Saturday, December 31, 2016

My Top Books of 2016 (December Book Wrap-Up)

Well, here we are...the last day of 2016. I swear the years go by faster and faster as I get older. So much has happened to me this year to help me mature and grow as a person, but that's for another post. For now let's talk about books!

Writing
After the disaster that was NaNo2016, I swore to give myself a serious break from writing / recovery period and that's exactly what I did. I didn't even do any writing for Wattpad, although I did announce my next story there on Christmas Day. My readers seem excited! I'm excited, too.

Reading
As stated in last month's post, I dedicated most of my free time this month to reading, and in so doing completed six books! Here's what I read:


A Whole New World is the first Liz Braswell book I've ever read, and also Book One in a series called Twisted Tales, in which the stories of various Disney Princesses are tweaked in some way and retold accordingly. The twist in this first book was that Jafar got away with the lamp from the Cave of Wonders, leaving Aladdin trapped with no genie to get him out. All things considered this book was very well done in terms of political correctness and thankfully appealed to older readers (aka rated PG). It was a good mix of romantic and dark, though the romance was way too forced and fluffy for my taste. I didn't particularly like the ending; it was rather depressing, even for fans of tragedy like myself. (Also I was totally right about Iago being important.) I do intend to continue this series.

Carrier of the Mark and I have a history that goes way back. Once upon a time there was an online writer's community called Inkpop, of which I was a member. Inkpop's primary sponsor was HarperCollins Publishing, and on very rare occasions the editors/agents of the company would browse through stories on Inkpop and (on even rarer occasions) offer authors they liked a publishing deal on the spot. This is what happened to Carrier of the Mark. Ever since then I've wanted to read it. And you know, I can totally see why this story would have stood out among others on Inkpop (which doesn't exist anymore, by the way). The story is really unique and the romance is so passionate it actually carries with it a level of legitimate danger, which I appreciate, as it adds another layer to the already dangerous plot. However while I understand why their relationship blossomed so quickly, I do believe certain things within said relationship came on too fast (aka Adam calling Megan "his gorgeous girlfriend" basically the first time they ever actually spoke to each other), and one could argue that the ending was way rushed. *SPOILERS* Like, instead of having Megan captured, rescued, hospitalized, and recovered all within the last 40 pages of the book, why not end it with her being captured, and then have the rescue and etc. be the start of Book Two? It would have been a great cliffhanger. I mean, I definitely intend to read the sequel anyway, but having an ending like that after all the buildup to the actual kidnapping? I would have been rushing to the nearest bookstore to get my hands on Shadow of the Mark to see what happened. Just a thought. *END SPOILERS* Overall, I thought the book was very well done, and I totally get why the HarperCollins people approached Leigh Fallon about its publication way back when. Congrats to her again!

Lock and Mori: Mind Games! GUYS. You may remember that I read the first book in this series (which I recently found out will end up being a trilogy) way back in February of this year. I wrote a full review of it here. I really enjoyed the book, though my biggest complaint was that Sherlock was not really in character. Well, as soon as I got a solid release date for the second book, I requested that my library purchase it. They did, and the DAY AFTER its release it was in my hands. I stopped all other reading I was in the middle of at the time to plow through Mind Games, and HOLY CRAP it was ten times better than the first book! Sherlock was much more in character this time around (and so was Mori, for that matter), and I really appreciated that the author finally started referring to him as just Lock. I mean, it's called Lock and Mori for a reason. I was hooked from page one and had a really hard time ever putting it down. The plot was intense and fast-paced, the romance was really tense but also really...well, romantic - and the ENDING! I had no clue at all who was behind everything, but I was totally blown away when it was revealed in the last ten pages. And then the last line utterly broke my heart! I wanted to scream in rage and bawl my eyes out at the same time! This author knows what she's doing, man. And I don't care what my TBR looks like when the final book is released. I WILL pre-order that sucker. I was really close to pre-ordering this one. Lock and Mori was my greatest book discovery of 2016, without a doubt.

I'll do a full review of the entire Chronicles of Narnia once I've gotten through all seven books.

I also feel I should mention that due to the unexpected amount of bookish gifts I received for Christmas (10 physical books and $65 towards book gift cards) my original TBR Takedown plan has been completely eradicated. I'll do some planning and get back to you with a TBR Takedown 2.0 soon.

And now...*drumroll*

My Top Books of 2016
The following are the books that managed to earn a 5/5 star rating from me in the year 2016:

Of these six books, the ONE that I believe was the best book I read this year is The Forgetting by Nicole Maggi. It was a book that I picked up at Barnes and Noble during one of our few trips to Montana every year, and it's a genre I don't normally read. But the premise intrigued me so I decided to give it a go. This book is an amazing thriller. Project Cain has NOTHING on this. It unashamedly delves into the world of sex trafficking that occurs right underneath our noses every day all while delivering a story that is both terrifying and beautiful at the same time. The romance aspect is perfectly balanced and never overshadows the primary plot. It stirred all the right kinds of emotions in me as I read it. I highly recommend this book.

My Goodreads Reading Challenge goal for this year was 50 books. I read 47 total, which is the same amount I read last year. I had hoped to at least one-up myself this time around, but the beginning of the year started off really wonky with my three lit classes, and I also have a tendency to choose rather long books. If it hadn't been for the fact that I received the entire Chronicles of Narnia for Christmas I would not have even gotten 47 read. My goal for 2017 will be 50 again. One of these years I'll make it happen!

Be sure to check back here in 2017 for more nerdy and bookish blog posts! Happy New Year! :D
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