Cheyenne's take on the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards

I’ve read 111 books so far this year and several were nominated for or won Goodreads Choice Awards. Let’s talk about my take on the books that won.

The Goodreads Choice Awards is an annual event where Goodreads users are invited to vote for their favorite books published that year in a variety of categories.

There are 15 categories, so let’s get started.

The Fiction category was won by “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach with 94,733 votes. I actually haven’t read any books in this category, but the winner has a 4.17 rating, and I’ve heard good things.

The Historical Fiction winner was the biggest of the year, and in my opinion, the best book of 2024. “The Women” by Kristin Hannah received 253,147 votes, and by far deserves the title. Several other titles I’ve heard fantastic reviews for: “The Briar Club,” “The Frozen River” and “The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.”

“God of the Woods” by Liz Moore took the win in Mystery/Thriller which makes me so excited because it is on my shortlist to read. The book is sitting on my shelf calling my name. It received 82,603 votes and has a 4.18 rating on Goodreads.

Romance let me down again this year as Emily Henry continues to sweep the category. She won with this year’s book, “Funny Story.” Don’t get me wrong, I gave the book four stars. But “Just for the Summer” by Abby Jimenez and “The Paradise Problem” by Christina Lauren were so much better. Both five-star reads. It won with 179,349 votes. Jimenez had 140,786 votes.

Romantasy is in a similar boat where Sarah J. Maas will sweep if she has a book. Her most recent installment in the Crescent City series, “The House of Flame and Shadow,” won the category with 122,895 votes. I did rate the book five stars, but I chose not to vote for it since I knew it would win anyway. I voted for “The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst, though I’m severly disappointed “Bloodguard” by Cecy Robson wasn’t an option because it’s my top romantasy/fantasy read of the year.

In the fantasy category, my selection “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” by TJ Klune is the winner with 69,874 votes. The book is a sequel to one of my all-time favorites, “The House in the Cerulean Sea.”

I read a couple others of the fantasy titles, but none compared to this book.

The Science Fiction winner was the debut novel “The Ministry of Time” by Kaliane Bradley. I’m not a big sci-fi girly, so I have no thoughts here.

The horror category is similar. “You Like It Darker” by Stephen King was the winner. I don’t read horror, but I wonder if people get upset by the chokehold King has on the genre.

“How to End a Love Story” by Yulin Kuang won best debut novel with 63,605 votes. I haven’t read it yet, but I bought it when it was picked for the Reese Witherspoon book club. I just need to get to it!

The top two audio books this year were both narrated by my all-time favorite narrator —Julia Whelan, and, interestingly enough, I listened to both on audio this year.

I voted for “The Women” which should have won, in my opinion, but “Funny Story” triumphed again. What is it with these crazy Emily Henry fans?

“Somewhere Beyond the Sea” would have been my second choice (it placed sixth) because Daniel Henning is the perfect narrator for the quirky worlds of TJ Klune.

Young adult fantasy went to “Ruthless Vows” by Rebecca Ross, the sequel in her “Divine Rivals” dulology. I voted for this book and wholeheartedly agree with the other 93,230 voters. It was a phenomenal wrap up to the story. The first book won this category a year ago.

“Heartstopper: Volume Five” won Young Adult Fiction. While I haven’t read these graphic novels, I’ve heard tons of positive things about them from young readers.

In the Nonfiction category, the winner was “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness” by Jonathan Haidt. I’m thinking of renting this on audio because it sounds really interesting.

My favorite memoir of the year — “Dinner for Vampires” by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz — was not an option for best Memoir. The winner was “The Third Gilmore Girl” by Kelly Bishop. I think my favorite is more niche so it makes sense this one won.

The final category, History and Biography, went to “The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore.” It checks out that a bunch of readers picked this as their favorite.

Which have you read? Do you agree or disagree with the ratings and winners?

Send your thoughts to croche@crestonnews.com or comment on the Facebook article. I’d love to hear from you.