My Favorite Books Released in 2017

1. All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater (Pub. October 10)

Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.

At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.

They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.

2. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (Pub. September 5)

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They're going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they're both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There's an app for that. It's called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

3. A Wolf in Hunter's Clothing (The Sum of Its Parts #5) by E.M. Holloway (Pub. July 29)

Puck is hoping for a relaxing summer, but fate has other plans in mind. Every three years, the hunting community gathers to share information and discuss tactics and strategy. This year, Alex Durand is given the honor of hosting, which means that over a hundred hunters are descending on Arcadia Lake.

4. Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare (Pub. May 23)

A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love.

Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, isn’t just forbidden—it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides?

Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and “unsuitable” Nephilim. They’ll do anything in their power to expose Julian’s secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own.

When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat rises in the form of the Lord of Shadows—the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear.

5. Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live by Sacha Lamb (Pub. August 22)

Avi comes across these foreboding words scrawled on the bathroom mirror, but what do they mean? Is this a curse, a prediction, or a threat from Avi's emboldened bullies? And how to they know his real name when he hasn't even told his mother yet?

Then there is Ian—the cool new guy at school, who is suddenly paying attention to Avi. Ian is just like Avi, but he is also all sunshine, optimism, and magic. All the things that Avi doesn't know how to deal with...yet.

A romantic, #ownvoices fairy tale for trans boys.
Honorable Mentions: Mick & Michelle by Nina Rossing, Peter Darling by Austin Chant, The Gentlemen's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

Book Review: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End 
by Adam Silvera
Publication Date: September 5, 2017
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
Genres: Young Adult - LGBTQIA - SciFi
Find it On: GoodReads - Amazon - B&N
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis:

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They're going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they're both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There's an app for that. It's called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

My Review:

You'd think with a book called "They Both Die at the End," I wouldn't be letting myself love the characters. But nope, I played myself. I cried like a baby at the end.

In an alternate 2017, there is a service that calls you at midnight on the day you're going to die. They don't know how or when, but sometime before the next midnight is your time. Of course because this is 2017 and America, there are plenty of companies profiting on this system, including an elaborate social media website that connects "Deckers" together and catalogues their last day.

Mateo and Rufus, the main characters, are drawn to this site because they really have no one in their life to mourn them. They eventually say "screw it" and try the site, and what they find in their "Last Friend" is each other.

This isn't a coming-of-age story necessarily, because it only takes place in 24 hours, but you start with Mateo, a socially awkward boy who barely leaves his apartment, and Rufus, a foster kid who's filled with rage, and the two of them spend their literal worst day ever together and somehow bring out the best in each other.

It isn't quite insta-love either. They're dying. They know they're dying. But their connection to each other is so genuine and addicting to read. I never thought I'd support an "I love you" dropped within a day of meeting, but damn do these boys love each other and you can't tell me otherwise.

There's a great cast of supporting characters in their friends and their misadventures throughout the day are fun to read. I could have done without the side-stories, but, to be fair, this book would have been about 200 pages without them.I've never read Adam Silvera before, but you can bet I just ordered the rest of his books! 

Diversity Score: Own Voices (+5), MC of color (+2), Gay MC (+2), Supporting character of color (+1) = 10