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:Β
- 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 infuriatingβyet irresistibleβArcus, 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 kingβs tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from herβand 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 β whoever the girl doesnβt choose will die.
What the boys donβt 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 Boothβs mom, co-host of a ghost hunting reality show, went missing while filming in a βhauntedβ cave in Arizona.
Since then, Abbyβs life has all but fallen to pieces, most notably
because of her dadβs deep depression and how theyβve 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-hostβs son Charlie and two of his friends, Abby sets off on a quest for answersβ¦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 Hartβs 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, itβs like his speaking directly to herβ¦
Eric Thorn is frightened by his obsessive fans. They take their devotion way too far. It doesnβt 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 fastβlike take down one of his top Twitter followers. But Ericβs 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 worldβs best episode of Catfish takes a deadly turnβ¦
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. Itβs just like Hope to get back at him with more drama. But when Hope isnβt at school the next day, Tony knows the joke has gone too far-and he may have lead a predator right to his exβs door. Can Tony find Hope and save her before itβs 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 ofΒ The TellingΒ andΒ The CreepingΒ that examines the all-consuming love of lifelong friendshipβand what someone is capable of when theyβre 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 sheβs 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 theyβll 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 charmβbut when the Order of IVβs 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 controlβand before itβs over, theyβll 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,Β RHEEΒ 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 β and her revenge.
ALYOSHAΒ 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 β even as a war between planets is waged in Rheeβs 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 Meyerβs Lunar Chronicles and Pierce Brownβs Red Rising trilogy,Β RHODA BELLEZAΒ 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?
Gosh, I guess I better go binge Shaun David Hutchinson’s books now. You rave about them and I have We Are The Ants glaring at me from my shelves.
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I have officially become the Shaun David Hutchinson pusher. π I need to read We Are The Ants as well; I’m planning on reading it in the next month or so?
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I haven’t read any of these, but they are all going on the TBR for 2018 β€ β€ I started reading Harry Potter in 2017, so that was a big deal for me π
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Oh, yeah, so glad I could recommend some good books! Ah, I hope you’re enjoying them! β€οΈ
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I love how organized and beautiful your posts are girl!
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Thank you so much! π
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I haven’t read any of your worst books of 2017 so i’m all good there! I AM SO GLAD YOU LIKED WARCROSS TOO! It wasn’t my favourite of hers but REALLY GOOD. And I really want to read HEre Lies Daniel Tate! THUG was awesomee obviously! ANd my friend read Little Monsters and hated it? SO?? I need to read Silvera’s book in 2018!! Love the graphics, interesting to see your reading stats!
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YES I LOVED IT. I don’t know what my favorite of hers is; I’m thinking it’s The Rose Society (I haven’t read The Midnight Star, yet, though). Here Lies Daniel Tate was so great! I LOVED LITTLE MONSTERS; DON’T TRUST MAY (but I’d recommend her debut, The Darkest Corners if you want to read it first)! YOU STILL HAVENT READ SILVERA WHAT. Thank you! β€οΈ
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I was disappointed by Empress of a Thousand Skies. For a SPACE OPERA with 2 POVS, it needed to be way longer than 300+ pages. I’m glad it had diversity, but the MC was so repetitive in her goal of revenge that instead of being cool she felt flat. Okay, sorry for my mini rant. Great list!
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Yeah, I’m so glad it was diverse, but I felt meh about pretty much everything? I didn’t really care too much about the characters or what was happening, tbh. And the insta-love was so bad near the end; I don’t know why it was included??? Thank you! β€οΈ
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I loved the graphs! And your best of 2017 list…I’ve just added at least 5 new titles to my TBR for the new year π
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Thank you! AND AHH I AM SO GLAD I HAVE RECOMMENDED ALL THE BOOKS! π
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Wonderful wrap-up! Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza was a miss for me as well. I couldn’t stand the copy writing so I bailed on it.
Erica | Erica Robyn Reads
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Thank you! And, yeah, I was ready to write it off as meh, but that insta-love near the end killed it for me. π
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I can never get over how awesome your posts LOOK!! How in the world do you make all those charts girl??!! They look amazing.
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THANK YOU! β€οΈ I made them using Infogram, which was really easy to use! π
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Well they are BRILLIANT!
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I am such a sucker for stats and charts. So interesting to see your reading broken down like that!
I need to read a book by Shaun David Hutchinson in 2018. Everyone seems to love his work!
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Same! I’m hoping to read more books this year so the charts will be even bigger! π AND YOU SHOULD. He has so many out that are all over the place!
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Such a beautiful post! My inner OCD is loving all the charts!
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Ah, thank you! I’m so glad you think this post looks nice! π
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Iβm actually about to order Warcross right now. I havenβt read any of the books on my list but my favorites are Simon vs. The Homo-Sapiens Agenda, We Were Liars, The Grisha Trilogy, The Monsters of Verity Duology, The Zodiac series, All the Bright Places, Before I Fall, The Star-Touched Queen duology, The Upside of Unrequited, and Harry Potter. I donβt have that many least favorites. I have The Edge of Everything, The Wrath and the Dawn and The Nest.
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Ooh, I don’t like Shadow & Bone all that much, but I did like Six of Crows! I NEED TO READ WE WERE LIARS THIS YEAR GAH! And Before I Fall is one of my faves. π Aw, I enjoyed The Nest, but I agree with the others!
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Yea Iβve seen more people like Six of Crows more than the Grisha trilogy but I thouroughly enjoyed myself throught the books and I could not put them down. I have yet to read Six of Crows but I will read it soon for sure. We Were Liars is amazing and I have got to read Genuine Fraud soon!! Before I Fall I couldnβt stop reading it and itβs just so quick to read even though itβs quite thick XD I know people have mixed reviews about Lauren Oliver but I read Replica by her and it was good. I do want to read Vanishing Girls and Panic and Delirium despite mixed reviews. Itβs not that I hated the Nest. Itβs more like I felt meh about it and I didnβt care about any of the characters except the twin girls which just goes to show that I belong in YA. But yea it just wasnβt my cup of tea.
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You read some great books in 2017! I have THUG on deck and Iβm glad to hear you enjoyed it! I also love the charts you made- what program or app did you use?
Hereβs to an awesome 2018!ππ
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Thank you! And, yeah, I hope you enjoy it! I used a free website called Infogram that was super simple to figure out, so I’d recommend it! And thank you! π
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Okay, first of all — YOUR FEATURED IMAGE IS SO PRETTY HOOOOOW. And second — aahh I love this post so much!! It’s so weird that you’re more meh than hateful towards books?? I definitely have more hateful feelings than meh feelings, which I actually like, because hateful reviews are the easiest reviews for me to write. π
Aahh, thanks for mentioning the diversity in Here Lies Daniel Tate because I totally forgot about it!! I only remember the gay couple tho, but I feel like I’m missing something else…? (It was SUCH a good book tho. π) And ewww I’ve heard bad things about The Love Interest, can’t say I want to read it much now. π
Hope your 2018 brings better books, Mikaela!! π
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AH THANK YOU! Book chevron’s are so hard and I don’t have enough rainbow spines, BUT I MAKE DO. π Haha, that’s probably why I have such a problem with writing reviews??? When a book is meh, I don’t have much to say. π
Uh, I think the love interest was Chinese (I know she was Asian, so take my words with a grain of salt lol)? And I appreciated the fact that white wasn’t the default race, like she described somebody as having white skin explicitly, since most books usually only point out someone’s skin color when they’re a POC.
Yeah, it’s not too great. I’m still looking forward to his next book, though. HIS PREMISES ARE TOO GOOD!
Thank you! β€οΈ
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Omg thank you so much for telling me about there being Asian rep!! I totally forgot about that but now I vaguely remember it??? (I like to keep track of Asian rep in books because I’m Asian, haha π)
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i love the way you set this post up! so fun to read through!
i am with you on the whole not really hating books; but feeling more meh about them. i have only ever hated two books and that was way, way, WAY back in middle school, so it probably wasn’t well placed hatred. lol and i only now remember one of those books.
i have my 2017 book run down (complete with a few stats) popping up next week. (i know a little late to the new year; but it’s the way my blogging “schedule” worked out) i think my most interesting stat to me is female to male authors. apparently i read more male authors…
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Thank you so much!
Haha, I think I feel more annoyed with books than hate them?? My one stars are more, “I’m annoyed/This had potential,” to be honest.
Ah, yeah, tell me when it’s up so I’ll be sure to check it out! I think I read more females this year, but not by much???
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at one point i counted and i was at like 90% male authors. π³ i tried to read more female authors after that.
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https://blissfullycreating.com/2018/01/10/five-years-into-reading-like-rory/ here’s my 2017 wrap up with some stats! π
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I love your infographics! I’ve been integrating more graphics into my wrap-up posts, especially pie charts. While I don’t make best and worst lists myself, I do love reading them.
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Thank you so much; it was so fun to read! π I am way too obsessed with graphics, but I’m also a shallow person lol. π
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Ugh, I need to read Adam Silvera so badly!!! But my TBR is like a million + miles high, and I haven’t bought his books yet. But I keep seeing his stuff & I love his twitter, so I MUST SOON.
Also, Angie Thomas is so great! I can’t wait for her next book! π
And I need to learn how to do these graphics. PIE CHARTS are so epic.
Totally get feeling meh about books. Sometimes I can hate a book, but most of the time I just feel meh.
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Ah, you should! I feel that; I have a bunch of authors that I wanted to read from, but haven’t. OOPS.
I cannot wait for On The Come Up! The cover is going to be so pretty. π I made my charts with the website called Infogram, but I’ve seen others use Canva (but I don’t know lol).
Yeah, a large majority of the time, I tend to feel meh about books more than outright hate them!
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I must say I really love your writing… it was so much fun to read… And now I have got some more interesting books to add to my TBR…. ππ
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Ah, thank you so much! π And, yeah, I’m so glad! What am I if I don’t recommend an absurd amount of books? π
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Someone else read Behind Her Eyes!!! This is an awesome post. I love how you laid everything out.
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Ah, yes; it was only because so many of my thriller friends loved it that I decided to read it! And thank you so much; formatting is hard! π
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THUG is practically the YA Novel of 2017 with all the good I’ve heard of it! *stares with guilt at my unread copy* I also love your little verdicts. X
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Oh, yeah, definitely! Don’t even feel bad, I have so many unread 2017 releases; it’s so bad. Thank you! π
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Follow Me Back is on my TBR and now I’m afraid to pick it up? On the other hand, if I end up disliking it as much as you, it’ll be an easy DNF and one more ticked off my unread books in my bookcase? Hmmm..
Warcross and THUG definitely deserve to be in this post though! All the love for those books! <33
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When it comes to looking at reviews, it seems like I’m the only one who outright hated it, so who knows? π And I absolutely love Warcross and THUG! So excited for Book 2 and for Angie’s sophomore novel! π
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Only one way to find out, haha!
Yessss! I honestly want to know the title for book 2 though. So curious about that one.
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Great post! I think I’m going to keep some charts about the books I read this year too. I still need to read They Both Die at the End and The Hate U Give. I fully intend to read them this year!
I hope 2018 will be an awesome book year for you. π
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Thank you! Yeah, I’m definitely thinking of doing this again next year, and I’ll hopefully have read more books next time around. π Ah, I hope you love and read them; they were both fantastic! Thank you so much; you as well!
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You got through some incredible books this year Mikaela! I’m definitely not surprised to see THUG on this list (honestly I feel like I’d be more surprised not to see it on someones list who’d read it this year) and oh I’m really glad you loved Adam Silvera’s books as well. Both They Both Die at the End and History is All You Left Me broke my heart but I enjoyed They Both Die at the End just that tiny little bit more. π
Great post, and I hope there are more amazing reads for you in 2018! π β€
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Thank you so much! And, yes, I’ve loved him since More Happy Than Not, so I was definitely not going to pass up the opportunity to read all his books! Yep, I think They Both Die At The End won out as well, just because it made me cry. π
Thank you! I’m hoping to definitely read way more this year! π
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The Hate U Give was one of my favourite books from last year too! I may have to reread it this year π And I meant to get around to Warcross and They Both Die at the End, but I’ve got them close to the top of my TBR for this year π
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Ah, yeah, I’m so glad so many people loved it! It’s well deserved! I feel that; I have so many books left over from 2017 that I’m hoping to read this year because I didn’t get to them! π
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