I can already tell you one of my new year’s resolutions for 2025 because it’s something I didn’t do in 2024 — I didn’t keep track of the books I read!

I resolve in 2025 to keep an ongoing list. But for now, I will cobble together a list, knowing I will forget some books. Oh well and here goes!

In 2024, I read more adult books than other years. Books came my way unexpectedly like Less by Andrew Sean Greer and by sheer luck like Made for You by Jenna Satterthwaitte. Some books I reread like Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen. I dove into the popular craze of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and continued my fav sci-fi series in Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey. I also got to read the next in Beck Erixson’s romance series, Feeling Fiery, along with the newest thriller by Jessica Payne, Never Trust the Husband. And finally, I got to read the next mystery by Stuart Turton, The Last Murder at the End of the World.

Beta reading occupied A LOT of my time this year, and I’m grateful to the writers who shared their works-in-progress with me. I hope to see these books on shelves one day soon. (Fingers crossed!)

But I also continued to read some wonderful middle grade and young adult books. Since I enjoy writing in these age groups, reading books in them is a necessity. In middle grade, it was mostly horror and contemporary, and I am now a fan of Chris Baron, a must-read MG author. In young adult, it was mostly fantasy and historical fiction, though I have some lovely YA rom-coms on my shelf to read in 2025.

The MG and YA books I recall reading in 2024 includes:

• The Night Train by Lorelei Savaryn
• Stage Fright by Wendy Parris
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
• Refugee by Alan Gratz
• A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga
• Alone by Megan E. Freeman
• The Magical Imperfect by Chris Baron
• The Gray by Chris Baron
• The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
• A Spark in the Cinders by Jenny Elder Moke
• This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson
• Dangerous Alliance by Jennieke Cohen
• The Menace of the Morphers by Katy Metzger
• Covalence by Andie Smith

Am I missing a lot of books I read? Absolutely. Do I wish I’d kept a list this year? You betcha! But all we can do is face forward and resolve to do better.

I’m so excited for what I will read and write in 2025. And you know that this time, I’m keeping track of it.