BIG New Year's Eve Book Blog: 2017 in Review

2017 was a difficult reading year for me. I either really loved a book or I really hated it and books that I thought I would love I was surprised to find I really didn't care for while books I thought were a long shot turned out to exceed my expectations. 

My Top 10 Favorite Books I've Read in 2017:

10. Paper Princess by Erin Watt 

9. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

8. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

7. Begin Again by Mona Kasten

6. Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

5. Undone by Wendy Higgins

4. Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

3. The Dazzling Heights by Katharine McGee

2. The Language of Thorns by Leigh  Bardugo

1. The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

Authors I Discovered & Loved in 2017:
Erin Watt (Co-Authors of The Royals Series and When It's Real)

Alwyn Hamilton (Author of the Rebel of the Sands Series)

S. Jae-Jones (Author of Wintersong and Shadowsong)

Julie Cross (Author of the Juniper Falls Series)

Amber Mitchell (Author of Garden of Thorns)

Rosalyn Eves (Author of Blood Rose Rebellion)

Cora Carmack (Author of Roar)

Kendall Ryan (Author of Sexy Stranger, The Soul Mate, and more)

Kerri Maniscalco (Author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper Series)

Leigh Bardugo (Author of the Grisha Trilogy, the Six of Crows Duology and The Language of Thorns)

Francesca Zappia (Author of Eliza and Her Monsters)

Shea Ernshaw (Author of The Wicked Deep)

Mona Kasten (Author of Begin Again)

Kelly Armstrong (Author of Bitten)

Mary Lindsey (Author of Haven)

Brenna Yovanoff (Author of Fiendish)

That's a wrap on 2017! Truly, looking at it now, this year was successful for me branching out and discovering a bunch of now must-read authors. I can't wait to see what 2018 brings from these amazing authors, my other favorites, and new authors I'm bound to discover and love in the new year. What were some of your favorite books/new authors of 2017? Let me know in the comments! Let's swap recs! 

Happy New Year Bookdragons! I'll see you in 2018!

#BookTag Saturday: The Meet the Bookstagrammer #2 Tag

This week I'm thin on tags since it's the end of the year but a friend of mine tagged me on Instagram with the Meet The Bookstagrammer #2 Tag!

💥 Where Would You Like To Live?

New Orleans

💥 Did You Plan Your Bookstagram Account?

No, it started out as a regular account, then my author account, and now my bookstagram account.

💥 Dream Job:

I'm living it! I'm an author. I'd also like to work in a bookstore someday.

💥 Authors You'd Like To Meet:

Wendy Higgins, Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, and Kylie Scott

💥 Favorite Place To Travel?

I loved Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There are a lot of places I'd like to go yet that I haven't been to though.

💥 Happy Place/Song/Food?

Happy Place: bookstores, Happy Song: Mz. Hyde by Halestorm, Food: Culver's burgers

Sale Alert: The Delta Collection: Special Edition by Cristin Harber

Today I'm happy to share with you an amazing sale going on. Get ready to put a (small) dent in those Christmas gift cards!

New York Times bestselling author Cristin Harber's DELTA COLLECTION Special Edition is on sale for $2.99 for a very limited time! Three DELTA books, plus excerpts of two others for this price - you don't want to miss it!

   

ABOUT DELTA COLLECTION Special Edition

The Delta Collection Special Edition boxed set includes three complete, bestselling romantic suspense stories (DELTA: RETRIBUTION, REVENGE, AND REDEMPTION) plus excerpts from DELTA: RESCUE and never seen before DELTA: RICOCHET (releases February 2018).

DELTA: RETRIBUTION 

A MAN IS NOTHING WITHOUT HIS TEAM Trace Reeves was one bad day from a dishonorable discharge. The best the Navy SEALs had to offer, he became a vengeful, angry mess when his twin brother was killed-in-action. Now he's focused on a deadly obsession and unable to cope with the pain and guilt... except one time, in the arms of a one night stand that he'd never see again. She was smart, the sexiest thing he'd ever touched, but she disappeared into the night. Titan Group was recruiting for their Delta team. They wanted ghosts. No ties. Nothing personal. The best of the best who could live off the grid and surface when commanded. Trace was the perfect recruit. Damaged. Heroic. Nothing to lose. UNTIL A MISSION--OR A WOMAN--CHANGES EVERYTHING But when Trace's one-time fling becomes his high-value target during a black ops job, the lines blur between her rescue mission and saving himself. 

DELTA: REVENGE 

A Tortured Hero with a Heart of Gold Growing up on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Javier Almeida has only his older sister to protect him. When she's sold to a human-trafficker, he vows to hunt down those responsible. Years later, Titan Group's Delta team finds him, tattooed and brawling, a vigilante protector with information they want. They take him in and train him, working him harder than a man should be driven, until he's a soldier harboring an obsession. Ready for revenge, Javier ghosts his way across the globe, tracking the men who took his sister and working elite private security jobs. Meets Sweet and Sassy Jilted at the altar, Sophia Cole turns the reception into a one-woman party. She's intent on devouring all the cake and champagne, so she can bask in the calories she's been avoiding. In the midst of the revelry, he walks in, the one man she can never ignore. Javier is her older brother's black ops teammate--an automatic Do Not Go There. But if there's one thing better than fondant and a buzz to ease the wounds of a cheating fiancé, it might be a one-night stand with a South American military man. It's a Game Changer Javier didn't expect to see Sophia again. He never thought he would even want to see her again. He shouldn't have touched her, but his mind won't stay away from her. Now, Sophia Cole is thousands of miles away from the safety of her parents' lavish estate and working alongside him in hell. She's a staffer at an Embassy, and he's there to keep them alive. There are bombs and bullets and blood-hungry enemies. And then she's taken. Gone. Just like his sister. But so much worse. 

DELTA: REDEMPTION 

"My name's Victoria--No last name. Don't ask." That was all that the woman would share when Delta team's expert trigger man, an Australian named Ryder, pulled her from the pits of a human trafficking nightmare and took the gun from her hand. He didn't mean to steal her revenge but survival was the priority. Now that Victoria was home? She had a past he was trying to understand while still keeping a secret from her. But he's not the only one. When she goes missing, Delta team discovered that Victoria No Name was a one-woman vigilante force, taking on whoever crossed her path, from gunrunners to a drug-pushing motorcycle club. She was exactly who Ryder thought she might be, and now he was coming in to help--whether she wanted backup or not. 

Get your hands on the DELTA COLLECTION now:

✦Amazon http://smarturl.it/DeltaSpecEditionAMZ ✦iBooks http://smarturl.it/DeltaSpecEdiBooks ✦Barnes & Noble http://smarturl.it/DeltaSpecEditionBN ✦Kobo http://smarturl.it/DeltaSpecEditionKobo ✦Google Play http://smarturl.it/DeltaSpecEditionGP

About Cristin Harber

Cristin Harber is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author. She writes sexy, steamy romantic suspense and military romance. Readers voted her onto Amazon’s Top Picks for Debut Romance Authors in 2013, and her debut Titan series was both a #1 romantic suspense and #1 military romance bestseller.

Website | Newsletter | Facebook | Team Titan Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

#BookMail Thursday #41

Between Christmas and the arrival of an amazing ARC I requested from a publisher I have one last book mail post for 2018. Let's open my mailbox and see what had me jumping up and down with excitement...

Christmas 2017 Haul

Christmas was good to me this year and I got some amazing gifts that I'm really excited about.

- When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

- There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

- A Darker Shade of Magic Collector's Edition by V.E. Schwab

- Bonfire by Krysten Ritter

(Plus two pairs of bookish socks and a book t-shirt!)

ARC

I got a physical ARC of The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco earlier this week and it was a total surprise. I'd requested a copy months ago but gave up hope that I'd get one but when I got my mail on Tuesday and found a package with no return address I thought maybe it was something from my secret Santa. Imagine my delight when I opened the package and this beautiful ARC was inside. I was jumping up and down and squealing, I was so excited!!!! Thank you so much Sourcebooks Fire! 

January Waiting On:

- My Signed, Personalized Copy of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Waiting On Wednesday: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

With the busyness of the holidays I haven't had a chance to finish The Great Pursuit yet and when I do I'll be jumping into Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore my annual New Year's Eve read so instead of a "What I'm Reading" Wednesday post I'm ending out the last Wednesday of 2017 with a Waiting on Wednesday. 

January 2nd is going to be a busy day with not only the release of my YA Fantasy novel, CURSEBREAKER, but so many other wonderful books. This TBR book is the one I'm looking forward to the most of the January 2nd books (other than my own!)...

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Blurb:

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Why I'm Waiting:

I was disappointed with ACOWAR earlier this year so I've been hungry for a good Faerie read for months and this book has appealed to me from the first moment I heard about it. This sounds more along the lines of a darker faerie world, though I do hope there is some romance. I haven't read anything by Holly Black before... wait - I think I have, there was a short story once in an anthology that I think went along with her "Coldest Girl In Coldtown" book and I really liked that, so now that I remember that I'm eager to read more by her. (Plus this Barnes and Noble exclusive edition is gorgeous and I can't wait to get my signed, personalized copy!)

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2018

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'm Eager to Read in 2018

This week's TTT is all about the books coming out in 2018 that I'm bursting with excitement to read. Some of these books come out soon, others there will be a long wait for...

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely

The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton

To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo

Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young

Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Perez

The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

Rage by Cora Carmack

Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

What books are you excited for in 2018? It sounds like it's going to be a pretty amazing book year with so many more books I could have listed.

Let me know which books you're waiting on in 2018, drop me a comment or a link!

Happy reading bookdragons!

-💀Taylor

#BookTag Saturday: The Festive Book Tag

This week's book tag is specially chosen for the holiday weekend...

🎄 Christmas Tree (A book you'd like to find under the Christmas tree)

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

🎄 Tinsel (A book that was all sparkle and no story)

Caraval (Not much of a plot there)

🎄 HE MUST BE A SOUTH POLE ELF! (A character you hated)

Tamlin

🎄 Candy Canes (A sweet read)

Austenland

🎄 Fairy Lights (A book that made you feel cozy)

Pride and Prejudice

🎄 Christmas Gift (A book that was gifted to you)

The Architect of Song by A.G. Howard

🎄 Santa's Naughty List (A book you hated)

Daughter of the Pirate King

🎄 Santa's Sleigh (A book location you'd like to visit)

Ireland (The Cousins O'Dweyer Trilogy by Nora Roberts), Denver (The Marked Men Series by Jay Crownover)

🎄 Christmas Punch (An intoxicatingly good book)

Paper Princess by Erin Watt

Fandom Friday: Book Map Wall Hanging

This Fandom Friday I'm sharing with you a quick easy project for the crafty bookworm... A Book Map Wall Hanging!

Are you like me? Do you love book maps? How would you like to display your favorite book map on your wall? Now you can with this super easy project! These also make great gifts! I put this Ketterdam Wall Book Map together for my Bookstagram Secret Santa recipient. 

What You'll Need:

- A Printer

- A Canvas (I used an 8"x10" canvas for this map)

- Scissors

- Modge Podge

- A Paintbrush or Sponge brush

How To Make It:

1. Use a search engine (like Google) to find the image of the map you want to use. (I typed in "Ketterdam Map" on Google Images and pulled this one up. Save a copy of the map on your computer then print it according to the size you want your wall hanging to be. (For instance, I printed this as an 8x10 image on 8.5x11" paper. You may have to resize the image to avoid blurriness.)

2. Trim the excess whitespace around your printed map so the map fits your canvas.

3. Set up your workspace. Place paper towels or magazines/newspapers you are no longer using under your canvas to protect your work surface from the modge podge. 

4. Using your paintbrush paint a thin, even layer of modge podge onto the canvas. It's important to have an even layer free of big lumps to avoid bumps on the finished map.

5. Carefully place your printed map on top of the modge podge treated canvas in your desired layout. Once you have the map placed how you would like it to be, smooth out any wrinkles with your fingers or a ruler, careful not to smudge the ink. 

6. Allow the map to dry completely. If you have any excess edges hanging over the side of your canvas, wait for the first (top) layer to dry then modge podge the excess edges to the side of the canvas or simply trim them off with a scissors. 

7. Hang your map on your desired place on the wall and enjoy! 

A Year Of #BookMail

As 2017 draws to a close it's time to reflect on some of the book mail I've gotten over the past year. Let's open up that mailbox one last time...

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

It's been a great year for books and I anticipated 2018 is going to be even better. There are so many books coming out next year I *have* to have. I'm scared to think how much money I spend on books in a year, I don't even think I want to add it up but as my grandmother always says "books are never a waste of money." 

The one thing I haven't received this year was a parcel from my bookstagram secret Santa. I'd signed up for Bookstagram Secret Santa (#LiveLaughSantaTales17) thinking it would be a fun, positive experience but it's turned out to be pure hell. I sent my package to my recipient way back on Black Friday and it was received by my person on that following Tuesday and it took nearly a week to get a thank you. But I looked past that and was eager to get my package from my secret Santa. The deadline for packages to be sent out was December 11th and so far I have received nothing. (And I know this isn't a case of mail theft because I live in a locked apartment building and my grandmother is home all the time even if I step out for a little while.) I'm really starting to get discouraged and depressed by this whole business. I put out money that I didn't really have to spare to send someone a gift in good faith that I'd be receiving something from someone in return and I'm kind of angry that so far I haven't gotten anything. I'm going to wait until I get the mail on December 26th before I go ballistic but I would never do this again. I know this is supposed to be the season of giving but I'm not that generous.