Like every other reader, I have my favorite, go-to authors whose books I always look forward to reading. I also enjoy discovering new authors to love. In fact, out of the 230 titles I read in 2024, 127 of them—almost half—were penned by new-to-me writers. That made it really easy to create a list to fit this week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt: Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024. As always, this fun weekly link-up is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. Benjamin Stevenson—Everyone knows I love me a good mystery/thriller, especially when it's both clever and funny. Stevenson's Ernest Cunningham series is exactly that. You can tell just by the titles of the books—Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone; Everyone On This Train is a Suspect; and Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret—that they're hilarious. I read all three in 2024 and loved each one.. This Australian author has a couple other mystery/thriller series that I need to check out.

2. Sally Hepworth—Another Aussie, Hepworth writes absorbing domestic thrillers. I read three of them in 2024, of which The Good Sister was my favorite. I definitely plan to continue exploring Hepworth's backlist this year. 

3. Raquel V. Reyes—Cozy mysteries make nice palate cleansers for me between heavier reads, so I'm always on the lookout for entertaining ones. Reyes' series starring a Cuban American food anthropologist and amateur sleuth in Miami is a fun one. I read the first two books last year and have already read #3 this year.

4. Erin Lindsey—I'm a big historical mystery fan, so I get excited when I find new series in this genre to enjoy. I discovered Lindsey's Rose Gallagher series in 2024. It stars an Irish American housemaid in Gilded Age New York City who can see ghosts. She becomes part of the Pinkerton Detective Agency's secret paranormal division, which deals with supernatural disturbances. With lots of interesting historical details, cameos by famous people of the past, and quirky characters, it's an enjoyable series. I read the first book in 2024 and the second last week.

5. Marthe Jocelyn—Speaking of historical mysteries, I found Jocelyn's Aggie Morton series last year. The series, which is aimed at middle grade readers, features a young Agatha Christie and her new friend, Hercules Poirot. The youngsters team up to do what else, but solve mysteries. I read the first installment, The Body Under the Piano, in 2024 and plan to continue the series this year.

6. Gabrielle Meyer—Meyer is a popular author of Christian and inspirational fiction. Her publisher, Bethany House, has kindly sent me all the books in her Timeless series as they have come out. It took me until last year to finally read the first installment, When the Day Comes, which I enjoyed. The book is about a woman who has the unique ability to time travel between two lives—one in Gilded Age New York City, one in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg. When she turns 21, she will have to choose which life to inhabit permanently. 

7. Ying Chang Compestine—Compestine is a Chinese American food expert and writer who grew up in Wuhan, China, a city that became famous in 2020 because of the Covid outbreak there. Morning Sun in Wuhan, a middle grade novel, was one of my favorite reads of 2024 because of its authenticity and hopeful vibe. I'm interested in reading Compestine's other middle grade novels as well as her memoir, Growing Up Under a Red Flag.

8. Naomi Stephens—Although she only has a few books under her belt, this Christian historical fiction writer impressed me with The Burning of Rosemont Abbey. I hear that she is planning to write more mysteries and I am here for them!

9. Melanie Crowder—Crowder writes books for children in several different genres. I read her YA novel, An Uninterrupted View of the Sky, last year. It's set in 1999 Bolivia and concerns an Indigenous boy whose father is unfairly targeted by a corrupt government and sent to prison. Unable to cope, his mother abandons the family, leaving the boy and his younger sister no choice but to live with their father in prison. It's a beautiful novel about keeping hope alive even in the most dire circumstances. I enjoyed it, so I want to read more by Crowder.

10. Lesa Cline-Ransome—Cline-Ransome pens biographies and novels featuring important events and people in Black history. I loved One Big Open Sky, her middle-grade verse novel about Black homesteaders on the American frontier. Not only does it tell a unique story, but it's also poetic, poignant, and powerful. I'm definitely up for reading more by this author.

There you are, ten new-to-me authors I discovered in 2024. Are they new to you, too? Which writers did you find last year? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

I've been feeling a little emotionally bruised lately because of some...things, which has led to a *bit* of indulgence in the bookish retail therapy department. Needless to say, this week's TTT prompt is going to be a cinch for me: Top Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection. 

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

1. The Agatha Christie Collection by Agatha Christie—I've read a few of Christie's iconic Hercules Poirot mysteries, but I've been wanting to start at the beginning and read the rest in order. The first one, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, always seems to be checked out from my library, so I finally just bought this volume which includes that title, as well as The Murder on the Links (#2) and Poirot Investigates (#3). I'm excited to see how it all began!

2. Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith—I've mentioned this middle grade novel before. It's about a young Black girl from New York City who loves nature to a degree that confounds everyone around her. She finds a kindred spirit in her aunt, who lives in a remote cabin in the Adirondacks. Despite all that Auntie Raven teaches Ava about wilderness survival, though, Ava's terrified when she finds herself alone in the woods. Does she have what it takes to make it ouf of the forest alive? 

3. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan—I have been enjoying this Irish-Australian author's Cormac Reilly crime series, so I was eager to give this standalone a go. It has not been available in my local libraries or bookstores and even Amazon didn't have it until recently. Finally, I was able to get myself a copy. The story revolves around a young couple who go on a romantic vacation to a remote cabin in the woods. When only the man returns, telling a story full of holes, everyone is asking the titular question: What happened to Nina?

4. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu—Considering what is going on right now, particularly in the U.S., I figured this was a good time to buy a copy of this book, about which I've heard great things. A warm, respectful conversation between two wise, compassionate leaders about what really matters in life sounds like just what my soul needs.

5. Not Nothing by Gayle Forman—I've never been overly interested in this author's YA novels, but I do like the sound of this one, her first middle-grade book. Alex is a lonely 12-year-old boy who commits an act that gets him sentenced to a summer performing community service at a retirement home. He is not at all enthusiastic about the prospect until he meets a 107-year-old resident named Josey. A man who has lived through it all, including the Holocaust, Josey just wants his long life to be over. When he meets Alex and begins telling the boy his story, the experience changes both of them. Can Josey's tales of courage give Alex the strength he needs to own up to the worst mistake he's ever made?

6. Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny—Changing Hands Bookstore, my local indie, offers a $10 birthday discount to its customers when we shop during our birth month. I used mine to pick up a copy of this 14th installment in the Armand Gamache crime series. It's one of my favorite series of all time, so I want to own all of them so I can re-read the books whenever I want. I haven't read Kingdom of the Blind yet, but it begins with a strange letter informing Gamache that he has been named in the will of a woman who is a complete stranger to him. He's baffled. When a dead body is found, the deceased's intentions become a little more clear—and a lot more sinister.

7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett—Santa Claus brought me the beautiful Fingerprints edition of this children's classic. It's about a young girl who discovers a neglected garden on her uncle's estate. As she nurtures it back to life, she unearths secrets, clues, and answers to important questions about her family and herself.

8. The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton—My sister gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for my birthday, which is a few days before Christmas. I used it to buy this dystopian/murder novel that I've been eyeing. It has a very intriguing premise: a killing fog has decimated the world's population, leaving only 125 people living on an idyllic island protected by a security system that keeps the fog away. Then, a scientist is murdered. The death triggers not just a lowering of the security system, which will disappear entirely if the killer isn't found in the next 107 hours, but also an erasure of everyone's memories of the night before. Someone on the island is a murderer, even if they don't remember that they are. Can the islanders solve the murder before it's too late?

9. Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson—I also used my gift card to buy a copy of this murder mystery by one of my favorite YA authors. It concerns Marlowe Wexler, a teenage girl who takes a summer job as a tour guide at a mansion that was built on a remote island in the 1920s and abandoned soon after. It's an easy gig, if not the most exciting job in the world. Except for the unexplained deaths that happened on the island. Those are...something. When Marlowe's employer mysteriously vanishes, Marlowe worries that the house's haunted history is making a deadly comeback...

10. The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander—You know those tempting Kindle deals, where interesting-looking books can be had for just a few dollars? I fall for those way too often! Such is the case with this historical novel about three young Irish women who are sent to a Dublin convent that now serves as a Magdalen laundry for the crimes of being too pretty and too independently-minded. Despite the grimness and cruelty they experience in their new home, the young women form a fast, deep friendship. When they are finally able to escape the laundry, they'll need that bond to help them survive in the outside world, which might be more harsh than the one they've just escaped. Sounds depressing, but intriguing.

There you go, ten of my newest book acquisitions. Have you read any of them? What did you think? Which volumes have you acquired lately? I'd love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog. 

With the onset of a new year, our minds naturally seem to turn to thoughts of clean slates, fresh starts, and new beginnings. We contemplate what we want to accomplish in the next 365 days and what mini steps we need to follow to get us there. Not surprisingly, today's prompt for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl) is along these same lines: Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2025. 

Although I love to make ambitious goals and resolutions every year, I've actually made very few bookish ones for 2025. I'm pretty happy with how I'm reading and blogging right now, so I mostly want to keep doing what I'm doing. I couldn't come up with ten goals, but I did think of a few.

1. Read at least 215 books. I've read 200+ books for the past several years and in 2024, I read 230, so I upped my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal from my usual 200 to 215. Shouldn't be too hard to reach.

2. Review more books on my blog. Since I've only posted a handful of reviews here at BBB over the past couple years, this one won't be difficult to improve! Ha ha. I do review every book I read on Goodreads as soon as I finish it, but I also want to post longer, more in-depth reviews on my blog like I used to. 

3. Read more of the physical books I already own. I have hundreds of physical books and my bookshelves are already double and triple-stacked. I need to read more of my own books and slow down on buying more. Easier said than done.

4. Enjoy my reading challenges and finish them if I can. I've taken on a bunch of reading challenges for 2025. Although I never take them too seriously, I do enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I get when I complete them. We'll see how I do this year. So far, so good.

5. Try to read more clean, uplifting books. I tend to be drawn to darker books, but so much heaviness in my reading has started to feel weighty on my mood and soul. I'm not going to give up my murder mysteries, but I would like to focus more this year on the genre's lighter side—cozy mysteries, historical mysteries, classic mysteries, light-hearted mysteries, etc. I'll also be on the lookout for reads that are lighter and less depressing than my usual fare. Any recommendations?

That's about all I can come up with for this list. How about you? What are your bookish goals for the new year? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Even though Isabel in Bloom by Mae Respicio is more of a Spring/Summer read than a Fall/Winter one, I loved the infusion of sunshine it gave my end-of-the-year reading. Its hopeful, life-affirming message is uplifting no matter what the season! 

Written in verse, this middle-grade novel concerns a 12-year-old girl from the Philippines who has just moved to California to live with her mother. She has been raised by her grandparents for most of her life while her single mother worked in the U.S., visiting her native country only occasionally. Isabel is nervous not only about relocating to a foreign place, but also about living with a woman she barely knows. In the Philippines, she has her friends, her beloved grandparents, the lush garden she helps care for, and the sights, sounds, and tastes she's used to. What is there for her in America? 

Just as Isabel feared, she feels like a complete outsider in San Francisco. When she discovers a neglected garden at her school, though, she sees a glimmer of hope. Could resurrecting the Garden Club be the key to finding belonging in her strange new life? Or will her efforts be shut down before she—and the garden—really gets the chance to blossom?

Isabel in Bloom addresses some serious issues, including Asian hate, but overall, it's a sweet, wholesome novel with a happy ending (that comes too easily, but still...). It provided a perfect palate cleanser for me after a series of darker reads. Isabel is a sympathetic character. Even if we've never had to start over in a new place, all of us have been the "new kid" in one situation or another. It's easy to empathize with Isabel as she navigates life in a foreign environment, tackles homesickness, and learns to trust a parent she hardly knows. I loved watching our heroine use her unique talents and skills to not just find belonging for herself but also to inspire her classmates to help others in their community. Her story is inspiring, teaching valuable lessons about teamwork, speaking up about things that are important, the power of the natural world to bring people together, service to others, etc. Because I lived in the Philippines briefly as a teenager and it still holds a special place in my heart, my favorite part of Isabel in Bloom is the descriptions of life in that country. Reading about the smell of sampaguita flowers, the taste of bibingka cakes, the mano po gesture used to show respect to the elderly, and more brought back happy memories of things I'd almost forgotten. For all these reasons, I very much enjoyed this nostalgic, edifying read.

(Readalikes: Reminds me a bit of Blackbird Fly by Erin Estrada Kelly and New From Here by Kelly Yang)

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Isabel in Bloom from Cindy over at Kiss the Book, who got it free from an American Library Association conference. Thank you!