The 24 most-read and best-loved books first published in 2024, with the numbers behind each one.
The best books first published in 2024, ranked by what readers actually do: how many shelved them, how they rate them, and how many are reading them now. 2024 is complete, so this list updates only when reader numbers move meaningfully.
For the books readers love across all years see the Top 100. For the hottest brand-new releases see Rising.
← Best Books of 2023Best Books of 2025 →
Mel Robbins · 2024
Mel Robbins argues that the key to happiness, success and love can be as simple as two words. If you feel stuck or frustrated, she says the problem is the power you give to other people.
Why it’s here: 1,844 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.3 out of 5 (23 ratings); 90 are reading it right now.
Best for: Anyone feeling stuck who wants a short, practical mindset idea.
Robert Jackson Bennett · 2024
A 2024 fantasy murder mystery and the first book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series. It won the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 20,418 views a month recently.
Best for: Readers who like fantasy mixed with detective stories.
Navessa Allen · 2024
A dark romance with a stalker and a hero who takes over the heroine's life, with heavy themes and explicit content. Very popular in online communities.
Why it’s here: 1,384 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (32 ratings); 70 are reading it right now.
Best for: Adult dark romance readers, check content notes
Kristin Hannah · 2024
Kristin Hannah's historical novel follows Frankie McGrath, a young nurse serving in the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. It launched at number one on the New York Times fiction best-seller list.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 16,614 views a month recently.
Best for: Historical fiction readers drawn to stories of women's service during the Vietnam War
Emily Henry · 2024
Librarian Daphne and Miles find themselves in an odd situation when their exes begin dating each other. One reviewer felt this Emily Henry romance has plenty of heart, though a little less mischief.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 5,829 views a month recently.
Best for: Romance readers who value emotional warmth and enjoy Emily Henry's contemporary love stories
Alison Espach · 2024
An English professor arrives at a luxury hotel intending to end her life, only to cross paths with a wedding party and join in instead. The novel drew critical praise and has been acquired for a film adaptation.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 16,398 views a month recently.
Best for: Readers who want a moving, character-driven novel about unexpected turns and second chances
Marcus Kliewer · 2024
Marcus Kliewer's 2024 debut began life as a story serialized on Reddit before being reworked into a full-length novel. It is a horror tale that grew from online installments into a published book.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 11,835 views a month recently.
Best for: Horror readers curious about stories that started life as online serials
Miranda July · 2024
A semi-famous artist sets out to drive from LA to New York but pulls off the freeway soon after leaving her family and checks into a motel. July's wry, boundary-pushing novel follows her search for a different kind of freedom.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 7,907 views a month recently.
Best for: Readers who enjoy funny, daring fiction about reinvention, intimacy and womanhood
Richard Osman · 2024
Richard Osman, creator of the Thursday Murder Club books, launches a brand-new mystery series here. It came out from Viking in September 2024, with an audiobook narrated by Nicola Walker.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 7,127 views a month recently.
Best for: Fans of Osman's Thursday Murder Club who want a fresh series
Ana Huang · 2024
Asher Donovan is a living legend of the Premier League, arguably the greatest footballer in the world, but his reckless antics and a recent transfer are testing him. She is the only woman he wants and the only one he cannot have.
Why it’s here: 345 readers have shelved it on Open Library; 27 are reading it right now.
Best for: Sports romance fans who like forbidden-love plots.
John Wiswell · 2024
John Wiswell's debut novel earned the 2024 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 2025 Locus Award for Best First Novel. It was also a finalist for the 2025 Hugo Award.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 3,118 views a month recently.
Best for: Fantasy fans who like to follow award-winning debut authors
Ana Huang · 2024
Xavier Castillo is charming, easygoing and rich beyond belief, with no interest in taking over his family's empire. He has never wanted anyone enough to chase them, until he meets her.
Why it’s here: 761 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (13 ratings); 33 are reading it right now.
Best for: Contemporary romance readers who like the Kings of Sin series.
Freida McFadden · 2024
A former cleaner finally owns her dream suburban home, but unsettling neighbors, a watching figure and her husband's late-night absences threaten everything. She fears the secrets she fled may be closer than ever.
Why it’s here: 376 readers have shelved it on Open Library.
Best for: Suspense readers who like creepy suburban settings and buried secrets
Jeff VanderMeer · 2024
Jeff VanderMeer returns to the Southern Reach world with the fourth book in the series. It works as both a prequel and a sequel to what came before.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 6,962 views a month recently.
Best for: Readers already invested in the Southern Reach series
Richard Powers · 2024
Richard Powers released this novel in September 2024 through W. W. Norton, and critics were mostly positive. It earned a place on the 2024 Booker Prize longlist.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 6,089 views a month recently.
Best for: Literary fiction readers who follow Booker Prize contenders
Jonathan Haidt · 2024
Jonathan Haidt contends that smartphones, social media and overprotective parenting have reshaped childhood in damaging ways. He links this shift to a growing wave of mental illness among young people.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (14 ratings); its Wikipedia page averaged 8,349 views a month recently.
Best for: Parents, teachers and anyone worried about kids, screens and mental health
Alan Moore · 2024
Alan Moore launches The Long London Quintet with this opening volume, planned as the first of five fantasy novels. It marks the English author's entry into a multi-book fantasy cycle set in the capital.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 2,807 views a month recently.
Best for: Readers who want to start a new multi-book fantasy series from the beginning
Rick Riordan · 2024
Percy Jackson returns for his senior year of high school in this Greco-Roman mythology adventure from Rick Riordan. It is the seventh book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and follows The Chalice of the Gods.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 6,063 views a month recently.
Best for: Middle grade readers and fans already following the Percy Jackson series
H. D. Carlton · 2024
This spinoff of the Cat & Mouse Duet follows Molly Devereaux, a girl whose vanishing left the world asking questions. Now living in the Montana mountains, she hides dark nighttime secrets involving her pigs. Reading the two Adeline books first is strongly advised.
Why it’s here: 341 readers have shelved it on Open Library; 23 are reading it right now.
Best for: Dark thriller fans who have already read Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline
Sally Rooney · 2024
Sally Rooney's fourth novel tracks two Irish brothers coping after their father dies. Ivan, a former chess prodigy, falls for an older woman, while Peter, a lawyer, juggles two complicated relationships. Grief, family bonds and romantic power dynamics run through it.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 8,980 views a month recently.
Best for: Fans of character-driven Irish fiction about grief, siblings and age-gap love
Kaliane Bradley · 2024
Kaliane Bradley's debut imagines a government Ministry of Time, where a civil servant looks after one of the first time travellers, called "expats". It blends science fiction with romance and first appeared through Hodder & Stoughton.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 9,674 views a month recently.
Best for: Sci-fi readers who enjoy romance and time travel in a debut novel
David Nicholls · 2024
David Nicholls' 2024 romance brings Marnie Walsh and Michael Bradshaw together on a long-distance walk across northern England. Their mutual friend Cleo organised the trek, which is where the two first meet.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 5,237 views a month recently.
Best for: Romance readers who like stories set during a long countryside walk
William Boyd · 2024
Set in the early 1960s Cold War, this William Boyd novel follows travel writer Gabriel Dax as he is drawn unwittingly into international espionage. Memory, identity and betrayal run through a mix of real and invented people and events.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 3,043 views a month recently.
Best for: Spy fiction fans who enjoy Boyd's blend of history and invention
Elizabeth Strout · 2024
Elizabeth Strout gathers Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge and Bob Burgess in the fictional town of Crosby, Maine. Characters from several of her earlier books share one setting in this 2024 novel.
Why it’s here: 300 readers have shelved it on Open Library; its Wikipedia page averaged 2,691 views a month recently.
Best for: Readers of Strout's earlier books who want familiar characters reunited
← Best Books of 2023Best Books of 2025 →
Other years: 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018 · 2017 · 2016 · 2015 · 2014 · 2013 · 2012 · 2011 · 2010 · 2009 · 2008 · 2007 · 2006 · 2005 · 2004 · 2003 · 2002 · 2001 · 2000 · 1999 · 1998 · 1997 · 1996 · 1995 · 1994 · 1993 · 1992 · 1991 · 1990 · All years
We start with every book first published in 2024 on Open Library, then keep the ones with real evidence behind them: at least 300 readers and at least 3 editions, with a cover, in English. 33 books cleared that bar for 2024, and the 24 below scored highest. No author appears more than twice. We publish a year only when at least 15 books clear the bar, so no list is thin.
| Signal | Weight | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 45% | How many readers have shelved the book on Open Library (want to read, reading, or read). |
| Reader love | 20% | Average reader rating, adjusted so a handful of ratings cannot inflate it. |
| Being read right now | 15% | How many Open Library readers are in the middle of it. |
| Attention | 20% | Wikipedia page views for the book, which matter most for recent years where reader data is still building. |
Each signal is scored from 0 to 100 against the other 2024 books and blended with the weights above. The “why it’s here” line on each book is built from its real numbers. Descriptions are paraphrased from real source text.
This list reflects reading interest on public data, not quality, sales or awards, and it can be affected by data gaps. Open Library counts grow over time, so older books have had longer to gather readers; every book on this page is compared only against books from the same year.
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