My summer reading has been pretty exciting so far. I've discovered new-to-me authors, found books that I didn't know existed, and enjoyed new releases from authors I've loved for years. Need some book recs? Keep scrolling, and if you've already read some of these, let me know what you thought! 

Come Back to Me by Jody Hedlund

What happens when a researcher from today goes back in time to the Peasants' Revolt and falls in love with a knight?

With her sister in one time period, her husband in another, and Marian herself caught somewhere in between, this is a conundrum of epic proportions. I honestly had no idea how this was ever going to end well for our characters, and I'm dying to get my hands on book two (which, sadly, does not come soon enough!).

The time traveling thing was also uniquely and legitimately thought up. I'm sure the author had to put a lot of research into it, and it shows by actually being less fanciful and more of a legitimate way of traveling through time than other books and movies have done.

Marian and Will are an unlikely, but perfect, pairing. I mean, they're basically from two whole different worlds, so how could their romance ever seem legit? But Jody Hedlund crosses that gap perfectly and somehow Marian and Will just belong together. Get ready for some serious romance!


I received this book in order to write an honest review. All opinions are totally my own.

The Heart's Charge by Karen Witemeyer

The roughened-cowboy-helps-out-cute-kids storyline has been used a lot and I think sometimes it just doesn't work out. However, I love the way Karen Witemeyer utilizes it. The sort of orphanage that the ladies ran was really cool- they basically took in all the misfits God sent their way and gave them a place to belong. My first job involved lots of kids, nearly all if them missing a parent, or being raised by grandparents, and the way Karen Witemeyer showed the pain that these kids go through was relatable and honest. I really appreciated that.

The characters themselves are fabulous as well. I love the split story, from Jonah and Eliza to Mark and Katherine. Both POVs were different, and yielded such unique perspectives. The first chapter had me smiling and already engaged with the characters, which for me is a win since it can sometimes take me awhile to get invested in stories- that wasn't a problem this time!


I received this book from the author in order to write an honest review. All opinions are totally my own

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

So what has your summer reading looked like so far? 

Books are so magical. I've been reading since I was about four or five, and even though my feet have been firmly planted at home for most of my life, I feel as if I've gone so many places and experienced so many different things. 

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escaped the Death Eaters with Harry, Hermione and Ron// had tea with Mr. Tumnus// attended a God-lovers meeting with Christy and Todd// been a storm siren with Nym// flown to Neverland with Peter// learned the powers of deduction (and a whole lot of sass) with Sherlock// finally made it there and back again with Bilbo// watched a sunset with Ponyboy// explored creepy Northanger Abbey with Catherine// 

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Books are special that way. Times like these, when you're stuck at home and just want to get away from everything going wrong in the world, just for a minute, stories are a magical escape.

That's why I'm so excited to share about this upcoming release from author Kara Swanson! It's a Peter Pan (!!!!) retelling titled Dust, and releases this summer. My book-loving heart is so excited. 

So, I didn't quite make it to 100 books. I did get to 96, though, so I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out. 
I got to wondering, though, which books on my list were the best (in my opinion, anyway) and here are my results. It was hard to choose when there were so many good books for me to read this past year, but after a while, I finally came to a conclusion. 
Here we go...







Okay, so I'll be honest- this was the only Sci-fi/Dystopian book I read all year. But hey, it was a really good read, and I probably would have given it the "best" title anyway. Ms. Williamson has such an imaginative mind, and I love how unique her stories can be. Martyr's tale of escape and trying to stay alive and away from his captors who are bent on taking him to his former underground life kept me reading and reading until the end. 





Basically, any book of Robin Jones Gunn's will probably make it into this category. Her books are just so good. I feel as if I'm reading about a real-life couple I've known for years who are living in California. I've been following Christy's story from age eleven- from 15-year-old Christy's first meeting (and crush) with Todd and move to CA, to her first job, college, overseas schooling, and more. I'm not sure how much farther Christy and Todd's story can go, but I'm not ready for it to end! 










Ordinarily, I may find a book like this slightly dull. Several times I had to read a paragraph or sentence over again, as it could be slightly confusing, and all the talk of war and tactics and leaders and things would normally bore me. But besides all that, I was happily surprised to find out how much I enjoyed Joseph Loconte's book. As you can tell from the title, it's about the lives of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and their part in World War I, and being a fan of theirs, I found it extremely interesting to read about their experiences. It was really eye-opening to see how terrible the war was, and how much it impacted Lewis and Tolkien's stories. It just made me love their classic books even more, and I definitely recommend it for all fans of Tolkien and Lewis. 







I got to see the two authors at a conference the other year, and had such a great (and encouraging) time. This is a book about dating/relationships, and I know you've probably seen a lot of those, but this one is probably one of my favorites by far. Kyle and Kelsey are such young, relatable couple, and their writing was very engaging. I also loved how they would take turns sharing stories and giving out advice, and the slightly fairy-tale-ish theme was great, of course, as well. 



Unique plot and story line, interesting characters, a new (and pretty cool) fantasy element called "bloodvoicing"... while the writing style wasn't my favorite, the rest of the elements of the book made it a great read. Looking forward to finding out what will happen in the rest of the series! 



Okay, a word beforehand. There is just no way I can only do one book in the "classic" section. I tried, but there is a reason they're called "classics". So here you go- not one, but two classic literature stories that were my favorite in 2017. 

I Will Repay by Baroness Orczy



I just love the Scarlet Pimpernel, and the rest of the series is proving to be almost as good. I mean, there's lots of adventure, romance, a Robin Hood figure during the French Revolution who saves others from the guillotine (usually just in the nick of time). I Will Repay was a great read, and if you're a fan of the classics, I think you'll enjoy it. 







Eva Marie Everson's novel was so sweet, nostalgic, and romantic (and it was WWII!!!) I had to include it in a category. Seriously, if you like (or, like me, love) WWII novels- or just a sweet read- this one may be for you. 







I loved this author to begin with, but this book was, in my opinion, better than all her previous ones. The camaraderie and playful teasing between Rosemary  and her street family, as well as her romance with wealthy, quiet Peter, captured my attention from page one. 






Again, I have to admit that this is the only book in the genre I read during 2017. But I know, since the book was so good, I'd have given it the "best suspense" title anyway. Seriously, I'm not normally one for this genre (have only read about 3 books of it in my life), but for some reason I decided to try this series and I've really enjoyed it. It's edge-of-your-seat action about a girl wrongly accused of murder and running from some corrupt lawmen. Book three, If I Live, is set to come out soon, and I'll finally get to see what will happen and how Casey's story will end. 








I've said in past posts that I have a problem with teenage fiction, and it's true. A lot of the genre out there is just really romance-y, the characters feel somewhat childish, and there's not a lot of inspirational content-----but there are some out there that deserve to be mentioned, not just for being a good teen book, but just a good book in general. This is one of them. Set in the 1920's, it's the story of Piper Sail, an independent girl whose life is changed when her best friend goes missing. Not content to sit idly by while the police do their investigation, she decides to do a little sleuthing on her own. It will take her into the worst parts of Chicago, but Piper's love for her friend show just how far one will go when a person you love goes missing. 

Best Overall out of all these....My #1 Book of the Year...
A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White



This book combined so many things I love- a Robin Hood/Charles Dickens feel, characters who love books, humor, romance, adventure, WWI. It was a hard choice to decide which read was the best for me, but in the end I went with this one because of how much I loved it and how excited I am for the rest of the series. Roseanna M. White is definitely an author on my watch list! 

So, what about you? Have you read any of these? What would you say were your favorite books of 2017? 


(As a side note, sorry if the font sizes and layout are a bit messed up- it looked great in my drafts, but blogger is messing it up for some reason)

There's so many good books out there going to be released this  Autumn- I seriously can't wait! Here are the top 5 I'm looking forward to:

#1: Can't Help Falling, by Kara Isaac

I know, teen fiction can be pretty popular- and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, necessarily, I'm just not too fond of the genre.  Here are 4 reasons why I don't like teen fiction.

#1. They seem to be mainly romances.

Or maybe I should say, most seem to be based on romance or have it in them. I know most teens are into romance, and it's a pretty popular subject, but I just get tired of reading about it in the YA genre. Sometimes I just feel like reading an adventure story, that is all about the adventure- I'm not reading it for the romance. And not everyone likes romance books anyway- my brothers, for instance. They have few books to read because they aren't really into many of the children's books at the library, yet they'd never read a romance. Therefore, the number of books they have to read are limited. Now, I'm not saying all romance should be taken out of YA fiction, just the focus shouldn't always be on it. And I also realize that there are a few gems out there that omit romance in their stories or don't have it as the story's main plot, and I'm grateful to their authors for this. 

#2. The characters are immature. 

As a teen myself, I realize I'm not the most mature person out there, and I won't have fully matured until I'm older. Yet I get tired of reading about characters in teen fiction that act more like ten-year-olds than the young adults that they are. This also makes their romantic relationships seem pointless and immature.  In time periods past, and in other cultures of today, they would be considered full-fledged adults, and expected to act like it. This is the reason I like reading medieval or fantasy YA. Yes, there is romance. But the characters are already 16, 17, or 18 year-old adults. And, for the most part, they act like it. 

#3. A lot of times, the stories are in first person. 

I've noticed this more with the contemporary YA. This is not necessarily  bad, I'm just not a fan of first-person, and can get into a book and it's characters more if it's in another point of view. 

#4. There main characters aren't male

When I'm reading a book, I don't really think about this as much. However, trying to find decent novels that would interest male readers (namely, my brothers) has made me realize how few YA books have males as the main characters. And let's face it- what guy wants to read about crushes and makeup? I'm not really into those types of books so much myself. And I know for a fact that when my brothers are looking for a good book, they're not really going to be interested in trying the book unless the protagonist is a guy. Again, I realize there are some novels out there that have guys as main characters, I just think there's not enough of it. 



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 I'm not totally opposed to the  young adult genre. If you go into my bedroom you'll see some Melanie Dickerson and Dina Sleiman on my shelves. Yet these are the reasons I groan when I hear the words 'teen fiction' and the things I think should be changed about it. So, what do you think? What do you like or dislike about teen fiction?