Hello you gorgeous individuals, it's Kav here and today I'm going to be
discussing my top 17 favorite books of 2017. In 2017, I have read 53
books and if I finish my current read before Sunday, I will have read 54 books
and as my goal was 50 books, I think that that is a wonderful number for me to
have read. I am very happy with my reading year this year. It has easily
been my best reading year ever - not just in terms of numbers because I think that
2017 has also been my best reading year content wise as well. Outside of
books I read for school, I have only rated two books this year one or two stars and
they were the only two books that I didn't enjoy that I've read this year
The majority of all the rest of my books have gotten four or five star ratings, so
I am extremely pleased with how this reading year has been for me and I
genuinely think that that is due to the fact that I started reading diversely
this year. It was easily the best reading decision I have ever made and I am so
excited to see what 2018 brings for me reading wise, but before that, let's get
into my top 17 of 2017.
Coming in at number 17 is We Are Okay by Nina LaCour. This is a brilliant novel - I
gave it 5 out of 5 stars and I have a full spoiler free review of it up,
so I will link that either up there or down there for you to check out if you
would so be interested. Essentially, I loved this novel with all of my heart. I
do want to give a content warning for grief and loss if you do plan to read
this novel, but if you can handle those themes I highly, highly, highly recommend
reading this one. This novel features a main character from a latinx family
and it has a past female by female romance, so it's on par with my goal of
diversely reading, but it's also wonderful in so many other ways. Whereas
the theme of this novel is so sad, the author manages to balance it out with
her talent for writing because the writing in this novel is just so
beautiful and the way it's woven together with the theme and with the
characters and with the plot is just done so well. I don't really like going
into too much detail with what this novel is about because I think it's
better to experience it for yourself. The biggest thing I can say about it is that
the cover of this novel is absolutely gorgeous, but if you read it you will
find the inside is even more gorgeous than the outside. At number 16 I have
How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake. I have a full spoiler review of
it up, so I will link that either up there or down there if you would like to check
that out, but, essentially, How to Make a Wish
is a novel featuring a female by female romance and the love interest is a love
interest of color. And the main character comes from not the best family - her
relationship with her mom is very hard to explain. I interpreted the mom to be
abusive, so definitely content warning for that. I'm not sure if that's exactly
what you would call her, but when I was reading it that's how I interpreted it.
It kind of deals with the relationship the main character has with her mom and
then the relationship she starts to begin with this girl in her life. I think
there are so many aspects of it that are so important. It's a contemporary
novel that manages to tackle these hard topics, but as I said, I do want to
give a content warning for the main character's relationship with her mother.
I also want to give a content warning about the fact that the love interest
recently lost her mother and that is also a prevalent theme in this novel, so
if either of those are hard for you to read - it might not be the best option
for you to go into this novel, but I can say that I read this novel and I
can tell that Ashley has a lot of talent in her writing, so she has two new novels
coming out next year and if you can't pick up this one, I would consider
picking up one of those two because I am certain that they are going to be just
as good if not better than this one. The next book on my list is Like Water
by Rebecca Podos and this is a book that I literally just read. I finished it
about two days ago and it managed to bump off another book off my list
because of how much I absolutely loved it. I read Like Water as the group book
for a Prideathon in December. For those of you who don't know, I am a host of prideathon
and this was actually my suggestion for the group book and I was a little
bit nervous about choosing it because whereas I love Rebecca - I think she is a
lovely person and I was certain that this novel would be wonderful - I knew
that it was also not one that was very popular in the community. I wasn't sure
exactly what it would be like to go into it because I didn't know much other than
the fact that it had a latinx main character who was also bisexual, but all
I can say is that this book is an underrated masterpiece. I have not seen
this talked about anywhere on booktube and I'm so unsure as to why because it
is a masterpiece. I enjoyed this novel so, so, so much. It
was absolutely beautiful - I gave it 5 out of 5 stars and I have a full goodreads review
that details more of what I liked about it, but it's really hard for me to form
it into words because there was just nothing lacking in this novel. Everything
the author put into this novel constructed a beautiful story and
constructed a beautiful journey. I would definitely label this novel as more of a
coming-of-age story about the main character. And as I stated she is latinx
and she is bisexual. Her dad has Huntington's disease and she is
currently struggling with whether or not she should be tested to find out if she
has it or if she should just live her life not knowing. That's a real struggle
for her and she's kind of trapped in this small town. Part of the trap that
she feels is because of this being placed on her because now she has to
make this life-changing decision that will essentially tell her whether or not
she will have a healthy life unlike her father who is suffering from this
disease. She also has to be there for him because she has to be there for both her
parents considering they are dealing with this. The love interest has just
moved from Boston to the small town and she is very upset about that, it is
something that she does not want at all. As well as the relationship the main
character has with her family, the love interest has a wonderful relationship
with her brother and I think that the familial relationships and even the
friendships and just the relationships in this novel are probably it's
biggest strongsuit. The author has a way of just writing beautiful relationships
and if you go into this novel for anything, I think it should be for that.
Coming in at number 14 is Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust. I
read this in October with BookBoundSociety which I am also a host of if you
did not know, so I will leave links to that and Prideathon in the description
below, so that you can check out these two wonderful groups. Girls Made of Snow
and Glass is a feminist, female by female, Snow White retelling and all of those
words sound amazing, but you might be wondering - does this book actually live
up to it? It does. I was kind of nervous going into it because it did have all
these words that I was so interested in - I love feminism, I
a female by female romance, and I love fairytale retellings, so I was really
concerned as to whether or not it would live up to these labels, but it did and
it was more than that. The feminism of this novel is probably one of the most
prevalent aspects of it. The female by female romance is not as prominent, but I
think that the way it was done was done very well and I was really pleased with
how it was done, but as I was saying, the feminism of this novel is so prevalent
because we have two strong main characters and both of these women were
just so inspirational and iconic in very different ways. 'Cause Mina was kind of
strong in the literal sense - in the more badass sense, but Lynette was more strong
in her silent defiance. To clarify, Mina is the one who essentially represents
the Evil Queen and Lynette represents Snow White and we get to see Mina both
in the past and the present as she is the older one and then we get to see
Lynette as how she is now and I think that seeing the journey of these two women
was just really wonderfully done and I highly, highly recommend this novel. I
think that like Like Water, it is also underrated, so I would love to see more
people picking it up. Next up, I have yet another relatively recent favorite which
is Dear Martin by Nic Stone. I read this in November with Book
BoundSociety and you will tell that many of my favorites come from this
group. Dear Martin is a masterpiece. We have had two brilliant books about the
Black Lives Matter movement come out this year and Dear Martin is one of them.
Dear Martin features a main character, Justyce, who is black and essentially he
starts dealing with racism, so he starts writing letters to Martin Luther King
Jr. He essentially asks him how he should be dealing with this and he talks
about, in the novel, how he kind of wants to emulate Martin Luther King jr. and how
he wants to be like him in battling racism, but he doesn't necessarily know
if he can do that. This novel is so good. I read it in like two hours, I think,
because it was just a masterpiece. I think that it brings to light
so many issues that we like to look over in our privilege and such. And even
though I am a person of color - I don't know what it's like to be a black person
of color and I don't know what it's like to face police brutality the way black
people have - especially considering I live in California which is a much more
liberal place than many others in The United States. That's not to say that
there is no racism here there is, but it's definitely better than in a lot of
places and I have been fortunate enough that I have never had to encounter a
situation like police brutality. Many people are not lucky enough to deal with
that. Like I said, we like to kind of look over that or look beyond that because
it's more comfortable for us and it feels safer for us, but that's not fair
to all the people who have to deal with this on a daily basis and the people who
just can't live their lives properly because of their skin color and no one
deserves to feel that way and I think that this novel really brings to light
how important it is that we talk about these issues because they are such
important issues and I think another important part about this novel is that
it gives a platform to someone who should actually be speaking about these
issues - a black woman - because she obviously
knows a lot more about it than someone like me, who is not a black woman, does.
There are just so many important topics in this novel and I highly, highly
recommend that you read it because I think that this is one of the most
important novels that came out this year. And now, at number 12, continuing with
this discussion of the Black Lives Matter movement,
I have The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. This is the most important book that
came out this year without a doubt. It talks about the importance of the Black
Lives Matter movement and it's about a main character named Starr who watches
her best friend get killed and then she starts fighting for the Black Lives
Matter movement and she essentially starts fighting for black people, but I
think one of the most important parts about this novel is that it showcases
different types of racism. It showcases racism that comes straight from a
policeman killing someone because of their skin color, but also showcases
racism she faces at her own school being one of two black kids who goes there and it
showcases the little microaggressions that matter because microaggressions do
matter. I think that, like Dear Martin, it is just so important and these two
novels are by far the two most important novels that came out this year because
they discussed these issues that like I said, we like to look over, but we can't
keep looking over because we're looking over it at the cost of an entire group
of people for the sake of our comfort. That's not right. And now, on a much
lighter note, I have Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman at number 11. I read this
book back in July during the summer and I can tell you that reading this book
during the summer was one of the best decisions I could have made. This book is
just the perfect summer contemporary read. It's essentially about a
Californian surfer on her last summer before she has to move for college and
all her friends are going to move, but she can't stay with them over the summer
because she has to travel with her dad as her aunt was just in an accident, so
she and her dad are going to go help take care of her aunt and her aunt's
family. While she is there, she learns to skateboard with this other character. He
essentially becomes the love interest of the novel - it is very obvious, but it is
very cute and the love interest is black and disabled, so this novel also
definitely has some diversity in it as well. I think that it's just a wonderful
novel to read. It, again, tackles some hard topics, but it's also a much fluffier,
lighter contemporary. I would suggest picking this novel up, but then waiting
for summer of 2018 to read it if you haven't yet because reading it in
summer is the best decision you can make - it just fits the aesthetic of that
season. And now at number 10 I have a book by one of my favorite authors of
all-time - Release by Patrick Ness. I love Patrick Ness' work. I read A Monster
Calls back in 2015. I really thought that book was a one-off and it was just kind
of a one-hit wonder, but then I read The Rest of us Just Live Here and then I
read Release and I realized that Patrick Ness is an incredibly talented writer.
I read Release as the October group book for Prideathon and I am so glad we
chose this book because I think that it is such an important read. I do want to
give a huge content warning because the main character is a gay character who
lives in an anti-gay family, so it deals heavily with anti-gay rhetoric and if
that's something that will be hurtful to you, then definitely don't pick up this
novel, but if it's something that you can read it's an important read. Patrick
himself is gay, so this is ownvoices representation. The topic of religion is
also discussed heavily in this novel because the main character's family is
Christian and his father is a preacher. And it also discusses sexual harassment
against males which I think is another important topic that we have a tendency
to look over. Again, a content warning for that if it's something that will trigger
you in any way, but if you can deal with it, like I said, I think this is an
important read. Possibly the best part of this novel is that it normalizes male by
male sex which is something I don't think I have ever seen in a YA novel
before and I definitely think this is the most adult of Patrick's work because
of the emphasis it has on sex, but I also think that the fact that it
normalizes male by sex is so important because queer sex
education is rarely taught and whereas this is definitely not a lesson in it,
it might at least give some people who might be having male by male sex some
thing to go off of because like I said, queer sex education is rarely talked
about and it is a topic that needs more discussion and I hope that books like
this will bring those topics to light. At number 9, I have 27 Hours by Tristina Wright.
I will link my full review of this novel either up there or down there if you
would like to check the whole thing out. I know that there has been a lot of
controversy surrounding the race representation in this novel and I think
that the hurt people face is valid - the hurt you face is always valid and no one
should ever be allowed to invalidate it, but when I read this novel, I really
enjoyed it and that was a personal thing. Whereas this doesn't make up for any
issues it has what the race rep, it does have very good queer representation and
disability representation, so I think that those are also two aspects of the
novel to be complimented while we also discuss how it can be improved in terms
of its race representation. 27 Hours is a sci-fi novel about five teens who
essentially save the world because teens are obviously smarter than adults. Like I
said, it has a lot of representation in it. I really enjoyed how it was done and
one of my favorite parts of the representation was the ace character
Braeden. I know that he fell into a lot of stereotypes, but I also think it's unfair
to say that there should be characters who don't necessarily fall into stereotypes
because I know a lot of people who do fit them, so I think that we need to have
a wide variety of representation that battle stereotypes, but also a few that
fit kind of 'good' stereotypes. For example, I don't think there's anything
wrong in Braeden's character, I think it's just that he fits into the stereotypical
ace character. In a lot of ways, as an asexual person, I do the same thing, so it
was one of the first forms of asexual representation that I could
really resonate with and I was just glad to see an ace character making ace puns
because I do those all the time and people act like they're weird, but it's
just a part of what I do. And now, at number 8, I have Little & Lion by
Brandy Colbert. I read this as the September group book for BookBound
Society and I absolutely fell in love with it. This novel has so many good
qualities to it I don't really even know where to begin, but I guess we can start
with the representation because that is done so well in this novel. The main
character is black and bisexual and her brother has bipolar disorder and this
novel also has religious diversity if that is something that you look for, so
there are just so many aspects of this novel that are done so well, so I highly
recommend it. I really don't even know how to express how I feel about this
novel because everything about it is done so well. It deals with racial
microaggressions. It deals with the main character's brother being bipolar and how
that affects both him and his family and just the entire journey he has to go through.
He is not diagnosed during this book, he's diagnosed before it, but it's still
relatively new to his family, so they are still kind of learning how to deal with
it. It discusses important familial relationships - I love the familial
relationships of this novel, it was done so well - it, like, showed an actual happy
family and there was a good relationship between the main character and her
brother. Of course, they had fights and they argued, especially considering the
tension going on with this recent diagnosis and such, but they still loved
each other and they were so close and I think that healthy sibling relationships
really need to be portrayed more in YA, so I'm glad that this one was
showcased. I can easily say that because of this novel, I will be supporting all
of Brandy's future work because if it's even half as good as this, it will be
brilliant. At number 7, I have The Upside of Unrequited by Becky
Albertalli. I have said this a million times, but
Becky is one of my favorite authors and one of my favorite people. She is a
brilliant writer and an even more brilliant woman. The Upside of Unrequited
features a fat main character from a Jewish family with two moms.
That's some diversity. I know that it has a pansexual side character which is
representation that is rarely seen, so that's another reason to pick it up. The
fat representation and the Jewish representation is ownvoices and I think
that the fat representation is crucial to this novel. Something else that's
crucial to this novel is that the main character emphasizes that you can love
yourself and still want to be in a relationship - the two are not mutually
exclusive and a lot of times people act as though they are, but this novel
basically debunks that ideology because that ideology is false. She does a good
job talking about what it's like to have fears as a fat person when it comes to
romantic relationships. Obviously I can't comment on those myself at this moment,
but I have had a rocky history with body image and with weight, so from my history
and from my personal journey, I can say that I thought the representation in
this novel was done well, but as I am not currently fat, you definitely want to
look at ownvoices reviewers if you really want to be certain about the
representation, but from where I stood, knowing that this was ownvoices
representation and from my own journey, I can say that I thought this novel was
done so brilliantly well. Becky is the queen of writing cute contemporaries, so
if you are looking for something that is cute and fluffy, pick this one up
because it is the cutest and the contemporariest and the fluffiest. And now
at number 6, I have a novel that I don't talk about nearly enough on my
channel - Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali. I read this book back in July with
BookBoundSociety. I adored it with everything in me. I finished this novel
in like two sittings or three settings because I loved it so, so, so, so much.
This novel features a hijabi Muslim main character who is a survivor of sexual
assault, so content warning for the fact that this novel deals with sexual assault and
if that's something that triggers you in any way, it might be best to stay away
from this novel, but I think that the way it was discussed was done so
well and I adored this novel. And I also know that this novel is ownvoices for
its Muslim representation. I think that that's one of the best parts about this
novel because I gained so much education from it and I think it's wonderful when
authors are willing to use their novels to provide this type of education. Of
course, they don't owe anyone that, but when they do decide to use it that way I
think it's a wonderful use of their platform. I am just so glad I chose to read
this novel and I cannot recommend it enough. All I can tell you is that you
have to read it if you can because it is a masterpiece. And now, at number 5, I
have a novel by one of my favorite authors and favorite people - Queens of
Geek by Jen Wilde. I love this novel so much. I have a full spoiler free review
of it up, so I'll link that either up there or down there if you would be
interested in it. But essentially I loved this novel with everything in me. This is
the only novel I have read by Jen Wilde and I can already say that she is now
one of my favorite authors because of how good it was. Queens of Geek is a novel
featuring three best friends who go to SupaCon which is essentially like
Comic Con for us and it is told on the point of view of two of these characters -
Charlie and Taylor. Charlie is a Chinese- Australian vlogger / actress who is also
bisexual and she is in a female by human romance and the other female in the
romance is also of color. Taylor is on the autism spectrum and she is fat - both
of those topics are talked about heavily in this novel and I think that this
novel is the epitome of balancing fluffiness
and cuteness with discussing hard topics because it does both of those so,
so well. You just have to read it because it features two adorable romances while
also tackling, like I said, all of these hard topics - just everything about it is
absolutely wonderful, so please go read it because it's wonderful.
The next book on my list is actually one that is not out yet - Let's Talk About
Love by Claire Kann. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this novel from the
lovely people at Swoon Reads. Let's Talk About Love is a novel about a black bi
romantic asexual main character. This is the first time I have ever seen my
sexuality in a book. Seeing the words that represent me in a novel meant so
much to me that I can't even form that feeling in words. My video review of this
novel is not up yet, but my goodreads review is, so I'll link that in the
description below for you to get a more comprehensive understanding of how I
felt reading this novel. I do want to comment on the fact that it has been
brought up to me that the poverty rep in this novel is not done well. I cannot
speak of that from personal experience, but I trust the person who said that to
me, so I do wanna note that to anyone out here who is watching. The love interest
of this novel is Japanese so this novel has quite some racial diversity.
It also tackles racial microaggressions, plus it talks about the fact that it's
okay to want to be a housewife there is nothing wrong with that decision,
plus it tackles sexism, plus it has good therapy representation for the
first time in forever. This novel doesn't have a main character
who has been diagnosed with a mental illness or anything, she's just going to
see a therapist to figure stuff out. That type of representation needs to be showcased
more often because it's okay to just go to a therapist if you want someone to
talk to. If that's something that will help you, it's a totally okay decision to
make. But most importantly, I can say that this novel is the best asexual
representation I have ever read and whereas there's not a lot to compare it to,
that still saying something. Now at number three, I have More Happy Than Not by Adam
Silvera. I have said this many times, I will say it again - Adam is not only one
of my favorite authors, but he is one of my favorite people in the world. More
Happy Than Not is a book that features a gay Puerto-Rican main character and I
want to give a huge trigger warning for this book because it
with heavy topics such as suicide, so definitely be aware of that before going
into this novel. I read this novel at a time that was very hard for me and it
essentially gave me what I needed in that point. It's not just my third
favorite book that I've read this year, but it's one of my favorite books of all-
time because of the comfort it gave me. There's so much to this and to all of
Adam's work and he's known for breaking our hearts and we joke about it a lot,
but this novel - it didn't just break my heart, but it also repaired it in a lot
of ways and I just want to thank Adam for being brave enough to write about
these types of topics. I think that we are lucky to be living in a time where
we get to see someone as talented as him put out amazing work. And now at number two -
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. I don't even have words to express what
it meant to me to read When Dimple Met Rishi. I have a full spoiler frew review of it
up and that is still my most viewed video of all time, so I will link that
either up there or down there if you would like to check it out, but
essentially When Dimple Met Rishi is the first time I have ever seen a YA novel
featuring main characters of my skin color. To this day, I still don't know
how to express how that felt to me because it was so surreal to see myself
represented like that for the first time ever. It's still surreal that I have this
book in my hands. This is an Indian person on this cover and that is something
that is still so surreal to me and is still something that I have trouble
grasping because I have never had that in my life before
and it is ownvoices representation and it is a rom-com about two Indian
American teens. It is just so surreal that I still don't know how to form my
feelings about this novel and about the author. You know, I heard about this novel
back in like January of 2017 or something, but still now in December, I
don't know how to express how I feel in words. That is the importance of
representation and all I can tell you is that you need to read this book. It is
the cutest. fluffiest, most wonderful contemporary
romance you could ever read. I'm honored to have two copies of this book, I'm
honored to know the author, and I am honored to continue to support her next
year when From Twinkle, With Love comes out, and I am just honored to have been a
part of her journey and to have been a part of this book's journey. And now, at
number 1, you all know what I'm going to say - Lord Of Shadows by Cassandra
Clare. Everyone and their mother knows that Cassandra Clare is my favorite
author in the entire world and everyone and their mother knows that Cassandra
Clare saved my life and that her books mean the world to me and that I would
die for the Shadowhunter universe, so I don't know why we're still talking
about it, but I will never pass up an opportunity to discuss Cassandra Clare.
Lord Of Shadows is a work of brilliance. I talk about how Cassandra Clare is my
favorite author so much of the time, but there is something so much more special
to The Dark Artifices trilogy. This year, 2017, was the 10-year anniversary of City
of Bones. In those ten years, we as readers have had the honor of seeing how
Cassie has grown as a writer. So over 10 books later, she is still writing in this
brilliant universe that she is continuing to grow, especially with this
latest trilogy. And, you know, City of Bones came out 10 years ago. 10 years
later we're getting to see how she has grown as a writer. I'm not just talking
about the literal writing aspect of it, but I'm talking about so much more. The
Dark Artifices is easily her best trilogy and Lord of Shadows is objectively her
best book in terms of representation, in terms of the plot, in terms of character
development, and in terms of her writing, so when I say that this is my top book
of 2017, I'm not just talking about me anymore -
I'm talking about how Cassie has grown as a writer, I'm talking about how this
trilogy is so much bigger now and how this
universe has grown so much and we have the honor of being here for the journey
of it. The only way I can explain it is that the Shadowhunter universe is my
Harry Potter and I will never get tired of it and I will never get tired of
experiencing more of Cassie's work and I am just waiting for Queen of Air and
Darrkness to come out and probably be the best book Cassie has ever released. Those
were my top 17 favorite books of 2017. Now, I want you to tell me what your
favorite book you've read this was or if you can't pick one, tell me a few
favorites that you've read this year. I love reading and I love how my reading
year went and I'm just so excited for about 2018 brings, not just in terms of
books, but in terms of the book community itself because I know that I am going to
get so many more wonderful opportunities and I'm gonna get to do so much more
cool stuff than I've been able to do this year and I am ecstatic for it and I
want to thank you all for being part of this journey.
None of this would be possible without you. If you enjoyed this video, please
give it a like and subscribe because that stuff makes me happy.
As I said, comment down below, tell me some of your favorite books that you've
read this year. As usual, all of my social media and my goodreads will be in the
description below if you'd like to follow me anywhere else. Thank you all so
much for watching, I hope you're having a lovely day or night wherever you are, I
hope you get to read some lovely books in 2018, and I will see you this weekend
with a brand new video. Goodbye!
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