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Rating Listeners' Top Ten Reads of 2024 (part 1) | Mini Ep
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This week we asked our listeners to submit their top ten books of 2024 for us to judge! We go through each list and award a letter grade. Will we rate yours?
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Transcript
Introduction and Bonus Episode Announcement
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey guys! Hey guys! Welcome to Bring Your Own it! Catch all bookishness of the time podcast. I'm Brandi. I'm Kendra. um Kayla. And today is a bonus episode of Bring Your Own. We are so excited. We are going to be looking at some of our listeners top 10 books of the year. If you tuned in last week, you heard our top 10 books of the year. And we wanted to hear from you guys. So we're really excited. We're gonna do a really quick, what are we reading? What are we drinking before we get to the good stuff?
00:00:36
Speaker
I'll
Current Reads and Drinks
00:00:37
Speaker
go real quick. I have a Pepsi Max today. No Coke Zero, you guys. That's crazy. um And then I am listening to a book called The Favorites by um like a looking girlate Lane Fargo. And then I'm are reading Deep End by Allie Hazelwood. Amazing. I have a
Engaging with Listeners' Choices
00:00:58
Speaker
crisp Dr. Pepper today. One of those little tiny mini babies.
00:01:02
Speaker
And I am currently listening to Flirting with Forever by Cara Bastone. Oh, it's so good. It's so good. It's so good. They finally got a good narrator for this series. It's so good. I love the concept. It's been so great execution-wise so far too.
00:01:19
Speaker
Of course you start this when we need to keep it short so you can't yap about it. I am reading Deep End by Ali Hazelwood and I am listening to A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Bridget Kimmerer. She loves gays. And I'm drinking a Michelob Ultra in one of those like canned bottles. Cute. Cute. Nice. Yes.
Review Process Explained
00:01:40
Speaker
god Let's get right to the good stuff you guys. Let's yeah do it.
00:01:44
Speaker
how this is going to work we are going to say your lovely username and then we're going to read your entire top 10 list in order some of you guys put them in order some of them you guys said they were just random but we're just going to read them in the order that you type them to us and we will give you a letter grade based on how we thought your list was and some of you guys read very similar to us and some of you guys read so different from us so thank you for listening if you read very differently than us Yeah, please also don't take this too seriously. Well, maybe. You can go judge the fuck out of ours. we have We posted them for everybody to read. Give us a letter grade for ours. Yes. Give us one back. It's fine. Yes. And if this is
Listener's Book Lists Reviewed
00:02:28
Speaker
your top 10, stand by it. like Just because I think you have bad taste does not mean that you have bad taste. And if I think you have great taste, there are going to be other listeners that are like, oh my God, they have horrible taste.
00:02:39
Speaker
Let's get started. The very first one comes from our listener, Julia E. Green, and her list goes like this. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone. You Should Be So Lucky by Kat Sebastian. Emily Wilde's Map of the Other Lands by Heather Fawcett. The Ex-Vows by Jessica Joyce. The Marvelous Light by Freya Marcek. The Prospects by K.T. Hoffman. Business Casual by B.K. Morrison.
00:03:03
Speaker
Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel and Solomon and Savor It by Tara DeWitt. What do we think? I give that list ah a solid L, but not in the way you're thinking. L for LGBTQ+. Because you have a lot of queer romances on your list, which I love to see and love seeing my picks from my own list on this as well.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yes, I agree. I was trying to think of like um a letter grade. I like the L for LGBT keeps. That was great. Ally. Talk, Madam Tina. Yeah, I would say like i was to say D for decent. and I see a lot of i see a lot of ah faves of mine as well, so I enjoy that.
00:03:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to give it a T for taste because every book that I've read from this list, I have loved. So you obviously have great taste. Period. Love that. Great work, Julia. Thank you, Julia. Good job. Whoo.
00:04:03
Speaker
Okay, next we have a list from reading dot.with.k. By the way, we got all these names from Instagram. You should be following us on Instagram at bring your own pod. We will love to do more of this in the future if you would like to participate. But reading dot.with dot.k's list goes as, um and theirs isn't a full top 10, just a few.
00:04:20
Speaker
the Windy City series by Liz Tumforty, Play Along is her favorite, Our Secret Game by Jan Boswell, Collide by Balcabra, Daydream by Hannah Grace, and then Kiss the Sky by Becca and Krista Ritchie.
00:04:34
Speaker
Okay. When I first saw this, I think my letter grade is going to be a C for confusing. I was going to say E for eclectic. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Because, okay. Now I haven't read everything on this list. Just just a disclaimer. I haven't read our secret game and I haven't read collide.
00:04:51
Speaker
But personally, at least maybe I'm following different people. I haven't heard great things about Clyde, so that's just what I know of it at the moment. And then Daydream, I have read Daydream by Hannah Grace. I didn't love it. It was my only Hannah Grace book that I read and I unfortunately didn't love it. However, I will say, you save yourself a little bit with Kiss the Sky and Play Along. Those are great picks.
00:05:14
Speaker
yes my letter grade is s for strays because you got a few strays which the main one being collide i did not like that book but it's okay i'm in the minority apparently like a lot of people love that book okay um but i don't know why you should explain it to me yeah i probably still won't agree but it's okay love windy city though love that yeah i'm gonna stick with my e for eclectic play alone kiss this guy excellent choices on there yeah Great. Perfect. Good list. Okay. Good list. And then next we have Abigail Stone 10. She only gave us four. She gave us Old Enough by Hayley Jacobson, Writers and Lovers by Lily King, The Wedding People by Alison S Patch, and Kingdom of Ash by SJM. The letter grid I'm gonna give this is E for emotional damage because there are a lot of emotionally damaging picks on here. Abigail? they're all i am I like it. I like it. But wow.
00:06:10
Speaker
Are you okay? You know, I agree with that letter. Yeah. That's what I'm going to give it to. I'm going to give it. Yeah. A big S for sad girl. Yeah. i I want to give you a hug, Abigail. I know. Writers and lovers. It's so good. You guys have you read that really? ah friendy you You told me to read it and I did it on Kayla. It's a good audio book. I think you'd like it. Yeah. Okay. Also, Abigail, if you're listening, how do you feel about the 13? Are you okay? It's okay.
00:06:38
Speaker
If you know, you know. It's OK, girl. I cried too. so Yeah, I don't think you're supposed to invoke that, but it's OK. Next one is from May's Dot Books, Myra, and their list goes Intrigued by Danger by India Carter, One More Shot by Anise Starr, Sing Me meet to Sleep by Gabby Burton, Era of Flames by Asia Monet, Bloodmarked by Tracy Dion, and the Mead Mishap series by Kimberly Leming. That's the books that like The Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, those ones.
00:07:09
Speaker
Okay, okay. I give this a big beautiful B for blood You love your ah black romances black fantasy and I love to see it I still need to read blood marks. So it's on my TBR Wow, I have read two on this list. I read One More Shot by Anees Starr and Blood Marked by Tracy Dion. I really liked One More Shot. I read that whole series and I think that one was my favorite of hers. She's an indie author. ah And then, yeah, Blood Marked by Tracy Dion, obviously read that one and really loved that one too, so. ah Can I give the same letter grade? Am I allowed? Okay. else Am I allowed? A general B for black from all of us. Okay, thanks Indra.
00:07:55
Speaker
yeah I haven't read Bloodmarked yet. We were just talking about this recently because we need to. Well, Kayla, like she says, has. Oathbound is coming out. Kendra and I have both read Legendborn, have not gotten to Bloodmarked yet. But we're just saying that we think we need to reread Legendborn before we jump into Bloodmarked. I have read the Mead mishap series. That was so fun. I was just going to ask if any of you guys had read that one. Yeah. Daniel's mom recommended it to me.
00:08:24
Speaker
really yeah oh my god yeah how how how does that happen ah she like read she found them and loved her she is a huge reader and she reads everything she reads like sci-fi fantasy romance everything uh so she read those and she texted me she's like these are so fun i think you'd like them because she knows i read some smutty books so slay queen love and i love that Our next list is by Chow Christine Reads, aka Christine. I saw this list and Christine, this is like my list. This is great. Oh, I just read it. Yeah. Ready or Not by Cara Bassone. Bend towards the Sun by Jin Devin, which is one of the only books on here that I have not read. Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bassone, which comes out next year in March. Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell. Funny Story by Emily Henry. How to End a Love Song by Yulin Kwang, which I also haven't read yet. Heavy Hitter by Katie Kotegno. Guys.
00:09:21
Speaker
i I love that. Amita Benedetto is by Katie Katugno. Also a great book. Summer Romance by Annabelle Monahan. And The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Claiborne. Also, Brandi Christine was like a rainbow girlie before you became a rainbow girlie. Like when I was posting about it, she was like, oh my god, I love rainbow too. And then like, you know, read rainbow. So if you want someone else to talk about rainbow with, you should DM me. Christine catch me in your D.O. Attachments is like her favorite book. um like yeah I love that. I love that.
00:09:51
Speaker
Kayla, how would you rate this? How would I rate it? I give it a P for period. I really like it. I think it's a great list. like ah Some of my faves are on there. Some are romance. Love that book. I did really like The Other Side of Disappearing. It's not on my favorites list, but that's I still like that book. ah Funny Story, Promise Me Sunshine, Ready or Not. I also enjoyed how to End of the Love Story. That's a good book, too. So great book great great list.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, Brandy, what about you? Yeah, I'm going to give this an M for my bookshelf because this is, yeah, basically just what I'm seeing. I love that there's like a little bit of all of us on here too, like there's like Rainbow and Emily and Kara, but like also like Kayla read How to End a Love Story and like she said the Kate Claiborne book and obviously Katie Katugno on there for Kendra.
00:10:39
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to add the Jen Devon book to my TBR because I saw the cover when I was writing all this up and I was like, oh, this looks like something. Yeah. We have the same taste. Yeah. So I'm giving you a tea for twin. Hey twin.
00:10:53
Speaker
at lot Okay, our next one is Carla Groulart, I believe is how you say it. I'm so sorry if I'm saying that wrong, but she submitted Ready or Not by Cara Bastone, Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonham Young, If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia, Off the Hook by Julie Olivia, Lost in Lassoed by Lila Sage, Book Lovers by Emily Henry,
00:11:15
Speaker
Magnolia Parks Into the Dark by Jessa Hastings, Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood, The Wedding People by Alison Espach, and then finally, the Empyrean series by Rebecca Yaros, which is, you know, fourth wing. And she says, she says, I'm not ashamed of this one. I'll defend these imperfect flawed books until I die. Which, you know what? Hey, if you stand on that, you stand on that. I did not like Iron Flame at all, but we move. um However,
00:11:41
Speaker
the rest of this list. I'm going to give it an S for slay because it's pretty good. It's pretty good. ah There's only looking at this list. There's only one book on here that I haven't read, which is off the hook by Julia, Olivia, and everything else on this list. I really enjoyed. So slay queen.
00:12:00
Speaker
I'm gonna give this book a tea but not for twin a tea for trending like these are all books that I know are popular Like you are probably on the book talk a lot or youre like you like your you follow a lot of hot girls who read so you have a good list I was gonna give it a B for a bookstagram. like here on like and These are the same books that are popping up in my feed. so yeah yeah you yeah we follow We must follow the same people, Karla. I wanna read those Julia Olivia books so bad. i am Yeah, I'm glad that the audios are out for that like off the hook series and I will be listening to if it makes you happy right when it comes out on audio. Oh yeah, I i don't know when that's coming out. She said like next year, hopefully. Yeah, she's as long as fuck. like
00:12:43
Speaker
I didn't even realize it was that long honestly when I was reading it. That's a good buy. That's just, yeah, but that was me. Anyway, great list. The next one's from Hanifah and they submitted Ready or Not. Again, that is all over these lists you guys. You guys listen to the pod. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins read How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kwang.
00:13:06
Speaker
The Other Side of Disappearing ah by Kate Claiborne again. Notes on an Execution by Dania Kukofka. The Lost Story by Meg Schaefer. Play Along by Liz Tomforty. The Ex-Vows by Jessica Joyce. How to Hide in Plain Sight by Emma Noyes and A Million Junes by Emily Henry. I'm trying to think of a letter grade. Yeah, girl, you kind of stumped us because this is a solid list.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, um the only like J. I'm gonna give you a J for jump scare I'm a noise. I read guys girl by her this year. Oh, that was the author who wrote that book Yeah, but apparently but the thing is like guys girls had like really good commentary on people living with ED eating disorders um and I know how to plan how to hide in plain sight and is a book about OCD so I would love to see her commentary on that because I did enjoy the commentary on that she had about ED so or to an extent I could tell it was an important book for her so but yeah you get a J for jump scare for that one I'm giving you an F but not bad F an F for 50-50 because I've only read about half of these books but the half that I have read I have really enjoyed which makes me think I would enjoy some of the other ones that are on this list
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like looking, I've read one, two, three, four, five. Five out of the 10 on here. So yeah, I would say same like with you, Brandy. So Brandy, I'll still yours and say half, half. The next one is from A Sunshine Bookworm, AKA Sarah. Her list goes The Measure by Nikki Sloan. Bourbon and Secrets by Victoria Wilder. Fortunate Misfortune by Maya Oncha.
00:14:48
Speaker
anscha On the Rocks by Maria Graham. If It Makes You Happy by Julia Livia. Love on the Line by by Denton. Crossroads by Devoni Perry. Fake Game by Madison Fox. Daisy Hates by Jessa Hastings. And they did note that they have not read DH2 yet. And then Bloom by EJ Blaise.
00:15:07
Speaker
and they commented that lots of indie caught their attention this year. Yeah, before I before i saw that comment, I was gonna give them an eye for indie. But I have read, let's see, i obviously we talked about Julia Olivia already. I have read, no, I haven't read Crossroads, and nevermind. um I have read Birmingham Secrets by Victoria Wilder. I haven't read the second book yet, which just came out, but I'm really excited to read it because the girl on the cover, if you've seen those covers, they're very hot. They're very hot covers.
00:15:35
Speaker
Kayla, you have texted me that like 20 times. I have. I have. The girl in the second book is a burlesque dancer. So I'm like, oh, let me tune in. I've seen really good things about that all over Bookstagram recently. OK, I enjoyed bourbon and secrets. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but I have a good time. Like, that's all I can say. So I read the smut in that book.
00:15:56
Speaker
You did? Yeah girl, it was good. I didn't know you did that. I would give Sarah's list and, okay girl, as in like, I believe you. I don't know how many of these books I personally would pick up, ah but I know there's a big audience for a lot of these books that I just don't know if I fall into anymore.
00:16:17
Speaker
I'm gonna give this a why for you to you, you know? I hope you continue on your ah magnolia part Magnolia Parks journey, and then you can go back and listen to our Magnolia Parks episode, um because we spoil a lot, so hopefully we haven't spoiled too much for you. but Also, we all said recently that we kind of moved away from Indy this year, but it's nice to know that Indy's still going strong, and maybe some of these authors will become trad, because I feel like ah Especially like Victoria Wilder. She had a good year. So maybe Bloom will snatch her up because you know, they're always on the hunt. No, I'm scared. Don't actually. Same with Julia. Olivia, I'm shook that she hasn't been picked. I actually, yeah, I am kind of surprised. But I bet she will soon. Yeah. Yeah, I could see it. Someone's going to get her Dell. I could see her being a Dell.
00:17:04
Speaker
hmm yeah i could see that all right next is from our friend stephanie at stephanie's shelf uh she has oh i'm looking at her list wow okay uh funny story by emily henry the unmaking of june farah by adrienne young period Savor It by Tara DeWitt. Play Along by Liz Tom Fordy. The Winners by Frederick Bachman. The Wedding People by Alison S. Batch. Wisteria by Adeline Grace. Yours Truly by Abi Jimenez. And When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. I would give this a D for dedicated listener because I think you're a dedicated listener and or you just share a lot of the same tastes and I love that.
00:17:50
Speaker
Yeah, I was going to give it a ah Y for yup because a lot of those books that you were reading, I was just going yup, yup, yup. Brandy, when are you going to read Adrian Young?
00:18:04
Speaker
Oh, that's not right. but wait ah I give this a Y as well for like, yeah, like that's like pretty solid. I really want to read Frederick Bachman because a lot of our mutuals this year read Frederick and like, I know he's been around for years and he, his work gets translated. I forget what, which country he's from originally. Destiny loved one of his series recently.
Individual Submissions Highlighted
00:18:27
Speaker
Bare Talent is that series. I did not know he was translated.
00:18:30
Speaker
oh i did not know that yeah he wrote anxious people which has been on my tbr for like 12 000 years so maybe 2025 will be the year that i meet yeah men oh my god scary just kidding sure you're great frederick i'm sure you're great All right. And our last one for this part is from read underscore with underscore Caroline, obviously AKA Caroline. Her list is bride by Ali Hazelwood, the grumpy devil series by Elizabeth O'Rourke, the summer series by Elizabeth O'Rourke.
00:19:04
Speaker
Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone, Ready or Not by Cara Bastone, Into the Dark by Jessica Hastings, This Summer Will Be Different by Carly Fortune, Funny Story by Emily Henry, The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, Savor It by Tara DeWitt, Youth of You by Jessica Joyce, and Yours Truly and Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. Teaper taste, girl!
00:19:25
Speaker
yeah That's a good list. Yeah. if I give this an R for we rewind because you had a lot of hits from last year on here. So I'm assuming you're catching up on a lot of your your reads. Also, Elizabeth O'Rourke asked for Samantha Brintmore. Are you doing these audio or are you physically reading these? Also, you should do her Across Time series because the first two books were really good and the last two books just came out on audio and I really wanna do them. um Yeah, honestly Brandi, I think you'd like those. like Good, i Jason Clark does them. I own the first one, cause Samantha Bretton more and Jason Clark. Maybe I'm ready to get back into my Jason Clark phase. I haven't, I don't think I've listened to a single audio book he's done this year. It could pass. At all?
00:20:07
Speaker
I would have to look I'm sure there's been a couple but not like for you know the past three years I was like oh you have you have because swiftton sad yes yes no it wasn't switching saddled it was lost in lassoed there we go he did lasso oh yeah you're yeah I always get you I get which like one was done by ah Teddy and Jason like mixed up which I know the difference I'm calling PRH to paddle on you And then really quickly we had some listeners submit like one-offs because um people don't have their top 10 lists all figured out yet. So
Conclusion and Preview of Part Two
00:20:44
Speaker
some of those were Wrath of an Exile and Hollow Boys by Monty Jay and that was submitted by Mia McLox. Let me see, that's how you say your username. Mia, hey girl. um Another, oh yeah, Another The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Claiborne by J.C. Diesel 21. Now I kind of want to read this book. I had an arc of it and then I gave it to Kayla. Yeah, thank you.
00:21:06
Speaker
And then, Kayla, this will actually make you happy. Our friend Hadil, hadil the reader, submitted Ember in the Ashes by Sabah Tahir and Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington. Kayla has read, yeah. Wait, you read Their Vicious Games?
00:21:18
Speaker
I read it this year. Did I read it this year? you definitely read it I don't know. but I read it last year. mean that i definitely read and I think I read it like maybe early this year or spring, something like that. But I have read it. Yeah. I did read it. We read it. Both great picks. Yeah. Great picks. Maybe I will do Ember and Nyasha's. Who knows? Anyways, thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this awesome bonus episode of at Bring Your Own Pod. We will be back in a new season.
00:21:46
Speaker
early winter but until then we'll be keeping you entertained with these fun little bonus episodes so and be sure to follow us on instagram at bring your own pod and if you ever want to chat with us please sign into our dms we love to yap and if you agreed with your rating if we did your list today let us know if you disagree we'd also love to know and or if you're someone that has another rating that you would like to give some of these lists we'd also like to know yeah And make sure you go check out part two when it comes out in a couple weeks as well because we are not done