Q1 2024 Reading Highlights: 14 Books
My Q1 2024 reading didn’t go according to plan and while I didn’t create specific reading lists each month, I had some general reading goals that didn’t pan out. Anyway these are my Q1 2024 reading highlights. For January to March 2024, I read 14 books. These were primarily romance books.
Q1 2024 Reading Highlights
I read 14 books and while most were romance there was on Caribbean mystery story that I am excited to gush about and read more from the author. And I am also happy to say that I read primarily books by Black women in Q1.
My Re-introduction to Rebekah Weatherspoon
I follow romance author Rebekah Weatherspoon on Twitter but I saw her birthday promotion on TikTok where she invited readers to pay what they want for bundles of her romance novels and I did just that in February 2024. One weekend, I read three Rebekah Weatherspoon novellas.
I read Fit, So Sweet and Haven. Out of the three books, my favourite was Haven. The books were book one in separate series that Weatherspoon had in the lead up to her book Meegan.
I plan to read Xeni and Meegan by Weatherspoon in April and see if I should try her 2023 YA romance release as well. But if you like books with a lot of heat and are quick reads, I recommend you try her series. Haven has a suspenseful vibe that I think quiet a few people will like.
Black BookTok’s Fav Book Boyfriend
I finally got around to reading Only For The Week by Natasha Bishop and I liked it. I wasn’t head over heels for Rome quite like the BookTok girls were last year but I get the appeal. And I would read more by Bishop. It was a cute vacation romance and the ending was sweet. Now I have some other Booktok favs on my Kindle that I will slowly get around to but I am in no rush to read them so we will see how far I get in the upcoming weeks. At the top of my list of books I want to read because of BookTok are All I’ve Ever Wanted All I’ve Ever Needed by A.E Valdez and Somebody’s Wife by Robbi Renee.
Historical Romance Novels With Black Women
I enjoyed two historical romance books in Q1. The first I read was A Season With the Duke by Addy DuLac and this is regency with a biracial FMC and a Scottish MMC. I had issues with the antagonist in this one and felt like he was made a villain without much nuance or explanation of his rational and his preoccupation with the female lead but overall, it was a good historical romance and I want to read more by Addy DuLac.
Then I also read my second Beverly Jenkins and now I am hooked. I read Jenkins’ Forbidden in 2019 and I didn’t like the male lead and so I stayed away from her books. But Rebel was fantastic and since I read that there have been weekend USD 1.99 ebook deals on her books and so I have four other of her historical romance novels on my Kindle ready to read. I think I should have a Beverly Jenkins week this quarter. But Rebel was really one of Q1 2024 reading highlights.
My Introduction to Synithia Williams’ Peartree Cove Series
Synithia Williams is another Black romance author whose work I know based Twitter interactions and I read two books in her Peartree Cove series and I want to read book two in May when it is released even though I have no idea who the main couple will be but I liked the small town romance so much that I want to read more books set in the community.
The Secrets of a Southern Wedding is book one in the series. And I couldn’t stand the FMC, Imani was so immature for someone in her mid-30s that it drove me crazy. Then I also read book 1.5 a novella, About Last Night and that sealed it for me and I want to read more in the series.
A Barbados Mystery
I’ve had Callie Browning books on my Kindle for months and in March I finally decided to read one and I loved it. I read The Vanishing Girls which is a romantic suspense set in Barbados in the 1980s and I feel that is all you need to know going in. The Girl With Hazel Eyes is on my radar for April. I wanted to read at least one book by a Caribbean author each month and that hasn’t happen (I am still reading Patsy by Nicole Dennis Benn three months later going into four). But I will dedicate a week of my reading to a Caribbean book for the rest of 2024.
A Blast From The Past and Finally Reading Chanel Cleeton
I felt a tad nostalgic in January and revisited book on in JD Robb’s In Death series and it didn’t age well but I enjoyed listening to the audiobook. But somehow that ended up being the only audiobook I’ve listened to this year. Typically I listen to two or so audiobooks via Everand but someone they are not quite hitting this year. I don’t know why but maybe things will pick up in April.
I finally read a book by Chanel Cleeton. Cleeton has been an author I was interested in since 2018 or 2019 but I never managed to complete any of her books until this year. A Night At the Tropicana is a short story told in two timelines, Havana, Cuba in the past and Florida in present day.
ARCs
I am slowly stepping away from request eARCs via NetGalley and Edelweiss but close to the end of 2023 I requested Knowing Me Knowing You and that was my first book of 2024 and it was great. (I already have an advanced copy of Jeevani Charika’s next book).
And one of my most anticipated debut was The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham and boy was that a toxic story and it was the longest book I read in Q1 2024.
My Fav Book of Q1
My favourite book in my Q1 reading highlights is a messy book that BookBub had listed as women’s fiction and that was Roommates by Ola Tundun. It was drama filled. The characters are all unlikeable but it was readable and fun and well-written and I already have book two waiting on my e-reader so yes, I highly recommend this one.
So What Am I Currently Reading
So Q1 reading didn’t quite go how I wanted it but I have high hopes for Q2. I think I will keep these quarterly wrap-ups throughout 2024.
But what am I currently reading? Actively nothing at the moment. I finished two books on 31 March and writing this on Monday 1 April 2024 – Easter Monday so I taking a day to relax and set the mood or check the vibe for April.
According to The Storygraph my top genres so far this year have been romance, contemporary, historical, mystery, speculative fiction, thriller and crime. And that tracks for what my general interests are.
Coming up later this month, you can expect more bookish discussions, a post dedicated to my Beverly Jenkins books and my new quest to read all the books featuring the LeVeq brothers and my struggles with my physical TBR (it isn’t the size because it is manageable but my struggle with reading physical books).
Let me know what your favourite book from Q1 2024 was? What are some of your Q1 2024 reading highlights?
Chantel DaCosta
Chantel DaCosta is a storyteller, editor and lifestyle content creator. She is passionate about Jamaican women's own voices narratives and journeys to mindfulness.
