I discovered a lot of new authors in 2024, mostly thanks to Kindle Unlimited and Stuff-Your-Kindle days and also that I've newly gotten into the genres of romance and romantasy, which has opened up a lot of new authors to me as well. It feels nice to support new authors both as a reader and as a reviewer (and a member of 4-5 book clubs), and I hope I get to do more of it in 2025.
Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl!
- Megan Van Dyke--I started seeing her posts on Instagram probably sometime in 2023, and I finally read Captive of the Stolen Empire in early 2024, and then I was hooked. I love her standalones, fairytale retellings, and fae realm books--she does lush worldbuilding, intense characters, and spicy romance. I plan to keep reading books as long as she keeps writing them!
- Allie Lasky--I found her by searching for Hanukkah romances on Kindle Unlimited. Her characters are Gen Z and very alternative, but she delivered on fun, distracting, utterly ridiculous Hanukkah romance!
- Amanda Usen and Jessica Topper--Also Gen Z Hanukkah romance--I like that this series is written by two friends and there are more novels planned. Also just very fun, distracting romance and makes Jewish rep feel very seen.
- Cora Crane--I found The Orc and the Innkeeper on Kindle Unlimited, and although it was my first monster romance and there were some things I was, ahem, not expecting, it's a super cozy, magical town, and the romance was sweet and well-earned. I went on to read the next book and will probably read the next!
- Amanda Elliott--I loved I Love You a Latke from start to finish. It's so full of Hanukkah rep and the characters, especially the narrator, are pretty deep and the grumpy/sunshine dynamic is well done.
- Maggie O'Farrell--I'd heard of Hamnet awhile ago and The Marriage Portrait when it came out, but they both seemed like such depressing source material, I didn't want to touch it. But I'm glad I did. The Marriage Portrait is exquisite, layered, and a literal work of art. I look forward to reading more of her books.
- Hannah Nicole Maehrer--The title Assistant to the Villain made me laugh, so I downloaded it, on you guessed it, Kindle Unlimited. I expected a fantasy satire, and instead I got a romance, but I'm not mad. In fact, I bought the second book and eagerly await the third!
- Judy I. Lin--Another Kindle Unlimited read, but this was actually one I saw first on Goodreads and wanted to read. I love how she blends Chinese mythology with Gothic literature and creates a strong, talented heroine. I don't know if there will be a sequel to Song of the Six Realms, but I'm now interested in reading anything she writes.
- Randie K. Berman--She posted about her book A Different Sky in an Fb group, so I downloaded it on...Kindle Unlimited. I loved this book about a young American woman moving to Israel in the 1970s. It was a totally different point of view, but I also enjoyed the American Jewish rep that was familiar to me.
- Yehuda Amichai--I'd never heard of him before, but I discovered a book of his poetry on sale at a used bookstore. I read them over a period of time, just a few poems at a time, before bed (one poem was like 20 pages [!] though most were much shorter). If you have an interest in the earlier days of the state of Israel or Jewish/Israeli poetry generally, I would recommend him.
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Happy TTT!