Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018
Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018
The last day of 2017 has arrived and if I’m honest it has been quite an uneventful year personally wise. After the devastating year I had in 2016, I’m glad 2017 was quiet. I’ve been on holiday twice in the UK – Somerset (best bit was visiting Cheddar and Wokey Hole) and Center Parcs, which I visited with my youngest son, sister and niece. We also had numerous days out, Chester Zoo is a favourite day out of ours. We also visited the Kite Festival in St Annes (near Blackpool), where the sun shined all day. There is nothing that particularly stands out, except maybe it was the year I turned 40 (on Halloween), reason I get called a witch, hence the logo for the blog.
My family (minus the eldest) We are all bad at taking selfies
Blogging wise we have worked exceptionally hard throughout the year. According to Goodreads we have read a total of 426 books – not bad when I set the challenge at 250. The fabulous team of reviewers that review for the blog have worked so hard and without them this blog wouldn’t be the success that it is, so I just want to say a very big personal Thank You to each of them.
There have been numerous books that have stood out for me this year, so many that I’ve split them into categories. I went through my list about five times before managing to whittle it down, think I started with about 60 books that I had chosen.
As a Thank You to you all our followers there is a little giveaway at the bottom of this page – A winner, chosen at random, will win a brand new 8GB Kindle Fire 7. The Giveaway is open to all UK residents and closes midnight on the 7th January – so get entering below for your chance to win.
Non-Fiction:
We don’t review that many non-fiction books, which is a shame, so I narrowed it down to just one book, although there were a couple of other contenders, this one stood out in my mind.
The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler. Great insight into authors you don’t hear about anymore.
Christopher Fowler’s foray into the back catalogues and backstories of 99 authors who, once hugely popular, have all but disappeared from our shelves.
Novellas:
After a lot of back and forth I managed to narrow down my list of novellas to just two. We reviewed a lot of great ones this year. They are perfect if you have limited time or want something fast paced.
Dead over Heels by Theresa Braun. This book may only be 38 pages long but, it is certainly entertaining, and spooky too.
Veronica’s first date with Sebastian not only stirs up a powerful attraction, but also a series of supernatural events that will tear them apart.
Poison in the Heart by ST Englert. At just 51 pages long this is a quick read, but you will be gripped to the fast, exhilarating plot. This is book one, can’t wait for book two.
Stella’s routine life is disrupted when her sweet job turns out to be more than she bargained for. An innocent administrative error reveals that her simple secretarial tasks are a front for the delivery of covert goods and information for a secret trade agency called GRANADA. By mixing up a delivery, she has placed vials of deadly biological weapons in the hands of a defector agent intent on selling the poison to the highest bidder.
YA:
This was a hard category to choose my favourites from. There have been so many great YA books that it did take me a while to actually narrow down my choices, in the end I settled on four books that I couldn’t decided between.
Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans
The Hate you Give by Angie Thomas
Wing Jones by Katherine Webber
Children’s:
This year we started our weekly ‘Children’s Books Tuesday’. We have reviewed a hell of a lot of them so choosing just a few was really hard, even as of this morning I was still choosing the favourites. I eventually managed to choose four of them, but believe me there were a whole lot more that are great books.
Pop-up Shakespeare by The Reduced Shakespeare Company
Julius Zebra Bundle with the Britons! by Gary Northfield
Father Christmas and Me by Matt Haig
As you can imagine this was the hardest category to choose from, mainly because of the vast amount of books that have been read this year. I have narrowed it down to just ten books, so rather than bog you down with ten synopsis and images, I’ve decided to list them below for you. Believe me if you are looking for a great book to read, have a look at the ones below, they won’t disappoint.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek by Anthony O’Neill
The Uncommon Life of Alfred Warner in Six Days by Juliet Conan
Gaslight and Fog by Deanna Madden
Spandex and the City by Jenny T Colgan
Summary Justice by John Fairfax
Chateau of Happily-Ever-After by Jaimie Admans
The Best Little Christmas Shop by Maxine Morrey
A Winter’s Tale by Carrie Elks
As well as reviewing over 400 books we have also interview over 52 fabulous authors on our weekly interview slot (some weeks had joint interviews) – ‘The Writing Life of‘, which you can catch every Thursday. We’ve also hosted numerous authors and their guest posts, took part in too many to remember blog tours, shared with you plenty of cover reveals and of course brought you lots of giveaways. Talking of giveaways, make sure you scroll down to the bottom and enter the Kindle Fire 7 giveaway (UK only).
Once again you have all been wonderful to get to know and interact with this year. This blog wouldn’t be anything without each and every one of you. We are truly grateful for every single person who follows us via our numerous social media accounts and email, you have all been amazing. My personal aim for 2018 is to try to interact that little bit more than I currently do with you all.
We hope that you have enjoyed reading our posts. If there is anything that we don’t currently blog about and you would love to see on here, then we are open to suggestions. This blog is not only for us reviewers to showcase the books that we have read, it is also for you followers to read and enjoy too, so please do let us know if you think of anything.
What’s coming in 2018? I have had a few ideas about new posts but they will most likely be coming later in the year. We will be bringing back one of our old features – the monthly cinema adaptations posts, where at the start of each month we bring you the list of the movies to be released in that month that have been adapted from books. I have also started updating the anniversaries posts – January is completed, the other months are soon to follow suit, so have a quick look there too.
Giveaway prize includes – 1 x Blue 8GB Amazon kindle Fire 7, Sho Bottle and Green & Blacks Chocolate Bar. Open to UK RESIDENTS ONLY (Sorry).
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It’s been great fun and a privilege to contribute to Whispering Stories! Thank you so much for all the graft in keeping this site so beautiful Nx
Awe thank you. It wouldn’t be anything without you reviewers though. Here’s to a wonderful 2018. X
The keeper of lost things by Ruth Hogan
This book has been on my radar for a while, just never gotten around to reading it. X
Well done everyone on Whispering Stories, you do a great job.
One of the best books I’ve read this year has been The One Memory Of Flora Banks by Emily Barr.
Thank You. so do you. I’ve not heard of ‘The One Memory of Flora Banks’ before. I’ll have to head to your blog to check it out. X
I read soooo many excellent books it is just to hard to narrow it down to 1… but as far as a mesmerizing tale and quality of storytelling, I’d have to go with Hanna Who Fell From The Sky by Christopher Meades. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33656823-hanna-who-fell-from-the-sky
Glad to see you had such a great year! Here’s to more positivity and successes in 2018!
It sounds like you have a fantastic year and read some fantastic books. The Hate U Give was one of my favourite books of the year too.
Gemma @ http://www.gemmasbooknook.blogspot.com
Happy new year! I have read lots of good books this year it is so difficult to pick out just one, but I really enjoyed Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips
Oh my goodness, I have so many favorites. The Nightingale was one of my favorites.
And so sweet of you giveaway a Kindle!
I’ve read so many awesome books this past year that I just couldn’t narrow them down!
What a great year 🙂 Looking forward to seeing more from you in 2018!
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
That’s a really hard question but my personal friend, Dee Kelly, writes books and I read some of her books in 2017 and really enjoyed see her creativity on pages!
Oops…just realizes this is UK only. 😉
Sweetpea by C J Skuse ?
I’d have to say my favourite book has been The Honeymoon by Tina Seskis
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
I read quite a few books in 2017 after I joined a book club but one of my favourites was Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’ve not seen the movie (I’m more of a book person) but I loved the book. Yes, it’s a sad story, it’s certainly not an easy read but it really highlights the incredible bond between a father and his son.
Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, by Chris Packham. It’s an honest and personal account of what it’s like to grow up with Aspergers. Not always an easy read but it’s definitely an insightful one. I found I could relate to his experiences of his childhood spent outdoors as I too spent a lot of my own childhood curious and fascinated by nature.
My favorite was The Fall Guy, by James Lasdun,
The silver linings playbook, it was such a gripping read!
Best book read was by Rhodri Marsden … ” A Very British Christmas”
My best book was My sister’s bones by Nuala Ellwood.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton