2017 has been a fantastic year for books for me so far. I’ve not picked up a book which I’ve not finished nor have I awarded less than 3 stars to anything I’ve read! With so many others on my to-read list which sound absolutely amazing, 2017 is shaping up to be a pretty spectacular bookish year. So let’s go through the first quarter and take a look at what I’ve read, my favourites and what I’m hoping to read in the coming months!
Currently reading:
I recently picked up Alice and the Fly by James Rice off my bookcase and although I’m only a couple of chapters in at the moment and cant really judge anything, I think this is going to be my kinda book. I love Young Adult and it seems that this has a lot of mental health elements running through it so that will be great to read as I am all for more mental health in books. Let’s see how it’s tackled in this one and I’ll report back!
Top 3:
I have a very clear cut top 3 of this year so far, it was exceptionally easy to choose because these 3 stood out to me so much. I’m really into Crime / Thriller and sub-genres of those at the moment, it’s the type of books I’ve been automatically drawn to so there’s no surprise that these 3 fall under that category somewhere.
1. You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood: The best book I’ve read this year so far and I think it’s going to take a lot to knock it off the top stop. This is out in May and it’s going to be big… So look out for it!
2. The Sisters by Claire Douglas: I flippin loved this book and it was so close between You Don’t Know Me and this but although it didn’t quite make it, I couldn’t rave about this one enough. I was hooked!
3. Rattle by Fiona Cummins: Rattle made me feel all sort of horrible feels and that’s what I loved about it, the exceptionally strong reaction I got. This is crime thriller on its absolute limits!
Everything else:
These are the other 4 books I’ve read this year and whilst they didn’t make my top 3, I still enjoyed all of them and have kept them in some sort of favourite order.
1. Watching the Wheels by Damon Hill: If you follow me on Twitter, you will know I love my Formula 1. I’ve read a couple of Formula 1 books before but Damon’s was hands down the best. It was such a real, raw and emotional book and what I loved the most was that he wrote it himself. It oozes Damon-isms and it’s just truly wonderful.
2. My Sweet Revenge by Jane Fallon: My first Jane Fallon book I’ve read and it certainly won’t be my last. This is really the only Women’s Fiction / not Thriller book I ‘ve read this year (aside from Damon’s) but it definitely didn’t disappoint. Very, very funny!
3. Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan: Dear Amy as super highly anticipated and the premise sounded great and I did enjoy it but not as much as I thought I would which is a shame but I’d definitely still recommend it.
4. Of Life Death, Aliens and Zombies by Dario Cannizzaro: If you want something that will push you out of your comfort zone a bit then I would definitely recommend this. I read this one for a blog tour I ran for Dario and I just had to read it myself as I was so intrigued.
To-read:
Obviously having had such a fabulous start to the year book wise, I would love for it to continue. I have a couple of books in mind which are on my immediate to-read list, which I’m hoping to get through over the coming month or two. Obviously there are literally hundreds more books on my to-read list but my motto thus year? Quality, not quantity! I’ve given up caring about how many books I’m reading and comparing myself to others who have read loads more. Instead this year, I’m just concentrating on the books I’m reading, taking as much out of them as possible and writing detailed reviews on all of them, rather than fretting that I’ve only read 4 compared to someone else who’s read 20. So here’s the next 4 on my to-read radar…
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I’ve not been reading any new releases. Two of my favorites so far are actually pretty old. Most people would’ve heard of them and/or read them: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Animal Farm by George Orwell. I’ve read other good books as well, but these really stood out for me.
I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read either of those!
Ooh, lots of books here that I quite like the look of! I’ll be keeping an eye out for You Don’t Know Me and Rattle – crime/fiction novels are my novels of choice! I listened to the audiobook of Dear Amy, and although I enjoyed it, I didn’t like it as much as I expected to! I’d highly recommend a book I just finished, that I rated 5 stars, Tinder by Sally Gardner!
Oh I’ll check that out! If you love crime then you’ll love You Don’t Know Me!
I got my mum a copy of My Sweet Revenge, can’t wait to read it myself! I usually find it really hard to read while I’m writing (end up comparing myself and getting wobbly) but I’ve read The Accident b C L Taylor and I’m onto The Lie now. Have really enjoyed both of them.
Mum’s read all of Cally’s books and loves them – I ain’t read any yet. My Sweet Revenge was great!
The Sisters and Rattle are on my wish list 🙂 as is The Escape! I haven’t read anything from CL Taylor! I have a copy of My Sweet Revenge waiting for me, and I love the cover 🙂 Happy reading!
I can vouch for The Sisters, Rattle and My Sweet Revenge and ensure you they are all BRILLIANT in their own ways! I can’t wait to read Cally’s book – I can’t believe I haven’t read any of hers yet and thought I was the only one! 🙈
Then I have looooots of good reading time ahead 😀 I just stopped reading all Orenda Books I had, so I’m looking for some diversity! I think we’re the last two people who haven’t read anything from her, it’s like she’s a classic author now!