Time for my annual post of all the books I read in 2024. I read 59 books, 36 of which were fantasy, with my next most common genre being non-fiction, with 10 books. In the next few weeks I'll highlight some of my favorites!

I'll post more reviews of these books in the coming months. Have you read any of these books? Were any your favorites? Let's discuss in the comments!

Happy New Year's Eve! It's time to check in on if I met my reading and writing goals for 2024!
Reading Goals

1) Read my physical TBR
Achieved! I read my backlog of physical books and bought more, for a total of 25 physical books.

2) Read what my friends are gushing about
Achieved! I read 12 books with my friends, including the ACOTAR series and the Crescent City series.

3) Find comps for my next book
Achieved! I found three recently published books that are great comps to my book.

4) Keep track of reading stats, but don't sweat
Achieved! I read 59 books and 24,133 pages.

Writing Goals

1) See what working with a professional editor is like
Achieved! I had the opportunity to work with Jeni Chappelle and it was amazing. Read about my experience here!

2) Polish my manuscript and send my first query for my next book
Achieved! I finished in time to pitch at a conference in September and have sent queries since. Keep your fingers crossed!

3) Keep up with my writing groups
This one got difficult at the end of the year when work got pretty overwhelming. I had to let go of my highest-volume groups, but was able to keep up with a couple groups that have a lower volume of reading. 

Who among us hasn't seen the skits from TikToker and author Hannah Nicole Maehrer about the sunshine assistant to a grumpy (but hot) villain? Now a series (Assistant to the Villain, Apprentice to the Villain, and in 2025 Accomplice to the Villain), the quirky pairing is on the page for all of us to enjoy.

Evie Sage, desperate for a job, takes a position as an assistant to the notorious local Villain. She prides herself on a job well done, so when it appears there's a traitor in the office, she decides to sort out the problem. With plenty of pining for the handsome but not HR approved boss, this book and its sequel are popcorn for fans of romantasy.

I enjoyed the grumpy/sunshine pairing at the heart of the book, the pining with an actual reason not to make moves on said pining, and the wit throughout. Both were funny novels that clearly weren't being too serious or dark, despite the main characters being the purported bad guys.

There were a few worldbuilding questions I had that were left unanswered, and sometimes the romance crossed into definitely a couple territory, before pulling backwards for no clear reason and being like "wow we made out but does he like me?" Was that enough for me to put the books down? No.

This series is for you if you're looking for lighthearted, humorous romantasy, a grumpy/sunshine pairing, or a classic fairytale vibe without it being a literal fairytale rewrite. This book is not for you if you're looking for epic fantasy levels of worldbuilding, if you don't want a workplace romance, or if you want fantasy with a literary flavor.


Have you read Assistant or Apprentice to the Villain? What did you think? Let's discuss in the comments!