I read Goodreads' 20 Best Mystery/Thriller Books of 2024 *reading vlog*

Loved the ending of The Last one at the Wedding 😊. His other book didn’t have transphobia in it. The parents forced a child to assume another gender after kidnapping them

Each round I voted between We Solve Murder & How to solve your own murder.

I’m going with We Solve by Richard Osman.

Thx for the video !

I very much admire your dedication in reading ALL 20 of them!

There were a lot of duds for you but atleast you saved the best for last👀👏🏽👏🏽

I had read 18 out of the 20 when it was announced, so definitely pushed to finish the last two. Our opinions differ slightly. Overall, I do think most are meh. The ones in the middle can really all be interchangeable. But if I were to rank them from worst to best, it would be:

The Teacher (ugh! so much ugh! my only 1 star of the year)
The Last One At The Wedding
The Return of Ellie Black (I actively hated the ending)
The Midnight Feast
The Night We Lost Him
Society of Lies
The Boyfriend
The Heiress
House of Glass
Home Is Where the Bodies Are
Listen for the Lie
Middle of the Night
Not What She Seems
The Mystery Guest (where I start to actively like the books)
How to Solve Your Own Murder
The God of the Woods
Darling Girls
We Solve Murders
First Lie Wins
All the Colors of the Dark

After listening to your review, I can’t wait to read All the Colors of the Dark. Your enthusiasm as peaked my curiosity. Thank you Ashley!

I really enjoyed Darling Girls and Ellie Black.

I love this

Ok gotta check out all the colors of the dark. I would love a video on what books you felt should’ve made the list but didn’t cuz they weren’t as popular

I loved return of Ellie black 🥹

Bless you for your service 🫡👏

Knowing Julia Whelan narrated something definitely makes me more interested in any book

They did say Molly was divergent.

Wow, you read them all! Love your reviews, we have similar tastes and I find I usually agree with them. I started All the Colors of the Dark earlier this year but knew I wouldn't get to the end before it was due back at the library, but I loved the beginning enough that I bought it. I hope to get to it in the next few months.

Someone I work with raved about All The Colors of the Dark when it came out and i've been meaning to pick it up since. With your review I sincerly look forward to reading it. Also with The Maid series, which I personally adore, I do recognize that it doesn't do anything groundbreaking and since you are so in Molly's head the entire time if you don't connect with her character it can just be a meh mystery. Congrats on reading the top 20! That's huge and I'd love to do that one day!

Ahh I’m so glad you loved Colors!! Fantastic video☺️

I have only ever listened to Frieda on audio never physically read them and I have overall always enjoyed them. That has to be the secret lol

Queen!!!! 🎉

I wanna read All the colors of the dark but I'm scared, especially because it made you cry! I read 5 of the nominees, I think, and DNFed God of the woods.
Thank you for the hard work reading all these books.

Great video! Kudos for reading all 20📚. I've read 8. Glad you loved All the Colors too. Think you might like We Begin at the End by same author.

omg you are fast!!

If you watch Chris Whitaker’s interviews, the book makes so much sense… he’s been through a lot, yet, he came out on top and his prize was a beautiful soul he now shares with us.

I wanted to read the book from the moment I had my “aha moment” during one of his interviews.

Thanks for the video!

I’m really glad you enjoyed All the Colors of the Dark! I had similar underwhelmed thoughts and feelings with The God of the Woods, so I was very hesitant to pick up All the Colors of the Dark since many reviewers compare the two. I’ll definitely have to give it a shot now, thanks for all the effort you put into this!

I know you said you weren't interested but the 3rd Maid is already out and it's only 128 pages. Super quick read.

The god of the woods (which I hated about as much as you hate the teacher) also made me side eye All the colors of the dark… now I’m thinking I should give it a chance.

Wow! 🤩 I hope you’re not in a reading slump now!!! You’re a champion 🎉

Soooo glad I just ordered All the Colors of the Dark during the Black Friday sales now 🥰🥰

Thank you! Great analysis and helpful

Thx for validating my feelings about The night we lost him!!!

While I admire the dedication it takes to read an entire category, it greatly offsets (in the wrong direction) the amount of diverse reading that gets done. This is a big problem with challenges that people do and bookclubs as well. Just a thought.

One minute in I'm SO PUMPED

I’m so excited you did this—I already love your GR Choice awards predictions and reactions content and the ones you have read in the category. But it was so fun to have your thoughts on all 20 books this year!!

I have read the top ten and 100% agree I’m crossing my fingers The Teacher doesn’t win, I found it dreadful. Anything else winning I’d be okay with even though I do have my favorites, along with some others I didn’t think were as good.

This was such a great video! Very impressive you were able to read all 20- I feel the same way about Freida. Definitely going to check out some of these that sound great- and thankful to you for reading some of them so I don’t have to! haha😂

I wasn’t planning to read All the Colors but like others I’m inspired by your video to try! I also didn’t like God of the Woods- DNF’d about 1/3 of the way in

I don’t pay any attention to Goodreads - it’s so subjective, and much of the hype will be contrived through marketing, rather than because of the quality of the writing.

I despised The Teacher and actually liked The Boyfriend. It actually tricked me so good I was shocked

I was so mad at myself for wasting time reading The Teacher when there are so many other good books. That being said yes I will read The Boyfriend. 😆 I think I'm ready now to the tackle All The Colors in the Dark after hearing your review.

I love your reviews sm!!

This was such a fun video! Thank you so much for doing it

Wow great job at reading all of these. Actually I really enjoyed the teacher I voted for that I hope it wins. I also rated the Riley and Jenna low so disappointing. And I didn’t see the hype in the two lie books. Darling girls was good and how to solve your murder. I dnfed the midnight feast and the heiress is a soft dnf might still pick it up

Frieda McFadden books are like Lifetime Movies... are they cheesy and entertaining? Yes! Will they win Academy Awards ? Nope.. Will I continue to read her when I just want a quick pick me up in a book ? 100% Yes!

I would love it if you’d review my sister’s mystery, May the Wolf Die. It was just listed on NY Times best crime fiction for 2024!

I always love your vlogs and I ALWAYS add so many to my TBR because of you LOL! :)

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I loved the Teacher!!!

The Boyfriend was really good!!! Her books are always about revenge and I love it when people get what they deserve! That's why I loved the teacher!

Everand Tip for finding out what % you’ve read click SAVED at the bottom of the screen & then click the HISTORY tab & it will show you your % 😊

I don’t read a ton of mystery thrillers but of the three on the list 1) I loved First Lie Wins, 2) I liked How to Solve Your Own Murder, and 3) I was okay with We Solve Murders. I read all of The Thursday Murder Club books and found them way better than “We Solve …”. I did like the characters and I do like Osman’s writing style so I’ll continue the series to see if it gets better.

Listen for the Lie is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. Several narrators and they put sound effects in for the podcast episodes.

Ok I had to stop watching this video coz I realized, there were too many spoilers!