Books I've read in 2017

This is a list of the books I read in 2017. Thirty one recorded reads - because as I look at my list, I'm sure there are some missing. ;) Anyways, here's my list and my ratings.

My rating system
😊😊😊😊😊 - Awesome story, couldn't put it down
😊😊😊😊 - Great story
😊😊😊 - Good story
😐😐 - Meh, was easy to put down
😒 - Did not enjoy
😡 - DNF

• Shit My Dad Says - by Justin Halpern 😊😊😊
  Easy read, made me laugh out loud a few times. Based off his tweets. 
• The Right Equation - by Tracy Krimmer 😊😊😊😊
  Nice easy novella, got me wondering about high school reunions
• If the Shoe Fits - by Laurie LeClair 😈
  Could not finish this. Couldn't get into this Cinderella type retelling. 
• The Ghosts of Sundown - by D.C. Hooke 😊😊😊😊😊
  Great book - kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning. Local Edmonton author - needs to get his butt in gear and write another. ;)
• The Maid of the South Pole - by Demelza Carleton 😊😊😊😊
  Nice romance read. Main characters were nice. 
• PS - I Like You - by Kasie West 😊😊😊😊
  A YA romance. Sweet and easy. 
• Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar by Kelly Oxford 😈
  A local Edmonton author, so I had high hopes for this. Genuine let down. Her story was unbelievable - although maybe that was her plan. However, I had a hard time believing she took a trip from Edmonton to LA at 16 (pre 9/11) without her parents knowing. That's when things started going south for me, and I put the book down not long after. 
• The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - by Jennifer E. Smith 😊😊😊😊
  A YA romance. Sweet and easy read. 
• The 12 Tribes of Hattie - by Ayana Mathis 😒
  Not a fan. Depressing. Each chapter was about one of her children, but the chapters didn't really seem to mesh together. I did finish it, however, as it was a book club read. 
• Jedi Academy - by Jarrett Krosockza 😊😊😊
  A fun read for the MG ages. Read it as a work requirement, and because I've read the others in the series. 
• Sweet Valley Confidental - by Francine Pascal 😐😐
  Grabbed this as I thought it would be fun to relive my SVH memories. Well, that's all is basically did. A complete flashback book essentially. The actual new plot took up about 40% of the book, if that. 
  
• Yes Please - by Amy Pohler 😊😊😊😊
  Laugh out loud funny. Don't read late at night if your hubs is sleeping though. 
• The Winner's Curse - by Marie Rutkoski 😊😊😊
  Enjoyable read. Took issue with a lot of telling, and not so much showing, which pulled me out of the story, but engaging enough that I needed to keep reading to see how it would all work out. 
• After You - by Jojo Moyes 😊😊😊😊😊
  Loved it's pre-cursor so I was hesitant to pick this up. Did a book swap with a friend, and found myself unable to put this down. Read in two days. Can totally be a standalone. Lacked the emotional punch of the first book, but still had my hooked in. 
• The Woman in Cabin 10 - by Ruth Ware 😊😊😊
  Was super hard to not compare it to "Girl on the Train" as it seemed eerily similar with the same protagonist who witness something she's not 100% sure of because of her constant drunkenness. Although the killer (and that's not a spoiler) isn't who I thought, I was pretty sure leading up to it who was involved. And the very end, I did see coming. ;) Easy read though. The last 100 pages are where it's at. I could do without all the backstory/fill-ins before that.
• What About Me - by Emma Tharp 😊😊😊😊😊
  I read this in manuscript form for an author friend and let me tell you - it's AWESOME! But that's all I'll say until she releases it. 
•  Always Was - by Amabel Daniels 😊😊😊😊😊
  Another wonderful MS I beta read. It was a romantically sweet story. Watch for that soon! 
• Forevermore - by Cindy Miles 😊😊😊😊
  A YA read. Took me 3 hours from start to finish, as I was trapped in a car. Nevertheless, it was a page turner, and easy to get into. It was charming, although it had a few minor plot holes (I thought), I won't hold it against the story. If taken as it is, it's a cute story. It won't be a literary classic, but an enjoyable read all the same. 
• The Joy Luck Club - by Amy Tan 😊😊😊
  Not what I expected, and I had a hard time following along, constantly returning to the list of women at the front of the story to keep who was who straight. To me it felt like they were all story stories and it wasn't until the last short story that it connected all the dots. As I'm reading it, I kept asking myself how these characters linked together. I honestly expected more Majong, considering that was the game that brought them all together. 
• The Distance Between Us - by Kasie West 😊😊😊😊
  Very easy read about a YA romance. You could see it coming from a mile away, but it was a cute fun read. Loved the sassy/sarcastic Caymen, and the dashing Xander. REALLY could've used a long ending, or at least an epilogue. It was like everything was wrapped together for the
  last page only. 
• The Mystery of the Graffiti Ghouls - by Marty Chan 😊😊😊😊😊
  Super cute, easy read by a local author. Wanted to read it so I can plan something for our school library. Definite MG level, no swearing or adult situations. Has a bit of bullying though. My son is also reading it and loving it!
  
• A Court of Thorns and Roses - by Sarah J. Maas  😊😊😊😊
  Not sure what to think of this. My thoughts are all over the map. It was pretty easy to get into, and it was certainly interesting enough to keep me wanting to go back and keep reading, and I just needed to finish it up into the wee hours of the night. One phrase that constantly rattled me was her use of "--- loosed a breath" and it drove me crazy every time I read it. But other than that, it was a pretty darn good read. 
• Carry On - Rainbow Rowell 👿
  Tried and tried to get into this novel. It's a Harry Potter fanfic, and it was easy enough to make the comparisons between which character was who, but I got about 40% of the way in and gave up. It was capturing my attention. It doesn't mean its a great novel, it just means I did care for it. 
• Goodbye Stranger - by Rebecca Stead 😊😊😊
  Easy read about the middle school life (I read it for the high readers at my school) and how texting pictures can go wrong. It jumped a lot between POVs, and not seemlessly. One chapter is written by the main character, Bridge. Then a letter from Sherm to his grandfather, and a "mystery" POV chapter. It took a bit to get over that. The subject matter was good, but I felt the fallout and consequences were wrapped up too easily, IMO. Since I had to go and open the book again to remember the characters names, I'd say they were forgettable. 
• Crenshaw - by Katherine Applegate 😊😊😊
  Fast read - I read it on a quick flight home. The title character makes a minor appearance in the book so I was a little disappointed. It is a Junior Division YRCA, and deals with poverty and homelessness, so there's that. However, there were some things I couldn't get, specifically the parental figures in the story, and how the ending was. It wasn't a perfect ending, but it was too easily wrapped up. 
• A Simple Favor - by Darcy Bell 😐😐
  I have never despised three main character so much. I didn't root for them, I didn't feel sorry for their situations and I most certainly didn't care for how things turned out. HOWEVER, I was completely fascinated by the storyline, and found myself eagerly devouring the story, so I give kudos to the author for that, although it did have similar tones to Girl on the Train and Gone Girl. 
• The Darkest Part of the Forest - by Holly Black 👿
  DNF'd this at about the 70% way. Sure I didn't have much more to go, but I'd set it down for a bit and walked away. By time it was due for return, I didn't care that I hadn't finished it and really couldn't remember much about the story, so to me it was no big loss. 
• Caraval - by Stephanie Garber 😊😊😊😊😊 
  
  Probably the best book I've read in 2017, so far. I help myself away from reading anything about it, and was pleasantly surprised by all the twists and turns. It was a definite page turner, and I'm awaiting the sequel and the movie. 
• City of Ember - by Jeanne DuPrau 😊😊😊😊
  Read on a rec from a book club friend, and as it turned out, it's going to be a book study for my son's class. It was interesting and a fairly easy read (it's MG-YA), and I had a lot of the clues worked out before the characters did, but I'm an adult looking in, so that's my reasoning. It's the first of a four book set and I'm interested enough to continue reading the series. 
• Keeping it Casual - by Emma Tharp 😊😊😊😊😊
  I beta'd this for a fellow author, but it's great. A quick, hot read about Reid and Mia. The storyline flowed nicely and the characters were well developed. Check it out. 
• The Christmas Story - by Amabel Daniels 😐😐
  I'd won a free copy of the story, and being that it was only 85 pages, I figured it would be a quick read. It was. I found myself skimming through it, as I'm truly not a fan of insta-love (especially in the first hour of them meeting, they were banging each other!) It was written very well, but just not a story I was fond of. 

I've beta'd a few more manuscripts but since they don't yet have titles, I'm not adding them to my list. :) Thirty books this year, plus a few I remember reading but forgot to add. I'm happy with that. 

Did you read any of these? Which were your favourites?