enjoyed. Now is the time to reveal all the good, bad and ugly from my 2021 reading pile.

Top Ten Books

In no particular order here are my top ten favorite reads of 2021

Awards

Book of the year

“Verity” by Colleen Hoover

Least favorite book

“Get a Life Chloe Brown” by Talia Hibbert

I don’t have a link to this review but honestly this book was by far my least favorite thing I read this year by a long shot.

Best Dressed (Prettiest Cover)

“The Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner

Most Likely to Make you Swoon

“The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood

Most Likely to be reread

“One Last Stop” by Casey Mcquiston

Best Graphic Novel

“Black Lantern” by Chris Bodily

I don’t read a lot of graphic novels but I really love how this one came together! The cat was so cute too!

A book that walked the line of morality the best

“RazorBlade Tears” by S.A. Cosby

A book that was over hyped

“Where The Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens

A book that surprised me

“Crave” by Tracy Wolff

Character Awards

Favorite character

Olive from “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood

I felt like I could really relate to Olive in a lot of different ways. I thought she was very stubborn, she knew what she likes and she is very smart and independent. I love an independent lead woman character.

Least favorite character

Jasmine from “Desperate Measures” by Katee Robert

This book was a steamy spin off tale of Jasmine and Jaffar from Aladdin and the whole book was pretty cringe worthy. However, Jasmine just drove me nuts the whole book. If you hate a main character there is something really wrong.

Favorite couple

Jane and August from “One Last Stop” by Casey Mcquiston

These two were just so adorable! I couldn’t get enough of their relationship. Casey McQuiston for Christmas released an update for the characters written from Janes perspective and it was everything that I didn’t know I needed.

Personal Achievements

This year I accomplished more things than I could have ever imagined! I am so proud of how far this blog has came since starting in June of 2021. I have also made so many amazing friends on Bookstagram. Let’s look at some of my greatest accomplishments from this year.

Started my blog in June 2021 and have over 60 followers six months later

Reached my reading goal for the year of 35/35 books

Reached over 2,000 followers on my bookstagram

Celebrated my one year bookstaversary in October

Made friends with authors

Made friends with people all across the world

Found several books that I literally fell in love with

Proved to myself that I can achieve my goals when I work hard and dream big


I am beyond proud of myself for accomplishing all that I did this past year and I really can’t wait to see what 2022 has to bring. I have changed my reading goal for next year to 40 books and I have even created my own reading challenge so I am very excited to start this coming year.

QOTD: What is your reading goal for next year?