My Top Ten Favorite Books for 2017

I've always loved top ten lists, so why not make one? Here are my top ten favorite reads from this year, in alphabetical order, since I can't pick among faves.


10. All's Fair in Love, War, and High School by Janette Rallison



I love all Janette Rallison's YA books (with the exception of Son of War, Daughter of Chaos, but that's a whole other post). They are funny, easy to relate to, and with flawed, but lovable characters with hilarious insight into life. This one is no exception.


9. Beyond the Rising Tide by Sarah Beard



This is a YA romance book, but also a book about the afterlife, regrets, being a hero, survival guilt... so much to think about. Really enjoyed this.

8. Edgewood by Karen McQuestion



This is a YA Fantasy series about teens that develop powers. And yes, that's kinda been overdone, but the characters are an interesting group and I have to say, book 2 was amazing. The relationship between Russ and Nadia is very unique and seeing things from different character perspectives really changed how I felt about the characters in book 1.


7. House of Oak 1-5 by Nichole Van



You're going to want to read all five, might as well get the boxed set. Nichole Van seamlessly intertwines a contemporary romance novel with an Austen-like regency novel. Each can be read as a stand-alone, but they work better if you read in order.

6. Isabella and the Slipper by Victorine E. Lieske



I got to beta read this, and I have to say this hit the sweet spot of using a fairy tale to tell a compelling YA love story.

5. Love and Fat-Free Cheese by Crissy Sharp



This is both a satisfying clean romance and a suspense mystery wrapped in one. Really loved this book.

4. Moss Forest Orchid by Shari L Tapscott



I'm still a little miffed that this ended in a cliff-hanger, but I really, really loved all the adventure and romance and fantasy elements like pocket dragons. Everything Shari L Tapscott writes is amazing.

3. P.S. I Like You by Kasie West



Kasie West is like the queen of YA. This one is especially fun because it's a passing notes, mystery admirer kind of story.

2. The Princess Fugitive by Melanie Cellier



This is another book where the main character was an unlikable side character in a previous book, until she gets her own story and you learn about her past. Full of adventure and clean romance.

1. The Student and the Slave by Annie Douglas Lima



This was another beta read and a great culmination to the three book series. This is YA, but otherwise hard to categorize in that it's alternative reality with no magic. And about martial arts. Definitely different than what I write or usually read, but engaging all the same.

The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea (The Four Kingdoms Book 1) by Melanie Cellier

In this fairy tale remix, The Princess of the Pea is closely tied to Cinderella, as in, Cinderella, now a mom, is obsessed with the idea of her son marrying a "real" princess. So she gets a pea from her fairy godmother and is told to put it under the mattress for visiting princesses as a test.

Pros:
This author is GREAT at world building and developing characters. She sets things up nicely for subsequent books and has interesting, real ideas of things that might have happened to these fairy tale people.

This is a perfectly clean, romantic read (sigh), which I love.

Cons:
This author (or her editor) needs to fall in love with the comma. There were several sentences that made no sense with the comma missing and I had to go back and re-read to understand. And I'm no grammar snob. Also, she loves adverbs, to the point that I started to count them as I read.

The point of view was almost always through the eyes of the princess companion (a.k.a. pea-feeler), but there were short stints from the point of view of the mom, the prince, the villain, etc. It was kinda weird. I would have preferred a back and forth with the princess companion and the prince.

2.99 or free to borrow. A definite recommend.