books i read in 2024

A Darker Shade of Magic

V. E. Schwab • 2015

The Wife''s Tale

Lori Lansens • 2010

If We Were Villains

M. L. Rio • 2017

<p><b>“Much like Donna Tartt’s <i>The Secret History</i>, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.”<br>—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Nest<br></i></b><br><b>"Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.”</b><br><b>—<i>New York Times Book Review</i></b><br><br>On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it.<br><br>A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. <br><br>But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent. <br><br><i>If We Were Villains</i> was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and <i>Mystery Scene</i> says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."</p>

The Starless Sea

Erin Morgenstern • 2019

Beautiful World, Where Are You

Sally Rooney • 2021

<p><b>AN INSTANT #1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER</b><br><b><i><br>Beautiful World, Where Are You</i> is a new novel by Sally Rooney, the bestselling author of <i>Normal People </i>and <i>Conversations with Friends</i>.</b><br><br>Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a warehouse, and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen, is getting over a break-up, and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.<br><br>Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young—but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?</p>

Everything I Know About Love

Dolly Alderton • 2018

<p><b>A celebration of our female friendships, of our messy years, and of growing up together. Glittering with wit, heart, and humour, it’s a book to share with every woman you’ve ever been lucky enough to call a friend.</b><br><br><i>“Nearly everything I know about love, I've learnt from my long-term friendships with women.”</i><br><br>I know that love can be loud and jubilant. It can be dancing in the swampy mud and the pouring rain at a festival and shouting “YOU ARE AMAZING” over the band. It’s laughing until you wheeze. It’s walking along the street together on a Saturday night and feeling an entire city is yours.<br><br>I also know that love is a pretty quiet thing. It’s lying on the sofa together drinking coffee, talking about where you’re going to go that morning to drink more coffee. It’s folding down pages of books you think they’d find interesting.<br><br>I know that love happens under the splendour of fireworks and sunsets, but also happens when you’re lying on blow-up airbeds in a childhood bedroom, sitting in A&E or in the queue for a passport.<br><br>*****<br><br><b>WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:</b><br><br>‘A book every girl in her 20s needs to read’<br><br><b>‘I’ll never stop recommending this book’</b><br><br>‘This is my comfort book! I LOOOOVE THIS BOOK TO MY CORE’<br><br><b>‘I wish I could read it for the first time again’</b><br><br><i>A Sunday Times bestseller, September 2022<br>TikTok Book Awards Winner, August 2023</i></p>