Top 5 Books You Should Read in 2017

There are thousands of books you can put on your 2017 TBR. Chances are, you already have a mountain of books you want to read and that mountain will continue to grow through out the year. But hear me out. I’ll rounded up five books that I think are amazing and worth putting on your 2017 TBR. These books aren’t necessarily new releases and you might have already read them but these books are my holy grail of recommendations. These are the best of the best. Books I’ve read multiple times and my love for them continues are grow. These five books are, in my opinion, well worth your reading time.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

This book is amazing. I really have nothing negative to say. From page one I was so interested in this book. I loved it right from the start.
The writing is incredible and mesmerizing. The characters are beautiful and complex. The plot is interesting and the concept is mind blowing.
There’s only a handful of books that I’ve read that have made me feel how I felt while reading The Scorpio Races. I laughed, I cried, I did everything. I never wanted to put this book down but I also didn’t want to finish it because I wanted to continue reading for the rest of my life. I wanted to stay up all night reading to find out what would happen next but I didn’t because I wanted something to look forward to when I woke up. I read this book in just a day and a half but the impact that this book has left on me will last forever.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for… again.

The Immortal Rules is the best vampire book I’ve ever read. I’m not a fan of vampire books so when I say that this book is the top dog when it comes to all vampire books that I’ve read, I’m dead serious. It’s dark, twisted, and incredibly well written. The characters are diverse and fantastic. With a well thought out plot and outstanding world building, Julie creates an amazing reading experience. The Immortal Rules is everything I could want in a book and more.

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

Revenge is worth its weight in gold.

When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers—and justice. What she finds are untrustworthy strangers, endless dust and heat, and a surprising band of allies, among them a young Apache girl and a pair of stubborn brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, a startling truth becomes clear: some men will stop at nothing to get their hands on gold, and Kate’s quest for revenge may prove fatal.

Within 24 hours of receiving Vengeance Road, I finished it. I could not put this book down. I read it in one sitting and love every single second. Right from the start, I was hooked and I was so sad when it ended.
I loved the main character, Kate. She’s exactly the kind of character I was hoping she would be. She was well written and tough but fair. She didn’t take any crap and wasn’t afraid to shoot people when she needed to.
I really liked how the relationships in this book were well developed and wasn’t forced.
I loved the plot of this book and the pace of the story.
I have nothing bad to say about this book because I loved every second of it. It’s exactly what I wanted it to be and more. The second I read the last page, I wanted to start rereading.

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up – she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan – her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

I loved this book from very first page and even though I knew I was jumping on an emotional roller coaster (what CoHo book isn’t an emotional roller coaster?!), I never could have prepared myself for how this book would change my life. This book is everything I expected from Colleen Hoover but it’s also nothing I expected.
This book showed me a perspective that I never seen before and showed me new ways of looking at things. It’s honest and real and raw. Reading It Ends with Us was more than just reading a book. It was an experience and I’ve learned so much from it. I’ve never cried so much while reading a book (and I’ve never cried while writing a review but here I am, crying while writing this review).
This is probably the most meaningful book I’ve ever read.

If you read one book this year, read It Ends with Us.

The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon

Swallow, Daughter, pull them in, those words that sit upon your lips. Lock them deep inside your soul, hide them ‘til they’ve time to grow. Close your mouth upon the power, curse not, cure not, ‘til the hour. You won’t speak and you won’t tell, you won’t call on heav’n or hell. You will learn and you will thrive. Silence, Daughter. Stay alive.

The day my mother was killed, she told my father I wouldn’t speak again, and she told him if I died, he would die too. Then she predicted the king would trade his soul and lose his son to the sky.

My father has a claim to the throne, and he is waiting in the shadows for all of my mother’s words to come to pass. He wants desperately to be king, and I just want to be free.

But freedom will require escape, and I’m a prisoner of my mother’s curse and my father’s greed. I can’t speak or make a sound, and I can’t wield a sword or beguile a king. In a land purged of enchantment, love might be the only magic left, and who could ever love . . . a bird?

I seen The Bird and the Sword randomly on Amazon and the Kindle copy was less than $5 so I bought it not knowing what it was about or seeing any reviews. I went in completely blind and not really expecting much. But this book blew. Me. Away.
I loved it from the first page and I could barely put this book down. I read it in less than 24 hours and I wanted to reread it the second I finished it.
I loved everything about this book. The plot, the writing, the characters were all incredible. The characters were beautifully flawed and had some amazing and realistic development.
I’m rarely as emotionally invested in books as I was with The Bird and The Sword but I was basically shrieking the entire time I was reading this book.