2017 was my second year of trying to read more and more actively, but my first year of blogging. It's an unbelievable amount of work, but I love it, and the books and people I met through being part of the community.

This post is the second part of a three post reflection/goals/thing. The first part, my reading year in statistics, you can read here. (and you should! Who doesn't like data and stats? 😊) This one looks at my past reading year in books, not in numbers. The last part, with my reading goals, will come later this week (or so I hope).

The survey was created by Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner, so if you're interested in participating or seeing more questions and answers, head over there! I decided to pick and choose from the questions to work with those I liked best. Without furder ado:

Best in Books 

My favourite 2017 releases were: 

♥  The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
♥  Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde and
♥  Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo.
Literally no one is surprised 😂

My favourite read in 2017 backlist books were: 
♥ Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo 
♥  Far From You by Tess Sharpe and 
♥  A Hundred Thousand Words by Nyrae Dawn.

A book I thought I would love more:
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green! I was really into John Green when I was a teen, and I had heard great things about the MI rep and the book in general from my blogging friends. Alas, this one wasn't my cup of tea. If you can handle it, though, I would still recommend it! It was just not as good as I had hoped.

Most surprising book you read: 
Salt by Nayyirah Waheed completely took me by surprise. It's the best poetry book I have read so far and instantly became one of my favourite all-time books. I had no idea I would (or could be) so taken by a poetry collection.
On the downside, probably Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. It was surprising how much I didn't like this one, and don't care for it at all.

Book I pushed the most people to read:
The Hate U Give. I literally bought an extra copy so I could lend it out more. My friends and family members all loved it too 😊

Favourite new to me author:
Leigh Bardugo, my queen. I've so far read three of her books and two ended up in my all-time favourites. For this year, my goal is to finally read the Grisha trilogy, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much since this was her earlier work.

Favourite cover:
Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore. I'm glad I can talk about this book too, because both the cover and the story are so, so stunning! If I picked a top five 2017 releases, this one would probably be in it.

Book I can't believe I've waited until 2017 to read:
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. "Why did I wait so long" was literally one of the first things I said in my review. Becky Albertalli is probably up there with my new to me favourite authors, and she's such a genuinely nice person too!

Best 2017 debut:
Again THUG, and again, not surprising this shows up so often.

Hidden gem:
A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard. This was great! Like, really! Y'all are sleeping on this! It wasn't perfect, but I related so hard and really, you should read this. 

Looking ahead

Book I didn’t get to in 2017 but will in 2018:
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo! It was on my Autumn tbr and I didn't read it... So I will soon! (I hope...) And I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.

Most anticipated 2018 debut:
I'm preparing a whole blog post about 2018's most anticipated! Though I never distinguish between debuts and non-debuts, so I'm not sure about this one.

Most anticipated 2018 non-debut:
A handful: What If It's Us by Albertalli/Silvera, On the Come Up by Angie Thomas, and Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody, but be sure to check my full list sometime in the next week (maybe?).

Series Ending or sequel I'm most anticipating:
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli and A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

Something I hope to accomplish in my reading/blogging life in 2018:
In regards to reading, a post wil come! In regards to blogging, I don't really make goals on this aspect because it might cause too much stress and pressure, haha. And it's better just blogging with thinking there's nobody there and just doing it for me than it is blogging with actively knowing there aren't that much people reading. Wouldn't want to get hung up on that 😊
I would, however, like to reach 500 followers on instagram! And maybe keep a growing curve, as I've seem to have plateaued just under 500 for the last months. But we'll see.

Alright guys, this was it! Or not , I mean, if you want to see more questions and posts about this you can always go to The Perpetual Page Turner. But that was it for me 😊 If you've read this far, thank you! I hope you'll keep reading this new year, I love having you here ❤️

What was a book you really wanted to read in 2017 but didn't get to?