What Did I Read In 2017? The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (Ft. Charts! Best Books! Worst Books!)

Was my reading year the BEST it could’ve been? Definitely not.

(Okay, that’s a bit of an understatement, but seriously.)

Despite that, I still thought it’d be fun to observe my reading year and such! At first, I was going to make my Best & Worst of 2017 lists separately, like I did last year, but I realized I had a LOT of books I loved, and not too many books I hated, so I decided to combine them into one huge post, along with some charts and graphs analyzing my year!

First up, I wanted to evaluate how many old and new authors I read this year! Not surprisingly, I read way more new new authors than older authors, which is pretty awesome! I feel like I read a lot of stand-alones this year (more on that later), series starters, and debuts, whereas last year, I was doing more re-reading.

Then I wanted to see how many books I read this year that were stand-alones versus books that were part of a series (including series starters, sequels, and series finales). It was, once again, not a surprise to me that I read more stand-alones, since the first half of this year was basically me reading nothing but thrillers! It’s funny to see how few books I read in a series since it was only two years ago that I’d binge entire series in three days, but oh well!

Next up was how many books did I read in each genre! This was the only category I counted all those M/M romance novels I read this past year (spoiler alert: I read a lot). I’m sure no one is shocked that my highest is thrillers/mystery, but I was surprised that contemporary (which is my least favorite genre) beat out fantasy (which I consider one of my favorites). I was pretty bored with fantasy this year, to be honest, but all the shiny 2018 fantasy books look fantastic, so we’ll see if this is permanent!

And last but not least, I measured all my reads by star ratings! 3 and 4 stars were my highest, which makes sense to me – I’m picky with my five star ratings, and I tend to feel meh about most books rather than really HATE them! I had more 2 than 1 stars (it’s pretty close), and five stars came in third, so yeah!

1.) At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict: 

• Heart-breaking
• Funny
• CUTENESS GALORE
• Oh so relatable
• Fantastic cast of characters
• I NEED MORE SHAUN DAVID HUTCHINSON IN MY LIFE

2.) Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• Twisty
• Unpredictable
• Fun
• Unputdownable
• WTF That Ending?

3.) Boy Robot by Simon Curtis

Rating: 4 Stars

Verdict:

• Diverse
• Fun
• Emotional
• Funny
• Addicting
• Underrated as all heck

4.) Final Girls by Riley Sager

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• WTF.
• Plot twists galore.
• Couldn’t stop reading.
• WHO CAN I TRUST?
• (Apparently, not anyone.)
• I mean, who else is excited for his sophomore novel later this year, BECAUSE I AM.

5.) History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• Angst-y
• I SHIP IT SO HARD!
• Great characters
• All the feels
• ARE THOSE TEARS?

6.) They Both Die At the End by Adam Silvera

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• ALL THE FEELS!
• Smol cinnamon rolls for characters.
• The writing actually ruined my life.
• I’m not the same anymore, ya’ll.
• YEP, THOSE ARE DEFINITELY TEARS!

7.) Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• Perfection
• Read in a day
• WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
• Unreliable narrator
• No!!! Romance!!!
• WHY DO PEOPLE HATE THIS BOOK?
• I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND

8.) My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry

Rating: 4 Stars

Verdict:

• What the heck?
• SO. MANY. PLOT TWISTS.
• All the feelings.
• I literally ranted and screamed at this book, like, twenty times.
• You’ll probably hate all the characters???
• You’re supposed to, though.
• It’s worth it, I swear.

9.) The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• Heart-breaking
• Relatable
• Beautiful
• Great family dynamics
• BEST MAIN CHARACTER!!!
• There are so many contemporary books on this list???
• Who am I?

10.) The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• Beyond messed up
• PLOT TWIST ALERT
• Awful characters
• WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN???
• I had VERY strong feelings.
• Very strong.
• Gillian Flynn-esque

11.) Warcross by Marie Lu

Rating: 5 Stars

Verdict:

• Predictable, but fun
• Diverse cast of characters
• Fantastic writing
• CAN I LEAP INTO THIS WORLD, PLS?
• WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ENDING.
• Is the sequel out yet? No? Okay.

12.) Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Rating: 4 Stars

Verdict:

• Made me think
• What else would you expect from Neal Shusterman, to be honest?
• Original
• Great characters
• All the great world-building
• OH SO VIOLENT

13.) Here Lies Daniel Tate by Cristin Terrill

Rating: 4 Stars

Verdict:

• Unreliable narrator
• A page-turner
• Casual diversity
• I KNEW IT!
• What an ending!!!
• (Sidenote: I freaking love the cover.)

14.) Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

Rating: 4 Stars

Verdict:

• Gillian Flynn-esque.
• Unreliable characters.
• I’M SORRY, WHAT NOW?
• Evil women, broken female friendships, diary entries in between
• I mean, WHAT ELSE COULD I ASK FOR.
• No!!! Romance!!!
• Kara Thomas and Abigail Haas BEST BE GETTING TO WRITING THE BEST YA THRILLER NOVEL TO GRACE THIS PLANET.

1.) Frostblood by Elly Blake

The frost king will burn.

Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.

Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating—yet irresistible—Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her—and from the icy young man she has come to love.

Rating: 1 Star

Verdict: Death by cliches.

2.) The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets.

Caden is a Nice: The boy next door, sculpted to physical perfection. Dylan is a Bad: The brooding, dark-souled guy, and dangerously handsome. The girl they are competing for is important to the organization, and each boy will pursue her. Will she choose a Nice or the Bad?

Both Caden and Dylan are living in the outside world for the first time. They are well-trained and at the top of their games. They have to be – whoever the girl doesn’t choose will die.

What the boys don’t expect are feelings that are outside of their training. Feelings that could kill them both.

Rating: 3 Stars

Verdict: Death by ‘meh.’

3.) Hellworld by Tom Leveen

Five years ago, Abby Booth’s mom, co-host of a ghost hunting reality show, went missing while filming in a ‘haunted’ cave in Arizona.

Since then, Abby’s life has all but fallen to pieces, most notably

because of her dad’s deep depression and how they’ve drifted further and further apart.

But now, at seventeen, Abby has decided that things will change. She plans to go to the same cave where her mom and the crew went missing and to find out, once and for all, what happened there.

With the help of the co-host’s son Charlie and two of his friends, Abby sets off on a quest for answers…but what the group ends up finding, what they stumble across in that dark, primordial cave in Arizona, is nothing they could have ever imagined.

Abby was investigating a possible haunting… she never expected that there could be something worse.

Rating: 1 Star

Verdict: Death by insta-love and abruptness.

4.) Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger

Tessa Hart’s world feels very small. Confined to her bedroom with agoraphobia, her one escape is the online fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn. When he tweets to his fans, it’s like his speaking directly to her…

Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesn’t help that his PR team keeps posting to encourage their fantasies.

When a fellow pop star is murdered at the hands of a fan, Eric knows he has to do something to shatter his online image fast—like take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Eric’s plan to troll @TessaHeartsEric unexpectedly evolves into an online relationship deeper than either could have imagined. And when the two arrange to meet IRL, what should have made for the world’s best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turn…

Told through tweets, direct messages, and police transcripts.

Rating: 1 Star

Verdict: Death by terrible ending…and insta-love and boring characters and not making sense and literally everything; this book was terrible.

5.) The Revenge by Hannah Jayne

Break ups can be messy. After his ex-girlfriend Hope embarrasses him in front of the entire school, Tony wants revenge. So he signs her up for online dating sites, subscriptions, and even makes the location of her phone public. And it works. A few days later, Hope calls begging Tony to stop the prank. Then Hope screams and a car door slams. The call drops.

Tony tries to keep cool. It’s just like Hope to get back at him with more drama. But when Hope isn’t at school the next day, Tony knows the joke has gone too far-and he may have lead a predator right to his ex’s door. Can Tony find Hope and save her before it’s too late for both of them?

Rating: 1 Star

Verdict: Death by WTF-ery (not the good kind, guys).

6.) The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle

Iris and Will’s marriage is as close to perfect as it can be: a large house in a nice Atlanta neighborhood, rewarding careers and the excitement of trying for their first baby. But on the morning Will leaves for a business trip to Orlando, Iris’s happy world comes to an abrupt halt. Another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board, and according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers on this plane.

Grief-stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. But as time passes and there is still no sign of Will, she reluctantly accepts that he is gone. Still, Iris needs answers. Why did Will lie about where he was going? What is in Seattle? And what else has he lied about? As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to find out what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she receives will shock her to her very core.

Rating: 2 Stars

Verdict: Death by out-of-the-blue terrible phrasing…and also “meh.”

7.) First We Were IV by Alexandra Sirowy

A group of friends start a secret society in this out-of-control thriller from the author of The Telling and The Creeping that examines the all-consuming love of lifelong friendship—and what someone is capable of when they’re afraid of losing it.

Izzie loves nothing more than her three best friends, Viv, Graham, and Harry, and the bond the four of them share. And she’s terrified of their friendship falling apart next year when they go off to college. To bind them together, she decides to create that will belong only to them, a special thing that they’ll always share between the four of them. And so they dream up the Order of IV, a secret society devoted to mischief that rights wrongs and pays back debts. At first, it works like a charm—but when the Order of IV’s escapades get recognition beyond their wildest expectations, other people start wanting in. And soon, what started as a game of friendship is spiraling into something dangerous and beyond their control—and before it’s over, they’ll pay the ultimate sacrifice.

Rating: 3 Stars

Verdict: Death by internal hype.

8.) Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza

The only surviving heir to an ancient Kalusian dynasty, RHEE has spent her life training to destroy the people who killed her family. Now, on the eve of her coronation, the time has finally come for Rhee to claim her throne – and her revenge.

ALYOSHA is a Wraetan who has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. Despite his popularity, Aly struggles with anti-Wraetan prejudices and the pressure of being perfect in the public eye.

Their paths collide with one brutal act of violence: Rhee is attacked, barely escaping with her life. Aly is blamed for her presumed murder.

The princess and her accused killer are forced to go into hiding – even as a war between planets is waged in Rhee’s name. But soon, Rhee and Aly discover that the assassination attempt is just one part of a sinister plot. Bound together by an evil that only they can stop, the two fugitives must join forces to save the galaxy.

In this exhilarating debut for fans of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles and Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy, RHODA BELLEZA crafts a powerful saga of vengeance, warfare, and the true meaning of legacy.

Rating: 2 Stars

Verdict: Death by insta-love and boredom.

What are some of your notable reading statistics? What are some of the best and worst books you read in 2017? Do you agree with any of my answers?

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