Monday, December 23, 2013

End of Year Bookish Survey

best books 2013 end of year survey

Thanks to Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner for hosting this survey!


Tiger LilyUnearthly (Unearthly, #1)Jellicoe Road

1. Best Book You Read In 2013? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

Fantasy- Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, Shadow & Bone series by Leigh Bardugo, The Unearthly series

Contemporary/Realistic- Anna and the French Kiss, I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Dystopian/Sci-fi- Cinder by Marissa Meyer, The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa  

Historical Fiction- Out of the Easy and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

A Darkness Strange and Lovely (Something Strange and Deadly, #2)World After (Penryn & the End of Days, #2)Between Shades of Gray

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


Ugh. So many disappointing sequels. But A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard was the most disappointing. Oh, and World After by Susan Ee. And Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013? 

Definitely The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. So cute! That was at the time when I loathed contemporary fiction, so I wasn't expecting to love this one as much as I did.

4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?


To my non-blogger friends, Angelfall by Susan Ee. To my blogger friends, Between Shades of Gray.
I Am Pusheen the CatShadow and Bone (The Grisha, #1)The Indigo Spell (Bloodlines, #3)

5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

Eep! The Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo!

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?


Melina Marchetta. And Ruta Sepetys.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

This may seem odd, but I Am Pusheen the Cat was my first and favorite graphic book. XD

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?

The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead, and Prodigy by Marie Lu.

9. Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

TIGER LILY. I just read it about a month ago, and I'm already missing the characters. Also, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?

Incarnate (Newsoul, #1)

LOOK AT THAT PRETTY.

11. Most memorable character in 2013?

Sturmhond from Siege and Storm.

Friday BrownThe Sky Is EverywhereA Northern Light

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?

The writing in Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield was bea-oootiful.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read?

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. It was written in 2002 I think.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2013?


16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?

Not counting novellas, the shortest is Existence, by Abbi Glines, at 161 pages.

The longest is Clockwork Princess, at 570 pages.

The Iron Traitor (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten, #2)The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, #2)I Am the Messenger

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

Omigod. Cinder by Marisssa Meyer. And the Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa had a HUGE cliffhanger. :'( Coincidentally, her other book, The Iron Traitor, also had a tortuous ending.

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

I loved the relationship between Taylor and Jonah in Jellicoe Road. (Yep, I'm going to keep bringing up Marchetta.)

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak. (I read The Book Thief in 2012)

20. Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

Ooh. I read Tiger Lily, which I hadn't heard of prior, because of Zoe from The Infinite To-Read Shelf's rec.

21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?

Most probably Fantasy or Contemporary (which I used to hate, but now I don't!)

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?

Hands down The Darkling from the Grisha series.

Splintered (Splintered, #1)The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society, #3)

23. Best 2013 debut you read?

Splintered by A.G. Howard.

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa was superb in this.

25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, and Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter!

Stolen: A Letter to My CaptorShadows (The Rephaim, #1)Mythology

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?

LOL. Am I only supposed to choose one? Let's see, there's Tiger Lily, Jellicoe Road, Clockwork Princess, Between Shades of Gray, and Stolen.

27. Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out?

Shadows by Paula Weston is awesome, and not many book people have heard of/read it. And Mythology and its sequel by Helen Boswell was amaaazing, which I think is even more unheard of than Shadows.

LOOKING AHEAD...

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014?

Pivot Point by Kasie West on been on my Nook forevs, and I've heard that it is a really great debut. Additionally, I've read countless positive reviews on Of Beast and Beauty.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)?

THESE.
The Winner's CurseDreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)

I'll probably make an entire post on this sometime at the beginning of next year...

3. 2014 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Cruel Beauty

4. Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2014?

Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead! Although I suck, having not yet read The Fiery Heart :(

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014?

I really want to read more debut novels, instead of focusing on relatively older books, and I also want to write more reviews.

**I didn't have time to do the blog section of the survey, unfortunately.