Monday 9 January 2017

2016 End of Year Survey


This isn't something I've really done in the past but I found this fab End of Year Survey on The Perpetual Page-Turner and thought it would be fun to take part. I'm going to try and remember to make this a new annual tradition but I'm not making any promises LOL.


Number Of Books You Read: 245
Number of Re-Reads: 49
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy (including Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy & Paranormal Romance)


1. Best Book You Read In 2016?

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

The Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown
Read my reviews of Red Rising, Golden Son & Morning Star

5. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?

Best Series Started:
Soul Eater Series by Pippa DaCosta

Best Sequel:
Night Study by Maria Snyder

Best Series Ender:
Beyond Surrender by Kit Rocha

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?

Seanan McGuire - I've become totally addicted to her Incryptid series this year and can't wait to carry on reading the rest of her backlist.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

Let's Pretend This Never Happened - Jenny Lawson

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews

9. Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Burn for Me and White Hot by Ilona Andrews

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?

Den of Wolves by Juliet Marillier & Breath of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
Read my reviews: Den of Wolves & Breath of Fire

11. Most memorable character of 2016?

The Aeslin Mice from Seanan McGuire's Incryptid Series

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016?

Night Shift: An insight into depression that words often struggle to reach by Debi Gliori

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016?

A tall man was striding from the far end of the hallway. He wore the black robe and it flared around him, the wings of a raven about to take flight. He walked like he owned the building and he'd spotted an intruder in his domain. Magic boiled around him, vicious and lethal, so potent I could feel it from thirty yards away, he was an elemental force, a thunderstorm clad in black about to unleash its fury.
White Hot by Ilona Andrews (my man Rogan knows how to make an entrance!)

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?

Shortest:
The Crown and the Arrow by Renee Ahdieh (9 pages)

Longest:
Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (1040 pages)

17. Book That Shocked You The Most
(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)

Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

Nevada and Rogan from Burn for Me and White Hot by Ilona andrews

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Arland and Helen from One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh

21. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016?

Roark from the In Death series by J.D. Robb

23. Best 2016 debut you read?

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Alien Nation by Gini Koch

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?

Morning Star by Pierce Brown

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Barefoot on the Wind by Zoe Marriott

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan


1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2016?

The Book Eaters This is a fairly new blog created by three of my best friends who I met through Goodreads. I was actually supposed to be a contributor too but I have enough on my hands keeping up with this blog so I never got around to it.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2016?

It has to be my rant about A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas (you can read it here), I never normally post DNF reviews but that book made me so angry and disappointed that I just had to talk about it. I know most people completely disagree with me and that's fine but personally I think it was the most horrendous pile of crap that I've ever had the displeasure of attempting to read and one day I will set my copy on fire!

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

I think my favourite non-review posts this year have all been about Book Folding Art, I've become a bit obsessed with creating fanart book folds this year & my favourites include the ones inspired by Harry Potter and Pierce Brown's Red Rising Trilogy


4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

Without a doubt a major highlight of the year was when I was lucky enough to get tickets to go to the Terry Pratchett Memorial in London. My Dad and I have been fans of Terry's writing for about 20 years now and we were both heartbroken when he died but it was wonderful to get the chance to celebrate his life with so many other passionate Discworld fans. Also, how many other excuses am I going to have to get my Dad into wizard robes? I wrote all about the event here.


5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016?

Getting to meet Pierce Brown at Hodder's Howler party, I'm a crazy fangirl when it comes to this series so that was definitely a brilliant moment even if I did get all tongue tied and make an idiot of myself LOL.


6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

I think just staying motivated to keep writing reviews. Luckily I didn't really suffer with reading slumps but there were many days when the last thing I wanted to do was worry about writing blog posts.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

Based on views the top four posts on my blog this year were:
  1. Cover Reveal: Barefoot on the Wind by Zoe Mariott
  2. Terry Pratchett Memorial, a wonderful & fitting tribute #speakhisname
  3. Review: A Court of Mist and Fury - Sarah J Maas (Or in other words: Why I won't be buying any more books by Sarah J Maas)
  4. Review: Who's Afraid - Maria Lewis
8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Probably the book folding art I created inspired by Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows series, I'm really proud of this design but I posted about it in that dead zone between Christmas and New Year so it didn't get as many views as I'd hoped.


9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?


I am totally obsessed with the gorgeous book fandom magnetic bookmarks that Happy Hello Co create. I already own Harry Potter, Six of Crows and Throne of Glass ones but I've recently ordered Lunar Chronicles and Fantastic Beasts magnets too and can't wait to receive them. You can look through all their amazing designs on Etsy here.


I also love the Literary Emporium where you'll find everything from bookish jewelry, stationery, and all kinds of accessories. I could spend a fortune on their website!

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Challenges I took part in for 2016:
2016 Read 100 Books in a Year Challenge - Read 200/200 - COMPLETE
2016 British Books Challenge - Read 40/50 - I didn't quite hit my target but I think 40 books is still a pretty great achievement!
2016 New Author Challenge - Read 44/50 - Again I didn't quite hit my goal but I've still discovered some fantastic new authors this year but I've also enjoyed focusing on catching up with series that I'm already in love with.
2016 Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Challenge - 100/100 - COMPLETE
2016 Contemporary Romance Challenge - 20/20 - COMPLETE
2016 Romantic Suspense Challenge - 17/20 - I was so close to my target that I'm not going to stress about it


1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2016 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017?

Riders by Veronica Rossi

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-debut)?

Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

3. 2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017?

The final book in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews 
(which doesn't actually have a title or cover yet so I'm including the picture for 
book 9 in the series Magic Binds)

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017?

I want to focus on reading what I want to read rather than forcing myself to read things to fit a schedule, it's something I did a lot better in 2016 and it meant I enjoyed it so much more so I plan to continue. No guilt over reading books I bought myself as well as review copies and if I want to reread favourite books and or series then thats fine too.

6. A 2017 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

White Hot by Ilona Andrews
(This was a bit of a no brainer since I loved it so much I've already read it twice!)

4 comments:

  1. Yay, The Raven Boys! So much love in my heart! I think that's the only one of these books I've read, but I'm keen for Nevernight -- I've seen it around a lot bouncing around this link-up! -- and also for some Robert Jordan; as a high fantasy fan, I feel he's a must. Though I'm horrified by how long the sixth book is! But I guess that's just the fantasy life, isn't it?!

    Emily @ sparrowsflysouth.blogspot.com

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    1. Nevernight is absolutely amazing Emily, I hope you love it as much as I do :-) I love the Wherl of Time series but it's HUGE and very intimidating, I've been reading it for just over a year now at a rate of 1 book a month & that made it a little more achievable. I start the final book in Feb and I'm sad it's nearly over. I really like The Raven Boys too but I still need to read the final book LOL.

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  2. I still need to read the Red Rising series (have been dying to now for at least a year! Oops!)

    Loved Barefoot on the Wind too! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Red Rising is one of my favourite series, I just totally adore it and highly recommend it. Barefoot on the Wind is beautiful isn't it :-)

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