This 2014 End of Year Survey is hosted by Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner.
Number Of Books You Read:
Roughly 70 (Embarrassingly low. In 2013 I read 192.)
Number of Re-Reads:
I didn't keep track, but I'd guess in the low 20's.
Genre You Read The Most From:
Young Adult
1. Best Book You Read In 2014?
What a terrible question to ask! I NEED to give more than one answer. I loved Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson. Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen was good fun. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor was so well written. The Girl With All the Gifts was an amazing mixture of strong plot, strong characters, and strong theme.
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Jackaby by William Ritter — I had really high expectations for this book, but wound up thinking it was just so-so.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read in 2014?
All the Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry — SO unusual, dark, and compelling! Set in a Puritan-esque world, a young woman returns to her community years after her abduction with her tongue cut out. *shivers*
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did) In 2014?
The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker (READ IT! AND THEN READ ALL THE OTHERS!)
5. Best series you started in 2014? Best Sequel of 2014? Best Series Ender of 2014?
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen // Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor // Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2014?
Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies)
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
I don't read too much Adult Fiction these days, so Dark Places by Gillian Flynn was a standout.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
9. Book You Read In 2014 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski, to get ready for The Winner's Crime
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014?
11. Most memorable character of 2014?
Sicarius, from Lindsay Buroker's Republic — he has to be read to be believed.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2014?
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2014?
Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin — it has big points to make about the fluidity of gender.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to finally read?
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn — it was published in 2012.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2014?
Seriously, anything from Lindsay Buroker's Emperor's Edge series. Buroker utilizes one of my favorite methods of humor, and that's using words that are resonant of humor. How can I explain this better... if you sound out the words in your head or read them aloud, the pacing and the sounds are just as funny as what the words mean. Does that make sense? I die laughing when reading her books.
16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?
Longest book was Lindsay Buroker's Republic, at 619 pages. The shortest was Drawn by Cecilia Gray, at 157 pages.
17. Book That Shocked You The Most
I figuratively fell over reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. While reading Gone Girl, I had everything figured out, but with Dark Places, I just did not see anything coming.
18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
Amaranthe and Sicarius from Lindsay Burokers Emperor's Edge series. (Duh.)
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
I loved the relationship between Cath and her father, Arthur, in Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl.
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2014 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
I know I sound like a broken record, but Lindsay Buroker's Republic
21. Best Book You Read In 2014 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. SO glad I did.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014?
No Sean Kendricks or Will Trombals this year. But I did love Sorin's character from Leah Cypess's Death Sworn
23. Best 2014 debut you read?
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner had a great setting — a war-torn swamp planet.
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Republic by Lindsay Buroker
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2014?
Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson; the tragedy of the World Wars was overwhelming.
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2014?
Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (I didn't like it)
1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2014?
2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2014?
I liked writing my Life After Life review.
3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
Reading With An Attention Disorder
4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
This Shattered World Blog Tour
5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2014?
Getting a spot on the This Shattered World blog tour!
7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
A tie! Between My Embarrassing Literary Blind Spots and Seven Deadly Reading Sins. The review for Julie Kagawa's Talon also got a surprising amount of hits.
8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
Every post with no comments!
9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
I'm going to say, starting the blog in the first place was the best discovery! Also, I found some great friends on Leafmarks.
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
Well, I didn't make it to 100 books... *cries*
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2014 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2015?
Poisoned Apples: Poems For You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2015 (non-debut)?
Hidden Huntress by Danielle L. Jensen
3. 2015 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard // An Ember In the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2015?
Half Wild by Sally Green // Death Marked by Leah Cypess
5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2015?
To make more friends in the blogging community!
6. A 2015 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:
HAHAHA! I wish I had options for this! But, by default, This Shattered World, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. (It's not a bad choice, anyway!)
Okay, I'm going to have to check out Emperor's Edge since you loved it so much. I wasn't even going to read Life After Life until I visited your blog. :) So thanks for the recc! Also, Big Little Lies was pretty spectacular. *nods*
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Ellen! I love this survey.
Ooh, this is pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteI'll make time to do this one sometime in December :).
And in case you weren't aware, the first book (The Emperor's Edge) is free on Kindle and iBooks :).
ReplyDeleteOoh, Sierra, we got another one! Like Sierra said, the first ebook is free! I hope you like the series!!! *fingers crossed*
ReplyDeleteOh yes, do! I'd love to read your answers. I should have filled this out later in the month, but I wanted to get a good spot on the linky on the host website, lol!
ReplyDeleteI didn't do many rereads this year either, sad! All the Truth That’s In Me, yes! I was so shocked at that one (in a good way) because I had no idea what to expect but I ended up loving it. I'm also crazy excited for The Red Queen and An Ember In the Ashes. Sounds like I definitely need to check out Stolen Songbird then, huh? :)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Stolen Songbird, yes! I would recommend it, definitely. *crosses fingers that you'll like it*
ReplyDeleteAnd that's awesome that you've also read All the Truth That's In Me. I'm so glad you loved it, too! It was spooky in such a different way that one typically encounters.
I adored Winner's Curse and I seriously need to read Laini Taylor!
ReplyDeleteStolen Songbird was great as well, I was just eyeballing The Girl With All the Gifts it's on my nightstand!
It's funny what posts are most popular, I can hardly believe mine is an interview with Soman Chainani the School for Good and Evil Author!
Good luck in the new year, adore the new site :)
Thanks, Tabitha! It's great to see you here!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Laini Taylor. Yes.
What a cool post!! Lots of books for me to check out, definitely adding The Emperor's Edge to my TBR list! Ooh I loved Cath's relationship with her father too & I adored that book!! I loved Into the Still Blue too! Again lots of great books in this post!! :-)
ReplyDeleteOooh, check out The Emperor's Edge, do! I first pushed the series to Sierra (whose further up in the comments) and she wound up loving them! It's given me confidence to recommend them to even more people. I love these books; they're probably my favorite series. And, they're self-published! Definitely a hidden gem.
ReplyDeleteI really love this survey. I like reading people's answers! Golden Boy was the answer of many of my questions this year! :-)
ReplyDeleteSo excited to see another person read Golden Boy!
ReplyDeleteWILL TROMBAL! I love that you mentioned him because my entire End of Year Survey is basically me professing my love for Saving Francesca.
ReplyDeleteThe Emperor's Edge doesn't look like something I would normally pick up, but since you ended up liking it so much I'll definitely be giving it a chance.
Well, all books I haven't read yet! You really make publicity to Lindsay Buroker. Maybe I check her out!
ReplyDeleteGood questions!
Yessss, I am so glad to see that you've been enjoying Laini Taylor this year! She's one of my most favorite YA authors and I really think she brings something new to the table with her imagination and her prose (which, as you know, is HOMG unbelievable). Hopefully you'll get a chance to read Dreams of Gods & Monsters soon, too! :)
ReplyDeleteThis survey looks so fun (the first time I typed that it autocorrected to "surgery". Ookkaaayyy). I was too late to participate this year since all my posts are scheduled until January, but I definitely want to try it next year. I've already read Red Queen and An Ember in the Ashes and LOVED them both. Cannot wait for you read them!
ReplyDeleteIt's so fun reading the answers to this survery, I'm discovering so many great books this way. 70 books isn't embarrassing, I know a lot of people who don't even read one. I've had amazing years where I've been able to read 200, then years where I can't even reach 100. Stolen Songbird and Girl with All the Gifts are two books I really want to read, glad you enjoyed those so much. All the Truth That's in Me was definitely a surprising read, not what I was expecting. The Talon cover is gorgeous, just received it for Christmas and I can't stop staring at it! Great answers! :) I recently did my own survey, which can be found here if you want to check it out.
ReplyDeleteHi there! I loved Gone Girl but I haven't read Dark Places yet. I'll probably add that to my 2015 list. Here is my survey. I had to shorten it a bit because my kids don't let me sit still that long but the basics are here. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteLaura
My Survey
I liked Dark Places more than Gone Girl - I have to be able to root for at least one character to enjoy a book.
ReplyDelete