Here at Book Binge, we read a lot of books. Each of us reads over a hundred books a year and each year, we publish our favorite reads, characters, series and authors that we read in that year. Today, we’re kicking off our Best of Lists with our top 5 favorite books of the year. Enjoy!
Casee
Revenge by Lexi Blake: I adored Drew and Shelby together. Shelby was perfect for him because she wouldn’t let Drew hide behind behind a facade. Shelby was fierce.
Raphael by D.B. Reynolds: Vampires in America is a new series I discovered last year. Raphael and Cyn are one of my favorite couples of the year. They are so unlikely to be a couple that it was fascinating to read.
Claimed by Elle Kennedy: I love dystopian romance. Love it. It’s probably my favorite genre right now. There is something about the desperation to keep living that I find fascinating. This is the first book in Kennedy’s Outlaw series.
Midnight Games by Elle Kennedy: This is the third book in Kennedy’s Killer Instinct series. Both Trevor and Isabel were so damaged. Reading about them coming together just brought warm fuzzies.
Silver Silence by Nalini Singh: Oh, Valentin. He was dreamy. He was sweet yet ruthless. Silver was badass. She had a take-no-prisoners personality which isn’t a surprise considering she’s Psy. Their road wasn’t an easy one which made the ending so much better.
Holly
I had a hard time narrowing my list down this year. I read a lot of really good books.
The Kingpin of Camelot by Cassandra Gannon (A Kinda Fairytale, Book 3): I still haven’t written a review for this. It was so cute and fun. I adored King Midas. If you haven’t already, go read it. It’s that good.
Spellbinder by Thea Harrison (Moonshadow, Book 2): I went into this book with some trepidation since the hero was the villain of the previous book. Though it falls on the darker side, but it worked so well for me.
Sustained by Emma Chase (The Legal Briefs, Book 2): Told from the point-of-view of the hero, Sustained was such a treat. The quitiseential commitment hating bachelor getting sucked into being a dad to five kids? So.much.yes.
Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas (The Ravenals, Book 3): Kleypas is a long-time favorite, but Devil in Spring was reminiscent of some of her older works. It really resonated with me. I loved the hero, but the quirky, unconventional heroine pulled me in from the start. It doesn’t hurt that the hero is the son of one of my favorite Kleypas couples ever.
Good Boy by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy (WAGS, Book 1). I read this series out of order and didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. The story was fun and engaging, and both the hero and heroine really worked for me.
Rowena
My Best of Lists aren’t necessarily only for books that were released in 2017 but include books that I read in 2017 so here are the books that I loved and read for the first time in 2017.
The Day of the Duchess by Sarah MacLean: This book is probably my most favorite book of the entire year. Malcolm and Sera’s book was damn near perfect. I loved the ending of this series. I loved seeing how far Malcolm and Sera both came over the course of this series. There is not enough love in the world to cover my love for this book. So, so good.
Bountiful (True North #4) by Sarina Bowen: I spent a good chunk of last year, waiting for this book to come out and when I finally read it, I adored it to pieces. Sarina Bowen knows how to write the heck out of a book and that is evident in this book. I enjoyed Dave and Zara’s book so much. I loved how Sarina brought two of her series together and this was just a huge hit for me.
Isn’t She Lovely by Lauren Layne: Are you guys surprised that Lauren Layne is on this list? You shouldn’t be because I love the hell out of her work and I really loved this book. Ethan and Stephanie made me laugh, sigh and swoon a little. Their romance was sweet and it was fun and I just completely adored it. So much love for this book.
If I Only Had a Duke by Lenora Bell: I read my first Lenora Bell book this year on the recommendation from Nick over at Nick and Nereyda’s Infinite Book List and boy am I so glad that I listened to her. I freaking loved this book and thought that Dorothea and Osborne were such a great couple. I adored Dorothea and the lengths that she went to get Osborne to pay attention to her…and then later, the lengths she went to pay Osborne back for pissing her off. The banter between both of them was memorable and just all around good stuff. So, of course I’m including this book on my best books of the year list.
Royally Matched (Royally #2) by Emma Chase: Henry Pembrook and Sarah Von Titebottum were such a lovely couple. I really enjoyed their story and their romance. I loved how they were friends before they became more and the evolution of their relationship was done really well. Emma Chase shined for me in this book because I adored the hell out of it.
Oh what a great list you guys have shared here and so many books I loved too.
I adore Cyn and Raphael and I am so glad you did too. You will love seeing them through the series.
Silver Silence was just AWESOME, the hero was just perfect. So gruff and patient and the bears were awesome for sure.
Happy New Year, Renee! Yes, Silver Silence was definitely a great book and Valentin was so swoonworthy!
I always enjoy reading Best of the Year lists; thanks for sharing yours!
My favorites this year were all series ~
Anne Cleeland’s New Scotland Yard mysteries beginning with Murder in Thrall. These combine mystery, romance, a stalker hero (!), and a hint of the paranormal.
Lyn Gala’s alien male/male romance series featuring Liam and Ondry. The first book is Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts. The series deals to a significant extent with individuals learning about each other’s cultures and languages.
Anne Bishop’s The Others series which starts with Written in Red. This is fantasy with the smallest hint of a romance that develops over the five book series.
I have no idea as to why they are my favorites. If someone can figure out some commonality between the three series, I’d be interested in hearing it!
Happy New Year, Kareni! Thanks for sharing your best lists with us, I’ll definitely be adding the Scotland yard mysteries to my TBB list. 🙂
I hope you’ll enjoy the series, Rowena. Happy New Year!
Thanks so much, Kareni!
Goodreads is telling me I read 122 books last year which is honestly stunning to me given that I was beyond overloaded. I will have to investigate to see whether some of the kiddo’s books are in that number too because it seems so high! But here are the faves I read last year (not all published in 2017):
1) Psy Changeling series–I finally took the plunge even though there are soooo many books to catch up on, and as expected I love it. Y’all were totally right about Judd too–Caressed by Ice was my favorite so far. I’m looking forward to reading more of the series in 2018.
2) Moonshadow by Thea Harrison–Holly I loved Spellbinder too, but I loved Moonshadow just a little bit more. Such a great series so far.
3) Pride Series by Shelly Laurenston–Cheating again by listing a series, but I love these books. Big Bad Beast was prob my fave, because I just loved Dee Ann. I really needed these books this year!
4) Crown of Bitter Oranges–I honestly think about this book often, it is just so lovely.
5) I’m torn about this one so I’m going to list more than 5, ha. Shattered by Cynthia Eden is part of her LOST series and I loved this one about an FBI agent with a serial killer dad. Dark but I loved these characters, and I am enjoying the whole series.
6) Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid is another book I think about often. It was the kind of book you really get immersed in, which is rare for me in a non-romance.
And an honorable mention goes to the Blood of the Drakon series because even though the books are kind of simplistic and repetitive, they were the perfect crack-y escape I needed this year. My gratitude to the author N.J. Walters.
Hands off – Judd is MY book boyfriend
Willa, haha don’t worry, I’ll let the rest of you fight over who gets Judd. I’ll just admire him from a distance. 😉
Put your dukes up, Willa. We’re going to fight! LOL.
I’m so glad that you’re enjoying the Psy-Changelings series. It’s such a great series.
Best new-to-me series – Psy/Changeling. I kept putting off starting this series because there are so many others that I’m in the middle of and I didn’t want to start yet another long one, but I took the plunge in November and I’m completely hooked LOL.
Favorite book – Wildfire by Ilona Andrews, with White Hot a close runner-up. I so hope they are going to continue this series. The ending was left open and I think they are going to write more, the question is, how long are we going to have to wait for the next one. I want it now!
Honorable mentions – Ready for Wild by Liora Blake, Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter, Devil In Spring by Lisa Kleypas, The Marine and Band of Brothers by Cheryl Reavis, The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, All the Ugly Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood, The Talk-Funny Girl by Roland Merullo, Pretty Face by Lucy Parker, Crazy in Love by Annabelle Costa, and quite a few others. Although 2017 was pretty sucky in general, at least it was a really good reading year for me.
Yay, another vote for the Psy-Changelings series. I love it!
I really need to get that Ilona Andrews series read since everyone and their Mom loves it but it keeps getting knocked off my radar by some other precious that comes out.
Yay for Ready for Wild. I really liked that book and Devil in Spring too. Ooh, ooh, and Pretty Face by Lucy Parker. You read some great books last year, JenM!
You have a wonderful list! I definitely need to read some of these authors and revisit others. Just finished Devil in Winter a few weeks ago and fell in love all over again.
I hope you all have great reads in 2018 as well!
Hey Stephanie! Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year! Lisa Kleypas sure knows how to write stories that stay with you over and over again, doesn’t she?
I can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store for all of us. So much goodness, I’m sure. 🙂
My favorites were A Lady’s Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran; The Thing About Love by Julie James; Beauty Like the Night by Joanna Bourne; Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas; and The Devil’s Cut by J.R. Ward. Honorable mention goes to A Conspiracy in Belgravia, Someone to Wed, Dirty Dancing at Devil’s Leap and Day of the Duchess.