December was not my favourite month of 2017 but it had it’s moments. It was filled with many lows but I did have happy moments of seeing friends and family. I may have lost my nan but I did have some good things happen too. No month can be all bad, right? I mean, even if my reading was down, I did find myself reading really good books.
Can’t Stop Listening
No music this month. I’ve just been relistening to old favourites.
December Reads
A Court of Wings and Ruin // Artemis // The Cruel Prince // Head Coach // This is Going to Hurt // The City of Brass
I am not selecting any favourite books this month as I read so few but I will say The Cruel Prince was an awesome read and you should all get preordering that one.
December Posts
December Links
I admit I don’t have as many links as usual but here are a handful of posts I’ve loved and a link to the spreadsheet I use each year to track my reading and I love it.
Cornerfolds | When Special Editions Are Out of Control
It Starts At Midnight | Reverse Black Sheeping
Avalinah’s Books | So You’re An International Book Blogger? DON’T GIVE UP! // Be Positive About Your Book Blog This Year <3
All About Books | Spreadsheet: Books 2018 (my favourite bookish tool ever)
How was your December? Who’s ready for 2018 to begin?
So I thought I would be way more present this week than I was. I got blog posts finished but I have a whole heap of blog maintenance to get done and I’ve not replied to any of you guys! It’s only a quick update of reading and new purchases because I’m also posting the final monthly wrap up of the year today and I need to finish that too! And I’ve not finished deciding on my reading challenges either.
I have been busy, though. We’ve begun planning for my nan’s funeral and it has been exhausting, mostly emotionally draining but still exhausting. I have found some time to see friends and do fun things. I helped one friend find a new phone. I went and grabbed coffee with another and exchanged presents and so this week had it’s moments.
Let’s not forget this week began with Christmas! We had a really nice day here, even though there was the news overshadowing the day. My stepdad had his children and grandchildren over so it was a crazy loud day of children playing with new toys and laughing and shouting. It was essentially way too loud but a great distraction. We ate tasty food and it was fun. I’m glad we had such a good day since the rest of the week was taken up with funeral planning.
What I’ve Been Reading
Another week of not much reading. I am continually kept busy but at least I am enjoying what I read. I finished The Cruel Prince (which was awesome) and so went for something completely different and enjoyed Head Coach (even if it was way shorter than expected). I got This is Going to Hurt for Christmas and even though it’ll probably only be interesting to UK readers it was a really good book about life as a junior doctor and how the government is screwing over NHS staff and not helping at all. I started The City of Brass on Friday night and so far it is brilliant. It’s the kind of brilliant where you want to take your time so you don’t finish too soon but also want devour it all.
New To Me
Yeah, I did get a few new books both as presents and a couple which I treated myself to. I was pretty impressed with my haul and I didn’t spend anymore than £10 on the books I got and the rest were ones I wanted for a while.
How has your final week of 2017 been? Who is ready for 2018 and the possibility of a better year?
This is the point I borrow heavily from both The Perpetual Page Turner’s End of Year Survey and The Book Addict’s Guide’s Statistics Survey. Neither fully covers what I want to cover for my bookish wrap up so why not use both and what crops into my head instead?
Number of Books Read: 181
Number of Rereads: 26
Number of DNF: 12
Number of 5 star Ratings: 63
Number Of 1/2 Star Ratings: 15
Pages Read: 65073Number of Books In Series Read: 102 Number of Standalones: 59 Number of Authors Read: 122 Preferred Format: ebook (54.7%) Most Read Author: Ilona Andrews Most Popular Genre: Romance Least Popular Genre: Non fiction |
Longest book
A Court of Wings And Ruin (699 Pages) DNF |
Shortest Book
Hortense and the Shadow (32 Pages) Picture Book |
Best Book(s) Read
Why pick one when you can pick many? I read a lot of good books this year and these will probably be the ones I read (or the series they are part of). I seriously cannot say enough good things about all of them so check them out guys.
Best Series I Read in 2017
New York series by Ruthie Knox. The Imperial Radch series. And The Captive Prince series because it was just bingeworthy. My favourite series rereads were the Rephaim series and the Hidden Legacy series for sure.
Book(s) I Can’t Believe I Waited Until 2017 To Pick It Up?
This will be the easiest for me. I cannot believe it was only this year that I read Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. It was absolutely fantastic and I shouldn’t keep getting put off by hype.
Biggest Surprise?
The Forever House. I was asked to take part in a blog tour with this one and I thought it sounded interesting so said yes. I’d read another book by the author so thought I’d give it a shot and I am so very glad I did. It was a fantastic read which had me smiling and crying and I don’t think I realised how much I’d love it.
Biggest Disappointment?
Labyrinth Lost – always and forever will this be the book I wanted to like way more than I did. It had good representation. It was an interesting concept but the MC made me want to cause bodily harm. I just couldn’t like her whiny ass and it meant by 50% I had to DNF.
Favourite Covers
It’s an eclectic mix of favourites to say the least. I don’t really know what makes me like a cover but these are the ones which caught my eye looking down my Goodreads 2017 list.
Book I Wish I’d Spoken About More?
Captive Prince trilogy simply because I really enjoyed it but couldn’t explain well why. I had issues, the captor/captive romance raised serious questions for me. The concept of slavery being deemed ok was weird but I got it (in context of this book, not in the real world). And I had major issues with the ending feeling too convenient but I paid £8 each for the Kindle copies of books two and three because I simply had to read. That is the sign of a good book.
Books I’d Like to Recommend?
All of them? No? Ok, well I’ve included a few from The Cruel Prince to Pretty Face. I seriously read some fantastic books this year and I want you to read them too. Some might say I am almost reiterating my favourites list but there are a few extras in here because there are some I enjoyed but aren’t loved and will be read religiously, you know?
New Favourite Author?
Ainslie Paton & Mariana Zapata & Ruthie Knox. I know they are all romance authors but they are the authors which spring to mind (once I double-checked if I first read Ruthie Knox this year or last).
And there are my bookish favourites on 2017. I am sure to have missed some brilliant books but all in all there are good books to be had. What were some of your favourites?
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