Welcome back to the twelfth month of Calendar Girls (aka my Birthday month! Woo!) It’s a monthly blog event co-hosted by Flavia and myself, and designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers. Calendar Girls was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl, (because I’m an oldies fanatic. 😛) For more information, click here!
December’s Theme:
Favorite Book Published in 2017
Oh my gosh, you guys! I actually read a couple of books that were published in 2017! (I’m super amazed because I have so many unread books from a decade ago that I feel like I’m always behind on new releases.) What’s more exciting is that the books I read that were published in 2017 were… ACTUALLY GOOD! I know, right?! That’s pretty amazing coming from me and since it’s the end of the year, I’ve decided to make a list of the books I read that were published in 2017 AND I rated 4+ biohazards. Just to give you guys a taste of the contenders! 😀
Even with all of these awesome books, one book still comes out on top without a hint of a doubt! So, without further ado…. *drum roll*
NYXIA
by Scott Reintgen
For all the non-scifi fans out there, this book might not be for you. For all the readers out there who prefer fluffy, love stories this book might not be for you. Why do I say that? Because this book is not just a scifi that takes us into space, but there is a brutal competition that unleashes the darkest parts of humanity. I’m not talking Hunger Games, but more along the lines of the inner psyche.
Of course, I also loved this book because it’s a space opera and is absolutely amazing. It has tons of advanced tech and fun challenges for the participants. There’s a little bit of mystery going on in the background and you know that something is up, but it’s absolutely amazing. It’s well-written. It’s got lots of excitement. It’s not all just action, but plenty of character drama and development. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for a fun read! 😀
Have you read Nyxia yet?
If you haven’t, you should!
Calendar Girls’ picks for Favorite Book Published in 2017!
Flavia – The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Alex – Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley
Adrienne – Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman
Katie – The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Deanna – The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Samantha – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sophie – A Charm of Finches by Suanne Laqueur
Lauren – Bring the Heat by G.A. Aiken
Dawlyn & Krista – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Melanie Noell Bernard 
All of these sound amazing! I really enjoyed Roar and can’t wait for book two. I hope I can manage to read some of these soon, too 🙂
Awesome post, Melanie!
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OO! I’m looking forward to RAGE as well (I think that’s the title). I am really hoping to get an ARC of it or something because I doubt I’ll actually have money to buy books next year.
And thank you, Sophie! Glad you enjoyed my post. 🙂
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This book sounds amazing and I want to check it out now. You and I have similar reading habits haha. I always feel behind on new releases too because I always have so many previously released books I am trying to catch up on!!
I don’t think you’re going to like my pick for this month it’s a campy, fluffy, fantasy-romance: http://twobirds1blog.blogspot.ca/2017/12/calendar-girls-dec-2017-favourite-book.html
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Hahaha! I hope you do check it out. It didn’t get a lot of notice around the blog-o-sphere and that makes me really sad because it’s amazing and we need more Scifi in YA. is starting a movement :p
And yeah, same here. That’s what happens when you take a decade off from reading. :p Gotta catch up!
Uh-oh! Fluffy camp romance? Well… let’s just go take a look, shall we?
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I agree YA needs more (non-dystopia) sci-fi!
Campy fluff romance…with dragons no less haha
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Devils and Thieves is on my tbr, it looks really cool! I’m not as into hard SciFi, so I don’t know Nyxia though…
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Yay! Devils and Thieves is great. I’m not big on magic, usually, but I loved the gritty feel of the book. 😀 Hope you enjoy it!
And I can understand that. I wouldn’t really call Nyxia hard scifi. More like… medium scifi. Some tech, but there is plenty of character drama. Trust me, fancy tech isn’t the only reason I read scifi. I still need good plot, good characters, and amazing tension. That book had it all. 🙂 will never not promote good scifi novels Hee hee!
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Well, I was really thinking more of science in general than fancy tech.
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Oh! Nyxia isn’t really big on the science. Yeah, there’s fancy tech that has advanced science in its design, but it’s all very clearly explained for non-scientists. I think it’s easily accessible, but I understand if it’s not your scene. 🙂
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I’m still not sure what my scene is when it comes to SciFi, other than Ender’s Game, lol. I just haven’t read enough of it! I need to read more. To do in 2018…
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Well, if you’re looking for recommendations. 😉 😉 And I haven’t even read Ender’s Game myself yet. Another book on my endless physical RBR in my living room. sigh I’m actually hoping to read more scifi in 2018 as well since I need to get away from fantasy for a while.
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I am ALWAYS open to SF recs. I love love LOVE Ender’s game, but have also enjoyed The Martian, Red Mars, and Foundation.
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Not sure if VR gaming is your thing, but Ready Player One is good and Arena by Holly Jennings. Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant is adult scifi mixed with a bit of folklore about mermaids. 😉 Zodiac by Romina Russell is a really good YA space opera! OH! And The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie is about genetically engineered monsters in a future Earth. 😀 That one’s pretty fun.
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Whew, lots of recs! I did enjoy Ready Player One, though I found it more of an outlet for nerdism than sci-fi. I’ll have to look into some of the others.
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Hee hee! You asked for ’em. :p And yes, RPO is a bit more tech than scifi, but it still has the very fundamentals of advanced futuristic tech, thus scifi. :p
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Great picks! I loved roar, and devils & thieves. I haven’t read nyxia and into the deep yet but they’re in my TBR. I hope I get to read them soon.
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Oo! Very exciting! 😀 I’m always happy to see people with more scifi on their TBR (because then maybe publishers will publish more YA scifi. Like my novels. YAY! Hahaha!) But also because these are amazing books. I too hope you get to read them soon. 🙂
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great pick melanie! i totally understand why this is your favorite. i hit a sci-fi slump in the middle of this book, so i had my trouble but after getting back into it, i loved it. 🙂
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😀 I can totally understand that. I’m so done with fantasy at the moment, but I still have fantasy books on my schedule. So I’m just like: “Make it through. You can make it through.” :p Glad you enjoyed it@
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haha, but don’t force yourself too much. otherwise you won’t enjoy those books! 😉
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Ah, but I already am not enjoying them. That’s the thing, you know? Like… I’m reading them because of my schedule or because I was sent them and I’m just like: “I hate this book, but I don’t have time to start a new one.” That’s a small glimpse into my reading life. :p
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