Top Ten(ish…okay 24) Books Releasing 2017!

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) is “Top Ten 2017 Debuts I’m Excited For” which I, in my rebel state, am tweaking to any and all 2017 releases (not just debuts) and am also expanding on the number… (Okay, so it’s 24. I never said I was good with maths.)

Because I’m obsessed thoughtful, I compiled a list of books that are coming out in 2017, or that I think (or hope) or have seen rumored that are coming out that I’m interested in reading.

Behold!

TO RELEASE 2017

• The Bear and the Nightingale – Katherine Arden (Jan 10): Random Russian (I think?) folklore retelling-ish book I ran across on Goodreads and thought was interesting.
  
• Heartstone – Elle Katharine White (Jan 17): High Fantasy Pride and Prejudice retelling with Dragons. I AM SOLD POINT ME IN ITS DIRECTION.
• King’s Blood (Kinsman Chronicles #2) – Jill Williamson (Jan 31): Sequel to King’s Folly, fantasy novel by Jill Williamson = gimme.
  
• The Lost Girl of Astor Street – Stephanie Morrill (Feb 7): Curious about this historical fiction mystery from one of the authors of the Go Teen Writers blog.
  
• A Viscount’s Proposal (Regency Spies of London #2) – Melanie Dickerson (Feb 7): Long-awaited regency romance sequel to A Spy’s Devotion, about the sister of the hero from the first book — very excited!
  
• Gilded Cage – Vic James (Feb 14): Random historical fantasy book I ran across on Goodreads (I’m so shallow and random, I know) that sounded interesting.
  
• Shadow Run – AdriAnne Strickland (Mar 21): Random sci-fi book I ran across on Goodreads and thought sounded interesting because it sounded kinda like Firefly just because.
  
• Beren and Luthien – J.R.R. Tolkien (May 4): I know, a lot of people are tired of these rehashed “books” by Tolkien. But I’m personally pretty excited because although I’ve read much of his various Beren and Luthien drafts, I think it will be cool to see the different versions altogether. Plus, illustrated = win. ALSO: shoutout because it’s Tolkien’s birthday today! Happy birthday!
  
• The Noble Servant (Thornbeck Forest #3) – Melanie Dickerson (May 9): Final book in the trilogy after The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest and The Beautiful Pretender, this historical fiction, Christian romance fairytale retelling of The Goose Girl/The Prince and the Pauper has me pretty excited to read it. It’s about Magdalen from The Beautiful Pretender and I can’t wait.
  

RUMORED: Level #1

(listed on Goodreads, with 2017 release dates)

• The Bone Queen – Alison Croggon (2017 USA release): This fantasy prequel to The Naming, about Cadvan (gimme!), already released in Australia LAST year and I want it now please and thank you.
  
• Exiles (Ilyon Chronicles #4) – Jaye L. Knight: I know, I haven’t gotten this far in this Christian Fantasy series yet. Still, it wanted to be in this post. *shrug*
  
• The Reluctant Godfather – Allison Tebo: Retelling of Cinderella with “a young and cantankerous fairy godfather” — sounds amusing and delightful.
• Untitled (Penderwicks #5) – Jeanne Birdsall: This one’s been listed for 2017 for aaages, so we’ll see if it happens. I NEED ANOTHER PENDERWICK BOOK. Even though I’m terrified too because the kids are like grown up and it’s the last book and eek.
  
• Untitled (Jackaby #4) – William Ritter: Curious about the last Jackaby book, since Ghostly Echoes cliffhangered… Maybe there will be some answers about Jackaby, and he’ll hopefully continue with his awesome banter in another intriguing historical fantasy mystery?
  
• Untitled (Stolen Crowns #1) – Jessica Day George: I’ve been looking forward to this one since… ages ago. Fantasy “sequel” of sorts, following up various fairytales, about their children… I think. Anyway, fairytales by Jessica Day George and I want ’em.
  

RUMORED: Level #2

(I’ve heard thiiings from the authors. Hoping!)

• Songkeeper Chronicles #3 – Gillian Bronte Adams: Fantasy, final book in the trilogy, after Ophan’s Song and Songkeeper — I’m soooo looking forward to seeing how this series wraps up!!!
• Minstrel’s Call (The Minstrel’s Song #4) – Jenelle Leanne Schmidt: Final book in this awesome fantasy series (King’s Warrior, Second Son, and Yorien’s Hand) — can’t wait! Dragons and epic fantasy, preciousss.
  
• Modern Tales of Na Fianna #3 – Hazel B. West: Be still my beating heart. There’s going to be another book after Blood Ties and An Earthly King. CALENDAR, BE KIND TO ME AND MOVE THE YEAR QUICKLY TO THIS DATE, WHENEVER IT MAY BE.
  
• A Different Kind of Purpose (A Different Kind of Courage #2) – Sarah Holman: Another Revolutionary War book, I’m really looking forward to this sequel to A Different Kind of Courage to see William get into (and hopefully out of) his next noodle.
  
• Suit and Suitability – Kelsey Bryant: 1930s retelling of Sense and Sensibility, by a lovely author I know, I’m very much looking forward to this one! I just know it’s going to be lovely.
  
• Emmeline – Sarah Holman: Also a 1930s retelling, of Jane Austen’s Emma, I was privileged to beta-read this last year and ADORED it, so I’m very excited for it to release! (Along with the rest of this Vintage Jane Austen 1930s retellings series by various authors. Methinks they’ll be fun. ^_^)
  

RUMORED: Level #3

(Very loosely rumored; may be wishful thinking)

• Silver Rose – Shantelle Mary Hannu: Don’t know if this Christian Fantasy novel will see publication this year, but if it does I’M GOING TO BE ONE EXCITED FANGIRL. This book is one of my favorites and I can’t wait to see it in print! *flailing*
• The Last Motley – DJ Edwardson: Again, not sure if it’ll be this year or not, but I’m quite excited for DJ’s hopefully-upcoming fantasy novel! I just know it’s going to be amazing. *flails because fantasy*
• Lightporter (IDIA #2) – C.B. Cook: I honestly have no clue if this contemporary superhero tale (sequel to Twinepathy) is in the forecast for this year. But I hope it will be. Because Blaze and Anvil and company are awesome and I’m selfish and want to read about  them ASAP they NEED this sequel because they need more screen page time.

Now all I need is more time/resources to acquire and read these books. XD (Not to mention more bookshelf space. Seriously.) #bookwormproblems

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How about you? Are you excited about any of these? 😀 What books are coming out this year that you can’t wait to read? (Or… books that you can’t wait to read soon, regardless of when they were published!)

Thanks for reading!

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer

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Top 12 Books I Read in 2016!

*comes in singing* Happy blogoversary to meeee!

That’s right, one year ago today, I posted my Foreword first post on this blog!

The Page Dreamer has officially existed for a whole year! *cue excitement* *and Gandalf fireworks* *because naturally*

Today I’m going to look back at this year of books—the reading, the reviewing, and, most importantly, my top favorite reads of the year! Let’s get to it. 🙂

Reading Stats

I read 78 books this year—huzzah!

I was planning for 60 (according to Goodreads) and overshot that a bit because I’m addicted an overachiever.

Check out my Year in Books on Goodreads to see them all listed! 🙂

9 of those were rereads, 6 were nonfiction (*cue gasps from a shocked audience*), and 63 were new fiction reads.

Of those 63, I rated 40 of them 5 stars.

…

*crickets*

I know, I have a problem with being very agreeable to most books. Moving on, then!

10 books were 4 stars.

7  books were 3 stars.

6 books were 2 stars. (We do not speak of 3 of these, For Reasons Of Bad Endings, and one of them I just didn’t believe the romance most of the book [which never happens], and two were just all right.)

According to my visible stats, I had no 1-stars, but that’s ignoring the fact that one story in a collection is totally a 1-star, even if I chickened out in my review and gave it a medium rating for being good most of the time until the ending WHICH WAS NOT OKAY. So 1 book was 1 star.

(Seeing a trend here…? I literally rated two-thirds of the books I read in 2016 five-stars.)

Fun fact: I read 12 books by Diana Wynne Jones this year. Yes, that averages to one every month. Half of those were new reads, and half were rereading aloud, because OH THE FUN. (Hence this being a fun-fact instead of just a fact. Ahem.)

I also seem to have read 20,000 pages this year??? Um. What is up with that? O.o That’s like the same amount of WORDS I wrote this year (if you ignore the 50K during NaNo).

Okay, enough stats, I can tell I’m boring you. 😉

Without more further ado, I give you (in no particular order because I’m an indecisive otter, except my very favorites are in a special category at the top)…

My Top 12 (more or less) Reads of 2016

(All titles link to their Goodreads pages; I also link to my reviews if one was written.)

BEST OF THE BEST

1. Paper Crowns – Mirriam Neal

{My Review}

A favorite up there with The Lord of the Rings and Howl’s Moving Castle, I was SO ecstatic when Paper Crowns was published this year! It has literally everything to make it a fantabulous book, including witty writing and banter, characters who are simply my FAVORITE (Hal! Azrael! And Salazar, Asterope, Astryn, Ginger… Just everybody) and Fey and a talking cat and adorable romance on the side and adventure and JUST READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE IT’S PERFECT. ❤ Favorite of the year. 🙂

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2. The Bone House / The Spirit Well / The Shadow Lamp – Stephen R. Lawhead

{My Review of The Bone House} {My Review of The Spirit Well} [review of The Shadow Lamp to come]

THIS SERIES. I haven’t finished it yet (The Fatal Tree was, however, a Christmas present, so that will be read very soon!) but the ones I’ve read so far are simply fabulous. Different eras and settings and cultures, lovable characters, adventure, stunning writing, and all deliciously complex. I can’t wait to finish! Book 4, The Shadow Lamp, may be my favorite of the series yet! Just so much is HAPPENING. (Plus Kit and Wilhelmina and Cass and Giles and even Haven, etc. <3)

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3. Blood Ties / An Earthly King – Hazel B. West

{My Review of Blood Ties} {My Review of An Earthly King}

I’ve done my share of flailing over this series, but REALLY, I just love these modern-Ireland-mixed-with-alternate-history-and-Faerie books! The friendships and adventure and humor and characters and WORLD are just so fabulous! ❤

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4. Fire and Hemlock – Diana Wynne Jones

{My Review}

Yeah, no surprise this is here… there has to be a DWJ book in my top few! 😉 I rambled enough about it in my review, but it was just AMAZING and I can’t wait to reread it this year. 😀 Tam Lin retelling, just brilliant, not to mention bookish things and writer things and modern Faerie things and Tom Lynn and his cello and amazingness. ❤

THE REST OF THE BEST

5. Deep Secret – Diana Wynne Jones

This one was somehow way darker than any other DWJ book I’ve read before, with some more mature-audience elements, but it just sucked me in so completely and was so original and amazing and the characters and and and… Diana Wynne Jones!!! ❤ I really need to review this one. o.o (The sequel-of-sorts, The Merlin Conspiracy, is amazing too.)

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6. The Rose and the Balloon – Kirsten Fichter

{My Review}

Once again, all my thoughts are in my review (apparently I reviewed most of these?), but this was just a delightful Beauty and the Beast retelling novella and I adored it! ^_^ (Also Dmitri. And the bickering.)

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7. Jackaby / The Map: A Jackaby Story – William Ritter

{Series Review}

Because Jackaby. Jackaby himself is basically all that needs saying here. Also historical fantasy is something I apparently like? And references! Like having banshees and redcaps and allusions to the song Whiskey in the Jar — these things make me happy. 😀

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8. Yorien’s Hand – Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

{My Review}

Ohhh my goodness, this book! Dragons and fantasy and Brant the epic warrior and Kiernan Kane (the mysterious minstrel!) and all of the things! ❤ Just… really really good. I’m kicking myself for not having read the rest of the series yet… but that will happen SOON. ❤

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9. Defying Shadows – Ashley Townsend

{My Review}

Flailing is available in the full review, but TIME TRAVEL + ROBIN HOOD RETELLING + WILL + PLOT TWISTS + ADORABLE ROMANCE/CHARACTERS = Yes. ❤

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10. The Beautiful Pretender – Melanie Dickerson

{My Review}

Another Beauty and the Beast retelling, crossed with The Princess and the Pea, this was just an enjoyable book. ^_^ Really well-written with likeable characters; one of Melanie Dickerson’s best, so far!

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11. Moominsummer Madness – Tove Jansson

Standing in mostly for the entire Moomin series, I almost put Finn Family Moomintroll here but decided Moominsummer Madness is probably my favorite, if only because of Snufkin and the woodies and the park keeper. Just. YES. 😀 The Moomin books are DELIGHTFUL, Snufkin is a kindred soul of mine (seriously though. <3) and I just love these books! ^_^ This one has a flood and an abandoned theater stage and all sorts of fun, whimsical, fantastical shenanigans.

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12. The Castle Corona – Sharon Creech

I don’t even know why, but I simply adored this little tale in a vaguely-Italian fairytale kingdom, with a mystery and a Storyteller and all sorts of questions and intrigue and delightful characters! I even started out thinking I wouldn’t really like it but it totally surprised me, and now here it is on my top-reads-of-the-year post! Who would’ve thought! Simply utterly charming and delightful. ^_^

Honorable Mentions go to the following

(because they’re not my “usual” genre — being two Regency Romances and a Contemporary Superpower book — but they were really good)

1. Devil’s Cub – Georgette Heyer (BECAUSE GEORGETTE HEYER.)
2. Emma – Jane Austen (This was unexpectedly extremely well done. Also Mr. Knightley.)
3. Twinepathy – C. B. Cook (Blaze and Anvil! That is all.) {Read my review}

Bonus Categories

FAVORITE STORY IN A COLLECTION

• With Blossoms Gold – Hayden Wand (in ONCE: Six Historically Inspired Fairytales) — A retelling of Rapunzel, I simply ADORED it! It was fun, funny, exciting, and clever, and the banter and humor and character interactions, not to mention Prince Benedict (and Prince Orlando too) were just MARVELOUS. ❤
• (Runner-up: Death Be Not Proud – Suzannah Rowntree in the same collection, because it was just so so brilliant and clever and this author is apparently amazing.)
• Read my review for this collection

FAVORITE NONFICTION

 

1. Make Good Art – Neil Gaiman — Brilliant and inspiring and original. Loved it enough to read it 3 or 4 times AND listen to the speech a couple of times. {My review}
2. If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit – Brenda Ueland — Finally, somebody (even if the book was from 1938) talking about writing the way I think of it, and about writing the way you want, and speaking out against criticism. This book inspired me SO much. ❤

FAVORITE PICTURE BOOK

• The Water of Life – Brothers Grimm, retold by Barbara Rogasky, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman — I hadn’t read this tale of Grimm’s before, but it was great and I positively adore Trina Schart Hyman’s illustrations!

Blog Stats

Because it’s my blogoversary, so of course I want to look at my stats! 😉

Most popular posts:

(I find it slightly amusing that, for a book-review blog, my most-read posts are mostly non-review posts. XD)

1. Cover Love: Some 2016 Releases
2. Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag {2016}
3. Bookish Book Lover Tag
4. 25 Bookish Facts About Me
5. By the Book Tag
6. The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead
7. Fantasy Fan-Art
8. My Diana Wynne Jones Journey (So Far)

By the Numbers:

• 61 posts (woohoo!)
• 120 followers (you are all awesome! <3)
• 720 comments (half of these being me replying. XD)
• 1343 visitors
• 3549 hits

Top Commenters:

1. Christine
2. Madeline J. Rose
3. Skye
4. Sarahtps
5. Jenelle
6. Savannah Grace

Thanks SO much, all of you awesome people, and just everyone who reads and/or comments — I so appreciate you all! ^_^ ❤

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Whew. Now you know all about my year of 2016 — at least the bookish part… but that’s the most important, yes?? 😉

Have you read any of my top 12? (Or… a little more like top 24 if you look at categories and series… BUT STILL.) How was your year of reading in 2016? Tell me all! And I wish you all a fabulous reading year of 2017! Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading!

Dream away in those pages . . .

~ The Page Dreamer