Sirius’ Best of 2024 List

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SiriusA Review Category / A Reviews / A- Reviews / B Reviews Category / B+ Reviews / Need A Rec! / Reading Lists / Recommended Reads / Top Ten Lists1920s / Agent/Spies/Undercover / ancient-Rome / Best of 2024 / contemporary m/m romance / cops / dragons / England / Fantasy / Germany / private investigators / Realistic Fiction / selkies / Shifters / Young-Adult11 Comments

I have had a decent reading year and this time I decided to do something a little different with the Best of the Year List.  Usually I list the books on the list in no particular order, because I consider it too difficult a task to try and figure out which one of them I liked just a tiny bit more or less than the others, but this year I decided to put at least top three books in the order (well, I cheated a little with the book 3 on this list as you will see below, but I have no regrets :).

At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.AUDI. VIDE. TACE.The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world now, but they do not know everything. I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.

1. So my best book of the year was probably my biggest reading surprise of the year as well. I have had very little expectations from this book which had been the bookclub choice. My first thought was oh great, another Young Adult fantasy with another chosen one. Well, it was and it was not (as in it was not *just another Young Adult fantasy*).  It was a great book which managed to surprise me over and over again with me trying to figure out, and failing, what will happen next and which characters were really trustworthy and which ones were not). I was rooting for the protagonist all the way and I hope he will succeed in whatever task he set for himself even though I have no idea what will happen next and I am so so impatient to understand just what the ending meant. Here is the link to my review.

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From the acclaimed author of All Quiet on the Western Frontcomes Three Comrades, a harrowing novel that follows a group of friends as they cope with upheaval in Germany between World Wars I and II.

 

The year is 1928. On the outskirts of a large German city, three young men are earning a thin and precarious living. Fully armed young storm troopers swagger in the streets. Restlessness, poverty, and violence are everywhere. For these three, friendship is the only refuge from the chaos around them. Then the youngest of them falls in love, and brings into the group a young woman who will become a comrade as well, as they are all tested in ways they can have never imagined.

Written with the same overwhelming simplicity and directness that made All Quiet on the Western Front a classic, Three Comrades portrays the greatness of the human spirit, manifested through characters who must find the inner resources to live in a world they did not make, but must endure.

 

“The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review

2.   My second best book of the year was a book I did not really expect to read this year either. I have tried to get in the mood for reading Remarque for years. I had heard that he was a great writer, but I also knew that his books were not the ones to grab if you are in the mood for happy ending (understandably so given the realistic subject matter he wrote about!). I am so glad I finally read “Three comrades”. I don’t think I will ever reread it but it will certainly stay with me for the longest time.  Here is the link to my review.

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Welcome to the thrilling and unnervingly prescient world of the slow horses. This team of MI5 agents is united by one common bond: They’ve screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves.



This special tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of a modern classic includes a foreword by the author, discussion questions for book clubs, and an exclusive short story featuring the slow horses.

London, England: Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they have in common, though, is they want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there? Even if it means having to collaborate with one another.

When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses see an opportunity to redeem themselves. But is the victim really who he appears to be?

3.  My third favorite book of the year are really all six books in this series (and I am still afraid to read the last two books in it partially because I am afraid to see which Slow Horse will bight the dust next thanks to the “Merciless Author” 🙂 and partially because  I just do not want to say good bye to them).  Actually the first book was probably my least favorite one, but all the rest I loved equally, however since I have read all of them this year I figured that placing the first book on the list would make sense (and no, I did not want to list all the books separately because then that’s the rest of the list for you right there. Here is the link to my review of the first book, but you can find all six reviews if you search by the name of each book or their author.

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And now to the rest of very very honorable mentions of my top ten books of the year in absolutely no particular order

Icarus Gallagher is a thief. He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target in revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don’t let anyone close. Don’t let anyone touch you. And, above all, don’t get caught.

Until one night, he does. Not by Mr. Black but by his mysterious son, Helios, now living under house arrest in the Black mansion. Instead of turning Icarus in, Helios bargains for something even more dangerous—a friendship that breaks every single one of Icarus’s rules.

As reluctance and distrust become closeness and something more, they uncover the gilded cage that has trapped both their families for years. One Icarus is determined to escape. But his father’s thirst for revenge shows no sign of fading, and soon it may force Icarus to choose: the escape he’s dreamed of, or the boy he’s come to love. Reaching for both could be his greatest triumph—or it could be his downfall.

I love Greek mythology and big part of the reason why I picked up this book (not the whole reason of course) was because of the title. This for me ended up being one of the best examples of how to pay homage to the mythos done right.  There are call backs to the original story within the book, but this is a narrative which tells its own story and author managed to twist the main idea in the narrative where instead of the arrogant youth who wanted to go higher and higher and father trying to keep him from harm we get a father who constantly puts his son in a harm way and a boy who just wants to live his life and love whom he pleases.  Here is the link to my review.

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Can a disillusioned former cop track down a missing girl before it’s too late?

Seven years ago, criminologist Ben Ames thought he’d change a big city police force from the inside. He failed. Now he’s a private detective trailing insurance frauds and cheating spouses through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Like police work, the job would be easier if he didn’t have a conscience.

When university student Kimberly Moy goes missing, her sister begs Ben to take the case. But before Ben can follow up on any leads—What does the Fibonacci series have to do with Kim’s disappearance? What do her disaffected friends know? And where is her car?—chance and bad timing drop his unexpected ex, Jesse, into the mix.

Ben doesn’t have time to train Jesse into the junior PI he seems determined to become. Amateur sleuths are always trouble. Unfortunately, this is turning out to be the kind of case that requires backup, and his intuition is telling him Kim’s story may not have a happy ending….

I feel as if I am cheating once again with this entry, but I did love all the three books in these series, so this is really for all of them and I do not believe that the series are complete.  Mystery with m/m romance done right can always make me a very happy reader and these books certainly did. In this book Ben reunites with his ex Jesse, while investigating the disappearance and next two books feature them together. Here is the link to my review of the first book

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An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.

What a lovely follow up to the first book that was. Normally a book like this would be too quiet for me, so to speak, but Cat Sebastian really did make the characters carry the story. Loved it. Here is the link to the review.

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Marca Nbaro had always dreamed of serving aboard the Greatships, with their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city.

They are the lifeblood of human-occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume – and value – of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species.

And now, out in the darkness of space, something is targeting them.

Nbaro and her friends are close to locating their enemy, in this gripping sequel to the award-nominated Artifact Space, but they are running out of time – and their allies are running out of patience . . .

Written by one of the most exciting new voices in SF, this space thriller will keep readers on the edge of their seats

This was a direct sequel to the first book and as much as I liked the first book  I enjoyed this one much better. Great space opera – enough said. Here is the link to my review.

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Nothing says you can’t steal a heart. Keeping it though? That’s another problem.

Wade Espinoza knows a thing or two about hoards. As a dragon, he’s got plenty. What he doesn’t have is a relationship, and he swears he’s not looking for one. But when he’s sent to Boston to answer a cry for help from another pack, he’s drawn into a mess of fae bargains centered around a selkie who Wade instantly becomes obsessed with.

Riordan Maguire is struggling to keep his selkie clan out of the clutches of a fae lord who will do anything to take over their territory. Partnering with the Boston god pack means coming face-to-face with the first person he’s ever wanted to willingly give his sealskin. Too bad Wade isn’t local and is something altogether strange that Riordan isn’t sure he can trust.

Amidst a growing danger in the streets and Boston Harbor, Wade and Riordan are desperate to find a way to keep everyone safe. For bargains are dangerous things to break, but so are hearts. Wade isn’t willing to shatter either of theirs in a race against time that could see Riordan torn from him forever.

Secondhand Skin is an exciting new standalone novel set in Hailey Turner’s best-selling Soulbound Universe focusing on Wade Espinoza.

I am actually a bit hesitant about this book being a stand alone novel. I mean this is absolutely a separate story set in the universe which was established by the previous seven or eight books, but it mentions previous events quite a few times. I guess try and see? When I was reading the original books I did wonder whether Wade would be able to carry out a book by himself, because besides his amusing eating habits I was not sure about his strength as a character. I thought that author convinced me. Here is hoping we won’t see a sequel and here is a link to the review.

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And this is it for this year. I know there are eight books here, but do not forget that two of my entries are series, so technically I went way above of the ten 🙂

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Sirius

Sirius started reading books when she was four and reading and discussing books is still her favorite hobby. One of her very favorite gay romances is Tamara Allen’s Whistling in the Dark. In fact, she loves every book written by Tamara Allen. Amongst her other favorite romance writers are Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling, Josephine Myles, Taylor V. Donovan and many others. Sirius’ other favorite genres are scifi, mystery and Russian classics. Sirius also loves travelling, watching movies and long slow walks.

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