—favorite books read in 2017

• forest of a thousand lanterns by Julie C. Dao (2017)

“She would bloom where she was planted and let her roots close around the throats of her enemies.”

• a crown of wishes by Roshani Chokshi (2017)

“A story. This was the key to immortality. The things that made kings quiver and deities distrustful: Nothing but a tale.”

• mature content by Megan Erickson (2017)

“He tasted like alcohol, pop rocks, and bad decisions.”

• heaven or this by Topaz Winters (2016)

“She tells me love is the most beautiful natural disaster and for the first time, my tsunami heart believes it. We are holding hands in the barrel of a gun. They pull the trigger, but when she is kissing me only cherry blossoms come out.”

• wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (2017)

“What is eternal life but a prolonged death.”

• colorblind by Siera Maley (2016)

“People are not milk cartons. You don’t pick and choose the ones you think will last the longest without going sour. If it feels right, you just go with it until it doesn’t feel right anymore. And sometimes when something goes wrong, it hurts. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it in the first place.”

• the bone witch by Rin Chupeco (2017)

“Then perhaps we should carve a world one day where the strength lies in who you are, rather than in what they expect you to be.”

• some kind of perfect by Krista Ritchie (2016)

“Say something real,' she whispers. 'Je t’aime.' I love you.”

• fuel the fire by Krista Ritchie (2015)

“Broken souls are mended every day by mended souls that were once broken.”

• three dark crowns by Kendare Blake (2016)

“I want revenge." She whispers, and her fingers trail bloody streaks down Natalia's arms. "And then I want my crown.”

• the witch of duva by Leigh Bardugo (2012)

“So shut the window tight and make sure the latch is fastened. Dark things have a way of slipping in through narrow spaces.”

• grave mercy by Robin LaFevers (2012)

“Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?”

• angelfall by Susan Ee (2012)

“My friends call me Wrath,” says Raffe. “My enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What’s your name, soldier boy?”

• days of blood and starlight by Laini Taylor (2012)

“I am one of billions. I am stardust gathered fleetingly into form. I will be ungathered. The stardust will go on to be other things someday and I will be free.”

• thorugh the ever night by Veronica Rossi (2013)

“We lose and lose, but we're still here. Shaking in place, afraid of doing something. I'm tires of settling for this because I don't know if something better exists. It has to. What point is there otherwise? I can do something about it. And I will.”