Books I’ve Read 2024
I am officially over the four/five book hump! I read a whopping THIRTEEN books! Here’s the list:
- Company by Shannon Shanders
- Beyond An Unreasonable Doubt by Maadist
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
- The Inevitability Of by Neka Marie
- The Getaway by Lamar Giles
- You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
- On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi
- Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
- Trail of Echoes by Rachel Howzell Hall
- Wahala by Nikki May
- Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manasala
- The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
- Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
I’ll keep the Currently Reading page updated in 2025! But you can also see currently reading updates on my Instagram highlights: https://www.instagram.com/ivegotstoriestotell/
I wasn’t writing as much this year so I just leaned into reading. And since I read so many books, it was hard to pick some favorites, but I narrowed it down to three.
- The Inevitability Of by Neka Marie
- Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
- Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
Funnily enough, all these books were books I was waiting on! I’ve been following Neka Marie and LaDarrion Williams for a while after hearing their book concepts and then Tigest tweeted about her dark academia vampire book and I hit the follow button immediately. And all three of these books were great! Wonderful debuts for these authors.
The Inevitability Of is an adult speculative fiction book. The main character Rika Hobbs comes from a long line of witches who have been gatekeepers for Death’s Gate. It’s her turn to be Gatekeeper, but she doesn’t have any magic. If I remember correctly, she’s not even sure magic exists. And then we go on this journey with her, learning about her family and her magical abilities. It’s such a great book with a whole cast of interesting characters. The magic in this book is based on hoodoo and mentions the Loa. I know some people aren’t into reading about it, but if you are, one of my other favorites mentions hoodoo and Loa.
Blood at the Root is a young adult fiction novel. I would recommend it for older teens and adults due to some of the content (you can ask me for specifics, I won’t list them here). I can’t remember exactly and Google isn’t helping me lol, but I’m pretty sure Malik knew about his magic, but hasn’t used it in a while. Then he uses it to help a friend and his grandmother finds him after years of looking for him. He learns about Caiman University, which is a magical HBCU (historically Black college/university), where students learn about history and their magic. This was a fun read. I really enjoyed it.
Immortal Dark is a young adult fiction novel. It’s also one I would recommend for older teens and adults due to some of the content. Main character Kidan Adane is looking for her missing sister and she has to go to the one place her parents, before they passed, warned her not to go: Uxlay University. I’ll reference the book summary to accurately describe the university: where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. I love the new vampire lore with this one, tying the vampires to the university and certain families. I’m hoping we get a book 2 because I want to learn more about Kidan and Susenyos, the vampire connected to her.
Funny how all of these had some similar elements: magic, academia. If these aren’t your jam, I have plenty of non-magical, vampire-free books on my list. And you can always ask me for specific recommendations.
Next year, I want to finish reading two series: The Nightmare Verse by L.L. McKinney and The Legacy of Orisha Series by Tomi Adeyemi. I only have book 3 left for both, but since the pandemic shifted around publication dates, I’d like to go back and read from the beginning. I might do audiobooks for the reread, but we’ll see. I also want to read The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste. Those are my reading goals. Sticking with no set number since I’m trying to focus on my writing. And hopefully by 2026, I’ll be talking about my own book.
Let me know your writing and reading goals for 2025. As always, happy writing and happy reading!
