Warpaint by Alicia Foster

After reading a few books with weak female characters, Warpaint by Alicia Foster was a welcome change. Here are some women doing it for themselves, and what makes it even better is that the characters are based on real people.

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

This may be my first disappointing read of 2017. That’s not to say that Everyone Brave is Forgive isn’t good, just that it wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be. It was on so many Best of 2016 lists that I had really built it up in my mind. Also, Chris Cleave is a well-respected best-selling author who I’d never read before, so a lot was riding on his reputation.

Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend

Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend has been on my TBR list for a couple of month, but it’s inclusion in the Tournament of Books longlist for 2017 pushed me into reading it now. (As an aside, I’ve only read 13 of the 120 books on the longlist this year. Eek! How about you?)

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson

Holy-doodle, if The Most Dangerous Place on Earth isn’t a wake up call, I don’t know what is. Set in an affluent community in sunny California, this novel explores the facades of teen life on social media and the truth that lies behind those facades, and that is what makes it so compelling and horrifying.

Favorite Books of 2016

2016 was not a great reading year for me. I didn’t read a lot and I can’t remember that many stand out books. And as proof of how bad 2016 was for me, I accidentally erased my book tracking spreadsheet in about october, so that means no book stats for this year. But i did still manage to cobble together some favorites. These are in no particular order. All links go back to my original reviews.

Thirty Girls by Susan Minot

We all know that 2016 has been one hell of a year, and  reading Thirty Girls by Susan Minot will do nothing to make you feel better about it. As the title suggests, Thirty Girls is about a group of girls abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army from their boarding school in Uganda. Not happy or uplifting stuff.