Top Ten Tuesday: the best books I’ve read this year, so far

Here we are again with the latest Top Ten Tuesday post, and this week we’re talking about the best books we’ve read in 2017, so far!

I could go for best debuts I’ve read this year, or best books published this year, but I feel like they could be their own separate blog posts, so for today, I’m just doing my favourite books read  this year, so far.

I haven’t added synopses to the list this week, but all links go through to their Goodreads page, so you’ll be able to read descriptions for them there!

The White Road by Sarah Lotz (read in April)
If you’ve been following me since April, you’ll know that I absolutely love this book from Lotz. I was lucky enough to receive this book from BookBridgr before publication and I absolutely loved it! The main character, Simon, is possibly my favourite character of the year so far. If you like psychological horrors, then you’ll love this one!

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin (read in March)
Again, if you’ve been following me since March, you’ll be sick of how much I’ve talked about this one, but holy cow! What a read! I love old school horror and this one was everything I ever wanted it to be. Funnily enough, this book has my least favourite character of the year so far!

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips (read in May)
While this book didn’t end in a way that I was fully satisfied with, this book sets you on a roller-coaster of emotions. Phillips bought up maternal emotions in me that I didn’t even realise I had!! That just shows you how emotively this one is written.

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney (read in March)
Looking for an amazing mystery thriller with a super unreliable narrator? Look no further! I rarely rate mysteries 5 stars, I think literary fiction, general fiction and a good horror are most deserving of 5 stars as thrillers are very rarely original now-a-days, but this one blew me away!

Anatomy of Innocence by Various Authors (read in March)
This is the only non-fic on my list (for the time being). It’s all about wrongful convictions and it totally pulled at my heart strings. This is such an emotional book about some seriously strong people who were put away from crimes they didn’t commit. I mean, some of these people spent 20+ years in prison and have come out as survivors, telling their stories.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman (read in January)
This was my first 5 star read of the year. I was expecting to love this one, but not as much as I did! This is a seriously spooky, skin-crawling horror novel by a great new name in horror, I can’t wait for Malerman’s new release this year!

The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown (read in February)
This is such a beautiful and tense historical fiction novel. I love stuff all about the whole witch phenomenon that happened so reading this novel was really interesting for me. This is quite an emotive novel too. It’s so well written and I can’t wait to see more from Underdown!

The Long Drop by Denise Mina (read in May)
I had never read a Mina book before this one, but I’m so glad I requested this from Netgalley! It’s a short book but it packs a punch. It’s menacing all the way through and is really excellent Scottish fiction. If you’re into crime thrillers, read this one!!

Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith (read in February)
This one was a bit of a different read for me, it was more literary fiction than crime thriller but it was great. It was slow paced and quite poignant at points, but it was a satisfying read for me.

Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? by Carol Joyce Oats (read in March)
OK, so this one isn’t exactly a book, it’s a short story, but it’s so chilling it’s worthy of being on this list! It’s definitely one of the best pieces of writing I’ve read this year. For being such a tiny story, it really brings up some creeped out feelings in ya!

 

Well damn! March was such a great month for my reading this year, it seems! I hope I get another excellent month like that before the end of the year is up.

Have you read any these? What did you think of them? Also, what have been your best reads of the year so far?