*This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

I read 111 books in 2017.

111.

I can’t even tell you how much joy that number brings me. It was the best year of reading that I can ever remember. It brought me so much happiness and made me such a better person.

I’ve covered the HOW DO YOU FIND THE TIME TO READ SO MUCH? question many, many times. But it boils down to this. I read really fast, I sometimes neglect other things (TV series, a clean house) to read,  I stay up too late, and I have a book with me everywhere I go. It’s like breathing to me. So that’s the short answer.

So narrowing that number down to my favorite few is really, really hard. So hard that I’ve been working on this post longer than I want to admit.

Before I share this list I want to tell you a few things.

*These books are in no particular order.

*I’m not limiting myself to a “top 10” or “top 5”. I just chose all of the books that I loved and I’m still thinking about.

*They cover all topics and don’t all fit in the same mold. I am NOT a snobby reader and I don’t discriminate. I believe that a good “chick lit” type read can be just as satisfying as a New York Times Book Review top 10 read.

*All of these books were not written or published in 2017. But I read all of them in 2017.

*We don’t all have the same tastes and that’s what makes the world AWESOME. Just because I loved these books doesn’t mean you will like them at all. You don’t have to tell me if you hated a book I loved. I mean you can but it’s not necessary.

I would not have found any of these books without:

1. Goodreads
2. The public library
3. Book of the Month Club

You will see that many books on this list were purchased. I knew I’d want to own them based on what I’d heard and I was right!!

Here is how I made this list. I looked through my Goodreads Read in 2017 list.  I found all of the five star reads and then looked through them for the ones that still evoke an emotional response in me.  The ones I still think about (every day for many of them). These are the books on the list below.

1. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine  by Gail Honeyman  Audible

Award: Best Audiobook of 2017

I listened to this one on Audible and I still think about it so very often. I just kind of fell in lovewith Eleanor and rooted for her so hard.

Original Review: I want to shout it from the rooftops… I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK. Adored it, swooned over it, devoured it. Well, as fast as you can devour an Audible book. Another EXCELLENT narrator and I feel that the audio version enhanced the already amazing words so much. Fans of Ove and The Rosie Effect will love this book. At times absolutely HEARTBREAKING, it was the most endearing and uplifting book I’ve read in a long, long time. Absolute perfection. I want to find Eleanor and hold her hand. 5 stars. 

2. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas  Audible

Award: Most Important Read of 2017

 I still, to this day, think this is such an important read. I think that all teenagers should have to read it. Hell, I thinkall adults should have to read it.

Original Review: The title is an acronym for THUG. This book broke my heart. And made me SO MAD. I listened to it on Audible and I fully believe it gave me an even deeper experience than reading it would have. There is so much buzz about this book right now and it deserves every single bit. Race relations, police brutality, gangs, racism…it’s all covered in this book. But the overarching theme? L O V E. If you walk away from this book thinking otherwise, then read it again. Or LISTEN to it. Read it with an open heart and put your defense down. It’s not easy to listen to. I cried in many places. But it’s so so so very important to read. I won’t ever forget a single word. 5 stars. 

3. The One in a Million Boy  by Monica Wood  Purchased

Award: Most Heartwarming Book of 2017

This book just made me feel all of the feels. I fell in love from the very beginning.

Original Review: Oh my heart did I love this one. I loved every single thing about it. It was absolutely heartwarming. I love it like I loved Ove, Arthur Pepper, and Lillian Boxfish. It was just magical and charming.

4. This Is How It Always Is

by Laurie Frankel  Purchased

Award: Best Portrayal of Family Life of 2017

Family is everything. And navigating being a parent, especially in a large family, can be so damn complicated. I feel like this one really got it right from my perspective.

Original Review: Oh did I love this gem of a book. On the surface it’s about Rosie and Penn’s son announcing he thinks he’s a girl. But it’s about so much more than that. The overall theme is LOVE. Real, true, abiding, unshakeable love. Parental love that simply cannot be put into words…although Laurie Frankel still managed to do so somehow.

I especially loved the SPOT ON descriptions of a family with five children…I have five too and oh boy did Frankel nail it.

My favorite passage from the book- one that brings tears to my eyes just typing it- is this:

These kids, her multitudes, they could grow up. They could move away. They could- they would- become new, become changed,become actual adult people in progress,people she wouldn’t recognize,people she could not imagine. People remade. They would undergo miracles. They would transform. They would make magic. But they were her story, hers and Penn’s, so however wide they wandered, they would always be right here.

MAGIC. Five stars.

5. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch  Library

Award: Book I Read the Fastest in 2017.

I was…AM…so obsessed with this book and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Jimmy and I talk about it all the time.

Original Review: I read this book in a matter of hours. I cannot even tell you how much I enjoyed it. I am not one to enjoy books about physics… Let’s be honest, I don’t even understand physics. However… This book transcends any genre. It is absolutely thrilling, heart pounding, and all encompassing. Such a fun ride!

6. The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne  BOTM Selection

Award: Longest Book I Read in 2017

Oh this book, this book. It grabbed me from the first page and I held on for dear life until the end. It broke my heart. And warmed it. Side note: This also won BOTM’s book of the year. You can snag your own commemorative rose gold copy HERE.

Original Review: Brb to write a review if I can stop crying long enough to do so.. HAHA! Guess I never got back to write the review but I think those words say it all.

7. Be Frank with Me 

by Julia Claiborne Johnson  Library

Award: Quirkiest Book of 2017

I just thought this book worked perfectly. I loved the characters and how imperfect they were, I loved the setting, I loved the dialogue.

Original Review: Oh this book…this book. The perfect mix of wit, heartbreak, quirk, and magic. It won me over from page one. This gave me the same feels that The Rosie Project and Eleanor Oliphant gave me. It’s the story of one amazing kid and the people who love him. It warmed my heart big time.

“‘Frank will be okay, Alice,’ Mr. Vargas said. ‘He’s an odd duck, but brilliant children often are. It may take him a while, but someday he’ll figure out how to live in the world of ordinary mortals.’”5 stars

8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid  BOTM Selection

Award: Most Nostalgic Book of 2017.

This one took my by surprise. I’m a BIG Taylor Jenkins Reid fan and this book was such a departure for her. In a really great way. I loved the era this one was set in, my favorite decade.

Original Review: Yeah I loved this book. To be fair I LOVE TJR and I’m also obsessed with old Hollywood so this is totally my kind of book. There was also a wonderful dose of social justice. I ADORED it.

9. A Million Junes by Emily Henry  BOTM Selection

Award: Most Magical Book of 2017

I think about this one quite often . It was kind of in the same vein as Night Circus. Just magical.

Original Review: Haunting, beautiful, magical, and thoroughly enchanting. The last couple of chapters got a little too weird and convoluted for me, but the tear-inducing ending more than made up for it. Swoonworthy.

10. Homegoing  by Yaa Gyasi  Library

Award: Most Sweeping Story of 2017

I still can’t get over how much time is covered in this novel and how all of the characters weave together perfectly. FYI- it takes a while to get a hang of all of the characters but fight through the confusion!

Original Review: This book is OUTSTANDING. Absolutely outstanding. This novel takes place on two continents over 300 years and it was astoundingly moving and beautiful. And horribly sad as well. It stunned me and I won’t forget it.

11. Bear Town by Fredrick Backman  Purchased

Award: Biggest Surprise of 2017

I love Fredrick Backman. LOVE him. I thought this book was just going to be about hockey. Oh how wrong I was!

Original Reviw: Before I start this review, I need to disclose that I love Fredrick Backman. A Man Called Ove is one of my all time favorites. That said, his writing style takes a little getting used to. He is Swedish and I’m not sure if that has something to do with the different cadence and at times dry and abrupt structure of his sentences. But listen to me here- STICK WITH IT.

Ostensibly this book is about hockey. Which I know zero about. Zero. In reality it is about so much more. Love, fear, loyalty, loss, desire, family, good, and evil. It is about whether “boys will be boys” is an excuse and if “locker room banter” is acceptable. It’s about standing up for what you believe in…and so much more. Some of it is quite dark and some of it probably needs a trigger warning.

Listen to me here…Backman’s books are a slow burn. He wants you to KNOW his characters inside and out before you get to the action. He wants you to work for it and think about it. Always read carefully because there are gems scattered along the way. 5 stars.

12. Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge  Purchased

Award: Book That Made Me Cry the Hardest in 2017

Guys. I’m still thinking about this book like every day. I will say that as time goes on I’m still TOTALLY annoyed by the end. Why did Huckelbridge wrap it up so fast? It’s almost like the first half and last half are two totally different animals. So odd. But the beginning and middle is such a beautifully crafted love story.

Original Review: Y’ALL. Y’all. Y’all. Y’alllllll. Maybe I should start by telling you that when I finished this book I was crying so hard that Jimmy almost had to pull the car over. I’m not kidding. It broke me. BROKE ME. This book is so dang good. And so much to take, I thought my heart might burst. My only issue is that Huckelbridge wrapped the end up wayyyy too fast. I wish he would have slowed down a little bit because it was a little jarring. But I loved it so much. I loved the characters, I loved the story, I loved the setting.

I DID IT I DID IT!

I thought I was never EVER going to finish this post. HOORAY!

So…what were your favorites of the year? Do we have any in common?

xoxo

Stephanie

*This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

So my November reading count is WAY lower than last month. Like a third of the amount of books I read last month. Want to know why? Just read my last post and that’s why. I’m pouring my energy into other things (namely taking care of myself) and that means less downtime during the day and pure exhaustion by bedtime. I’m unable to keep my eyes open to even read a chapter. And that’s okay. Any reading at all brings me joy!

I’d characterize this as a pretty meh reading month. Lots of okay but not much “knock my socks off”. But there’s always next month and the month after that. Hooray for books, they never go away!

Moving on, here’s what I read for November. As always you can keep up with my real-time reading on Goodreads and Instagram.

The Alice Network // Kate Quinn

This was a solid four maybe 4 1/2 stars for me. At times I wanted it to be a five star read but it just wasn’t quite there.  I loved loved loved the story of Eve even though parts of her story were so difficult to read.  Unfortunately, I didn’t like the story of Charlie as much and I felt like it kind of detracted from the storyline. I have to admit that I did love Finn though, so I guess I was hot and cold when it came to Charlie’s story.

☆☆☆☆

What Remains of Me // Allison Gaylin

I just never fully got into this one. It seemed so disjointed and had wayyyyy too many coincidences. I really dislike it when an author tries too hard to add surprise twists.

☆☆

The Dry // Jane Harper

This book was really intriguing to me although honestly it dragged a bit. Maybe dragged isn’t the right word. A slow burn?  No pun intended.  The setting is as much a character as Aaron is and I was completely fascinated by it. I wasn’t FULLY engaged or engrossed but I found it highly enjoyable and suspenseful (and sad!) and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

☆☆☆☆

What to Say Next // Julie Buxbaum

I LOVE Julie Buxbaum. Tell Me Three Things was one of my favorite YA reads of 2017. I suspected I’d adore this one too, and my suspicion  was correct. This story was quirky and big-hearted and sweet. I felt so much empathy for both main characters and I loved learning more about them. I also adore the fact that the “mean kids” didn’t win in the end.

☆☆☆☆ 1/2

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore // Matthew Sullivan

Okay, warning. This one is a little jarring. I don’t know what I expected from the cover. A bookish mystery? Nope. The bookstore actually plays a very small role in this story. What DOES happen? I don’t want to give it away but let’s just say it starts with a suicide. And contains a scene so gruesome that I literally had trouble sleeping after reading it. And I still think about that scene every night before I go to sleep. This book was pretty dark. But I was completely sucked into Lydia’s dark world.  I thought at time the characters weren’t quite developed…I can always tell this is the case when I can’t “picture” them, if that makes sense. Also, I got really annoyed at the author’s overuse of the word “comrades”.

solid ☆☆☆☆

December Book Selections

❃ Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman – I didn’t order this one because I own it on Audible but GO ORDER IT NOW. NOW. Don’t spend any time waffling, just choose this one. It’s been in my heart every single day since I read it. It was a 5 star book for me, if you’d like to see my review click HERE

❃ The English Wife by Lauren Willig – this one is on the way to me

❃ The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

❃ The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen – this one is on the way to me

❃ The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

Deals: 

Gift a subscription to Book of the Month and get a free book for yourself

Small Admissions // The Forgetting Time // The Women in the Castle // The Atlas of Forgotten Places // The Reason You’re Alive

Now tell ME- what did you read in November and do you recommend anything? My TBR pile would be nothing without y’all!

Happy Friday-

xoxo

S

MY HARVEY FUNDRAISER IS STILL OPEN! You guys.are.amazing. I am leaving it open until it hits 300 comments. THANK YOU!

*This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

Another GREAT month for reading!! This might honestly be my best year of reading ever. Here’s what I read in the month of August.

As always, follow me on Goodreads or Instagram for routine reading updates.

Summerlost // Ally Condie

This is a middle grade book but Y’ALL. So magical and cute. Grownups can enjoy it too! Sweet and innocent and I so enjoyed it. 4 stars.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky // Mark Sullivan

Unbelievable and stunning story of courage and sacrifice. For some reason I found the story choppy and had a hard time connecting even though this book combines two of my favorite things to read about – WW2 and my beloved italy. . 3.5 stars.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies // John Boyne

This was one of my BOTM August pics. And honestly I was a little bit intimidated by it because it is THICK. Guys. GUYS. This book is so darn good. It reminds me a bit of my beloved A Little Life, although it is NOT as hard and uncomfortable to read. But gosh, it breaks your heart at times. I cried pretty hard throughout and had some happy tears at the end too. 5 stars.

Startup // Doree Shafrir

Meh. Just a bunch of unlikeable characters doing shady and dumb stuff. And good God I’m thrilled I’m not in the tech world! 2 stars.

Good Behavior // Blake Crouch

Ahhh so good!! No one does suspense and twists like Blake Crouch. I also really enjoyed hearing the insights from Blake at the end of each chapter. Super entertaining- now I want to watch the show!! 4 stars

Necessary Lies // Diane Chamberlain

I really loved this one although it broke my heart. I cannot believe that a thing like eugenics actually existed in this country… So disgusting and terrifying. I have to say that I hated the character of Robert so much that it almost ruined the book for me. Other than that I loved this one…and now I want to read more Diane Chamberlain! 4 stars

The Lost Wife // Alyson Richman

I loved this love story. I got swept into the time period and the struggles and heartbreaks and hopes and dreams of each character. However, my pet peeve was bad editing and holy cow this editing was B A D. Mispellings and “than” instead of “then”. It made me lose focus and lose track. I did love the story though. 4 stars.

The Book of Polly // Kathy Hepinstall

I really enjoyed this one. It was quirky and funny and had a wild southern streak to it. Polly was an epic character and I LOVE that she was based on the author’s mother. Love me some quirky southern fiction. My only issue was that it ended abruptly and randomly. 4 stars

The Night the Lights Went Out // Karen White

This was a great light read. It reminded me a lot of my beloved Mary Kay Andrews books. I figured out the ending pretty early on and I got kind of annoyed with how clueless the main character was, but I still really enjoyed it. 3.5 stars.

Lies She Told  // Cate Holahan

This one was interesting, especially the book within a book part. I read it in one day. However, I knew what happened from the very beginning. And that’s not an exaggeration. I might have read too many books in this genre. So I guess what I’m saying is that it seemed really obvious to me. And the other problem I had is that I truly didn’t connect with the characters. Most of them were pretty gross people. 2.5 stars.

For September , I chose:

• Lies She Told– review above
• Little Fires Everywhere– Just okay for me, although I love Celeste Ng. Full review to come next month, since I finished it in Sept.
• Sing, Unburied, Sing– Just started this yesterday, really liking it so far.

September Deals:

• Try one, two or three months for $9.99 each
• Sign up with code THESINNER and get The Sinner by by Petra Hammesfahr

WHEW! There you go! So what did you read/love/hate in August?
Love y’all!!

xoxo

*This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

This was such a memorable month for reading. I read way more than usual YA novels and listened to more Audible books than usual and several were stinkers. But the jewels…oh the jewels. I read some beautiful books this month. And they will stick with me for a long time.

As always, follow me on Goodreads or Instagram for routine reading updates.

Here’s what I read in July:

The Girls in the Garden // Lisa Jewell

I kept seeing good reviews of this one so I thought I’d love it. I’ve read other books by Jewell and really enjoyed them. This one? Uhhhh no. The cover promised “gripping and heart pounding”.  Not gripping or heart pounding at all. Super boring and anticlimactic. I would have given up if it was a library book but it was one I’d purchased so I felt compelled to finish. Blah. 1.5 stars.

Try Not to Breathe // Holly Seddon

I figured it out way before the ending but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. Entertaining and a good summer read. 3 stars.

Grace and the Fever // Zan Romanoff

Ehhhh. I’m WAY too old for this one. Like at least 25 years older than the target age. I just couldn’t identify with it. It read as a piece of One Direction fanfic and that’s just not my jam. 2 stars.

Our Short History // Lauren Grodstein

My God this book broke my heart. I knew it would before I started reading. After all…it’s about a mother of a six year old boy (the age of my twins) who is fighting ovarian cancer.

I just think this book was written SO beautifully. It’s a mix of a mother’s love for her son and a woman’s love for her job and it couldn’t have been more perfectly described. Karen’s rage and panic and irrational fears were so real I felt like I was right there with her.

Somehow Lauren Grodstein wrote this story without making it cheesy or emotionally manipulative. As a mother I related with every single page.

I’ll think about this one for a long, long time.  5 stars.

180 Seconds // Jessica Park

Let’s start with a positive. I loved Allison’s father Simon. LOVED him. I also thought that the original 180 seconds scene of the book had great chemistry.

BUT.

1. Mental illness is not cured immediately by a cute boy. It’s just not.

2. SO CHEESY. Like literally…some of the lines made me cringe. I’m not exaggerating.

3. Esben (ugh) was the most ridiculously perfect romantic lead ever. Sensitive, tender, virginal, patient, angelic…always saying and doing the EXACT right thing. So vanilla. I need some cracks and faults to love a protagonist. 2 stars

The Kind Worth Killing // Peter Swanson

Twisty and turny and keep you on the edge of your seat-ish. Super interesting and I read it really fast. Overall a great thriller although a pretty major typo annoyed me. 3.75 stars

Love and Gelato // Jenna Evans Welch

Guys. SO CUTE. I can’t even handle it. Of course it helps that I lived in Italy for 3 years and that Florence is my favorite place on earth. I’ve been to almost every single place the blog describes and that made me love it so much more than I would have loved it. It was just adorable.4 stars.

The Hate U Give //Angie Thomas

The title is an acronym for THUG. This book broke my heart. And made me SO MAD. I listened to it on Audible and I fully believe it gave me an even deeper experience than reading it would have. There is so much buzz about this book right now and it deserves every single bit. Race relations, police brutality, gangs, racism…it’s all covered in this book. But the overarching theme? L O V E. If you walk away from this book thinking otherwise, then read it again. Or LISTEN to it. Read it with an open heart and put your defense down. It’s not easy to listen to. I cried in many places. But it’s so so so very important to read. I won’t ever forget a single word. 5 stars. 

The Blinds // Adam Sternbergh (One of my BOTM selections for July)
Good Lord this book is addictive. I could not put it down and raced through it in a day. Fans of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy will eat this one up. Fast paced, heart pounding, and absolutely fascinating. Best premise for a book I’ve seen in a long time. 4 stars.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine // Gail Honeyman

I want to shout it from the rooftops… I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK. Adored it, swooned over it, devoured it. Well, as fast as you can devour an Audible book. Another EXCELLENT narrator and I feel that the audio version enhanced the already amazing words so much. Fans of Ove and The Rosie Effect will love this book. At times absolutely HEARTBREAKING, it was the most endearing and uplifting book I’ve read in a long, long time. Absolute perfection. I want to find Eleanor and hold her hand. 5 stars. 

Their are some excellent choices for August, I debated for a looooong time. I ended up with:

1. The Blinds (review above)
2. Eat Only When  You’re Hungry (super slender, I will probably be done in the next few days.)
3. The Heart’s Invisible Furies (this one is HUGE and will take me a while to read)

BOTM is restructuring their subscriber options. From now on, each subscription renews monthly. You get:

❃A book of your choice for $14.99 / month
❃Add extra books to your shipment for $9.99 each
❃Skip any month you want
❃Free shipping, always

WHEW! I think that’s it. I told you this was a B I G month for reading!

As always, please chime in below! I count on y’all to help me add to my TBR pile every month.

xoxo

S