I know I might be a bit late with this post, but the read-a-thon last week really sucked up all of my time… Instead of doing my normal Year In Review post, I’ve decided to complete part of this 2015 End Of Year Book Survey created by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner. It sounded like a fun way to think about the books I’ve read last year!
Number Of Books You Read: 185
Number of Re-Reads: 5
Genre You Read The Most From: Fiction
1. Best Book You Read In 2015?
(If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2015 release vs. backlist)
Really, only one? I think I’m going to cheat and break it down by genre. And even then especially with the fantasy genre it’s really hard to just pick one…
- Mystery/Thriller: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga
- Science Fiction: The Martian by Andy Weir
- Contemporary: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
- Fantasy: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
- Romance: November 9 by Colleen Hoover
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
There were actually quite a few that disappointed me last year… But these five titles below were the five that let me down most.
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- Landline by Rainbow Rowell
- And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
- Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley
- The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
I first thought Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas was a contempory romance/ beach read, but I’m so glad I was wrong! This read has some very intense plot twists and scenes and I the ending was crazy! LOVED it.
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
I think between Ashley @ Socially Awkward Bookworm and me people have been driven crazy with all the Jasper Dent recommendations haha. This series is without doubt one of my favorite 2015 reads and I can’t wait to revisit them this year! Words cannot describe how awesome this series is. ❤
5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?
- Best Series: Jasper Dent series by Barry Lyga.
- Best Sequel: Crown Of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
- Best Ender: Winter by Marissa Meyer
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?
This is such a hard question because I discovered so many new authors! I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one or two.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
This one is easy: I normally don’t like romance stories and I tend to stay away from them, but I absolutely loved November 9 by Colleen Hoover.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
I’m not going to repeat myself and name I Hunt Killers yet again, so I have chosen The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.
9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I don’t do a lot of rereads, but I already know I want to at least revisit Jasper Dent‘s world this year… I’m getting repititive, I know. (I’m serious, go read this series!!)
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?
Again, this is a very difficult question since there are a lot of gorgeous covers out there. But I think I will go with Siege And Storm by Leigh Bardugo and The Shock Of The Fall by Nathan Filer. I love black & white in a cover as well as interesting fonts and/or graphics. I love anything blue/green or absence of persons/girls in dresses as well. 😀
11. Most memorable character of 2015?
I know it sounds like cheating, but I really couldn’t pick just one favorite/memorable character.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?
The prose in The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is just so beautiful and creative! Although there are a lot of books that fall under this one.
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?
None Of The Above by I.W. Gregorio is a book everybody should read just because of the topic. It’s a very important read and well written as well!
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?
Definitely The Lunar Chronicles (Cinder) by Marissa Meyer, although in a way I’m glad I did because the wait for Winter would have been painful.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?
I have so many quotes of books I love that it’s too hard to just pick one… Here‘s a list of all my quotes at goodreads.
16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?
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 yeaer that was the shortest and longest.
Shortest Book: Glitches by Marissa Meyer (32 pages)
Longest Book: Winter by Marissa Meyer (824 pages)
17. Book That Shocked You The Most
(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)
Definitely The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I remember staring at the last page thinking: “IT CANNOT END THIS WAY! THERE HAVE TO BE MORE PAGES!”. This book pretty much fills all points above (plot twist, character death, wide open mouth)
18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)
I LOVED Simon and Blue (Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli) together; they are just too cute!
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
Such a hard question! My mind is drawing a blank right now.
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Mm, tricky one, but I think I will go with Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.
21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
I normally don’t pick up romance novels, but Colleen Hoover‘s work has been recommended to me so many times that I decided to give it a go. November 9 ended up being one of my favorite 2015 reads!
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?
It may sound weird, but I don’t really fall in love with my characters… Or at least not in that way. 😉
23. Best 2015 debut you read?
There are quite a few debuts I loved, but I will go for Made You Up by Francesca Zappia.
24. Best World-building/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
I really loved the worldbuilding in Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, although there are many other titles that would make a close second.
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell was just such a cute and adorable read I couldn’t help myself but smile…
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?
I don’t cry a lot when I’m reading a book, but The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand definitely brought tears to my eyes.
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
I really enjoyed this YA dragon-fantasy story and I still can’t believe it isn’t more popular! Firebolt by Adrienne Woods is more than recommended if you haven’t tried it yet.
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
I’m not going to comment because of possible spoilers, but those who’ve read The Knife Of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness will know what I mean.
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?
I’m still not sure if I actually liked Me and Earl And The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, but it was without doubt an unique, original and quirky read.
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
I’m not sure if it’s the book that frustrated me the most, but I really came close to DNFing Love And Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan. I probably would have thrown it against the wall if I hadn’t been reading an e-copy on my kindle!
Don’t worry, Yvo, I’m still working on mine – you can expect it in February! No, hopefully soon! Great idea, the survey!
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I’ll look out for it! I ended up doing only the first part since it’s so long…
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You rocked the reading last year!! So impressive. And read some awesome books. Makes me SO happy to see November 9 on your survey!! 🙂
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And thank you for convincing me to read November 9! I’m SO glad I gave this book a chance. 😀
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The Martian made my list too! Great book.
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Good to hear you enjoyed The Martian as well! It’s on my all time favorites list. 🙂
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Fabulous list Yvo! I too was disappointed by We Were Liars, but I just picked up November 9 and now I really can’t wait to read that story! And oh yeah, The Knife of Never Letting Go has a brutal ending. So does the 2nd book in that trilogy too! They are the best and worst kind of cliffhangers lol. 🙂
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November 9 is SO good! I hope you enjoy it. And I think part of the reason that I haven’t read the Chaos Walking sequels yet is that I want to get a copy of both to avoid the second cliffhanger… 😉
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Me too! 😊 That’s a smart idea to wait until you can get the third book. I did the exact same thing.
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I’m hoping to get around to Jasper Dent this year on account of hearing all about it from Ashley weekly. Everyone that’s been pushed this series seems to have really enjoyed it so that’s really promising!
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I read the series at about the same time as Ashley and I remember that we both couldn’t stop raving about it haha. It’s SUCH a good series; you won’t be disappointed! 🙂
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I had Jasper Dent on my survey quite a bit too. It was just so so good! I am glad we both got to read the series and loved it so much.
Sadly, I haven’t been enjoying the Lunar Chronicles as much as I hoped I would have. 😦
I didn’t enjoy We Were Liars or The Wrath and the Dawn so much either. I still want to read the sequel for the Wrath though, because I am hoping its better.
Made You Up, None of the Above, Simon vs., and The Knife of Never Letting Go were some of my favorite reads of 2015.
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I think everybody is getting sick of us mentioning Jasper Dent all the time haha. But it’s just SO good! I’m sorry to hear you didn’t like The Lunar Chronicles that much… At least there are tons of other series out there that you might enjoy better. 😉
I will probably read the sequel Of The Wrath at some point as well, because I did like the second half better than the slow beginning… Although I won’t be waiting in line to get a copy as soon as it comes out.
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I got the author of Shattered Blue to read the Jasper Dent series. She’s currently on Game now, HAHA! So far she is liking it a lot.
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Haha that’s so cool! I really need to get a copy of Shattered Blue by the way…
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Have only read one book so far in the Jasper Dent series, but it would definitely make my list.
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The first book is still my absolute favorite, but I liked all three books in the series. Definitely one of my all time favorites!
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