Where has 2017 gone?The year is half way through wow!
This year has been a good reading year so far. I can say that with certainty. So I decided to share some of my five star (or in the case of my blog’s rating system, 5 coconut trees lol) reads for 2017 so far 😀 Prepare your wallets friends, you’re gonna want to grab these if you haven’t already.
So in no particular order my Five Star Faves (which will be more than 5 lol) :
- The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh.
This one just made me love Shahrzad and Khalid even more. So lush, so beautilful, so heart wrenching. It was the first book i read in 2017 and loved. Also here’s a look of my reading progress lol
2. FIYAH Literary Magazine, Issue 1: Rebirth by Malon Edwards// Brent Lambert// Wendi Dunlap// DaVaun Sanders// V.H. Galloway// L.D. Lewis
The moment i heard about this magazine then saw that gawjus cover I had to read it. Every story in this magazine is amaziiiiiing! Honestly each one. My two faves, though? Police Magic by Brent Lambert and Chesirah by L.D. Lewis. Highlyyy rec if you haven’t read already. I need to catch up on the other issues soon! Truly some black excellence right here.
3. A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab.
Holyyyy shit this book. This series. This…everything (weeps) It broke me so many times. Talk about a roller coaster of emoooootiiiions. It was the perfect ending to a series i really love. whispers: Anoshe *sobs again* Check out my feels while I read this…
4. Hardcore by Dakota Gray
If your looking for some amazing erotic romance then looooook right here people because Dakota Gray brings the heat! (Also read her dirty Sexy Geeks series that she writes as Melissa Blue i swear to god those books deserve more love god dammit! because yes i love them so go read them please)
I read book 1 in this series, Perv, after seeing so many people gush about it and daamn i was not disappointed and Hardcore just blew me away. So sexy. Such great character portrayals and development and ok this book ya’ll. There’s an epic grovel the hero has to do, Kennedy doesn’t let Duke off so easily at all so aww yeh it was awesome and end gush fest. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE JUST GO BUY & READ THE DAMN BOOK !
5. Hate To Want You by Alisha Rai
I was so lucky to get an ARC of this one. That cover is just…*heart eyes* and let me tell you this book is funny, sexy, feelsy. The hero has a sweet tooth. C’mon there was no way I wasn’t falling in love with Nicholas and Livvy. There’s a scene near the end where he’s just defiantly eating this cookie and i am cracking up just visualizing it.
Childhood friends turned lovers turned exes then turned to seeking each other out in secret, one night each year, over the course of ten years??! Written by Alisha Rai??? YESSS!
I am so ready for book 2. Which focuses on Jackson (Livvy’s bro) and their other brother’s widow. listen this is gonna be so good i already know it.
6. Better At Weddings Than You by Mina V. Esguerra
This book is so damn good I will throw it at everyone as much as i can. I found out about Romance Class books last year and I’ve been devouring them ever since. I adore Daphne & Aaron in this. I’ve never read a book with a male wedding planner before and here we have Aaron Trinidad who’s just been fired, one month before the wedding and now he has to work with the new wedding planner. What could possible go wrong?
One of the great things that stuck out to me here? Daphne is 34 like me. More older heroines please! we deserve our HEAs too. Also get this one for a certain back rub scene cuz holy wow. The food descriptions also made me hungry as hell ^_^
7. Illegal Contact by Santino Hassell
Reading this book made me happy. I keep saying that. But it’s so true. i found myself grinning, cackling, awwing like a weirdo while reading and I was just having fun right through. Gavin is such a prickly marshmallow omg. Please see photo below to represent his range of emotions since meeting Noah.
8. Summer Crush by Jay E. Tria//Tara Frejas//Six de los Reyes
First off you’ll need to read the authors’ previous works : The Playlist series, Scandalized, Just for the Record and Feel Like Summer before starting this one, you’ll appreciate the many gems found in this for sure.
i loved revisiting with these couples. And the music in this. My word, the music is a huge character in it’s own way, sweeping throughout, mixing, blending these three universes, it’s the thing that ties all these characters together after all, making this crossover so darn epic and I just loove it ok. The songs chapters, i love them so much and damn the talent of these three authors just blows me away, seriously.
Also: read for the abs if that’s your thing 😉
Honestly me, while reading this:
9. Dead Light March (The Shadowshaper Cypher, Novella 2) by Daniel José Older
My little West Indian heart was thrilled by this book. Mention of Carnival costumes and soca and roti had me all excited. It’s always a thrill to see bits and pieces of my culture in books. And it isn’t the first time Daniel has included them. DJO’s words are just beautiful and vividly paints every damn scene. The characters are just well fleshed out, personalities shining and jumping off the page. I’m just here waiting on a Shadowshaper movie because I’d love to see so many scenes in this series come to life.
Just read everything DJO has ever written. You won’t be disappointed! POC get to be the stars in all his work and I’m on board for that, always.
10. Peter Darling by Austin Chant
Delightful. magical. heartbreaking. *almost made me cry happy tears of joy at the end there* When i heard there was going to be a retelling with a trans peter pan and he was gonna maybe have a thing with Hook???? yessssssss. i was so excited and this book didn’t disappoint one bit! This was such a great retelling, my word! all the elements of the story of Peter Pan as we know it are there, woven into this story but it does an excellent job of not just regurgitating everything we know about Pan and his Lost Boys and his battle with Hook, but truly adding its own take on everything.
I loved how the fairies of this Neverland are these vicious/fiesty/foul mouthed at times creatures, who will not hesitate to sting you if you annoy them (poor Hook lol)
11. I was gonna do a nice even 10 for the first half of 2017 buuuuut listen i need to include Abroad by Liz Jacobs for reasooooons.
This debut blew me away. I wasn’t prepared in any way for how much i’d love this one. Or how much I’d relate to Izzy. because wow. i figured out somethings about myself this year and seeing Izzy coming to terms with her sexuality? Well *nervous laugh* let’s just say i can kinda sorta relate (this confession will self-distrust in 3..2…1….) hehhee
Anyhoo…the slow burn of Dex and Nick near ended me but was so worth it and that ending??? how dare it end there! Also holy sweet Lord there’s a sexy steamy sizzly scene with Izzy and another woman at the club and hiiii *a million fire emojis*
Whew! That’s it. So, let me know if you’ve read any of these and wanna gush about them! Also what are YOUR five star faves for the year so far? Tell meeeee!
I’ll also do another post at the end of the year probably 🙂
So until then…HAPPY READING 🙂
