The Baroness’ 2017 In Retrospect
2017 In Retrospect is a new addition to my blog. This will be where I discuss the past year and the books that I liked the best. You can follow the links to my reviews by clicking the book covers.
2017 wasn’t a good year for me in books or in my personal life. However, I am moving on. In 2018, I will read more and have more fun.
My Top Three
Now I will talk about my top three favorite books of last year.
The Secret Billionaire
My favorite book of 2017 is The Secret Billionaire by Teymour Shahabi. This book was on my TBR for a while but I am so glad that I read it. I have to say that to this day I am still thinking about that book. Yes, it was that fabulous. I loved the story, the characters, and the ending.
Class of ’59
My second favorite book is Class of ’59 by John A. Heldt. That book was a fantastic read. Much like all of Mr. Heldt’s books, this one is no exception. It combines romance and historical fiction all into one which I am loving. Along with a bit of science fiction in the time travel part. I really recommend this book.
The Shoes Come First
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My third favorite book would be The Shoes Come First by Janet Leigh. Now, this is a funny book, which I am so glad to have read. It puts a fun new twist on the whole time traveling. Since it was so different than what we are used to reading it is awesome. Please check out this book too.
My Other Top Three
Now I have three other top favorite books from last year.
Indiana Belle
My fourth favorite book is Indiana Belle by John A. Heldt. I started to read this book at the end of 2016. It’s a great book set in the 1920s and was a very good read from the beginning to the end. Check it out if you can.
I Was a Bitch
My fifth favorite book would have to be I Was a Bitch by Emily Ruben. Now this one is an excellent read. It’s all in the first person point of view of the main character Lacey as she is trying to remember what her life was before waking up in the hospital. It’s a very interesting read, I was laughing and yelling at the plot twists. It’s a good book.
Protect Me
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My sixth favorite book is Protect Me by Margaret Watson. This one is so good. It takes a different role from the whole thing guy-saves-girl flipping it to girl-saves-guy. It’s a good romance book. It is part of a series but you don’t have to read the others to know what is happening. The author does a really good job making it a stand-alone.
My last seven favorites
Now here are my last seven favorites from last year.
Links
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My seventh favorite book would have to be Links by Lisa Becker. This one is another good romantic book. This one is set up a bit differently than some. We start off with being introduced to the main female character being in high school than as an adult and we find out who her crush is. It’s a story going from nerdy girl becoming a beautiful woman and finally getting her crush from high school to see her as who she has always been.
Sword of Deaths
My eighth favorite book would have to be Sword of Deaths by Christopher Mannino. This is a trilogy that I started in 2016 but was finally able to finish it last year. This is the second book and it’s actually a good one and very different from the first one.
Daughter of Deaths
My ninth favorite book is Daughter of Deaths by Christopher Mannino. This is the third book and last book in the trilogy. It starts off with where the second one ended and it wrapped it up well. Okay, not so nice as the author could be able to continue on with writing the series.
Discovering the Legend of the Amazon
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My tenth favorite book would have to be Discovering the Legend of the Amazon by Anna Hagele. This is my first book by Anna Hagele and it’s a pretty good book. It’s a young children’s book. The adventure is nice and the relationships are great for teaching young minds. I really liked it.
Plum Pudding Bride
My eleventh favorite book has to be Plum Pudding Bride by Anne Garboczi Evans. This is my first book by Anne Garboczi Evans and it’s a great little novella. Granted I didn’t read it during the Christmas season but it’s still a good book for any season to read.
Tricky Twenty-Two
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My twelfth favorite book would have to be Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich. This is one of many funny books that is about Stephanie Plum bounty hunter. She is once again looking for an FTA that is just hard to get and leads to something bigger than what she bargains for. Basically, a normal Stephanie Plum book filled with humor, adventure, and Stephanie. I know I am a little behind on this series, but plan to be caught up before 25 is released.
Running Man
The end of my favorite books read would have to be Running Man by Jennifer Young. My last favorite read is the third book of this series by Jennifer Young and my second book by her. This one is more about the second child of the Manfredi’s. The daughter is trying to gain a more normal stable life away from the hotel. Yet, her life is anything but normal. It’s a great book.
My Personal Life
In January, my mom went to California for her job and came back with a French Bulldog named WeeWee. We then changed his name to Tank since that fit him more than WeeWee. He is a good dog even though he likes to chase my cat, well any cat. Tank really likes to cuddle. See how cute he is in the pic above.
What I did
Not much happened in February-April. In May, we built our lower deck. It’s a pretty nice deck. It was great to sit outside and read last summer. I can’t wait to start using it again. However, it was snowing here again this weekend so that won’t be soon. In June, we finished our yard. Before we had sand and dirt. Check out the before and after pics above. Now we have grass and other things that will be a nice change to see once the snow melts. Not much happened in July or August.
However, in September, my great Aunt Anna came to visit. She is a pretty funny person. We took her around to different places. We went on a short hike at the Lone Pine State Park. There is a picture of me and Aunt Anna above. I can’t wait to see her again this year.
In October, we have this thing here called Trunk-or-Treat. We do this because we live in a very rural area and this way the kids can trick-or-treat. 2017 was our first year participating. I have to say that it was pretty fun. We are already thinking about this year. It will be something different. I dressed up as a Mardi Gras skeleton. There are pics for this too above. I brought hot chocolate with us. Thank goodness as it was cold once the sun went down.
Overall
Overall last year had its ups and downs. I am grateful to have read the books I did read. 2017 in Retrospect was good, but I know 2018 is going to be better.
Keep reading and thanks for stopping by.
Karen the Baroness
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