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Top 9 Books I Read in 2024

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I've been quite busy this year with writing and doing some re-reading/editing. I'm working on a series right now and this year I wrote books 4 and 5, re-read and edited the previous books in the series, and also re-read Children of the Dead City because it has a little bit crossover with book 6 which I've just started. This means that I only actually read 9 books this year, but they were all so great I couldn't choose which ones to put on this list and which ones to leave out! So I guess I should have called this post "the 9 great books I read in 2024" or something, but well... I wanted it to fit with all the other "top" posts from past years so...  Before we jump in, check out my past top books posts:  Top 6 Books I read in 2024   Top 5 Books I read in 2022 Top 8 Books I read in 2021 Top 5 Books I read in 2020 Top 3 Books I Read in 2019   Top 5 Books I Read in 2018   Top 3 Books I Read in 2017 A couple of these are books I discovered through judging...
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Review: Miss Percy's Definitive Guide to the Restoration of Dragons by Quenby Olson

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    Miss Percy's Guide to the Restoration of Dragons is a wonderful conclusion to this trilogy. The ever-growing cast of excellent characters that feel so real continues to grow, bringing more great characters and also giving more depth to some of the characters that were already introduced in the previous two volumes. This book is full of adventure and difficult situations for Mildred and the others, so much so that I felt intense anger and stress for her future at times, but it's also full of that same cozy vibe that permeated the other two.  With this series the coziness stems from the character interactions and the fact that even though it's a book about dragons you can see similarities and connections to very real behaviours that a pet or child might display. The way Mildred cares for the dragons - and for everyone else around her, really - is so reminiscent of a mother or other caregiver worrying about and caring for their kids, which makes it all so believable in t...
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Review: The Firetouched (Firebrand Book 2) by D. E. Olesen

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Firebrand Book 2: The Fire-Touched is an excellent follow-up to the first book. It continues the story of Martel as he completes his first year at the Lyceum, hoping that by the end of it, he'll finally pass the novice stage and become an acolyte like the others his age. As this is the second book Martel has become more comfortable at the school and with the surrounding city and I also enjoyed sinking comfortably back into this well-built world with Martel. I enjoyed this second installment almost more than I did the first.  Martel's characterization is consistent with the first one, and he continues to get himself into tough situations and put himself into danger to help others, but by now he has his feet under him a bit more and is better able to handle the situations he gets into - and pick out friends from foes from people who are trying to use him. There's lots of great character work not only for Martel, but also some of the side-characters.  In terms of his magical e...
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