It's been a lot easier to decide which books I loved best in 2017 than it has been in previous years, because of my monthly #BookHaul and Wrap-Up posts, and also because I've assigned fewer 5-star ratings to books this year. I think with the more books I read, the easier it becomes for me to judge the okay-ish books from the really good and excellent ones, and the harder it becomes for books to impress me, and I find myself awarding fewer 5-stars.
I've been very strict with my 5-star ratings this year, giving them out only when I truly love a book and it leaves me moved.
So, without further ado, let's talk best books of 2017!
I thought I'd start off by listing my 4- and 5-star reads from each month, if any that month, by referring back to my book review/monthly wrap-up posts, and then go on to compile a overall top 7 list. (Click on the month for that month's wrap-up post)
January
The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey 4-stars
The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey 5-stars
Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas 4-stars
March
Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices #2) by Cassandra Clare 4-stars
Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss #1) by Stephanie Perkins 4-stars
Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben 4-stars
April
Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare 4-stars
Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1) by Laini Taylor 4-stars
May
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin 4-stars
Witness The Night by Kishwar Desai 4-stars
Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver 4-stars
July
To All The Boys I've Loved Before (To All The Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han 4-stars
PS. I Still Love You (To All The Boys I've Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han 4-stars
Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All The Boys I've Loved Before #3) by Jenny Han 4-stars
August
Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J. Maas 4-stars
Dragon Marked (Supernatural Prison #1) by Jaymin Eve 4-stars
September
Home (Myron Bolitar #11) by Harlan Coben 5-stars
Found (Mickey Bolitar #3) by Harlan Coben 4-stars
Pandemonium (Delirium #2) by Lauren Oliver 4-stars
Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare 5-stars
Were you counting the number of book titles I made bold to make the 5-star reads from each month stand out? Not many at all, right? But the books that I rated 5-stars were truly good and I can't recommend them highly enough.
So, we have the titles that will be in my Top 3 Books of 2017 now:
The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey
Home (Myron Bolitar #11) by Harlan Coben
Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare
I'll get around to ranking these three later on. But my favourite read of the year is among these three ~ can you guess which one it might be?
The tricky part comes next; trying to pick 4 books from all the 4-star reads.
Well, the Lara Jean books narrowly missed out on a top 3 spot ~ they're so readable, and re-readable. I've read the first two books in the series three times now, the third novel two times. But my favourite out of the series is Book 1, and it makes it into the top 7 books of 2017 list:
To All The Boys I've Loved Before (To All The Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han
Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass#5) by Sarah J. Maas missed out on a 5-star rating by a tiny margin, too, so that's the next book to add to the list.
Delirium (Delirium #1) by Lauren Oliver has to go in there, too; it was such a refreshing change from a lot of the YA books I've read recently.
And finally, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin. It was weird ~ and I love a bit of weird! ~ and lovely and creepy and mysterious and clever.
So, that's it. All 7 of my favourite reads from 2017!
How to rank them all, though... I know which one tops the list, and the second and third placed books equally deserve the second spot, but the next four...? I'm going to try. Here goes.
No.7: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
No.6: Delirium by Lauren Oliver
No.5: Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas
No.4: To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
No.3: Home by Harlan Coben
No.2 The Last Star by Rick Yancey
No.1: Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
Yes, Lord of Shadows was my favourite read of 2017 and it wasn't hard to make this choice. It was just amazing. Read my review of this book in my September Wrap-Up post. Home and The Last Star were so different from each other, and from LoS, and I give them joint second place.
What were your best reads of 2017? If you've read any of my top 7 books, let me know if you liked them as much as I did.
Thank you for reading this post. If you're interested in my debut novel, Chasing Pavements (Soulmates Saga, Book 1) click here to learn more about it.
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Book Details
Length: 110,000 words
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Clean Romance / Diverse Romance / Interracial Romance / Romantic Drama / Women’s Fiction
Mood: Inspirational / Feel Good / Coming of Age / Dark
Content: Sexy but No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: New Adult & College / Adult / Female Readers
Recommended for: Readers that enjoy romance novels with serious issues and characters with depth. This is a story about life, love, friendship, family, music, art, destiny and soul mates.
And the first two books in my teen urban fantasy/YA paranormal romance series, the Poison Blood series, can be downloaded for free via:
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Length: 29,000 words
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance / Teen Vampire Romance / Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy / Teen & YA Urban Fantasy / Young Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy / Supernatural Romance / Fantasy Romance
Mood: Dark / Humorous / Coming of age
Content: No violence / No explicit sex scenes / No erotica
Audience: Teen / Young Adult / New Adult / Adult
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