2017 Year In Book Review Tag

It's no secret that I love bookish tags, so I decided to borrow this one from Marie at Hurricane and Drizzle, but its original creator is booktuber ABookTubeBook. It's based on events that happened in 2017. Usually I do The Perpetual Page Turner's End of the Year Survey, but I started doing it and found I just hadn't read enough to make each answer different enough, and there were so many questions that it started feeling tedious, so I decided to change things up a little this year. 

First Ever Female Doctor Who: Favorite Female Protagonist

This one is tough because I think almost all of the books but two that I read this year had female protagonists. I think I'd have to pick either Lara Jean from the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy or Harper from Why I Loathe Sterling Lane, even though she's on another part of this tag. I didn't love Lara Jean in the first book, but I grew to really like and understand her as the series went on. As for Harper, I totally loved her from page one and really got her as a character, largely because I feel like I was her in high school. 

Gcc Cuts Ties with Qatar: An Author You Cut Ties With

No one immediately came to mind, but I guess if I had to pick I'd go with Lauren Oliver, unfortunately. I loved the Delirium trilogy, but didn't like Panic very much, and never got around to Vanishing Girls. I was super psyched for Replica but didn't read it until this year, but was extremely disappointed in it because the writing was so boring and simple and the story was very predictable. I will not be reading Ringer, needless to say, and to be honest, I might be a little more skeptical about picking up a book by her now because I've only liked a couple books by her.

La-La-Land Oscar Mix-up: A Book That Surprised You

I'm definitely going to have to go with This Is How It Happened for this one. I was not expecting to like it at all, or even honestly to read it in the first place, because I assumed it would be a cliche car crash YA book, which is so 2000s. However, this book really surprised me because it wasn't a cliche and the writing was super excellent. There were a lot of aspects of this book that I did not expect, which made me really like it.

Hurricanes and Earthquakes: A Book that Rocked Your World

OMG This Darkness Mine was by far the most shocking, exhilarating, bizarre book I read this year. My review of it was basically incoherent because I was suffering from one of the worst book hangovers I've ever had, and, truth be told, I am STILL not over the weirdness that was this book.

Louvre Abu Dabi: Favorite Cover Art

This book is probably going to feature on this list a lot, but I'm going to have to go with When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. The book cover photo is just so delightful and happy and captures the spirit of the story so perfectly. 

Muslim Ban: Favorite Diverse Read

I was originally going to pick Dimple for this one, too, but I'm already using it in two spots, so I'm going to be brave and choose another diverse book. For this one, I'd have to say either I Believe in a Thing Called Love or Kids Like Us. I Believe in a Thing Called Love was so fun and awkward and entertaining, and Kids Like Us was really beautifully written and was such an intricately told story.

Italy Doesn't Qualify for World Cup: Most Disappointing Book

I had a hard time coming up with this one, fortunately, but this was partially because most of the books I didn't like, I expected not to like. The worst book was by far STAGS, which I just reviewed and dubbed one of my most hated books of all time, but as for a book that I expected to like and was disappointed by, I'd have to say Nayyirah Waheed's poetry collection, Nejma. I adored Salt to bits and pieces, but unfortunately, I did not have the same experience with Nejma, and didn't understand a lot of the poetry and found it sub-par.

Prince Harry Engaged: Favorite Ship

Definitely Dimple & Rishi from When Dimple Met Rishi. I just loved this book so, so much that I can't help but write about it multiple times on this list. However, if I had to pick a book I haven't written about, I'd go with Harper and Sterling from Why I Loathe Sterling Lane. Those two are so sassy and perfect for each other.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Most Anticipated Book

Probably either Caraval or Whichwood, which I embarrassingly still have yet to read. I wasn't excited for Caraval at first, to be honest, but I eventually got swept up in the hype from the book community, and let me tell you, this book lived up to it and even exceeded the hype. It was such a gorgeously written and imagined story and I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel, Legendary.