End Of Year Book Survey – 2012

Best In Books 2012

1. Best Book You Read In 2012? (You can break it down by genre if you want)

I definitely can’t decide on an overall best book, so I’ll be breaking it down by genre! And I’m also going to cheat and have several books in each category..

• Adult Contemporary: In The After by Ashley Mackler-Paternostro
• Erotica: Seduced in the Dark by C.J. Roberts, Bared to You by Sylvia Day
• Contemporary (YA/NA): Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
• Dystopian: Divergent by Veronica Roth, Black City by Elizabeth Richards
• Fantasy: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• Fairy Tale Retellings: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Paranormal: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins, Immortal City by Scott Speer, Everneath by Brodi Ashton
• Science Fiction: Insignia by S.J. Kincaid, Partials by Dan Wells, A Million Suns by Beth Revis

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

This one is easy for me, but I have two books: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman and What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang. I really highly anticipated both of these books and they ended up falling really flat for me. I didn’t finish either of them. 🙁

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012?

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes. This book is marketed as being great for fans of George R.R. Martin. I didn’t expect to like it because I’m not a fan of Martin’s books (I know.. I don’t like Game of Thrones. Sue me.). But I ended up really loving this book! It did start off a tad rocky for me, mostly because I was sceptical, but by the end I was really enjoying it and was eager to read more!

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

Probably The Dark Duet series. I screamed about this series from the rooftops! It just completely blew my mind and I had to share it with everyone.

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?

Across the Universe. I loved the first book, but then I REALLY REALLY REALLY loved A Million Suns. I can’t wait to see what happens in Shades of Earth!

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?

OMG so many! How do I even begin.. crap.. Okay, let’s see:

• Ashley Robertson — She is a total and complete SWEETHEART! I read her book UnGuarded and loved it, but Ashley is also such a great person! *hugs*
• Ashley Mackler-Paternostro — Noticing a pattern here? Ashleys are awesome! She’s super sweet and her book In The After was so powerful. I read it cuddled up in my boyfriends arms.. good memories.
• CJ Roberts — Wow she is brilliantly dark, scary, and full of kink. Is that weird for me to say? Read The Dark Duet and you’ll agree with me. Her books have become really successful and she totally deserves it!!
• M.R. Merrick — Such a great guy, an amazing author, and so engaging with his fans. Plus his books are brilliant!
• Wendy Higgins — Another real sweetheart! She’s so fun and I love stalking her on Twitter!

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

Yay, another easy one! Ten by Gretchen McNeil. I don’t read horror books. I don’t even watch horror movies that often because I usually find them more cheesy and unnecessarily gory than actually scary. But ten was fast-paced, intriguing, and it actually gave me chills! It was downright creepy and I loved it.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

Divergent by Veronica Roth. This book pulled me out of a reading slump and I just read and read and read and read. I was unstoppable!

9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:

Either Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire or Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry. Both of these books rocked my universe and both of them have sequels coming out in 2013! I’ll definitely be rereading them. 🙂

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?

This was a bit tough for me since there are so many book covers that I absolutely adore, but I think Splintered by A.G. Howard wins! The cover is so fun, bright, a tad creepy, and I love everything about it! I don’t have a hardcover but I saw photos of it on Howard’s Facebook, and even those look gorgeous!

11. Most memorable character in 2012?

Hmm this is kind of tough for me. But I think I’ll go with Nastya in The Sea of Tranquility. In general this book is very memorable and powerful, but Nastya in particular really stood out for me. She’s a little odd, anti-social, and has some serious demons in her past. It’s been weeks and I’m still thinking about her!

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?

I feel awkward saying this, but I don’t know. When I read a book, I rarely pay attention to how it’s written. I care more about things like plot, story, characters, and conflicts. It’s rare that I notice prose or writing style. *hides*

But I guess if I had to pick, I’d say In The After by Ashley Mackler-Paternostro. There are so many amazing things about this book. It has been a few weeks since I’ve read it, but I do remember the writing being really well done. It was one of those “frantically highlight” books.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?

Seduced in the Dark by CJ Roberts. When I finished reading this book, I was in a daze. My expression was basically: O_O This book is such a crazy, insane mindfuck.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read?

Across the Universe by Beth Revis. Seriously.. what was holding me back? The cover is amazing, the story is amazing, the second book is amazing.. IT’S ALL AMAZING!!

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?

Some stories aren’t black and white.
Seduced in the Dark by CJ Roberts

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012?

Shortest: Flukes by Michole Chase—162 pages
Longest: Love Unscripted by Tina Reber—576 pages

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, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

The ending and final twist in In The After by Ashley Mackler-Paternostro! As I said before, I read the whole book cuddled up in my boyfriend’s arms. For the most part I was silent while reading. Then I got to the end and I was just like… “OH MY GODOFDOWEORTJ234RT34ERFJA R0124u20!!!!!!!” And my boyfriend was like “WHOAH?? WHAT IS IT?? WHAT’S GOING ON???” And I could barely even convey my excitement. I was spouting nonsense for like five minutes.

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

Another really tough one! In terms of a sweet relationship, I think Lauren and Michael in Back to you by Priscilla Glenn. They had an interesting history and the romance was beautiful! And the end.. oh my god the end.. there were happy tears.

As for fucked up relationships, definitely Caleb and Livvie in Seduced in the Dark by CJ Roberts. I have never read about a more fucked up relationship than in this book. But it manages to be completely insane, wrong, and so sweet and right at the same time. HOW???

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously

Well.. I think the ONLY book I’ve read in 2012 from an author I’ve read previously is The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan. But to be honest, I wasn’t really crazy about the book. I mean, it was good, but it doesn’t really rack up to many other books I’ve read this year. But I suppose it’s the only one that fits the question. 😛

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

Normally, I never do this. If a book sounds good, I read a bunch of reviews, see what a bunch of friends think, and carefully consider before purchasing/requesting the book. But I bought Back to You by Priscilla Glenn purely on a whim. I got one recommendation for it and it was so amazing and I was so in the mood for that genre that I immediately went out and purchased it. IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!! 🙂

Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2012

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2012?

Three stand out the strongest: Bewitched Bookworms, Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, and Book Haven Extraordinaire.

Danny from Bewitched Bookworms is AWESOME! We have very similar tastes in books, she’s super sweet, and I adore her New Adult Mondays and discussion posts!
Jennifer from R&WUF&PR (it’s a mouthful!) is the only blogger I’ve met in person! She’s so much fun, I love her reviews, and I really trust her opinion on books! I can’t wait to meet up with her again. 🙂
Inky from Book Haven Extraordinaire is wild, crazy, and quirky. I love it when she gets excited about a book because her excitement is so contagious!

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2012?

Oh crap. I’m going to cheat again. This is going to be quite a list!

• Seduced in the Dark by CJ Roberts — When I finished this book I was like O_O @_@ *_* “_” I was just freaking out. I kind of wanted to just smack my hands across the keyboard and that would be my review. BECAUSE I WAS SO FREAKING EXCITED!!! I think the first two lines of my review say it all: “Holy shit. HOLY FUCKING SHIT. This is going to be the most incoherent stream of consciousness of a review, because this book tore my head apart.”
• Insignia by S.J. Kincaid — Okay I went kind of psycho techie geek in this review. I was definitely getting a little weird. Also it’s one of my longer reviews because I just wanted to talk about EVERYTHING!!!
• Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James — This was one of the few times where I just let everything go and I bashed the shit out of this book. Normally I try to be really respectful when I write negative reviews, but every now and then you just have to let the shit fly. I feel bad having my most negative/critical review be one of my favourites, but honestly, sometimes it just feels good to rage. I felt like I had a lot to say and a lot of points to address, and I really enjoy writing reviews when I have a lot of content to work with. Sometimes if you love a book, it’s hard to know what to say other than, “I loved it, it was amazing.”

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?

The Worst Feeling in the Book Blogging World where I talk about how awful it is when I meet amazing and sweet authors, and then I don’t like their books. 🙁 Some fabulous bloggers and authors commented and I think we got some great discussions going!

4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?

I love this discussion about Blog Snobbery & Intentions on Radiant Shadows. This was definitely a blog post that made me think! It also introduced me to Kelly’s blog and now I absolutely LOVE IT!!

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

I went to the summer Dark Days tour in Huntington Beach! That’s where I met Jennifer! We had so much fun and I got to meet Dan Wells, S.J. Kincaid, Veronica Roth, and Aprilynne Pike! I actually haven’t read Aprilynne’s books yet, but I’ve read books by the other three authors and they’re some of my all time favourites!!

6. Best moment of book blogging in 2012?

Honestly, my favourite moments are really small, silly things.. like when an author I loved commented on my review, or getting a certain book request approved, or seeing the same person commenting on my blog again and again (repeat visitors ROCK!), or coding some WordPress plugins that are helpful for book bloggers.. Of course, it was AMAZING to get my first physical ARCs and to get auto-approved for HarperTeen books on Edelweiss (seriously, HarperTeen is freaking AMAZING), but I think it’s the little moments that really stood out the most to me. 🙂

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

Oddly enough, my most popular post this year is Rick Riordan’s Book Tour Starts May 1st! But only because that post gets TONS of views from people Googling “rick riordan book tour”. My other most popular posts are:

• Review & Giveaway: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
• Review & Giveaway: Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
• Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
• Seduced in the Dark by CJ Roberts

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

What is Your Favourite or Strangest Reading Nook? My blog was still quite new when I posted this, but I still wish it got more comments. Mostly because I secretly hope people read in odd and strange places… but maybe they don’t!

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

Definitely Goodreads. I’m actually embarrassed to say I didn’t know about Goodreads before I started blogging!

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

I set a Goodreads reading challenge goal and I ended up having to increase it…twice! I started out modestly: 50 books a year. I quickly passed that after just a few months! So I increased it to 75 and then had to increase it again to 100! The count so far is 116+ books! 🙂

Looking Ahead…

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2012 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2013?

Probably Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout. All of my blogger friends LOOOOVE this book! I do own a copy, so hopefully I’ll get around to it soon!

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2013?

Okay, I need a list for this..

• Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire
• Mind Games by Kiersten White
• Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
• Everbound by Brodi Ashton
• The Collector by Victoria Scott
• The Elite by Kiera Cass
• Phoenix by Elizabeth Richards
• Vortex by S.J. Kincaid

3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2013?

I’d love to do more discussion posts. They’re a lot of fun and I love reading peoples’ comments on them! It can be hard to think of fun topics though.

Another thing I’d like to do is be more social/active on Twitter. I’m honestly not a very social person. If someone talks to me or initiates a conversation with me, I’m pretty good at replying and keeping the discussion going.. but I SUCK at just leaping in and starting conversations on Twitter. I’m awful at it! But everyone keeps saying that Twitter is the place to connect with bloggers, so I need to get more involved!