My Top 5 Reads of 2024

January 4, 2025January 4, 2025 kerrimcbooknerd4 Comments

Hello, reader!

We have rolled into 2025 and that means it’s time to look back at my reading from 2024. Quite honestly, I found myself hitting another slump in the summer time just like I did in 2023. Here’s hoping this is not a trend because summer used to be one of my favorite seasons for reading! That being said, I didn’t read nearly as much as I was hoping to in 2024. So, as the year was coming to an end, I couldn’t see myself doing a bunch of individual end-of-year posts but I still wanted to talk about my favorite reads from the past year. Thus this post was born!

Here’s a quick overview of how my reading year went in 2024:

That’s quite the drop from 2023, when I read 86 books, but I also spent most of the first few months in a reading slump and then most of the summer in a similar slump 😅 So over 50 books isn’t half bad! I think I only got that many under my belt because I really started embracing audiobooks in 2024. The fact that I found earbuds that actually fit my tiny, baby ears helped with that, haha. Seriously, though, a good audiobook can elevate a story so much and I’m happy I’ve jumped on this particular train.

The format I’ve kind of stopped loving, though, are e-books. I don’t know what it is, but e-books and I are not grooving these days. I don’t like reading on my phone or my Kindle nearly as much as I used to and I think that it’s because I tend to get a headache even if I’ve only been reading for thirty minutes. My old lady eyes are not loving screens lately so now most of my reads are either physical (still the favorite!) or audiobooks. I don’t know if that will be changing anytime soon, but I’m not ready to give up on e-books all together.

WWW Wednesday: January 1st, 2025

January 1, 2025 kerrimcbooknerd3 Comments

It’s time for another WWW Wednesday! This is a bookish meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words where bloggers answer the 3 Ws:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

If you’d like to learn more about any of these books, click on the cover to be taken to the Goodreads page.

Current Reads

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall: We’re beginning 2025 with some dark reads, y’all. I got this book from Book of the Month in December… of 2023, heh. One of my goals this year is to try and read down my BotM backlog so it seemed appropriate to kick my reading year off with one! I know nothing about this book because I like to go into mystery/thrillers that way. But I’ve read the first few chapters and, yup, this is gonna be dark. There’s already been blood and bodies! I’m loving the writing, so I’m excited to continue with this one.
The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown: To get myself back into the reading groove, I’ve joined a couple of book clubs over on Fable. Also, I have a Fable account now, I guess, haha. I keep taste-testing all these reading trackers (my poor, neglected Storygraph…) because there has to be something better than Goodreads, right? Anyways, one of the book clubs I joined is called the Weirdo Book Club and this book is the pick for January. Didn’t think I’d start off the year reading a non-fiction but the fact that it’s about the Donner Party feels very me. Hmm… that’s a worrying statement 😂 So far, I’m loving the writing because it doesn’t read like a textbook.

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5 on my tbr

#5OnMyTBR – 2024 Titles You Didn’t Get To

December 30, 2024 kerrimcbooknerd2 Comments

#5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook where you chose five books from your to-be-read pile that fit that week’s theme. If you’d like more info, head over to the announcement post!

Hello, reader!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. This is a weird time of year where I’m still working (yay, healthcare) but the world feels like it’s in a liminal space, haha. It’s also a time to reflect on the year that has past, which lends itself well to this week’s 5 On My TBR theme. We’re talking all about books I meant to read in 2024. There were… a lot of books I meant to read this past year that never got picked up, so I’m deciding to focus on five 2024 releases that I really wanted to read, but never did. Trust me, even that reduced list could go on for ages 😅😂

That being said, let’s dive in!

#1. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I got this book from Book of the Month Club because of two reasons. Number one, I kept seeing this book everywhere! People were talking about this one all over the bookish internet and I jumped on the hype train. Number two, I love the cover. I mean… look at it! It just gives off a dark, woodsy vibe that has me intrigued. And, according to the synopsis, this will be a “thrilling drama”, and I need more thrilling reads in my life right now. Count me in!

#2. Wisteria by Adalyn Grace

I’ve found recently that YA fantasy is very hit or miss for me. I either fall in love with the story or can barely force myself through the book. Which, hey, I’m 42 so decidedly not the target audience. But this series? This series has absolutely captured my imagination. It’s a combination of beautiful writing, fascinating characters, and love stories that don’t make me want to roll my eyes. I’m eager to give this one a read and finish out the series.

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bbnya spotlight

BBNYA Semi-Finalist Spotlight 2024: Wrath of the Land by Oli Jacobs

December 4, 2024 kerrimcbooknerdLeave a comment

Hello, reader!

Today on the blog, I’m helping the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) spotlight all the books that made it to the semi-finals! We had an incredible line up of novels in 2024, which was very exciting for me as a panelist. My TBR grew exponentially just from reading my assigned excerpts! So, even though I didn’t delve into every semi-finalist, they all deserve a shout-out because the competition was tough this year.

But what is BBNYA, exactly? It is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner. It’s a way to celebrate indie novels, which don’t get nearly enough love, and hopefully bring more attention to indie authors and indie publishing in general.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Our final spotlight is shining on a horror novel that sounds eerie: Wrath of the Land by Oli Jacobs!