Favorite Books & Series I’ve Read + New Releases
Another week, another blog. Today, I will be discussing my favorite books, series, and new releases I am looking forward to reading in 2024.
To start, one of my favorite series is the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard. I started reading this series in 2015. However, when War Storm (book 4) was released, it had been a while since I read King’s Cage and I was swamped with college assignments. As a result, I do plan to re-read this series so I can finally finish the series. I do consider this to be a 5-star series as I find Aveyard’s writing style to be immersive, descriptive, and well organized in a way where no detail is left out. I am curious to see if I would still see this series as 5 stars and if the last book would provide a sense of closure.
Continuing with Victoria Aveyard, I am looking forward to reading her latest series. I currently own book 1, Realm Breaker and plan to buy or ask for the other two books down the road. I tend to read the first book in a series before deciding to buy the rest of the series. I don’t really feel that it is necessary to buy the entire series without knowing if the series is any good. Let me know your thoughts down below. I have some hope that I will like this series just as much as I love the Red Queen series.
My second favorite series is The Selection series by Kierra Cass. I completed this series in high school, I believe. I have seen a few book-tubers, who are in their twenties, who said they did not enjoy this series and believe younger readers would enjoy this series more. I would be interested in knowing if my opinion of the series would change now that I am in my late twenties. I know everyone has different reading styles that they like and I know our likes can change with time.
If you love classical music with some folklore, then I recommend the duology Wintersong and Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones. I have only read Wintersong due to college assignments preventing me from finishing Shadowsong. I do plan to re-read Wintersong so I can finish the duology. From what I can remember, Wintersong is centered around the folklore of Der Erlkönig or as he is known in the book, the goblin king. Liesl makes a deal with the goblin king to take the place of her sister in becoming the goblin queen. Meanwhile, Liesl’s family is pushing for her brother, Josef, to become a violin prodigy and work for a famous composer. Don’t worry, I won’t give too much away. I believe Shadowsong takes place 6 months after the ending of Wintersong, and is told from both Liesl and Josef’s point of views.
There are three more series in which I have read but new books are still being or were released after completing the last available book in the series.
The Inheritance Games SAGA by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: After reviewing one of Barnes’s instagram posts, I learned that The Inheritance Games, The Hawthorne Legacy, and The Final Gambit are a trilogy told from Avery Grambs’s point of view. The Brothers Hawthorne, told from Grayson and Jameson’s point of views, is a bridge novel that is to be read before The Grandest Game. According to the instagram post, The Grandest Game is a part of a series and appears to be told from Lyra, Gigi, and Rohan’s point of views. Games Untold (released in November 2024) appears to be a book of novellas and stories staring favorite Inheritance Games characters and comes after The Grandest Game. The second book in The Grandest Game series is Glorious Rivals, which is coming July 2025. Having loved the trilogy, I am excited to continue this saga with The Grandest Game series and Games Untold.
The Graceling series by Kristin Cashore: I honestly thought this series was completed until I saw somewhere that Winterkeep was being released. Then in the beginning of 2024, my mom and I went to a recently opened Barnes & Noble in my area and discovered another book, Seasparrow, had been released. Needless to say, I own them now and I have also started following Cashore on Goodreads to make sure I won’t miss another release. This is a series I plan to re-read down the road.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi: So far, I have only read Before the Coffee Gets Cold (book 1) but I hope to have the complete series (including book 5, releasing in 2024) within the next two years. This does appear to be a collection of short stories that take place in this cafe with a seat that can take you back in time before the coffee gets cold. However, each story does interconnect with the next story.
What books do you have on your radar for 2024? What book(s) or series do you enjoy reading or wish to re-read? What books do you recommend? Let me know in the comments below
