Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I've Read in 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten List on something bookish.  Click on the link above if you wish to participate.

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2017

I've spend the better part of 2017 finishing series and reading older books that have been sitting on my shelves for WAY too long.  In fact, I haven't read a single new release yet this year, but hopefully I will get to some soon.


Where She Went by Gayle Forman
The sequel to If I Stay



Matched by Ally Condie
Book 1 in the series



Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Book 1 in the series



The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
Book 4 in the Raven Cycle Series



Unhinged by A.G. Howard
Book 2 in the Splintered Series.  I'm currently reading Ensnared, which is the final book in this series.



Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Book 1 in the Bloodlines Series



Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter
Book 5 in the Gallagher Girls Series



Evertrue by Brodi Ashton
Book 3 in the Everneath Series



Obsidian by Jennifer Armentrout
Book 1 in the Lux Series



Lust for Life by Jeri Smith-Ready 
Book 4 in the WVMP Radio Series

Waiting on Wednesday: Because You Love to Hate Me

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.  You can also check out Can't-Wait Wednesday hosted by Wishful Endings.

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

Release Date: July 11, 2017

I enjoyed My True Love Gave to Me, which also included a bunch of short stories from YA authors.  Instead of Holiday stories they are using fairy tales as the theme.  

Goodreads Overview:

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

Featuring writing from . . .

Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon

BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).

Top Ten Tuesday - Series I've Been Meaning to Start But Haven't

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten List on something bookish.  Click on the link above if you wish to participate.

Top Ten Series I've Been Meaning to Start But Haven't

I've already completed 5 series so far this year and I should complete the Slintered series in the next couple of weeks.  I have several of the books listed below on my Summer COYER reading list, which starts this Saturday, so I should get to several of these series soon.

The Superlatives Series by Jennifer Echols




Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J. Maas



The Glittering Court Series by Richelle Mead



Red Queen Series by Victoria Aveyard



Shadow and Bone Series by Leigh Bardugo



The Infernal Devices Series by Cassandra Clare



An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir



Never Never Series By Colleen Hoover




Between the Lines Series by Tammara Webber



Pushing the Limits Series by Katie McGarry

Waiting on Wednesday: Top Ten by Katie Cotugno

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.  You can also check out Can't-Wait Wednesday hosted by Wishful Endings.

Top Ten by Katie Cotugno

Release Date: October 3, 2017

I'm not sure why this book has a fall release date.  It sounds like it would be a light and fun summer beach read to me.  Maybe I can get an ARC and enjoy it during the summer anyway :)  

Goodreads Overview:

Ryan McCullough and Gabby Hart are the unlikeliest of friends. Introverted, anxious Gabby would rather do literally anything than go to a party. Ryan is a star hockey player who can get any girl he wants—and does, frequently. But against all odds, they became not only friends, but each other’s favorite person. Now, as they face high school graduation, they can’t help but take a moment to reminisce and, in their signature tradition, make a top ten list—counting down the top ten moments of their friendship: 

10. Where to begin? Maybe the night we met.
9. Then there was our awkward phase.
8. When you were in love with me but never told me…
7. Those five months we stopped talking were the hardest of my life.
6. Through terrible fights…
5. And emotional makeups.
4. You were there for me when I got my heart broken.
3. …but at times, you were also the one breaking it.
2. Above all, you helped me make sense of the world.
1. Now, as we head off to college—how am I possibly going to live without you?

Movie Review: Miss. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

I read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children back in April of 2015, so I didn't remember all of the details while watching the film.  From what I can remember, they did an excellent job of bringing the unusual qualities of the children to life.  

Jake is a sixteen year old boy who always thought he was an average boy that simply didn't fit in.  He is the only member in his family who is close to his grandfather, but even he can't believe all of his grandfather's crazy stories in recent years.  After his grandfather's death, he sets out on a mission to discover the meaning of his final words.  

Jake convinces his father to take him to an island off the coast of England where his grandfather spent some time in an orphanage during World War 2.  His grandfather told him stories about the home along with the children and headmistress who lived there.  His therapist thinks the experience could provide some closure, so his father agrees to take him on the trip.  When they arrive, they discover the home was destroyed during the war.  Jake's father immediately thinks all of the old stories were lies and starts working on his book.  Jake investigates a little further and discovers "the loop" his grandfather told him about and the magical world that exists inside.

Below is a link to the official movie trailer:

Overall, I thought the movie was entertaining. The first half was pretty consistent with what I remembered from the book, but the last half seemed like completely new material to me.  In addition, some of the uniqueness of the story was lost because the movie couldn't spend as much time focusing on the old photographs Ransom Riggs used to weave this tale.  They do include some of the photographs in a few scenes, but it wasn't nearly the same experience as reading the book.

Stacking the Shelves: Ensnared by A.G. Howard

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, be it physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in a physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Tynga publishes her post each Saturday, so be sure to link up your posts and check out what books others have added to their shelves that week.

From the Library:

I finished reading the second book in this series last month and want to see how this series concludes.  This will be one more series I started prior to the beginning of the year that I have completed for my challenge.

Ensnared by A.G. Howard (Splintered #3)

Goodreads Overview:

After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She's determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles . . . and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world--a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that's gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after?

Waiting on Wednesday: Finding Felicity by Stacey Kade

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine, which spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating.  You can also check out Can't-Wait Wednesday hosted by Wishful Endings.

Finding Felicity by Stacey Kade

Release Date: March 20, 2018

I never watched the TV show Felicity, but now I am curious.  It looks like there were four seasons and the series began in the fall of 1998.  That was just after I graduated from college and I was working a million hours a week, so it doesn't surprise me that I never watched it.  All four seasons are available on Amazon Prime, so I just added it to my watchlist to start preparing for the release of this book.  

Goodreads Overview:

Caroline Sands has never been particularly good at making friends. And her parents’ divorce and the move to Arizona three years ago didn’t help. Being the new girl is hard enough without being socially awkward too. So out of desperation and a desire to please her worried mother, Caroline invented a whole life for herself—using characters from Felicity, an old show she discovered online and fell in love with.

But now it’s time for Caroline to go off to college and she wants nothing more than to leave her old “life” behind and build something real. However, when her mother discovers the truth about her manufactured friends, she gives Caroline an ultimatum: Prove in this first semester that she can make friends of the nonfictional variety and thrive in a new environment. Otherwise, it’s back to living at home—and a lot of therapy.

Armed with nothing more than her resolve and a Felicity-inspired plan, Caroline accepts the challenge. But she soon realizes that the real world is rarely as simple as television makes it out to be. And to find a place where she truly belongs, Caroline may have to abandon her script and take the risk of being herself.