The Best Books We Read in the First Half of 2024

Nyx: All the Best Liars. Just wow! This book left me speechless with all the twists, I just couldn’t put it down! If you’re into YA thrillers dealing with obsession, manipulation and intense friendships, this one is definitely for you!

☂️ Read the All The Best Liars review

Marie: Oh, this book. Ellen O’Clover is one of my favorite authors of all times, really. This book didn’t seem like much more than a YA contemporary book with anxiety rep and complex mother daughter relationship, at first. And yet, oh it was so much more. I ached and cried and loved it so much.

☂️ Read the Someday Daughter review

Nyx: Obsidio! Going into it, I was a bit scared because I read the previous ones such a long time ago. But I got back into it really easily and I must say it totally blew my mind! One of the best Sci-Fi series I’ve read so far.

Marie: I haven’t read any sequel this year, aside from a re-read of Delirium, one of my favorite series of all times, soooo… I’m going to pick that one!

Nyx: The Breakup Tour. A rising-star musician has a second chance at love with an old flame? And do I sense some Taylor Swift vibes? Yup, count me in! Really looking forward to this swoony romance!

☂️ Read The Break-Up Tour review (Marie’s thoughts!)

Marie: I loved the first book, Girls I’ve Been, so I couldn’t not run and get its sequel. That being said, it’s a bit of a tough book to handle, because lots of actions and triggers, so… I’ve been waiting to be kind of ready for it?

Nyx: Where Are You, Echo Blue? “A smart, juicy, and page-turning novel about celebrity, fandom, and the price of ambition following a journalist’s obsessive search for a missing Hollywood starlet” ? It feels like this novel was exclusively been written for me! I CAN’T WAIT (yes, all caps) !!

Marie: Yup nothing more to add here, really, I need this book like, yesterday.

Nyx: Love Redesigned. It’s a steamy, small town romance about two family friends-turned-childhood rivals. It looked great but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story dragged a lot and the characters lacked chemistry and connection. The spark just wasn’t there.

Marie: It wasn’t a big disappointment, just kind of a… I expected a bit more from it? I enjoyed the book overall and found it entertaining, but I expected it to slap me in the face like the Inventing Anna tv show did, and I didn’t get that.

☂️ Read Anna Bright Is Hiding Something’s review

Nyx: The Split. What a rollecoaster ride! I was pulled into the story from the very first page. I enjoyed the diverging timelines, the shocking events and the characters. What a truly thought-provoking book!

☂️ Read The Split’s review

Marie: Yup I’m going to be screaming about this book for a long, long time, because I need to read and we need to scream more about books with 20-somethings completely lost in their professional (and personal) lives. I loved this super relatable, incredible book.

Nyx: Shauna Robinson from Must Love Books. She writes with humor and heart. I loved her character Nora, she was easily relatable. The mental health representation was on point. And a story about books and finding your path? Hell yes! Go read it now!

Marie: I know I’m going to be reading all of Lynn Painter’s books, because Better Than the Movies was SO fun. Such a fantastic contemporary read, sweet, swoony, fun, loved loved it.

Nyx: Ethan from Those Summer Nights. He needs to be protected at all cost. He’s sweet and kind. I loved how Ethan and Hannah learn how to talk about the things that weigh heavily on them and help each other out.

Marie: Ahh this is such a great book with excellent character growth and the chemistry’s off the charts, really. I really enjoyed Theo as a love interest here!!

Nyx: Eloise from All Alone With You. She’s grumpy, too nervous to hang out with people and always thinking the worst in social situations. I had such a soft spot for her (because maybe in some ways I’m a bit similar to her…). I loved to see her grow and get out of her confort zone.

☂️ Read All Alone With You’s review

Marie: I had SO much fun reading this book, friends, and Olivia was such a great main character to follow. She might be a bit obstinate, at times, but I really loved her drive and she was just great to follow overall. One of my fav!

☂️ Read Heiress Takes All review

Nyx: All That’s Left to Say. Meet Hannah. One year ago, her cousin Sophie, who was also her best friend and the person she loved most in the world, died of an overdose. Drowning in grief, Hannah became obsessed with one question: Who gave Sophie those pills? It’s poignant, powerful and yes I shed a few tears…

Marie: I said it all above, but this book made me cry because too relatable and I adore it with all of my heart.

Nyx: Those Summer Nights. Aka the perfect fun book for the summer! It has all the right ingredients: an amusement park, a second chance friendship and a sweet romance. It made me smile from the very first page to the very last one!

Marie: There’s something about this series that just makes me HAPPY. I’m having SO much fun reading about these adventures, this royalty, this adorable romance.

Nyx: You, with a View. Just look at that cover! It’s gorgeous! The drawings, the colors, the fonts. 100% loving it!

Marie: I’m a huge, huge fan of Rachel Lynn Solomon’s work, it’s no secret. I got to meet up with the ever amazing Cathy @ Daydreaming ink this month and she got me the Barnes & Nobles edition with sprayed edges and I AM SO GRATEFUL AND IN LOVE WITH THIS BOOK.

13.What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Marie:

• Girls Who Burn : It’s a YA thriller and it has enemies to lovers and a girl trying to figure out what happened to her sister and oh my god I’m already obsessed with it.
• Business or Pleasure : Another Rachel Lynn Solomon! It’s her only romcom I haven’t read, just yet, and I can’t wait!
• A Song To Drown Rivers : I love Ann Liang’s contemporary books and I can’t wait to see what she does in the fantasy world!

Nyx:

• The Legacies: It screams Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars! Money, secrets and parties. It sounds right up my alley!
• I Hope This Doesn’t Find You: Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters. Do I need to say more?!
• Better Than the Movies: Rom-com? Enemies-to-lovers? Cute banter? Yes! Yes! And yes!

For more book recommendations, you might also be interested in:

• The Best Books We Read in 2022 (For Now)
• What’s on my TBR – 10 Adult Books I’m Dying to Read
• 10 Books I Hope Will Be New Favorites in 2023

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What are some of your favorite books of the year so far? Any books you’re anticipating for this second half of the year? Let us know everything in comments!