Hey bookworm friends! It’s the end of the year which means it’s time for the obligatory favourite book of the year post! This works out perfectly for this week’s TTTopic which is Best Books I Read in 2024. Since the topic is the same for Top 5 Tuesday, I’ll be linking with that meme for the first time too. However, I won’t simply be listing the 5 or 10 best books, instead, I’ll share the results of my Best Book of 2024 Tournament. Throughout the year, I’ve been keeping track of my favourite book of each month in my notebook and now it’s time for the books to face off in 4 rounds and reveal the winner đ!
Link-ups
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Donât forget to check out her post and link up!
Top 5 Tuesday Top 5 Tuesday was created by the blog Bionic Book Worm, and is now hosted at Meeghan reads!!
Rules
In previous years I’ve made a bracket competition for my favourite books of the year, picking one per month. However, to make it flow nicely, this year I introduced two bonus picks: one for each half of the year that I didn’t choose for any of the months. This gives me a chance to pick other standouts and those bonus picks will automatically skip the first round (to add some drama)! Additionally, I randomized the order that each month appears in round one so that back-to-back months don’t necessarily face off against each other. Also, I’m not picking any re-reads. I hope this all makes sense. Explanations aside, let’s get into it!
Round 1 Face-Offs
12 monthly favourites, 6 match-ups. The winner of each pairing will be marked with a star (đ).
| June A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn đ | vs. | July A Dark And Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney |
| February The Deep by Rivers Solomonđ | vs. | November The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera |
| March Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb đ | vs. | October Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George |
| May A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers | vs. | August A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn đ |
| January Down Among the Sticks & Bones by Seanan McGuire đ | vs. | December An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn |
| April Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk đ | vs. | September Descender, Vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire |
Round 2 Face-Offs
The 6 winners of round one plus the two bonus picks!
| Bonus From the First Half of the Year I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman đ | vs. | June Winner A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn |
| February Winner The Deep by Rivers Solomon | vs. | March Winner Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb đ |
| Bonus From the Second Half of the Year The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White | vs. | August Winner A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn đ |
| April Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk | vs. | January Winner Down Among the Sticks & Bones by Seanan McGuire đ |
Semi-Finals & Final Round
| Bonus 1 I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman | vs. | March Winner Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb đ |
| August Winner A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybournđ | vs. | January Winner Down Among the Sticks & Bones by Seanan McGuire |
| FINAL | ROUND | |
| March Winner Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb đ | vs. | August Winner A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn |
Best Book I Read In 2024
That’s it for my Best Book of 2024 Tournament! What was your favourite book of the year?
Let’s chat in the comments!
Did you participate in this week’s TTT? If so, feel free to share your link below. What book will you start the new year with?
This is such a fun way to find out what your favorite book is! I have actually thought about doing something like this in the past but physically couldn’t figure out the “bracket” part of it. Lol. I love your winnerđ
It really was fun, I’m sure there are more ‘accurate’ ways but I’ve liked doing it this way for a couple of years haha. I literally used a basketball tournament website to help me visualize how to make the brackets and I don’t even like sports đ€Ł! I’m glad you loved my winner đ€
I love this! Down Among the Sticks and Bones is my favourite out of the ones I’ve read.
Thank you! & That’s awesome, I agree it’s fantastic. I love the whole series but the books that focus more on Jack and Jill are the best ones!!
Ooh what a fun way to share your favourite book of the year. Based on how many times she made the cut I’m really going to have to check out Deanna Raybourn sometime. I’ve added quite a lot of the others to my TBR when you’ve mentioned them in previous posts too. Robin Hobbs has one of the ten unowned series that I NEED to start in 2025 so seeing her as the winner here really seems to reiterate that point. Favourite of the whole year is a very hard title to gain, after all.
I hope you’re well and that you have a wonderful new year đ„°
I just learned about this book brackets thing the other day! It seems like such a fun thing to do.
This was the first year I did a bracket but it was a plain old straightforward one đ€Ł Your bracket looks really cool though and I love that you randomized the months to make things a little more competitive! You’ve inspired me for 2025 (but let’s see if I make things more complicated for myself, haha). I’ve still got your winning book on my TBR and I don’t know if I’ll get to it in 2025 but here’s to hoping! I hope you continue to find more amazing books in the year ahead, Vero đ
You had some good titles here, and Assassin’s Apprentice is worthy.
I like the idea of these, and tried one last year but abandoned it before completion. Too often I have books that I like as much as each other and it is hard to choose between them, especially if they are excellent in different aspects. So while I like seeing people pick out their best book of the year, I no longer do.
Happy New Year!
Did you see Diniâs bracket yet? You are the only two bloggers Iâve seen to do that this year so far, and I think itâs super fun. đ
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
Oh my gosh, no I have not seen Dini’s yet, I only just started going through people’s posts, thanks for the heads up đ & thanks so much, it’s certainly something I look forward to all year haha.
That’s a really fun way to pick a favorite of the year! I also picked a favorite per month, though I didn’t go further to pick a favorite book of the year. (If I had to pick just one, though, it would probably be T. Kingfisher’s A Sorceress Comes to Call.) Happy reading!
What a fun way to choose your favourites of the year! Thanks for sharing Veros.
This is a fun and unique way to choose your best read of the year. Hope you have a great 2025. Happy New Year!
I loved seeing your favourites and this is a fun way to determine number one! I read Assassin’s Apprentice last year and I am curious to continue with the series, I particularly like the introduction of the fool.
I thought The Deep was a really good book and I want to read all of Rivers Solomon works now!
Happy New Year, I hope you discover lots of favourites in 2025! đ„°