Happy New Year, Everyone!
I hope you had both a fabulous reading year and a good year in the rest of your life. This year took me on quite the personal ride, but I feel really good about my year in books. I didn’t complete my reading goal last year. I will say, I was incredibly bummed. I know reading goals are self inflicted, relatively arbitrary and socially constructed. However, I still felt bad for not doing as well as I did the year before. I don’t think I ever stopped to consider that last year was my senior year of high school, which means I graduated, applied to college, made major life changes, and started my first semester at college (with a full schedule might I add). I also had a friend pass away, which hit me harder than I was expecting. What I learned from last year was that even though it feels good to accomplish more and more every year, sometimes that simply isn’t realistic. Life gets in the way and you don’t feel like reading. That’s okay! This year I wanted to focus less on reading a bunch of books and more on finding some new favorite books. In addition, I didn’t want to read what everyone else was reading. I wanted to branch out a bit. With these goals in mind, I think I came at 2017 from a much healthier place and managed to surpass my goal of 30 books by reading 53 books! I am quite proud of that number, but I am much happier to report that I did manage to find some books to put on my top favorite list for 2017, and for all time. So enough of my rambling, let’s get on to the books.
Number 10: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
As I mentioned in my Goodreads review, I haven’t been reading the "DC Heroes turned YA novels" that have been coming out recently. However, I adored the Wonder Woman movie, and I relate a lot to the character of Diana, so I couldn’t pass this one up. I know Leigh Bardugo is attached to Wonder Woman: Warbringer, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by how much I enjoyed this but, wow! I had a lot of fun with this book. It was a little slow in the beginning, and the plot was predictable in the beginning. Still, it was so much fun to follow Diana, Alia, Jason, Nim and Theo on a road trip for their lives. I appreciate how diverse the characters were, especially the fact that Nim is plus sized, queer and confident. No surprise, but I also enjoyed Leigh Bardugo’s writing style quite a bit. It made me miss the Six of Crows duology and I now have an urge to jump back in and finish it.
I listened to Wonder Woman: Warbringer via audiobook thanks to my library and I highly recommend the audiobook. Ultimately, I gave Wonder Woman: Warbringer a 4 out of 5 stars.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2113798013?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Number 9: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Illuminae is one of the books that has been sitting on my TBR shelf for quite a while. I purchased it the Christmas after it was released and waited for the hype train to die down. The hype for this book was *insane* when it was first released! I debated which format I wanted to consume Illuminae through, physical or audiobook. Ultimately, I chose to listen to the audiobook, which was amazing. I think it is one of the best produced audiobooks that I have listened to in a very long time. Not only was it a full cast of characters, but there were also sound effects, scenes that were straight out of a movie, and eerie music that made my skin crawl. I will admit that the characters did get on my nerves during some parts of the book. However, I enjoyed the twists and turns that Illuminae served up and I am excited to get to Gemina in 2018. 4 out of 5 stars.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1313675394?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1
Number 8: Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Dear Martin was my most anticipated read of the latter half of 2017. I saw it when the ARC was first released on Netgalley. The topic is incredibly relevant, but could have added nothing new to the conversation at hand. I could only cross my fingers and hope for the best. I can honestly say that Nic Stone delivered such a powerful novel in an amazingly short amount of pages. Martin’s story parallels the story of so many African American males in the US at the moment. It is heart wrenching, but not unrealistic, unfortunately. Stone doesn’t shy away from the truth, with characters even spending class time debating both sides of the stories issues. Stone also includes characters with very polarized opinions on the issues facing Justyce, which expands the conversation even further. Even though some of their actions are unacceptable and discriminatory, they are personified as people and not monsters. I think that Dear Martin is an important read for anyone, especially those looking to get some insight on something they may not be able to immediately relate to. Dear Martin is incredibly eye opening and I applaud Nic Stone for this novel. I can’t wait to see what she writes in the future. 5 out of 5 stars.
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24974996-dear-martin?from_search=true
Number 7 and 6: Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Sam from Thoughts on Tomes has been raving about this series for ages. I finally decided to pick it up in 2017 and I am so glad I did. While I will say that Every Heart a Doorway’s murder mystery plot isn’t the strongest part of the story, in my opinion, the rest of the novel makes up for it two fold. The characters from Every Heart a Doorway don’t seem unrelateable. They are just normal kids that got swept up into lands that loved them and then sent them away. These kids grew in ways that their parents and the real world couldn’t fathom. I appreciate all of the different themes that are woven throughout both of these books, everything from a parent’s impact on their children, to sexuality and gender expression. I can’t wait to read Beneath the Sugar Sky when it comes out on January 9th! Both books 5 out of 5 stars.
Sam's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_5wVjAvQU
Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25526296-every-heart-a-doorway
Number 5: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
I had Zac and Mia on my TBR for a very long time. However, I never got around to picking it up. I got sick of the sicklit genre when it was all the rage a few years ago. Still, the premise of Far From the Tree, as well as the number accolades that it has been receiving, pushed me to pick it up. I am so glad that I did. This books is powerful. It tackles teen pregnancy in a way that slaps you in the face and never lets you go. It is absolutely heartbreaking. It is also one of the only books that I believe shows a bit of the reality of living as a child of an alcoholic. As someone who has struggled as a CoaA, it is frustrating to see alcoholism portrayed incompletely or incorrectly in YA novels (cough cough Everything, Everything cough cough). Even though it was difficult to read, I appreciated Farm From the Tree’s realistic portrayal of alcoholism and the ways that it destroys not just the alcoholic, but also those around them. I think that the multiple POV style of narration worked very well for the story of this book and provided more insight into each of the children’s heads. I loved all of the characters and empathized for them greatly. I highly recommend this book. 5 out of 5 stars. (Also this cover is my favorite cover of the year. It is gorgeous!)
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33830437-far-from-the-tree?from_search=true
Number 4: The Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
I have been following the Percy Jackson series and its connected universes for a very long time. I enjoyed the Heroes of Olympus books a lot, but couldn’t get into Magnus Chase. Apollo, however, I adore. I honestly think that this series is my favorite out of all of the ones that I have read from Rick Riordan. It is diverse, humorous, right up my theatre geek alley, and makes for one incredibly good audiobook. I didn’t think that I would love this series as much as I do, but it is such a fun read. I can’t wait for the next installment. 4.75 out of 5 stars.
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30145666-the-dark-prophecy?ac=1&from_search=true
Number 3: My Lady Jane by Brodie Ashton, Jodie Meadows and Cynthia Hand
I am a history geek. I have been for basically my entire life. Therefore, I am a sucker for any alternate history books, especially when they focus on underappreciated characters from history. I also heard great things about this book when it came out, especially about how funny it was. I couldn’t agree more. Lady Jane Gray has become one of my favorite characters from this year, along with G. This book was so much fun, but was also funny and featured a kick butt female protagonist. I also enjoyed the self aware narration style that was incorporated into My Lady Jane. Needless to say, I can’t wait for the next installment of the Lady Janies series (Even though it is Jane Eyre themed and I can’t say I am the biggest fan of Jane Eyre). 5 stars out of 5.
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22840421-my-lady-jane
Now to my top two!!
Number 2: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
I really don’t know how to sum up all my feelings about this book. It moved me to tears. It made me feel realized. There were so many people that I tried to get to read this because I wanted them to get a glimpse into the life of someone with a mental illness. There were even quotes that I read that explained how I was feeling better than I could explain my emotions myself. I know that this books is very confusing and hard to get into, but please! Please read it and share it! It is such an important book and it now holds a place on my favorite books of all time. Thanks to my friend Emma for finally pushing me to pull this one off my TBR shelf and read it. A million stars out of 5.
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18075234-challenger-deep?ac=1&from_search=true
Number 1: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
I filmed a review for Eliza and Her Monsters back when I first finished it. It is essentially 30 minutes of raw footage of me crying. That is how much I loved this book. I literally finished it and just started reading it again. I can’t think of a time when I have every been compelled to re-read a book right after finishing it. I understand that this book isn’t perfect, but I loved it in the same way I loved Challenger Deep. It made me feel realized in ways that I couldn’t express on my own. For that it has earned the top spot on my favorite books of 2017 list, as well as a spot on my favorite books of all time. If you have not read this yet, I highly recommend it. It is an incredibly quick read and I knew from the first 10 pages that I was going to fall in love. Again, a million stars out of 5.
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31931941-eliza-and-her-monsters?ac=1&from_search=true
That’s all folks! Those are all of my favorite books of 2017! I know this is late (according to booktube standards) but I am glad that I waited so long because I finished Far From the Tree and Wonder Woman: Warbringer within the last week. Let me know what your favorite books were down below. Did you like any of the ones on my list? Did they make it to your favorites list? Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know. Look forward to my 2017 reading survey, my most disappointing books of 2017, and my most anticipated books of winter 2018 coming soon.
Happy New Year!
-Jaime