From Pemberley to Milton’s 2017 Favourite Books

Good Afternoon everyone and a Happy New Year!!!

Today I’m publishing one of my favourite posts of the year, the one where I look back and see what I read and how that translates into figures 🙂 I love stats and even though I will not fill you with my own stats today, I did like analysing the statistics of my reading throughout the year. After looking at my 2017 stats I identified my favourite books and that is what I will share with you today, so welcome to my year in books 🙂

 

Last year I had read 45 books, but it was a true challenge to read so much (yes, for me that is a lot), so I choose to define a smaller goal for 2017. I intended to read 35 books this year and despite all the difficulties I had at work (too many extra hours, etc.) I was able to overcome that objective by reading 38 books. That may not seem a lot to you, but I was very happy to have achieved this number. It wasn’t always easy to find the time to read, and I’m happy about this number this year.

During 2017 I read a total of 10 230 pages and my average per book was 276 pages, with Christmas with Mr. Darcy being the shortest book I’ve read and These Dreams the longest. I didn’t read anything online this year so the 38 books are only referring to published works.

Not all the books I read in 2017 were published in the current year, in fact, most of them were published in earlier years, so my 2017 favourite books list does not include the best books published in 2017, but my favourite books read in 2017. I’m including both Jane Austen Fan Fiction books and North and South Fan Fiction books and excluding all other fiction novels (even though I only read one non-austenesque/Gaskell book this year: The Little Paris Bookshop).

To be honest, it was easier to choose my favourites this year than last year, maybe because I didn’t read as many books in 2017 than 2016, but it was still hard to leave a few titles behind, even so, it had to be done if I wanted to create my 2017 Favourite Books list.

Now that I’ve explained how I decided to create this list, and without further ado or any particular order, my favourite books read in 2017 are:

 

.

 

 

These Dreams – Nicole Clarkston

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 674

What I loved about it – Everything! Darcy’s strenght, his connection to Elizabeth, Col. Fitzwilliam’s love story, the portuguese connection…

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

Collide – Melanie Stanford

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 298

What I loved about it – The Las Vegas setting, the main characters background stories and the intensity I felt while reading it.

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

When We Are Married – Caitlin Williams

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 319

What I loved about it – The humour, the page turner effect and how perfectly suited Darcy and Elizabeth were for each other in this book. I loved how the author described them and their love 🙂

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

The Darcy Monologues – Edited by Christina Boyd

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 415

What I loved about it – The diversity! There is a perfect story for anyone and any time 🙂

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

A Man With Faults – Lory Lilian

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 403

What I loved about it – The angst, Darcy’s dark place and the hot mush that followed 🙂

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

No Such Thing as Luck – Nicole Clarkston

Publication year – 2015

Number of Pages – 432

What I loved about it  – The romance, the intensity of the boat scenes and the perfect love story!

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

The Journey – Jan Hahn

Publication year – 2012

Number of Pages – 264

What I loved about it  – Darcy, Darcy and Darcy! The jealousy, the number of Darcy/Elizabeth’s scenes, the writing, the romance…everything actually 🙂

My review (coming soon)     Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

Darcy’s Hope at Donwell Abbey – Ginger Monette

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 350

What I loved about it  – The intensity of the story, of their romance and the page turner effect 🙂

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

A Lie Universally Hidden – Anngela Schroeder

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 406

What I loved about it – The romance, the intrigue, the writing, the characters…there is just too much to point out.

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

Captain Wentworth’s Persuasion – Regina Jefffers

Publication year – 2010

Number of Pages – 394

What I loved about it – The has it all effect and his point of view 🙂

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

 

Darcy’s Honor – Victoria Kincaid

Publication year – 2017

Number of Pages – 193

What I loved about it – Darcy and the intensity of his feeling, plus Lady Catherine 🙂

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

 

Green Card – Elizabeth Adams

Publication year – 2014 (re-published in 2017)

Number of Pages – 468

What I loved about it  – The american culture, the grilled cheese and their romance.

My review      Amazon.com    Amazon.uk

 

 

.

Do you share any favourites with me? Which were your favourite books in 2017? I would love to hear your opinion and maybe get a few suggestions of great books to read this year, the 2018 reading challenge is already starting and all suggestions to fulfill it are welcome 🙂

 

For next year I will establish the same goal in  Goodreads, 35 books.

It’s not much but I don’t know how next year will be at the office and if it continues with the same rythm , reading 35 books will be a true challenge, which is why I prefer to aim for a small number but guarantee I can do it.

I will also try to read more non-autenesque books. I love JAFF and North and South fan fiction, but I miss reading other genres so I’ll establish as a personal goal 5 non-jaff books to read next year. I’ll start with 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher and Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny (which I should have read this year).

The to be read pile of austenesque books is too big this year because I was unable to respect my own TBR established last year, so I’ll have to make an extra effort to stick to my own list instead of allowing new books to get in the way.  I think this will also mean that in 2018 I’ll read more books published in previous years and not so many published during the year, but we’ll see if I’ll be able to resist new releases 🙂

Which goals are you establishing for yourself?

I hope you are able to achieve all your goals and that you have a fulfilling 2018 full of health and happiness!!!