I was going to post this a few days ago, but I’ve been sick.  So you’re getting it now.

Another year, another set of favorites to share.  I really enjoyed quite a few things this year – discovering new movies, new songs, and reading new books.  Of course, I enjoyed some more than others, which is what this post is all about.  Only this year I had to take my favorite book category and break it down into sub-categories – favorite young adult book, favorite adult fiction, and favorite non-fiction.

Anyway, let’s get to what made my favorites of 2016 list!

Favorite Books: 

Favorite Young Adult Book – The Game of Lives by James Dashner

This book… ugh!  The feels!  It was the last book of James Dashner’s Mortality Doctrine series and this book was an emotional roller coaster for me.  I’m not going to give anything away, but let’s say that I squealed from happiness, cursed the author, almost didn’t pick it back up to finish reading it, felt hopeful near the end, and was in despair because there are no more books coming out to continue the story.

Favorite Adult Fiction Book – The Chance by Karen Kingsbury

This was the second book of Kingsbury’s I read, right after reading The Bridge, and I absolutely fell in love with this story and her writing!  I reviewed the book earlier this year so that’s where you can find out a little more of what it’s about, but I will tell you that I highly recommend it.  It was an easy read and for me, it was hard to put the book down.  And of course one of my favorite things about this book was that I had bought it, brand new, for a whopping $3 when my job at the time was selling books at low prices.  Who doesn’t love a good story that was a bargain?

Favorite Non-Fiction Book – Shaken by Tim Tebow 

We all know Tim Tebow’s rise in the game of football, followed by suddenly not being able to find a team that would keep him.  In the book Tebow talks about his experience of being cut from these teams and how even through that, he hasn’t let his faith in God be shaken.  The book is not entirely about this story though; he includes the stories of people he’s met throughout his life who have inspiring stories of their faith and how they let even worse situations not shake their faith.  This was a very uplifting book and I’d recommend it for anyone!

Favorite Movie:

This movie easily surpassed the first one for me.  Don’t get me wrong, the first one is still great and you should definitely see it, but I like this one more.  It could be because of all the Christians that get sued or have to go to court because of their beliefs and the fact they aren’t going to turn from them to please society.  It’s very inspirational and shows that no matter who comes against us, if we just have faith in God and trust Him, he’ll fight our battles for us.

Favorite Song:

Guilty – Newsboys

This song was featured in God’s Not Dead 2 (it might have even been written for the movie, I’m not completely sure) and it is just amazing.  It’s a completely relatable song for Christians who are true to their faith and will stand with God even if it means being convicted by the law of man.  It’s perfect for the times we’re living in with Christians being sued for standing up for their beliefs in businesses they own or for other reasons.

Favorite TV Show:

Although the show is now in its sixth season, my mom and I just found it earlier this year and it is definitely one of my favorites!  The show was casted perfectly and you can’t help but love the quirks of all the characters.  I personally love Tim Allen and Hector Elizondo’s characters… they definitely make the show!  I’m also pretty excited about the fact that the first five seasons are on Netflix, so I can start watching from the beginning at some point to see how the show got to where it is today.

Favorite App: 

Spotify

Not going to lie, I was new to Spotify this year.  It’s a great app to use to listen to music that you don’t buy off iTunes, so it’s kind of like Pandora… but better.  Yes, it has ads, but to be fair they’re not super annoying.  Plus, you get chances to get 30 minutes of ad-free music during your listening time.  And they offer a deal to new members at the end of the year – three months of Spotify Premium for $0.99 (which is why I signed up for it last December).

Favorite YouTube Video: 

Powerless – Alyson Stoner (extended scene from Summer Forever)

This song was almost my favorite one of the year, but I love the video as well so I didn’t want to post it as a favorite twice.  Summer Forever is a cute movie with great music, but this song takes the cake!  I only wish they had kept this entire dance scene in the movie and didn’t cut out half of it… it’s a wonderful scene (as well as song and dance!).

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So those are my favorites of 2016.  This year was definitely a weird one, but I can’t say I hated it like most other people in the world.  It might’ve been weird, but it was a good weird.  I’m really looking forward to what 2017 has in store and I hope it’s a good year all around!