Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.

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Welcome to today’s Top Ten Tuesday, where the prompt is a Throwback Freebie! I’m doing a lot of reflecting on the year so far, now that we’re more than halfway through the dumpster fire of a year that we’ve had. Sorry, I had to throw that in there, because it’s been a rough year for me. Since we discussed my most anticipated books releasing in the second half of 2024 recently, I wanted to check back in on my most anticipated books releasing in the first half of 2024. 

I made this list about books that I was looking forward to reading, and I figured that now is a good time to see how many of those I actually followed up on and read thus far. So without any further ado, here’s my list of books and whether I’ve gotten to them or not. Green highlights mean they’ve been read, while a yellow highlight means that I haven’t gotten to them yet:

1. The Women by Kristin Hannah (February 6) — The reigning queen of historical fiction returns with a new book set in the turbulent 1960s, as a young nursing student decides to enlist in the Army Nursing Corps just as her brother ships out to Vietnam. | Goodreads | Amazon
2. What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher (February 13) — As much as I loved What Moved the Dead, I have an overwhelming need to read this sequel that I wasn’t even expecting. It was worth it. | Goodreads | Amazon
3. The Eternal Ones by Namina Forna (February 13) — I’ve loved this series since the start, and the long-awaited finale to the trilogy is coming! The finale was really good! | Goodreads | Amazon
4. Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (March 5) — I’m a fan of Gonzalez already, but this story of a rising star in the art world of the 1980s who dies suddenly is juxtaposed with a disadvantaged art student in the present day, who stumbles across her story, and can’t help but see the similarities, sounds way too interesting to miss. Another great book from Gonzalez. | Goodreads | Amazon
5. The Hunter by Tana French (March 15) — Another surprise sequel, I wasn’t expecting any more to come after The Searcher, but I won’t lie. I’m excited to revisit the world of Cal Hooper and his quiet, little Irish town that turns out to not be so quiet. | Goodreads | Amazon
6. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (April 9) — A historical fantasy set during the Golden Age of Spain, involving a Jewish maid’s secret magic, a dizzying ride into the upper echelons of society, and an ever-increasing risk that her Jewish blood will place her in the crosshairs of the Inquisition. | Goodreads | Amazon
7. The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin (May 7) — This one came on my radar as a queer, Jewish, historical, fantasy-romance. The description kind of reminds me of an adult, queer, Shadow and Bone with more Jewish elements, so that sounds amazing to me. It was dark but incredible. | Goodreads | Amazon
8. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren (May 14) — These two are automatically auto-buy authors for me, so I honestly didn’t even read the description before doing this to my list. But if you need one, it’s a fake dating/marriage scheme to get a huge inheritance kind of book! | Goodreads | Amazon
9. Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse (June 4) — It feels like forever ago that I started reading a book with a stunning cover and an interesting premise, and now here’s the conclusion to this incredible trilogy. This last book blew my mind in the best possible way. | Goodreads | Amazon
10. Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (June 18) — A new book by the author of The Change, this one seems like the perfect read for this summer. Focusing on books that have been banned, and a lending library that makes them available by sneaking them into the dust jackets of super-wholesome books, this one sounds like it’s got the potential for humor but also complexity and depth. My expectations were on point, but they were far exceeded in this story. | Goodreads | Amazon

Overall, I think I did pretty good on reading these, but I still have some work to do to catch up. How did you do on your first half of 2024 releases? Did you get to them all?