Misclassified Categories: The Challenge with the Goodreads Choice Awards 2024

Beyond the focus on popularity, there’s another area where the Goodreads Choice Awards leave room for improvement: categorization. When categories blur genre lines, it can misrepresent the books and confuse readers. Here are a few specific challenges I’ve noticed:

• Misplaced Literary Works: It’s frustrating to see books with a strong literary style placed in the Mystery and Thriller category. While there may be suspense elements, their essence doesn’t align with traditional genre expectations. As a result, readers often end up disappointed and rate books poorly.
• Limited Romance Variety: The Romance category is typically populated with contemporary titles, which excludes an entire range of subgenres. I was happy to see the addition of a “romantasy” category, which I know is only a result of it’s mainstream popularity, but again that results in other subgenres being underrepresented.
• Fiction and Debut Overlap: The Fiction and Debut categories are a hodgepodge of books that wouldn’t naturally be shelved together, making it difficult for readers to discover books in a way that aligns with their tastes.
• Audiobook Blend: Fiction and nonfiction audiobooks are lumped together, which makes zero sense to me.

That said, there are a few categories that I think fared better. The Horror category and the Nonfiction category is reasonable, although there were titles I wished were featured. But again, I have to remind myself it’s a popularity contest.

Announcing the 2024 Novel Nights Readers Choice Awards

To provide an alternative to Goodreads’ popularity-focused awards, I’m excited to introduce our very own 2024 Novel Nights Readers Choice Awards.  Novel Nights is a live show I do with my friends Laura and Francesca every Thursday at 7 pm Eastern time. Francesca is one of the creators behind the Under the Covers Book Blog, and we got together on Zoom to select the books for our 2024 Novel Nights Readers Choice Awards.

In our awards, we’re bringing a curated approach, focusing on a selection of outstanding books across five key categories. Unlike Goodreads, where a book’s success may hinge on platform interaction, we’re choosing titles that merit a spotlight based on their quality, appeal, and storytelling.

Below are the categories and nominees. We’d love for you to participate and vote on your favorites!

Cast your votes in our survey to enter a giveaway! 

Three winners will be chosen to receive a free one-month upgraded subscription to both the Under the Covers and Bibliolifestyle Substack communities.

Best Romance Books of 2024

1. A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
2. In a Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati-Alexander
3. Legacy of Temptation by Larissa Ione
4. Lights Out by Navessa Allen
5. Let the Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura
6. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
7. Isabel and The Rogue by Liana De la Rosa
8. Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi

Best Mysteries & Thrillers of 2024

1. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
2. Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
3. The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
4. The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger
5. Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
6. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
7. The Unwedding by Ally Condie
8. The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak

Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2024

1. Sun of Blood and Ruin by Mariely Lares
2. The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
3. The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
4. The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
5. The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
6. The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
7. Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
8. Quicksilver by Callie Hart

Best Historical Fiction Books of 2024

1. The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
2. Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray
3. Finding Margaret Fuller by Allison Pataki
4. The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier
5. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson
6. The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
7. The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon
8. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Best Memoirs of 2024

1. The Wives by Simone Gorrindo
2. Mother Island by Jamie Figueroa
3. Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace
4. Woman of Interest by Tracy O’Neill
5. Roman Year by André Aciman
6. Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
7. From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley, Riley Keough
8. Knife by Salman Rushdie