2017 was a bit of a crazy year. I found it really hard to balance reading with all of the other things I wanted to do, like university work and spending time with friends and family. I only managed to read 25 books (hopefully I will finish the 26th before the end of the year!), but I’m still really proud of this number. I managed to read 25 whole books whilst also finishing my first year and starting my second year of my Pharmacy degree. I had deadlines every few weeks and a mountain of work to do and I’ve struggled so much through this last semester. But I found comfort in the books that I read. They were a much needed distraction when uni stress got too much for me. And although I didn’t have the time to read every single day, I really loved the books that I did read, and that is the most important thing to me.
These are my favourite books that I read in 2017:
A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J Maa
The ACOTAR series is a new all time favourite of mine. I just loved the world and the characters so much! The character development in this one was done so well and made the novel a joy to read. I loved it so much that as soon as I finished reading it I flipped back to the beginning and started it again, which is something that I’ve never done!
A Court of Wings and Ruin – Sarah J Maas
This book was the perfect conclusion to a phenomenal trilogy. I was a blurry eyed mess throughout reading most of this novel and I struggled to put it down. This one was a lot more plot driven than A Court of Mist and Fury, which was exciting and really picked up the pace. I love this world so much and I can’t wait to see what Sarah J Maas does with it when she releases her novella next year!
Seige and Storm – Leigh Bardugo
This was my favourite book of the Grisha trilogy, another series which I thoroughly enjoyed this year! My favourite character was introduced in this book and I loved the character development that ensued. The world is so interesting and I can’t wait to revisit it in Leigh Bardugo’s other series Six of Crows, which I’m hoping to get to in 2018!
We Were Liars – E Lockhart
This book was just so insanely clever and it really hit me hard. The writing style was so unique and for most of the book I had no clue what direction E Lockhart was taking me in. I had so many wild theories and they were all so wrong! I didn’t see the ending coming, it shocked me and broke me and I was just in awe of the author’s ability to pull it off. This book was truly phenomenal.
Illuminae – Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
This book was unlike anything I’d ever read before. It was told in documents, emails, and files and I was worried I would find it hard to follow the story, however that wasn’t the case at all and I think the style worked so well! It made the story a lot more fast paced and I didn’t want to put the book down. I also don’t often read sci-fi, but this book blew me away and I can’t wait to continue with the series!
What were your favourite books of the year?
Thanks for reading!
Chloe 🙂
From your canon ships such as Romione and Hinny, to your non-canon ships such as Wolfstar, Drarry and Dramione, the Harry Potter fandom has it all. We may not always agree with certain ships (*cough* anything involving Snape *cough*), but at the end of the day, there will almost always be someone else in the fandom who ships the same pairing as you. You will never be alone.
don’t really like it when they’re only ever recognized for one major role that they did, but the Harry Potter actors really don’t seem to mind when they’re recognized as their Harry Potter character, and I think that’s really great. The cast grew up on those movies, just the same as we grew up with the books and movies, so I guess it makes sense that it means just as much to them as it does to the fandom.
chosen one to ever be chosen. I loved the characters so much and watching them develop was amazing. The magic system was so interesting to learn about, and the romance… OMG the romance! It was everything I wanted and more. Rainbow’s writing is just so addictive and I found it so hard to put this book down. There were a couple of unanswered questions at the end, but if you’ve read any of her other books you will probably be prepared for this. Overall Carry On was a fun, lighthearted take on fantasy, with characters that you can easily fall in love with. It really reminded me of why I love reading and is definitely a new all time favourite.
With this story, I feel like the less you know going into it, the better. All I will say is that the novel centres around a mysterious circus, which suddenly appears in certain places around the world, and disappears just as suddenly. The atmosphere of this book was truly magical. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything like it. There were so many characters that were very complex and interesting to learn more about and the plot was so intriguing. The writing in this book was incredible and the descriptions were so good I felt as though I could actually smell, hear and see the things which Erin was describing. I really felt as though I had been transported to a different world whilst I was reading it. Overall this novel was just immensely beautiful and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
hey follow a group of people called shadowhunters, who hunt demons. There is a complex cast of characters in this series which I fell in love with. There are multiple romances, family issues, and an insane plot with lots of twists and turns. Cassandra also incorporates some political issues into this series which I found very interesting to read about. I don’t know why I waited so long to read this series, but it was fantastic! I love the shadowhunter’s world and I can’t wait to return to it in the Dark Artifices and the future shadowhunter series that Cassandra is publishing. I am so glad I finally picked up this series and can now join in on all the hype surrounding it.
Chloe's Bookshelf 