Hey! đ
I am really excited to share my 2016 end of year book survey with you guys, which was created by Jamie over at The Perpetual Page Turner. All of the graphics were created by her as well and can be found over on her page linked above. You can also link your 2016Â survey over there for others to see! Shall I get started?
*Links to the books on Goodreads and my reviews if I did one all over here on this page.*
Number Of Books You Read: 105 books read this year.
Number of Re-Reads:Â 6 re-reads.
Genre You Read The Most From:Â It was a pretty well mix of books.
Best Book You Read In 2016?
(If you have to cheat â you can break it down by genre if you want or 2016 release vs. backlist)
Picking just one book is way too hard! I am going to go with two books. Hands down the two below are two of my favorite reads in 2016.
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didnât?
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff
I wanted so badly to love both of these books, but sadly I did not. I enjoyed Yoon’s book, but it didn’t blow me away like it did for everyone else. I would still recommend checking it out. Illuminae was one of my number one disappointments this year. It was a struggle to get through this book. It was sooooo boring. I didn’t start actually getting into it until the last 100 pages and this book is like over 600 pages I believe.
Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
With Malice by Eileen Cook
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige
Most surprising in a….bad way! With Malice got so much hype and it’s my kind of book. I love these mystery/thriller type books, but it was not good. Not at all. Stealing Snow….so sad. I absolutely LOVE Paige’s Dorothy Must Die series and I was surprised when this one did not live up to what I hoped it would be.
Book You âPushedâ The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowtiz
I probably pushed Shattered Blue on a lot of people this year. I am so in love with this book and the second book is releasing in March, so I wanted the world to know about it!
Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?
Best Series: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Best Sequel: Soldier by Julie Kagawa (third book)
Best Ender: Hearts, Fingers, and other Things to Cross by Katie Finn
Best Ender:Â Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Hands down the Falling Kingdoms series is one of my new favorite series that I started this year. I am so in love and obsessed. Soldier is the 3rd book in the Talon series, but HOLY CRAP I love this series so much. I am dying to get my hands on the next book. I am so glad that I finished the Broken Hearts series and the Grisha Trilogy this year. Perfect endings!
Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?
Morgan Rhodes and Colleen Hoover
These two amazing authors! I’ve never read a book by Morgan Rhodes or Colleen Hoover until this year and I am obsessed and in love with both of their writing and books. SO GOOD!
Best book from a genre you donât typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hess
I haven’t read a whole lot of books in the historical fiction genre, but I was sent this ARC for review and I absolutely loved it. It’s set in 1943 Amsterdam when the Holocaust was happening.
Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes
So much was going happening in this book and I flew through it. Non-stop action and I don’t think I ever got off the edge of my seat and the ending…ahhhhhh!
Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I honestly have no idea which book (if any) that I will re-read next year. I’ll keep you posted on that one next year, lol. I have so many books that I need to read that I haven’t read yet. hah.
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?
Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
I am totally digging the book cover for Gemini and I also really enjoyed this book so much. It’s about conjoined twins and they both want different things out of life and to be their own person. Even though I didn’t completely love The Sun Is Also a Star, the book cover is gorgeous.
Most memorable character of 2016?
Kelsier from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
Kelsier was hilarious and witty. He was protective of his friends and the cause they were fighting for. It’s hard not to love him. Sanderson is so good with writing his characters and you get so connected with them.
Most beautifully written book read in 2016?
Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
I loved Wildflower so much. I really like Drew Barrymore and her book was so perfect. I listened to the audiobook and it was read by her, so it was even better getting to hear her story in her own words and voice. Although It Ends with Us was not my favorite CoHo book, it was still such a good read and it’s a very important book. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking.
Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016?
I am going to go with a book that I think that everyone should read, especially if you have kids. And if you have older kids that can read and understand this book, make them read it too. It’s SO important.
Teacher Misery by Jane Morris
âTeacher Misery paints an amusing and thoroughly entertaining picture of what has become of our education system, without detracting from the overall point that what teachers have to put up with today is complete, utter, unacceptable insanity.â This pretty much sums up exactly what this book is about. Itâs pure insanity. There is no other way to put it. I have always had lots of respect for teachers and feel that they are underpaid and not at all appreciated enough, but after reading Teacher Misery I have even more respect for them. Itâs crazy what kids can get away with and what kids (and parents and administration) actually think are okay. – the rest of my review over here.
Book you canât believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?Â
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Loved it so much. The end, lol. Check out my review here and then go read it right now and keep a box of tissues next to you.
Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016?
âIf youâre going to live, you might as well do painful, brave, and beautiful things.â – The Serpent King
âWe all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that weâre a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine.â – Dark Matter
“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.” – It Ends with Us.
Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?
(How I did this: Went to my read books on Goodreads and sorted by page number and just looked for what I knew I read this year that was the shortest and longest.)
Shortest: The Crown and the Arrow by Renee Ahdieh (9 pages)
Longest: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (880 pages)
Book That Shocked You The Most
(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
This book had so much going on and it was so exciting. It was so hard to put down and everything about it was so interesting. I was actually pretty shocked with all the emotions I felt while reading it. I didn’t expect it, to be honest. I honestly didn’t think I would cry as much as I did, lol. Sanderson’s writing is so good and it’s so hard not to feel ALL THE FEELINGS, hah. The ending though…cried for days.
OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
(OTP = one true pairing if you arenât familiar)
Magnus and Cleo from the Falling Kingdoms series.
I live for for Magnus and Cleo. I can’t wait to dive into Crystal Storm in January, because I need more Magneo!
Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
Lily and Ted from Lily and the Octopus
Lily and Ted, OMG. Why do I keep reading books about dogs that make me cry my eyes out? It’s so sad, but the relationship between a man and his pup is strong (especially Lily and Ted). Always. Love these two so much.
Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author Youâve Read Previously
Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz.
I reread Shattered Blue twice this year and loved it both times I reread it. I listened to the audiobook though. I read it myself last year, but I was stoked to give the audiobook a try. And now I need to go read Renegade Red!
Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Lauren said that I should read this book, because it was amazing and some crazy stuff happens in it. She wasn’t liking. It was so freaking good and yes, crazy stuff happened. I highly recommend picking this one up.
Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016?
Magnus from the Falling Kingdoms series
I’m picking this series for everything, I know I know…but you just have no idea how good it is. I will forever love Magnus Damora.
Best 2016 debut you read?
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
The Serpent King again….yes. It was so good and deserves to be on here a million times. You should go read it now. đ
Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
I am just going to leave this right here…
LMAO đ
Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Everland by Wendy Spinale
Everland is a steampunk retelling of Peter Pan and it’s such a fun read. I loved every minute of it. I love Peter Pan and I loved this retelling. I don’t think I ever read any other Peter Pan retellings, but this one is fun, exciting, and at times could be pretty intense. Pete is hilarious and I laughed so much.
Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover and pretty much every single CoHo book I read this year. I cry easily though and I probably cried throughout half the books that I read this year LOL.
Hidden Gem Of The Year?
My Kind of Crazy by Robin Reul
The Ugly Teapot: Hannah by Fred Holmes
Why are more people not talking about these two books? They were so freaking good. My Kind of Crazy was such a fun book, but it was also so sad. One of my favorites. Holmes sent me a copy of his book to review and I am so glad that he did. It was so good and totally unpredictable. A few twists and so much adventure.
Book That Crushed Your Soul?
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.
A Monster Calls did some serious damage on my soul. I honestly don’t think I ever stopped crying while reading this book. DAMN YOU, NESS! I love you to pieces though. This book was beautiful and amazing and everything. The illustrations made it even better.
Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?
Just a Few Inches by Tara St. Pierre
I never read a book like this. This is about a girl that took some diet pills to fit into a dress wanted for a dance, but she kept shrinking and shrinking. It was so strange, but so good. It was hard to put down, because I wanted to see just how small she would get.
Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesnât necessarily mean you didnât like it)
The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
I LOVED The Knife of Never Letting Go so much, SO SO SO MUCH! The Ask and the Answer was pretty lame, to be honest. I was so disappointed that it wasn’t no where near as good as The Knife was. Monsters of Men, I gave it 4 stars, but I struggled so much with rating it. So many times I didn’t know if I loved it or just really disliked it. It also really made me mad, because certain characters in the book annoyed me so much…VIOLA! I’ll always dislike her…and some other characters, blehh. I still love Ness so much; because even though it wasn’t amazing all the way through, it took an emotional toll on me. It gave me so many mixed feelings and pulled me in so many directions. The way I talk about this series, I feel like I should have loved it more than anything. It was still enjoyable though, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t love it like I want to and it honestly makes me angry that I don’t. #$@&%*!!
New favorite book blog you discovered in 2016?
I didn’t follow too many new blogs this year, but I did discover Lillian from LairOfBooks this year and she’s such a sweet person and has awesome posts on her blog!
Favorite review that you wrote in 2016?
It’s so hard to pick just one favorite review I wrote this year, so here are four. I will say though, this was the year that I lacked in writing reviews. Next year I hope to write more than I did this year.
Every Exquisite Thing
A Monster Calls
Dark Matter
Teacher Misery
Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
I don’t really do any discussion posts on my blog (I hope to start in 2017!), so I will go with one of my Top Ten Tuesday posts. This one was for some of my anticipated 2016 releases for the second part of 2016. It had a lot of views and comments.
Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
I actually went to an author event/signing this year! All the way in California. I flew across the country to meet Lauren Bird Horowitz (author of Shattered Blue) for her book signing. It was so exciting and so cool to meet her. I also met author Kristen Hunt (author of Blonde Eskimo) and I got to meet Maren from The Worn Bookmark! We all got to hangout for the weekend. I stayed an entire week and got to help out at all of Lauren’s signings.
Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016?
It was my one year blogiversary in January and I reached over 700 followers on my blog this year, which was really exciting. I think it was even more exciting because I wasn’t as active as I was last year (my first year) with blogging. So I was stoked that you guys still stuck around and still wanted to read my blog!
Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
I would have to say the most challenging this year was actually sticking to blogging and reading. I was in so many reading slumps this year and it made it so hard to actually blog. I wasn’t reading, so I didn’t always have much to blog about. It was also a really busy year for me, so trying to juggle reading, blogging, and life all at one time was so hard.
Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
The most popular post on my blog this year was my Top 5 Wednesday|| Fandoms post. It was about my top five fandoms that I love. It had the most views.
Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
I don’t really have a post for this one.
Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
I started my bookstagram this year, so I guess that’s one of the best bookish discoveries. I used Instagram for years for my every day life, but I recently made an account just for books and it’s been awesome.
Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I attempted a few reading challenge and had quite a few goals as well. I unfortunately didn’t accomplish/complete the majority of them. I did complete my Goodreads challenge, which was to read 100 books.
One Book You Didnât Get To In 2016 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017?
All of my books….lol. I have so many unread books that I didn’t get to in 2015 and once again didn’t get to them in 2016. I definitely plan to read The Darkest Minds and Crystal Storm right away. They are going straight to my January TBR.
Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-debut)?
I can’t choose just one, so here’s three. đ
Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
Bang by Barry Lyga
I am super stoked about all of these new books from these guys!I love the Divergent series so much and I am super stoked to see what else Roth has up her sleeve. You all know just by reading this post how much I love Zentner’s first book (The Serpent King) and can’t wait to read his new book. A new Lyga book, I don’t even have to say more. I live for the Jasper Dent series and want to read and own all of his books.
2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Super stoked about these two books. I’ve been hearing a ton of awesome things about them both and can’t wait to read them myself.
Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017?
Renegade Red by Lauren Bird Horowitz
Umberland by Wendy Spinale
I can’t wait to see what happens next in the Light Trilogy after that crazy ending, so I am dying to get my hands on Renegade Red. Umberland is the second book in the Everland series and it’s I believe an Alice in Wonderland retelling. SO STOKED!
One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017?
I am hoping that I find the time to read more and blog more. Last year time was not on my side. I had a million other things that took away a lot of my time and I couldn’t do as much as I had hoped on my blog.
A 2017 Release Youâve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:
Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist
I really enjoyed Love and First Sight and I would definitely recommend checking it out. It’ll be released January 3rd, so really soon!
That’s all for my  2016 end of the year survey. If you made it all the way to the end, then high five to you! You are awesome. It took me a couple weeks to actually get this post completed, so I am glad to finally have it done and posted for you guys. 2016 was one crazy year. Good and bad. I can’t wait to see what 2017 holds for me with blogging, reading, and all other aspects of my life! Thanks for sticking with me another year and feel free to link me to your survery posts! đ
In case you missed it;
Book Haul|| December.
Recap|| December.
2016 Goals|| Fail or Win?
Happy New Year! đ
socially awkward bookworm. 