Bubbling up with Helena

At the time of writing (12/31/24), I have read 116 books this year. We’ll see if I’m able to finish another book today. I read a lot of books I loved this year. Here are some of the ones that stood out for me this year.

While most of these books were also released in 2024, I counted books that were released in previous years, but that I read this year.

The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord

• Summary: Two best friends who haven’t spoken in ten years pretend to date after break-ups with their respective exes go viral, in this delightfully fun and deeply emotional novel. June and Levi were best friends as teenagers—until the day they weren’t. Now June is struggling to make rent on her beachside tea shop, Levi is living a New York cliché as a disillusioned hedge fund manager and failed novelist, and they’ve barely spoken in years. But after they both experience public, humiliating break-ups with their exes that spread like wildfire across TikTok rabbit holes and daytime talk shows alike, they accidentally make some juicy gossip of their own—a photo of them together has the internet convinced they’re a couple. With so many people rooting for them, they decide to put aside their rocky past and make a pact to fuel the fire. Pretending to date will help June’s shop get back on its feet and make Levi’s ex realize that she made a mistake. All they have to do is convince the world they’re in love, one swoon-worthy photo opp at a time. Two viral break-ups. One fake relationship. Five sparkling, heart-pounding dates. June and Levi can definitely pull this off without their hearts getting involved. Because everyone knows fake dating doesn’t come with real feelings. Right?
• Why I Loved It: I love all of Emma Lord’s books. Their wit, energy, and humor sparkle off the page. The Break-Up Pact is Lord’s first adult novel, and it might just be my favorite of hers yet. June and Levi’s relationship is interesting and compelling as they work through grief together. I read this book three times in 2024, and fell more in love with it every time.
• Who I Recommend it For: Fans of second chance romance and friends to lovers romances. Also fans of sweet treats.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

• Summary: A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry. Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak. Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them? But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex… right?
• Why I Loved It: I’m realizing now that this book has a fairly similar plot to The Break-Up Pact. Hmm…maybe I have a type? Emily Henry is the queen of romance, and I love every single one of her books. I devoured this book. Miles might be my favorite of Henry’s male protagonists. He is such a teddy bear, and I just loved reading about him and Daphne.
• Who I Recommend it For: People who love books and libraries, fans of the fake dating trope, fans of witty dialogue

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

• Summary: Everyone in Fairview knows the story. Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town. But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer? Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.
• Why I Loved It: This book had me on the edge of my seat. The mystery is incredibly compelling and well paced. I also loved Pip’s developing relationship with Ravi, Sal’s younger brother. I certainly didn’t see the end of the book coming, which made it even better. I devoured the Netflix adaptation of the book as well.
• Who I Recommend it For: Anyone who likes a good murder mystery and redemption story.

Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon

• Summary: They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual points of view sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow. When longtime rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair confessed their feelings on the last day of senior year, they knew they’d only have a couple months together before they left for college. Now summer is over, and they’re determined to make their relationship work as they begin school in different states. In Boston, Rowan is eager to be among other aspiring novelists, learning from a creative writing professor she adores. She’s just not sure why she suddenly can’t seem to find her voice. In New York, Neil embraces the chaos of the city, clicking with a new friend group more easily than he anticipated. But when his past refuses to leave him alone, he doesn’t know how to handle his rapidly changing mental health—or how to talk about it with the girl he loves. Over a year of late-night phone calls, weekend visits, and East Coast adventures, Rowan and Neil fall for each other again and again as they grapple with the uncertainty of their new lives. They’ve spent so many years at odds with each other—now that they’re finally on the same team, what does the future hold for them?
• Why I Loved It: After falling in love with Rowan and Neil in Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, I was eager to learn what happened to them next. We so rarely get the chance to follow a couple after the happily ever after. Solomon addresses mental health issues in this text with such thoughtfulness.
• Who I Recommend it For: Anyone looking for mental health and Jewish representation. Also, of course, anyone who loved Today, Tonight, Tomorrow.

I Hope this Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

• Summary: Snarky and romantic, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters. Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a “pleasure to have in class.” It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She’d never send them of course — she’d rather die than hurt anyone’s feelings — but it’s a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie’s work. All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids. “You’re attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain . . . I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you’ve been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft…” Sadie doesn’t have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them… that is, until they’re accidentally sent out. Overnight, Sadie’s carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It’s her worst nightmare — now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they’re not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there’s one person growing to appreciate the “real” Sadie — Julius, the only boy she’s sworn to hate…
• Why I Loved It: As soon as I saw it compared to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, I knew I’d love this book. As someone who is absolutely a people pleaser, I could absolutely relate to Sadie’s horror at her darkest thoughts being revealed. I also have a soft spot for the academic rivals to lovers trope.
• Who I Recommend it For: Anyone who enjoyed Lara Jean’s story in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, fans of the academic rivals to lovers trope

Tangled Up in You by Christina Lauren

• Summary: She has a dream. He has a plan. Together they’ll take a leap of faith. Ren has never held an iPhone, googled the answer to a question, or followed a crush on social media. What she has done: Read a book or two, or three (okay, hundreds). Taught herself to paint. Built a working wind power system from scratch. But for all the books she’s read, Ren has never found one that’s taught a woman raised on a homestead and off the grid for most of her twenty-two years how to live in the real world. So when she finally achieves her lifelong dream of attending Corona College, it feels like her life is finally beginning. Fitz has the rest of his life mapped out: Graduate from Corona at the top of his class, get his criminal record wiped clean, and pass himself off as the rich, handsome player everyone thinks he is. He’s a few short months from checking off step one of his plans when Ren Gylden, with her cascading blonde hair and encyclopedic brain, crashes into his life, and for the first time Fitz’s plan is in jeopardy. But a simple assignment in their immunology seminar changes the course of both their lives, and suddenly they’re thrown out of the frying pan and into the fire on a road trip that will lead them in the most unexpected directions. Out on the open road, the world somehow shifts, and the unlikely pair realize that, maybe, the key to the dreams they’ve both been chasing have been sitting next to them the whole time.
• Why I Loved It: I love every book in this series of Disney films adapted into romance novels. I was excited to read this one because I love Tangled, and I enjoy Christina Lauren’s work. They did such a great job adapting a beloved film and bringing it into our modern world.
• Who I Recommend it For: Anyone who loves Disney films, especially Tangled.

Honorable Mentions

• The Getaway List by Emma Lord
• The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
• Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz
• The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
• A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston