The year of 2017 was filled with the release of new page-turners hot off the presses. According to Goodreads, a website where users rate and review the books they’ve read, the most popular books of the year were all fictional novels and included the following:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Ranked the most popular book of the year, this novel is about a town where everything from its infrastructure to the future lives of its citizens is planned with scrutiny. When a free-thinking artist named Mae and her daughter Pearl move into the town, conflict emerges between the new family and other residents. This book suggests that even careful planning and management cannot prevent the inevitable messiness of life.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
After Jules’ sister Nel dies in a river nicknamed the Drowning Pool, Jules must care for Nel’s teenage daughter. At the same time, Jules is forced to confront her fears about the place where she and her sister grew up and the nearby frightening river, which has been the site of the mysterious deaths of women over the years.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
This book handles themes of police violence and the divide between wealthy and impoverished communities. When 16-year-old Starr sees her friend Khalil shot by the police despite being unarmed, she enters into the heart of a conflict between protesters and those who support the decision of the police to kill her friend.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
In the latest novel by the renowned young adult author, teenage friends Aza and Daisy embark on a search to undercover information about a criminal named Russell Pickett. A coming-of-age story, Turtles All the Way Down depicts how Aza learns about friendship and perseverance during her quest to uncover the truth.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
This novel was inspired by a true case of child trafficking that took place in the first half of the twentieth-century by Georgia Tann, the director of an adoption organization in Memphis, Tennessee. This novel tracks the fictional kidnapping of Rill Foss and her siblings, who are taken from their family by an orphanage connected to the Tennessee Children’s Home Society.

***

My personal favorite read of 2017 was The Peculiar Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. Though this book was not published in 2017, I highly recommend adding it to your reading list. The story is about a young girl named Rose who can taste the subconscious emotions of other people in the food that they cook for her. This novel explores the hidden, deeper feelings that humans keep just below the surface of everyday life and conversation.

***

Several new books to look forward to in 2018 include:

A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.1) by Sarah J. Maas
This is the third novel in Maas’ series,  about a royal court that rules in a realm full of drama and fantasy.

Obsidio (The Illuminae Files, #3) by Annie Kaufman
This is a science-fiction novel from a series set in the future around the year 2575. After a large corporation invades a small planet, one group of the planet’s inhabitants leaves to find another home. In the third book of this series, these individuals must return several months after the attack despite not knowing what remains of their home planet.

Untitled (Throne of Glass, #7) by Sarah J. Maas
This is the last book in the Throne of Glass series. This series chronicles events that occur in a world of pirates, assassins, and suspense.

Source: Goodreads.com