Mount TBR Challenge 2024 discussion

Hello, all! This will be my 4th year attempting Mount TBR, and I'm looking forward to seeing how many books I can tackle this year! Last year I reached the top of Mount Everest, but of course I still have plenty of books hanging around that haven't yet been read. I'm just going to take this as it comes, and move on to each individual mountain if/when I reach the previous mountain's goal. :)

Updates to come as soon as I finish my first physical TBR book.

Books Read in 2024:

Pike's Peak

1) Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (completed 1/12/24)
2) The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (completed 1/18/24)
3) The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (completed 1/23/24)*
4) People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (completed 1/31/24)
5) Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler (completed 2/2/24)
6) The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé (completed 2/7/24)
7) Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood (completed 2/11/24)
8) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (completed 2/13/24)
9) Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood (completed 2/25/24)
10) Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen (completed 2/28/24)
11) Hold Still by Nina LaCour (completed 3/2/24)
12)

Books Read: 11 of 12

* denotes a reread

1st book towards Pike's Peak is Assistant to the Villain, which I picked up on a whim at the end of 2023. I wasn't sure about this one for the first half, but it grew on me, and I will definitely be checking out the sequel when it releases.

Rating: 3 stars

Okay, let's do some catch up for the month of January! I've finished 3 more books towards my climb.

2) The Name of the Star is a book I've wanted to read for ages, and one that's been sitting on my Kindle probably since its release over 10 years ago. I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to reading more in the series!

Rating: 4 stars

3) The Darkest Minds is a reread, as I have plans to finally finish the series this year, but needed to start it over as I'd forgotten pretty much everything. However, it didn't hold up nearly as well upon rereading (I'd originally given it 5 stars), although I'm glad for the refresher course so I can continue on.

Rating: 3.5 stars

4) I'm working on my Emily Henry backlist, and put People We Meet on Vacation as one of my 24 in 2024 picks. Alas, I didn't love this nearly as much as I did Beach Read - is the friends to lovers trope perhaps not for me?

Rating: 3 stars

5) I'm trying to do better with reading my Book of the Month picks, so have been trying to get to at least one per month. January's pick was Adelaide, which unfortunately had the most infuriating main characters and some things that happened that I just did not jibe with. A major disappointment.

Rating: 2.5 stars

6) I could not recommend The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine enough, and think it should be required reading. If you want a true look at the history of Palestine and Israel, from the brutal to the heartbreaking, look no further than this book.

Rating: 5 stars

7) Making my way through my stash of Ali Hazelwood by reading Check & Mate, which I absolutely adored. She's definitely becoming a favorite author!

Rating: 5 stars

8) I tried reading Jane Eyre for the first time in 2013 and quit halfway through. This time I found an audiobook to help me along. Still took me 6 days, but at least it's now done! Honestly wasn't my favorite, although it's not a bad book, and I'm happy to have read a story that so many other stories are based on.

Rating: 3.5 stars

9) Whereas I absolutely adored Check & Mate, Love on the Brain was not it. It has one of those quirky main characters that you're supposed to love, but just totally rubbed me the wrong way. I can only hope that the other books by this author currently on my TBR will be more in line with The Love Hypothesis, which was my favorite book of 2023.

Rating: 3 stars

10) Finished another Book of the Month book with Other Birds, which honestly didn't work for me in the same way it seems to have done for others. I just felt zero connection to the characters.

Rating: 3 stars

11) Not sure what's going on with me, but this is the second book by a favorite author that didn't provide the emotional punch I was looking for. Hold Still was still good, just not great. TW for suicide and self-harm if you decide to give this one a read!

Rating: 4 stars