My Favorite Reads of 2017

Well, reader friends - 2017 is almost over.  So - it's time to share my favorite reads of the year.  This is always hard!  How do you pick the BEST BOOKS you read all year?!  Challenging, eh?  But, I did it - here are my favorite books I read this year:

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings

Hey Y'all!  Happy Tuesday - and welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This weeks "theme" is Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings. The Books I am just DYING to get right now would have to be the following: (Yes, there are more than 10.  I just can't help it!)

I love Susan Dennard - if you've ever read any of her books, you can understand why!  If I got copies of Truthwitch and Windwitch, it would be amazing.

The Harry Potter Series Box Set - Okay, you caught me - I technically own all the HP books already.  However, I do not own them all in paperback - AND one of my brothers lost my copies of The Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows when I lent them to him.  So, I would not at all turn down a collection of Harry Potter books.

The Song of Ice and Fire series - I've read the first book, and am reading the second one - so of course I am going to continue, and these are books that are so awesome that having them around would not at all disappoint me.

I love Marissa Meyer, so any chance to add one of her books to my collection is great!

December 2017 Young Adult Releases

Plague Land by Alex Scarrow

Series: Remade #1
Release Date: 1 December 2017

Ever the Brave by Erin Summerill

Series: Clash of Kingdoms #2
Release Date: 5 December 2017

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

Release Date: 5 December 2017

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart by Tamsyn Murray

Release Date: 5 December 2017

Recipe for Hate by Warren Kinsella

Release Date: 5 December 2017

Rules of Rain by Leah Scheier

Release Date: 5 December 2017

Sea of Strangers by Erica Cameron

Series: The Ryogan Chronicles #2
Release Date: 5 December 2017

The Stolen Sky by Heather Hanson

Series: Split City #2
Release Date: 5 December 2017

All the Wrong Chords by Christine Hurley Deriso

Release Date: 12 December 2017

Freed by Flame and Storm by Becky Allen

Series: Bound by Blood and Sand #2
Release Date: 12 December 2017

The Truth Beneath the Lies by Amanda Searcy

Release Date: 12 December 2017

Bad Call by Stephen Wallenfels

Release Date: 19 December 2017

Here, There, Everywhere by Tyler Terrones, Julia Durango

Release Date: 19 December 2017

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Release Date: 19 December 2017

 

Shadow Girl by Liana Liu

Release Date: 19 December 2017

Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles by Natalie C. Parker

Release Date: 19 December 2017

Before Now by Norah Olson

Release Date: 26 December 2017

Breaking the Ice by Julie Cross

Series: Juniper Falls #2
Release Date: 26 December 2017

Love, Life and the List by Kasie West

Release Date: 26 December 2017

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily by Laura Creedle

Release Date: 26 December 2017

The Mind Virus by Donna Freitas

Series: Unplugged #3
Release Date: 26 December 2017

The Becoming of Noah Shaw - Michelle Hodkin

 Title: The Becoming of Noah Shaw 
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Rating: 3 Stars

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 When I heard that Michelle Hodkin was coming out with a book about Noah Shaw, I was like: 

I mean, excited!  After reading the book, I am feeling much more: 

I really wanted to love this book - after all the Mara Dyer trilogy was amazing!  With this book, I got partway through and just found myself thinking: What is actually going on?!  There is NO plot in this book.  None.  Nothing happens.  They visit Stella and Leo.  They drink.  They talk about the people who died.  That's it.  A whole lot of talking, interspersed with brief moments of Noah contemplating his relationship with Mara. 


The best thing about this book was that Mara was still just as dark and twisted as she was in her trilogy.  Other than that, I couldn't really think of much I loved about the book.  I didn't absolutely hate it, but I did find myself wondering why I spent the time reading it.

The characters were the same as they were in the MD Trilogy, there were no other real changes.  The new characters that were introduced were just sort of flat and uninteresting.  I didn't care about any of them at all - and the worst part is that I WANTED to care about them, but there was nothing about them that made me really like any of them.

Many of the details that were discussed in this book were brought up in the MD trilogy as well.  Like, animals are afraid of Mara.  Or Mara is dark and creepy and twisted.  Come with a new angle, author. 


Overall, I won't say I regret reading this book, but I certainly won't be spreading any love around about it.