Coach Laura’s Top 10 Fiction Books of 2024

This year, I read a lot of fiction. (If you’re interested in seeing all of what I read and/or discussing them, I invite you to follow me on Goodreads.) I was in the mood to revisit some books that I really enjoy this year, so half of the fiction books that I read in 2024 were re-reads. Since they are beloved favorites of mine, it wouldn’t be fair to include any of those re-reads in my Top 10 for 2024, but I have included the books that I re-read at the end of this. If you’d like to see which nonfiction books I enjoyed in 2024, you can read my Top 9 Nonfiction Books of 2024.

If you’re interested in seeing my Top Book Lists from past years, you can check them out:

• 2021 - My Top 10 Fiction books
• 2021 - My Top 10 Nonfiction Books
• 2022 - My Top 10 Fiction Books
• 2022 - My Top 5 Nonfiction Books
• 2023 - My Top 8 Fiction Books
• 2023 - My Top 10 Nonfiction Books

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#1 - Arc of a Scythe Series (Trilogy + Stories)

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

The Toll by Neal Shusterman

Gleanings: Stories from Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman

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The Arc of a Scythe series written by Neal Shusterman was the best new fiction I read this year.  It is comprised of four books: a trilogy plus a collection of short stories from the world of Arc of a Scythe.  I loved all of them.

The first book, Scythe, drew me in from the first chapter, and the entirety of the series was engrossing from that point onward.  Arc of a Scythe was written for young adults, but that didn’t stop this adult from loving it.  Much like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games (which are series that are also written for young adults), this drew me right in.

Arc of a Scythe is set in a dystopian future, and I’m a sucker for this specific type of fiction.  I think that dystopian books tend to point out interesting parts of human nature and the potential consequences of current societal trends.  Exploring these ideas is fascinating to me.

In my humble opinion, the best thing a fiction book can do is to transport the reader to a different world from the one in which they currently exist.  All of the books in Arc of a Scythe did this wonderfully; I found them all to be immersive and diverting.  I highly, highly recommend them.

#2 - The Winter People

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon was a surprise delight for me.  It was buried in a bag of books loaned to me by a friend, and I literally just grabbed it off of the pile and started reading without knowing anything about its plot.  

As a general rule, it’s a toss-up about whether I’ll read a summary or even the back or inside cover of a book before I read it; I despise spoilers so I tend to just give books (especially fiction books) a try and see if I end up getting pulled in.  As a side note: I used to have this ridiculous idea that I had to finish every book I started, even if I hated it.  Thankfully, I saw reason a few years ago, so now I don’t mind starting a book “blind” and abandoning it if I discover that I think it sucks.

As far as The Winter People goes, I was extremely interested in this story from the start and looked forward to seeing what would happen next each time I needed to leave the book.  I remained engaged in the story until the end, so I have to give this five stars.

The Winter People is a ghost story, but very creative, original, and different from other ghost stories that I've read before.  It was very well-written; I liked the interweaving narratives of different narrators and from different time periods.  It was very suspenseful without being overly dramatic and built up well to the book's final conclusion.

#3 - Lessons in Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus was another book that surprised me this year.  It was very popular when it was first published in 2022, and it ended up on a bunch of the best-seller lists.  That being said, sometimes I completely love a book that is popular with others, and other times, I cannot for the life of me determine what made a given book so popular (The Goldfinch, which is arguably the worst book I’ve read in the last decade, is one such example; it won the Pulitzer Prize.)

I loved everything about Lessons in Chemistry.  I cannot think of one thing that I didn't like.

I loved the premise, the main characters, the story, and how it was narrated.  I most especially loved the character of Six-Thirty.  Lessons in Chemistry is original, engaging, and honestly an incredibly well-written debut novel.

This is a book that I looked forward to reading as I was reading it; each time I had to step away, I looked forward to coming back to it later.  It was a wonderful read.

#4 - The Frozen River

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon was another best-selling, popular book that I wasn’t sure I’d actually enjoy.  However, I was engaged with this book right from the beginning.  I loved the inspiration for this book: the real-life Martha Ballard, who was a midwife in the colonial and then early days of the United States of America.

Lawhon uses real events to inspire this fictional story, which was compelling and really drew me in.  I thought this was a beautiful book.

A trigger warning: This book does contain descriptions of sexual violence, which may be difficult for anyone who has experienced it.

#5 - Verity

Verity by Colleen Hoover was incredibly engrossing for me.  If my schedule would have allowed it, I would have finished this in one sitting.  That wasn’t possible, but I did end up finishing it within a single day.

This book is a mystery/thriller, and it pulled me in right from the first chapter and had me guessing and trying to figure out what was going on throughout the entire book.  One of my guesses ended up being right, but only partially right, and I ultimately found it fun that I couldn't completely figure out what was really going on.  While parts of this were very disturbing, it's not super often that an author can successfully surprise me, so for that reason, it gets to occupy a spot on the list of my Top 10 Fiction Books of 2024.

#6 - The Book of Doors

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown is a book that I judged by its cover.  I was at the library with a friend, and happened to see it sitting on one of the featured shelves toward the front of the library.  It had a beautiful cover, so I did actually open the jacket and read the inside cover.  The premise of the story seemed original and intriguing, so I decided to give it a go.

I ultimately loved the entire story and the magic of The Book of Doors.  Full disclosure: I did go back and forth between being completely annoyed with the protagonist and liking her.  When I encounter a character that I feel this way about, this phenomenon is always interesting to me; an author’s ability to successfully provoke such conflicting emotions and reactions from their reader is always intriguing to me.

Overall, I thought that this was a fun, easy read that was thoroughly enjoyable.

#7 - America’s First Daughter

America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie, while a novel, is incredibly well-researched.  (In fact, when new letters written by Martha Jefferson Randolph came to light after the final manuscript was submitted, the publisher allowed the authors extra time to study those and include what they learned into this book.)  The authors didn't take too many liberties with what actually happened.  As they say, history itself provides drama and intrigue enough to make fiction writing unnecessary.

I really enjoyed reading a story about Thomas Jefferson told from the perspective of his daughter.  Martha Jefferson Randolph is an incredibly interesting and important figure in American history, but because of her gender, her contributions were greatly overlooked both during her lifetime and immediately after it.  That being said, what we know of Thomas Jefferson is filtered through what she allowed the world to know.  As Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote in Hamilton: “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.”  Martha Jefferson Randolph controlled and told the story of Thomas Jefferson.

So while this was a novel, I loved how rich it was and how much it made me appreciate this complex time in America's history even more than I already did.

#8 - My Dear Hamilton

After really enjoying America's First Daughter, I was interested to read My Dear Hamilton - also written by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie - where Eliza Schuyler Hamilton (wife of the now-famous Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) is the protagonist. 

I enjoyed seeing the story of Alexander Hamilton through Eliza Schuyler Hamilton’s perspective. Like America’s First Daughter, My Dear Hamilton is very well-researched, and while it does take some liberties with historical elements, it definitely provokes a lot of interest in the time around America's founding and in the events that led to and immediately followed the creation of the United States.  I thoroughly enjoyed this as well, and other books by these same authors are now on my To-Read List.

#9 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Tomorrow, andTomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is an imaginative story about two friends whose friendship develops as coding and creative partners in the world of video game design.

I am not a gamer (though I have played one or two of the games referenced in the book), but I loved this.  The story itself was so creative, both in terms of the plot and in terms of how the author chose to tell it.

Told from alternating perspectives and through different mediums, the story really made an impact on me and sucked me in.  At times, I was honestly very annoyed with one of the protagonists (Sadie).  (As you might be beginning to see, my being annoyed or frustrated with protagonists isn’t a rare occurrence.)  I think the author did a nice job developing the characters and getting the reader invested in them.  At times, I was a bit teary-eyed as I read.

All said, this was an immersive, imaginative book.

#10 - Winter Garden

I started reading Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah on the morning of a day when I ended up - purely by random chance - going to the Chicago Public Library and discovering the Winter Garden they have on the ninth floor.  What a serendipitous happening and sign.  I ended up reading Winter Garden in the Winter Garden.  I felt so literary while I was there.  It was lovely.

It took a little bit for me to get into this book, especially because I didn't necessarily connect with (and if I'm being honest, didn't necessarily like) the two main protagonists. (There’s that theme again…)  But the story grew on me, and I'm really  glad I stuck it out. The second half was beautiful and heartbreaking all at once, and I absolutely loved the ending.

Re-Reads of 2024

Kingsbridge Series

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett 

World Without End by Ken Follett 

A Column of Fire by Ken Follett 

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett 

The Armor of Light by Ken Follett 

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I’ve read a lot of books, but to this day, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett remains my all-time favorite book.  It is a story about a fictional community in England called Kingsbridge, the people who live there, and the building of a cathedral there in the 11th Century.  The Pillars of the Earth (and the series that it inspired) is immersive and incredibly well-researched with shockingly good character development (especially considering that there are many main characters in each book).

Much like how I prefer to view the movies and stories within the Star Wars canon, I prefer to read the Kingsbridge Series in order of publication, not in the series’ story chronological timeline.  For those who would prefer to read the books in chronological order in terms of storyline, that order is:

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The Evening and the Morning  

The Pillars of the Earth

World Without End

A Column of Fire

The Armor of Light

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I actually hadn’t read The Evening and the Morning and The Armor of Light until this year.  My grandfather (who I called Boppy) and I are massive fans of Ken Follett’s novels.  When he was alive, Boppy and I would eagerly await any new release by Ken Follett.  He used to purchase the book, and he would read it first.  He would then save it for me until the next time I came to visit him in South Carolina, when he would give it to me to read.  After I read it, we would discuss the story and what we liked and didn’t like about it.

The Evening and the Morning was released in September 2020.  Since going out to buy books in-person was still relatively taboo then due to the ongoing restrictions imposed by the government due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, I decided to surprise Boppy and have the book delivered to him at home on the day of its release.  Boppy was a man who liked planning and predictability.  (That is the understatement of this century.)  Getting this surprise package in the mail threw him for a massive loop.  Once he saw what the package was, he was delighted, but I have to admit I love that I caused some disruption in his otherwise mundane, predictable daily routine by having it sent to him.

Boppy read the book that Autumn and gave it to me to read.  He contracted COVID-19 in December 2020, and I contracted it while caring for him while he was sick.  Three weeks later, Boppy died due to complications from COVID-19.  While I was incredibly sick, I did survive the virus.  Especially because of how I had contracted it (from him), I had some guilt over my surviving COVID-19 while Boppy had died from it.  For a long time, my Long COVID symptoms prevented me from being able to read long-form novels like The Evening and the Morning.  I was also incredibly sad that I’d never get to talk over a Ken Follett book with Boppy again, so I put it on a shelf until The Armor of Light was released.  

I read both The Evening and the Morning and The Armor of Light for the first time this year.  While they were both good, they have the misfortune of being directly compared to the three books that came before them, including The Pillars of the Earth.  While I did enjoy both of them, I didn’t think that they were quite as good as the first three books in the series.

On their own, I probably would have “liked them more”.  But as part of this series, The Armor of Light is probably the weakest book out of the five released so far.  It was engaging and enjoyable, but I felt like it was a bit more superficial than the other books in the series and that I wasn't quite as invested in the characters.  This may be due to the period of time that it takes place and the issues the author focused on (I found the books set in the Middle Ages to be more engrossing, while this one is set around 1795-1825).

The Evening and the Morning was interesting to me because it was a prequel to The Pillars of the Earth.  I enjoyed the story of how Kingsbridge came to be, and I liked this book better than The Armor of Light.

That being said, while I enjoyed The Evening and the Morning and The Armor of Light, I am not necessarily going to want to rush back to re-reading either of them the way I have with other books (namely The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End) in this series.

Happily, my re-read of this series did confirm that The Pillars of the Earth is still my all-time favorite book.

Charlotte’s Web

While The Pillars of the Earth is my all-time favorite book, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White is at least an extremely close second to it, if not tied with it for first place outright.  Yes, Charlotte’s Web is a children’s book, but the intended audience is honestly irrelevant as long as the story being told is good.  And, in my humble opinion, the story told in Charlotte’s Web is excellent.

I first read this book as a kid, and I’ve re-read it many times since then (including listening to the audiobook version of it, which E.B. White himself recorded).  The story has always connected with me on a personal level.  When I was a kid, my next door neighbors had pet rabbits, and my brother and I would go over and play with them.  One day, when I was eight years old, my next door neighbor asked me if I wanted to play with the rabbits.  “Of course!” I replied.  They led me into the garage and opened the chest freezer to reveal the rabbits that I had previously been playing with - all frozen, just sitting there.  From that point onward, I couldn’t separate food animals from companion animals in my heart and mind, which would ultimately lead me to making the choice to become vegan when I became an adult.

So I suppose that I really relate to Fern when she sees Wilbur as a sentient being and friend and when she can’t bear the thought of him being eaten at Christmas.  I also think that the book explores some really important themes - innocence and the inevitability of change and death among them - in a very real way.  This is so important for children (and adults, really).

As always, I thoroughly loved my re-read of Charlotte’s Web, and am sure I’ll be re-reading it again within a year or two.

All Souls Trilogy

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

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I first read A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness when it first was published 12-13 years ago.  It merges fantasy with historical fiction in a creative, immersive way.  I loved it so much then, and quickly moved on to the second book in the trilogy, Shadow of Night.  I was just as enraptured by that book, but then had to wait a couple of years to find out how the story concluded, because The Book of Life wasn’t published until 2014.  I loved The Book of Life as well, and the All Souls Trilogy has remained one of my favorite book series since then.

I knew that they had produced a TV series based on these books, but it was hard to figure out how to watch it because I don’t have cable and it wasn’t readily available on streaming services in the United States at the time that it was being produced (which was between 2018 and 2022).  I reactivated my Netflix account this Autumn and noticed that it was available there, so I watched it.  It was such an excellent adaptation of the books for so many reasons.  Some of the dialogue in the show is literally taken straight from the book!  Each of the three seasons of the show was based on one of the books in the trilogy, which allowed the producers of the show to really dive into the story without having to cut out major plot elements.

Anyway, watching the show motivated me to re-read the trilogy, which was just as excellent this time around.  It’s a wonderfully imaginative story with likeable characters that really just draws you in and has you heavily invested in them.  I highly recommend it and the TV series it inspired.

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