2016 End of the Year Survey

Evening Loves,

It’s 2017! So that of course means starting fresh and rejuvenating my blogging fervor 😉 But before I go off on some 2017 goals and wishes for my blog & myself, I thought I’d share some 2016 stats and highlights!

This amazing end of the year survey was created by Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner! She’s always got something great happening on her blog & I’ve been following her since I started blogging 5 years ago.

Speaking of 5 years ago, my blog celebrated it’s 5th anniversary during the last week in December. Although, I’m pretty sure my first post was on January 1 in the new year. Alas, WordPress chronicles the time you created the blog, which was that week before the 1st. So anyway, I’ll be doing something this month to celebrate this awesome anniversary! 🙂

Alright on to the survey!

Number Of Books You Read: 83 New Books
Number of Re-Reads: 4 Rereads
Genre You Read The Most From: Surprisingly I’m pretty split between YA & MG books along with a few adult books thrown in there. Genre wise probably mostly Speculative Fiction with Mystery coming in next.

1. Best Book You Read In 2016?

Top 5:
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
A Dark Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
March Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Illus. by Nate Powell.

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

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. I wrote my review here, if you want to find out why I didn’t love it all that much.

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

Symphony for the City of the Dead by M. T. Anderson. I don’t normally read non-fiction let alone history focused non-fiction. However, I really really loved this one. It was a little rough getting through it in some parts because it was a little dense, but otherwise I devoured it!

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

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I pushed this book so hard at the bookshop I worked at! Not everyone bit, but I was able to get a few people to buy it 🙂

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

I have two best series: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff and Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. For best sequel, I read the second book in the The Raven Boys Cycle: Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater & loved it so much! As for series ender, I haven’t actually read a series ender this past year, but it’s one of my goals to finish up some series this year since I think for the past few years I’ve had some kind of phobia to ending a series lol

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?

Brittany Cavallard who wrote A Study in Charlotte and 2016 was the first year I read something by V. E. Schwab 🙂

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

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. I don’t normally read adult fiction of any kind (outside of romance books) so I’m glad I really enjoyed this novel. It’s definitely a must read!

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

Gah, I’m going to have to say Illuminae again since I whipped through that book! Also really enjoyed: A Darker Shade of Magic, The Silence of Six, and Truthwitch for action as well.

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

Truthwitch before reading the sequel as well as A Darker Shade of Magic, A Study in Charlotte all for the same reason of picking up the second book.

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

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover & the duology by Gene Luen Yang: Boxers and Saints 

11. Most memorable character of 2016?

Delilah Bard & Kell (ADSOM), Kady (Illuminae), and Safi & Iseult (Truthwitch)

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

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

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

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

One of my favorites was from Foxheart by Claire Legrand:

“‘Sometimes,’ Anastazia said, ‘it isn’t about being the most powerful person or the person who has the most knowledge. It isn’t about being the oldest person, or the strongest person, or the person who makes all the right decisions. Sometimes it’s about being the person who decides to stand up and fight.’” (p. 336-337 of ARC).

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?

Shortest: We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (49 pages)
Longest: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (599 pages)

17. Book That Shocked You The Most

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather because I was holding out for a different ending!

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

Vika & Nikolai from The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye among others…

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Probably Safi & Iseult  from Truthwitch  or Jamie & Charlotte from A Study in Charlotte

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

Bedmates by Nichole Chase (who coincidently was the only repeat author for me this past year besides Maggie Stiefvater).

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

The Selection by Kiera Cass was the only book truly recommended to me. I don’t want to consider a really hyped book as a book being recommended to me so that’s why I chose this book. I had a friend recommend it and I actually ended up liking it and have read the second book in the series already and still need to read the rest of them now.

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

RONAN! But I know he’s unattainable lol…um so I’d say Kell from ADSOM and Aeduan & Prince Merik from Truthwitch. I haven’t made up my mind who I love most from Truthwitch yet but those two are the top two I’m torn between lol

23. Best 2016 debut you read?

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

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

Best worldbuilding would probably have to be A Darker Shade of Magic for me I think. I’m a little torn though because I also LOVED Illuminae & Truthwitch which both had great worldbuilding as well.

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

Geekerella by Ashley Poston. All the fandom references in this one just made me smile soooo much through this book. I LOVED IT so much!! So definitely check it out when it hits shelves in 2017!

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

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. I ugly cried during moments of this book.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Snow Hunters by Paul Yoon. It’s an adult novel. Rather short & a bit of a quiet read, but it has power in it’s quietness and I really did end up enjoying reading it.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

I think probably It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. This book really wrecked me throughout and when I finished. It put my emotions and heart through the wringer.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?

Ticker by Lisa Mantchen. This book had a steampunk world which I’ve never read before.

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

Probably, The Enemy by Charlie Higson because it took so long for me to get through it and the good stuff didn’t happen until the end or only with the one storyline. Most of the action was kind of blah for me for a zombie book and every time one of the British kids referred to soccer as “soccer” and not “football” as the British would call it drove me crazy because it threw me out of the story. These kids all grew up in London. No way would they be calling soccer, “soccer”.

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2016?

I really loved connecting with some great people on Twitter including: Rayna at ReaderRayna.com & Annika at HidingBooks.

I also enjoyed connecting/following Ceillie from CandidCeille & La La in the Library 

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2016?

Hmm I really enjoy writing all my reviews, but I’m going to say my review of Yes Please by Amy Poehler was a fun review to write since the memoir was a honest & fun book to read through!

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

I really enjoyed both the Truthwitch ReadAlong Discussion Posts (1, 2&3, 4) as well as my Diverse Books coming out in the Fall post.

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

#LoveAThon (hosted by Alexa) will always be a favorite of mine every year! But I also really loved the PokemonGo readathon challenge hosted by Aentee at Read At Midnight

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

When I blogged almost every day of August this year. I struggle every year to be more consistent with my blogging and I go through a lot of blogging slumps, but I was really proud of my activity in August and I’m hoping to do even better this coming year. I really really love blogging and interacting with everyone, so I’m trying to use that as motivation to not go into a slump!

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

My most challenging thing had to be my schedule. This past Fall I was working part-time, taking two grad classes and interning for 18 hours a week. My schedule left little room for reading let alone blogging or Instagramming. I was really crushed that I couldn’t squeeze it all in like I wanted to, especially coming off the high of doing so well in August. But now that things are starting to calm down and I’m almost done grad school, I’m hoping that this year will be a lot better time management wise 🙂

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

The most popular post this year overall was the Wicked by Jennifer L. Armentrout cover reveal post, but in terms of posts that I wrote this year, the most popular post was my #ReadThemAllThon TBR post 🙂

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

I really had fun writing my “Back to School” series. I wrote three posts: a book tag post, a required reading recommendation post, and a book list of back-to-school books 🙂

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

Probably visiting Brattle Bookshop for the first time in Boston, MA.

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

Only my GoodReads goal to read 50 books 🙂 Otherwise I failed all my other goals lol.

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

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo & The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

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

Windwitch by Susan Dennard & The Last of August (Charlotte Holmes 2) by Brittany Cavallaro

3. 2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

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

see above ^^^ 🙂 Though I do want to finish up some series this year 😉

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

My big main goal this year is to read as many books that I already own this year before buying/borrowing any others. I’ll still buy some of my must-haves, but I’m going to be focusing on reading all the books I own since this past year (2016) I bought a crap ton that I haven’t read yet lol

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

Geekerella by Ashley Poston!

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Thanks for stopping by to read my survey! I know it’s slightly late, but I still wanted to post it up 🙂 Let me know your 2016 thoughts or drop a link to your survey below!

Happy Reading!

*Disclaimer: None of my links on this post or on this blog are affiliate links. If I ever begin to participate in affiliate links, I will let you know.

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