Skip to main content

My Year in Books

It is the last day of 2016. It seems that many are very ready for this year to be over and I can't say that I disagree. This year has been filled with a lot of craziness but it has moved so quickly that I am not sure I am ready for it to be 2017 quite yet. One positive of this year is that I read a lot of good books this year and want to share some of my favorites of 2016 in this post.

These are not in a particular order but I will start with Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. This is a sci-fi thriller and had a lot of interesting twists that kept it interesting from start to finish. Dark Matter has an interesting twist on the do over plot. What if you had the ability to go back to a certain point in your life and change a decision that you made?

Another book that I loved in the sci-fi genre was The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks. This is book number 4 in the Lightbringer series and there will be at least one more. It took a lot of prompting from my husband to get me to read this series but I have really loved it. Brent Weeks does a wonderful job of creating his world and all the characters within.

The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach is a really interesting story. Though this book is fiction it is written as though it is the diary of Ivan who is a teenage resident at Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children. This had a similar feel to The Fault In The Stars.


A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas was probably my favorite book from the last year. I have loved all of her books so far but this has been my favorite and I am so excited for the next installment to come out next year! This is a young adult book but does not have that feel and I really love the world that the author has created.


First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Phillips was the book that I was most looking forward to this last year. I love the Stars series and was so excited to read another installment especially to find cameo's of Phoebe from It Had To Be You. I have been a long time SEP fan and this book lived up to expectations.

A book that I was inspired to read because of a review by Susan Elizabeth Phillips was We Are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun and Susan Mullen. This book is set in the 80's and is a love story set in letters back and forth between best friends. It was a super quick read that I couldn't put down.

I will end here even though this is only my list of favorites over the last 6 months. I honestly did not realize how many books I fell in love with in 2016. This was a good year for books and I look forward to all of the new releases in 2017. Happy New Year everyone!






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Driftwood Bay

Driftwood Bay by Irene Hannon is a sweet and inspirational story. This is part of the Hope Harbor series but is the first one that I have read. I feel that this makes a good stand alone book but found myself becoming curious about the side characters in the story and would love to read the others in the series. Jeannette has created a new life for herself in the town of Hope Harbor. She owns a lavender farm and tea shop and spends most of her time alone. Her quiet world is shaken up when Logan moves in next door. Not only does he have a little girl, but also a trouble making dog that force their worlds to collide. Alongside the story of Jeannette and Logan is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of a family that has escaped persecution in Syria. Everyone in the story has their own heartbreak, but they all come together to create a new life and new relationships. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books from Irene Hannon.

936 Pennies

I have read a lot of parenting books since my oldest son was born. While some offer good advice, others can make this parenting thing even more confusing with conflicting information. I found 936 Pennies: Discovering the Joy of Intentional Parenting by Eryn Lynum to be very uplifting.  I had heard of the concept of having a jar of 936 pennies to signify the weeks that it takes to raise a child until they are 18 but this is a concept that I had not thought about in a long time. I don't know if I could go through the actual act of removing a penny from a jar each week but I like the idea of having a reminder that childhood is short. I think this would help remind me to more intentional in my own parenting. What I really loved about this book is that it is honest. Parenting is hard. Sometimes we make bad decisions but what is great is that this book has advice on how to slow down and try to be more intentional in our words and actions. I know that I have had many moments wher

The Light Before Day

The Light Before Day by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the third book in her Nantucket Legacy series. I did not read the first book in the series but I did read the second when it came out earlier this year. While I enjoyed the continuation of characters, I feel that this could be a stand alone novel. When I read book two in the series, I found the language of the book to be a bit of a challenge. I will say that having already once been emerged in this world, I did not find that to be an issue with this book. The author does however include a handy list of definitions if some of the language is tricky. This book follows the twins Hitty and Henry who are now grown and receiving an inheritance from their grandmother that has a few stipulations attached. Along with the story of the characters growing and developing relationships, this book also covers important social issues of the time. This was a part of the book that I really enjoyed. I also liked the inclusion of the ancestors journal wh