2015 End of the Year Bookish Survey

Hi everyone and welcome to the 2015 end of year bookish survey! This is always one of my favorite posts to do at the end of the year and I want to give a huge shout-out and big thank you to Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner for hosting and organizing it! This survey always takes me a million years to fill out. Seriously, I've been working on this post for like two weeks now. It just takes so long to go through all the books I've read this year, all the ones I'm looking forward to next year, checking blog stats, reflecting on my favorite moments of the year, etc. But it's so much fun to look back on everything and relive all those memories. Though some of the bookish memories of the year are painful... You'll see what I'm talking about in a second. So without further ado, I give you my year in books! 

Number Of Books You Read: 117 as of 12.08.15 - goal is 125, but I'm thinking I'm only going to hit 120...

Number of Re-Reads: 13 - maybe 14 if I get through Winterspell like I want to.

Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary - followed closely with a difference of 3 by fantasy. This question always surprises me. I always think that fantasy is going to win, but I always end up reading more contemporary. 

1. Best Book You Read In 2015?

Oh god I read so many great books in 2015. What's the best??? How can you ask this of me, Jamie?!?

Sci-fi: Golden Son byPierce Brown

Retelling: Winter by Marissa Meyer

Fantasy: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Historical: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

Contemporary: Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

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

Black Widow by Margaret Stohl. I was so excited for this book. Marvel YA? Yes, please! And then I read it and was completely underwhelmed. If the story had been about Natasha Romanov as a teen that would have been kickass. But I just hated the whole sidekick thing and there was a serious case of instalove. Just no.

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

Dumplin'. I did not expect to love a book about a girl entering a beauty pageant, but man was this book amazing. It really made you think about how you look at yourself and being comfortable in your own skin.

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

The Lunar Chronicles series. With the release of Winter in November I was pushing this series on everybody so they could catch up just in time for the final book. Wendy finally got around to it and our voice message/text exchanges were amazing!! So much love for this series.

5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

The Original Sinners by Tiffany Reisz. Huge thank you to Kelly for introducing me to these amazing books!! In January I plan on rereading them all and finally getting the last two. What will I do once this series is over???

Best sequel was definitely The Mime Order. I actually wasn't super crazy about The Bone Season, but the second book was incredible and I think it just took me a little bit to warm up to the series. I'm hooked now and I actually want to reread The Bone Season to see if my opinion will be any different now.

Best series ender was a tie between The Immortal Heights and Winter. Both were absolutely incredible. I have so much love for both of these series.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?

Can I say Tiffany Reisz for every answer in this survey? Please say yes. No? That would be boring? Damn you. Fine. I didn't really "discover" this author in 2015 because I read one of her books in 2014, but I didn't like said book. But this year I gave The Walled City & Wolf by Wolf a go and LOVED both of them. So Ryan Graudin is definitely a new favorite of mine.

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

Stop it. I could seriously answer The Original Sinners for everything. But this one I'm going to because I wrote a post about it called Bird in a Fishbowl which is a feature I created to talk about things out of my comfort zone! So definitely The Original Sinners by Tiffany Reisz. I had only read a small handful of erotica before this series and most of it didn't work for me. But this series crushed it. I can't tell you how much I love it. Just read it people.

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

Golden Son by Pierce Brown. If you guys haven't started this series yet, you need to. It's an awesome sci-fi with a kick-ass main character and a plot that will make you either want to throw the book across the room, scream, cry, or all of the above.

9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I loved this heist novel set in the Grishaverse and with the second one coming out next year, I'll definitely be rereading.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas. I love all the covers of these books. They are gorgeous!!

11. Most memorable character of 2015?

Kingsley Edge from The Original Sinners. I know, I know. I need to stop with this series. But you guys. YOU GUYS. You don't understand. It's amazing and Kingsley is one of my top book boyfriends of all time. That sexy French man does crazy things to me.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?

Another Day by David Levithan. David's writing is beautiful and this book brought me to tears. It's a companion to Every Day a story about a person who wakes up in a different body every day. This person falls in love with a girl and the book will really make you question if you love the car or the driver.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang. This book is about a girl who decides she no longer wants to live. It's beautifully written and will really make you stop and think about the consequences of your actions. Not just how your actions affect those around you, but how they affect yourself as well.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read? 

Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I don't know what took me so long to read this series, but I absolutely LOVED it!! The Grishaverse is so unique and amazing and I totally ship Alina and Mal for life. And I might be a little bit in love with the Darkling. Sorry not sorry.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

"There will come a moment in your life where you find yourself confronted with two choices, and both are bad ones. For me it was to stay in a place where I was choked and had nothing to look forward to and no way to prove my talents, or to leave everyone I knew and loved behind forever for a chance that might not work out. That is how the gods test us, by laying before us what seems to be a choice and yet is no choice at all. When we come to that fork in our path down which no road is clean, all we can control is with what dignity and honor we take our inevitable step." - Kate Elliott, Court of Fives

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

Longest: Winter by Marissa Meyer at 824 pages. It was still too short.
Shortest: Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout at 179 pages.

17. Book That Shocked You The Most

Golden Son. That ending. Insanity.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

Iolanthe and Titus from The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas. I reread this whole trilogy this year and I freaking love these two. The banter between them is perfection and every moment between them is intense and perfect and just *sigh*.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Thorne and Cinder from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I love the snark and the banter between these two and I love how much they really care about each other even though they'll deny it to the death.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

The Young Elites by Marie Lu. The Legend series is my all-time favorite dystopian series so of course I was dying to get my hands on Marie's newest and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It's super dark and the main character is kind of awful, but I loved every second of it!

21. Best Book You Read In 2015That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

The Original Sinners by Tiffany Reisz. One day I texted Kelly and told her I was in the mood for a sexy book. And then she told me about this series. I downloaded a sample of the first book and then preceded to keep reading until I was completely caught up with the series, six books later. Kelly is the queen and I am so happy that I listened to her on this one.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?

Noah Hutchins from Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry. Yes, I finally met Noah and damn is he smoking hot. *swoons*

23. Best 2015 debut you read?

The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey. I loved this fantasy about a race of people with feathers for hair living underground in Manhattan.

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

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. I loved the different parallel Londons and the explanations for each one in terms of magic. The world-building was fantastic and I loved how all the Londons may be laid out the same, but they all looked and felt so different. Incredible book!

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

Finding Mr. Brightside by Jay Clark. This book was just plain adorable. The romance was so stinking cute. It was light and fun and just the perfect book for when you want to smile.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow. Not exactly a book I expected to make me cry, but this one made such a huge impact on me. The themes of humanity and what makes a person human were intense and a sacrifice that was made was beautiful and heart-breaking. I loved this one.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone. I didn't hear much buzz about this book, but I absolutely loved it. It was such an honest look at OCD and anxiety. It was clear the author did her research and I loved the way words were used as a sort of therapy.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. And not in a good way. Yes, there is a good way to have your soul crushed. But this book just kind of destroyed me because I hated the direction the story went. I hated the way the characters acted. With the Throne of Glass series being one of my favorite series ever, it was a soul crushing disappointment to read QoS.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. First of all, have you guys seen this book???? It's gorgeous and just so unique and different. It's a story told in a sort of dossier of correspondence between crew mates, along with audio recordings of conversations, AI stuff, etc. There are blacked out words, diagrams and pictures, crazy artwork. If it sounds like it would be a difficult read, it's not. I was a little worried at first, but I flew through it and loved every second! Most unique book I've ever read.

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

Unpopular opinion alert... Queen of Shadows. Sorry not sorry. I hated what Sarah did with this book and I'm still really bitter about it.

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015?

Paper Fury. I love Cait so much! I just discovered her actually a couple months ago and she is hilarious, awesome and loves cake. So winning. Her reviews and posts are snarky and there really hasn't been a single thing she's written that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. Oh and she takes beautiful Instagram photos.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?

My sort of review of The Original Sinners. This is my favorite post I've written all year actually. It's not so much a review as a discussion of things the series made me think about and things I loved with a little bit of gushing on the side.

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

My two personal favorites are a post about my social media insecurities and my open letter to my YA self. I still tear up reading my letter and my social media post got a lot of love from the blogging community and made me feel not so alone.

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

I'm going to have to go with BEA. I had such a blast at BEA this past year. I got to meet Kelly, Ashley and countless other bloggers. I got to talk to some amazing people working in the publishing industry. It was incredible and I can't wait for next year!

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?

I can't pick just one. There are so many moments that are amazing. When you get to meet one of your bookish friends for the first time at an event. When you get to talk to your favorite author on Twitter. When someone comments on a post and says that they completely 100% agree with me and they're so happy they found someone who gets it. Doing epic rereads with your friends and sending obnoxiously long voice messages about those books. Blogging has opened up a whole world to me that I never knew existed. A world filled with my people. I love each and every one of you and I really do treasure each moment.

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

Time management. I've really tried to kick my writing into gear this year and because of that, I've had less time for reading/blogging. I haven't read as much and my blog posts have been slowly decreasing as the year goes on. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though and I have some big plans for next year so stick around people.

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

My sort of review of The Original Sinners by Tiffany Reisz. I did this by page visits and you have no idea how happy I was to see this pop up. This might be one of my favorite posts I've ever written. I'm giddy over this.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

My book recs post complete with infographic. Granted, I just posted this, but I worked so hard on the graphic and just trying to find the best recommendations out there and I just wish it would get a tad more love.

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

Evie Seo's Society 6 shop. So. Many. Things. I need them all! I bought an awesome Six of Crows bag from her and it's so beautiful!! I want all the things.

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

The only reading challenge that I really participate in is the Goodreads challenge and I don't think I'm going to hit my goal this year. I think I'm going to be five books short. Five books!! Noooooo!!! But it's okay. I tried to not worry so much about hitting my reading goals this year and devoted more time to friends and family which I'm okay with. I'm still happy with hitting 120.

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

So many. I mean for real. Ugh. How do I choose? I think I'm going to have to go with The Lumatere Chronicles because Wendy has been hardcore pushing that series on me all year and I trust her judgment so I know I'll love it. I wanted to get to it this year, but it just didn't happen.

I also still have the final two books in The Original Sinners series so I'm going to do a massive reread and binge the entire series again. And Wendy will be joining for her first time reading. So excited!!

And last, but certainly not least....Harry Potter. I meant to get to it last year (like 2014) and then didn't. And then I meant to get to it this year... and then didn't. Fail. Yes, I have not read HP ever. I promise to make it a priority in 2016. And seriously harass me about it until I just do it. Help a girl out so she knows what the term muggle means.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)?

A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab. I LOVED A Darker Shade of Magic and even though it didn't end on a cliffhanger, I'm still eagerly awaiting the sequel because I want more! And I'm hoping for maybe a little romance between the two main characters this time...please???

3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

There are so many to choose from!! I don't think I read enough debuts this year so maybe I will make that a goal for next year. But I'm going to have to go with A Shadow Bright & Burning by Jessica Cluess. About a badass girl who can burst into flames set in Victorian London. Sign me up!

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016?

Morning Star by Pierce Brown. After the ending of Golden Son I am DYING to read this book! I'll definitely be doing a reread of the first two before getting to this. If you haven't started this series you definitely should. If you like space and action with a side of brutality, then this series is for you.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016?

Overhaul my entire blog. I want to do a complete redesign. I'm probably going to be moving over to Wordpress and I think I might even be changing my blog name. *gulp* It sounds so scary and like it's going to be a ton of work, but I've been wanting to do this for a while now and I think 2016 will be the year. I really would love to take my blog to the next level and I don't think I can do that with the current design. It needs a face lift.

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

I haven't read any yet! I have a bunch from Edelweiss and a few from BEA, but I just haven't gotten around to any of them yet. Have you read any that should be on my radar??? 

Phew! That was long. If you made it all the way through, congratulations! You win... a virtual cookie! Woohoo! Your choice of chocolate chip, peanut butter chocolate chip or snickerdoodle. Homemade with love. Nom nom nom! Did you participate in Jamie's survey? Leave the link below so I can check out your year in books! And have a very Merry Christmas everybody!