End of the Year Survey 2013

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Because this was so much fun last year.  Thanks Jamie for making such a fun survey every year!

Best YA book 2013


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)

Contemporary YA – Hopeless by Colleen Hoover (The Feels!!!!)
Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic – Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Paranormal —Origin by JLA
Science Fiction — Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris or Pivot Point by Kasie West
Fantasy — Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and Sentinel by JLA

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

    
I love the covers of these, but the content wasn't what I expected at all.

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

I only read Golden because it was chosen for my book club's book of the month, but I am sooooo glad I did.  I ended up adoring this book and I was pleasantly surprised by that.

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

I know everyone talks about The Fault in our Stars, but I seriously can't recommend it enough.  It helped me through hard times and it's very powerful.  Everyone should experience it once.

 5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

I started the Grisha series this year and WOW you guys.  It was my first real Fantasy book and holy moly I'm glad I picked that one to start with.  AMAZING.

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?

I'm obssessed with Sarah J. Maas after reading Throne of Glass this year.

The Bookish Wedding Tag

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I got to part two in The Girl of Fire and Thorns so there will be a review coming up within this next week.  I feel like a bad blogger for not reading lately.  But I've been focusing on BookTube and stuff so here is yet another video.

Tag videos in the BookTube world are fun visual surveys pretty much.  So I created one where you pick which fictional characters you'd want to attend your wedding and what roles they would play.  Here are my answers.


And as always you don't have to be a vlogger to participate.  I'll leave the questions below if you want to do this in a blog post format.

A to Z Survey

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AtoZsurvey
Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner created this fun survey for us bloggers to get to know each other better.  It inspired me to make up my own type of survey that's in the works right now.

Author you’ve read the most books from:

Sarah Dessen hands down.  I own all her books except for three and I reread them often.  She's one of the few author's I auto-buy too.

Best Sequel Ever:

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi- The writing got even better if that was possible and the characters grew so much and I fell for Warner!

Currently Reading:

Just finished Anatomy of a Single Girl.  Not sure what to read next.  Any suggestions?

Drink of Choice While Reading:

Either hot tea or iced tea.  I like regular, peach green tea, ginger green tea, or even passion fruit.

E-reader or Physical Book?

It's weird. I love me some physical books, yet I read faster when I read ebooks.  But maybe that's because the only ebooks I read are mostly romances which tend to go faster anyway.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School:

Tucker from Unearthly series.  He's just so sweet and family oriented and adorable.  

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance:

Golden by Jessi Kirby.  I didn't want to read this because the cover isn't appealing to me, but it was chosen as the Book BFFs book of the month.  I'm glad I read it because it's awesome.

Hidden Gem Book:

Every Little Piece by Kate Ashton I never would have tried this one if I hand't been part of the blog tour for it.  It was really good!

Important Moment in your Reading Life:

This will sound silly, but creating a twitter account for my blog.  Until I did that I didn't realize how many people had book blogs and that there was this whole community out there.  It really started everything for me.

Just Finished:

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read:

I want to try more Historical Fiction before I completely write it off, but I really don't like Steam Punk in particular.  I also haven't felt like reading much Adult Fiction lately unless it's personally recommended to me.

Longest Book You’ve Read:

Probably one of the Harry Potter books, but I just started Anna Karenina the other day and that's like 1,000,000 pages so that'll win.

Major book hangover because of:


There's a reason it got 4.54 rating on goodreads.  GO READ IT NOW!!!!

Number of Bookcases You Own:

Just one for now.  When I move I'll get more for sure.  I eventually want a library in my future house.  Maybe like this.

Or This

Or This

Ya I basically need to marry a beast to get Belle's library one day.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:

Before blogging I never knew what to read so I just reread my old books.  I've read this one a bunch.

Preferred Place To Read:

I like to read outside.  Especially the park or the beach.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:

“And while I could sit here and feel sorry for myself, wondering why all of this happened to me..I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to wish for a perfect life. The things that knock you down in life are tests, forcing you to make a choice between giving in and remaining on the ground or wiping the dirt off and standing up even taller than you did before you were knocked down. I'm choosing to stand taller. I'll probably get kicked down a few more times before this life is through with me, but I can guarantee you I'll never stay on the ground.” 
― Colleen Hoover, Hopeless

Reading Regret:

Reading adult fiction or choosing not to read at all because I thought I wasn't supposed to read YA anymore once I reached college.  I wasted time when I could have been reading amazing books!

Series You Started And Need To Finish(all books are out in series):

I just created a FictFact account to keep track of all my series, but I guess the one I want to finish the most is Gone by Michael Grant.  I only read book 1, but I really liked it.

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books:

I'm not sure what my answer will be a few days, months, years from now, but my current favorites are:
    
These books just made me feel alive by pumping so many emotions through me all at once.  I will definitely reread them many times.

Unapologetic Fangirl For:

All Jennifer L Armentrout books.  If I could I'd become her publicist because I push her books on anyone I can.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others:

Speaking of JLA...this little gem comes out in a week or so and I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER!

Worst Bookish Habit:

Tricky! What I deem as my worst bookish habit or what you all would? haha. I already laid out mybook crimes and you guys cringed so I’ll just go with what I deem it to be…overdue library books! ALWAYS. I can never get it there on time!

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Your latest book purchase:

Crown of Embers by Rae Carson. I loved The Girl of Fire of Thorns and got book three for review and then I saw this one was on sale!

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

The Program by Suzanne Young. I was going to put it down before bed but was like “what’s one more chapter?” and then uh oh…it’s 3am.

The Random # Survey

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Jamie's A-Z Survey inspired me to make up a survey!  This is a way to share your bookshelves with other bloggers.   If you decide to do it please link back to this post.

How to participate:

1. Pick a number.  
Keep in mind how many books you have.  If you have one bookshelf like me you may want to keep it between 1-10.  If you're like Book BFF Angela and have a bunch of bookshelves you may want to pick between a higher range like 1-50.  

I used Random.org and got the # 8!

2. Go to your bookshelf and count that many books until you reach your number. Answer the question with that book.
(I counted 8 books in and got Delirium).  So I used Delirium to answer question 1.  

3. Count the same number of books from where you left off and answer the next question.
 Then I counted 8 more books after Delirium and got The Evolution of Mara Dyer and used that book to answer question 2.  You get the idea...

4. Repeat until you finish the survey
If you land on a book you haven't read yet pick the closest book to the left that you have read and then count on from there for the next question.  You can also add a picture of your bookshelf!


The number I chose: 8

1. What do you think of the cover?
Delirium
Is that a head of lettuce growing out of her ear?  I wasn't very happy when they did the cover changes for this series.  I don't think the girl's face and a random plant have anything to do with the series.  Anyone else agree?

2. Write a review in 140 characters or less.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer:
Best sequel I've read in 2013 since it was fast paced, romantic, funny, original, creepy, and a mind f*ck.  Also, Noah is hot. Go read it! 

3. How or where did you get this book?

Apollyon:
I won it from a giveaway at Synchronized Reading!

4. Who's your favorite character in this book and why?

HP & The Goblet of Fire
This is so hard!  I guess my favorite character is Ron.  I would say Hermione, but she was annoying in this book with the whole House Elf freeing thing.  And Luna doesn't show up until Order of Phoenix.  So Ron because he's funny and a loyal friend.

5. Recommend this book to a fellow blogger you think would like it.

The Collector
I think Melina from Pretty Nifty YA Reader would like this because she liked Daemon in Obsidian and they are very similar characters.  They've got that over confident yet good guy thing going on.

6. How long ago did you read this book?

Exiled
I just read this during the BookTubeAThon actually.  I really liked it and want to continue the series soon.  It was one of my favorite Male POVs ever.

7. Name a favorite scene from this book. (NO SPOILERS)

Sweet Peril
The scene where they "bake brownies and do laundry" *wink* *wink*.  Did I mention how much I <3 Kaiden?

8.  Open to page 87 and pick a random quote to share (NO SPOILERS)

Anatomy of A Boyfriend


9. How did you hear about or discover this book?

Easy
I think I just saw it around the blogosphere.  But then I read this author's other books Between the Lines and now I'm a fan of all her writing.

10. If you could redesign the cover what would you do?

Last Summer
Something a little more true to the book.  In the book she helps him overcome a drug problem so I would make the cover a little darker--a stormy day on the beach.  Maybe show her holding him or something.

11. Name your least favorite character in this book and why?

The forbidden Boy
It's been so long since I've read this, but I always love the guys in Hailey Abbott's books so I think it's safe to say Remi the love interest.

12. Fill in the blank.  If you like ________ then you should try (Your Book).

If you like Wanted or The Bourne Identity (the movies) Then you should try The Syndicate.

I cheated and used movies because I couldn't think of a book that's similar.  I guess the closest thing would be Exiled by MR Merrick.

13. Name one cool thing about this book (under the dust jacket, map, font, photograph, etc.)

The Host
It's hard to see in this picture, but I like that the eye is reflective on the dust jacket.  I could stare at it all day even though that face gives me the creeps.

14.  Where is it set and would you ever want to visit that world/place?

Pride and Prejudice
England! I def wish I could visit the area that it's really set in. 

15.  Who is it deticated to?

Someone Else's Fairytale


Now tag 3 bloggers you want to do this survey.
make sure to let them know you tagged them! 

I tag: 
Michelle from In Libris Veritas
Jenea from Books Live Forever
Alise from Readers in Wonderland

You don't have to be tagged to do the survey.  That's just for funsies.








End of the Year Book Survey 2012

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Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner is hosting her third annual end of the year survey.  I've seen this around on a lot of people's blogs and it looks like fun.

Best In Books 2012


1. Best Book You Read In 2012? (You can break it down by genre if you want)
Adult fiction: When She Woke
Contemporary YA: Anna and the French Kiss
Dystopian YA: Shatter Me & Under the Never Sky
Sci-fi/supernatural/paranormal-ish (big lumping together): Obsidian
New Adult: Easy & Beautiful Disaster
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
The Maze Runner.  I thought I was going to love this book.  It had gotten such good reviews.  It was actually kind of a depressing book and the slang the boys used got annoying.  It was only interesting the last few chapters of the book.  Very disappointing.
Anna Dressed In Blood. Again everyone raved about this, but I just didn't enjoy it.  The whole romance creeped me out and it was kind of predictable.
 3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012? 
Sweet Evil. I got an ecopy of this book from the library for a long road trip just because I didn't know what else to get.  I ended up loving it and reading it on the trip.
 4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?
Probably Obsidian again lol.  I've been pushing that on everyone who will listen.  Also, Divergent/Insurgent.
 5. Best series you discovered in 2012?
I picked this one up from the library shelf because I thought the cover was interesting.  I remember sitting down to read a bit to see if I wanted to take it out.  A few hours later and I was addicted and glad I picked it up. The Unbecoming of Mara Deyer.
 6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?
Jennifer L. Armentrout.  I will read anything by this lady.  Her writing has humor, romance, and adventure all in one.  And she never disappoints.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I had never read any mermaid books before, but this one made me change my mind.  Of Poseidon was hilarious and I can't wait for the next book to come out.
 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?
Insurgent. I read it in one sitting it was  that good!
 9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:
I want to reread Wanderlove this summer!
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?
I love her dress, the hidden skulls, the border, the off with their heads, the font.  I couldn't wait for this one to come out basically because of the cover.
11. Most memorable character in 2012? 
Since I don't want to answer Daemon for every question I'll say Echo and Noah from Pushing the Limits.  Their story was beautiful and I loved watching them grow together and as individuals. 
 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?
Shatter Me.  It was more like poetry writing than a novel.  It flowed so smoothly and was so descriptive.  And I loved the lines crossed out.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012? 
I don't know why I waited to read this until 2012, but it made me think about everything in life and will definitely stay with me forever. Perks of Being A Wallflower was amazing.
 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read? 
See question 13.
 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012? 
“we accept the love we think we deserve.” 
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

 “And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.” 
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

 “The moon is a loyal companion.
It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do. Every day it’s a different version of itself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human.
Uncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.” 
― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

 “In your dreams, Kitten." He smirked. "Oh wait, I'm already starring in those, aren't I?"
I rolled my eyes.
"Nightmares, Daemon. Nightmares.” 
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Obsidian
 16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012? 
Longest — Daughter of Smoke and Bone went on FOREVER!!! It was beautifully written, but around page 300 I was ready to give up.  I pushed through and finished it though.  I hear it's going to be a movie soon.
Shortest — Hex Hall.  It was so thin that I finished it in a day I think.  It was funny and a quick read anyway.
 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!
I'm going to agree with Jamie...The ending to Pandemonium in the Delirium series!!! I literally considered throwing my ipad at the wall when I read that ending, but decided not to haha.  I can't believe she left it like that.
18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
Travis and Abby's relationship in Beautiful Disaster was just so messed up and realistic.  I had a friend in college whose relationship was kind of like that.  It was just so dysfunctional and different than any relationship I ever read in a book.

 Daemon and Katy were hilarious and their banter made me laugh out loud.
19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously
I read the Iron King and didn't really like it, but I'm glad my goodreads group was reading The Immortal Rules because I ended up loving it!
20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:
Val over at Stuckinbooks.com suggested I read Vampire Academy because I liked Obsidian so much.  I was so glad I listened to her I read all the books in the series!

 Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2012 (optional)


1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2012? 
Well considering I started blogging in 2012 there are a lot lol here are a few.
          
   
2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2012? 
This was the first time someone told me they were going to purchase a book based on my review and it made me so happy.  And I shared a little piece of my life experiences in this review too. Anna and the French Kiss
3. Best discussion you had on your blog?
I haven't done a lot of discussions yet because for the first year I focused on reviews and memes, but here are a few.

 Cover Changes: Good or Bad?
Hi, My Name's Melissa and I'm a Cover Snob...Help!
The Hunger Games: Age Appropriateness

4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?
I love this blogger and reading her post Lets Talk: How Reading Saved My Life really made me think.  She talks about how reading has pulled her through hard times.  I'm sure most of us can relate.  If you don't follow Danielle yet you should!
5. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
Before I started blogging I'd never really followed authors on twitter or anything (except Sarah Dessen...I used to stalk her blog in hopes she'd come to the tristate area for a signing lol).  But now that I have twitter I was able to find out about an awesome opportunity in the city to meet some amazing authors.  It was my first signing so I was the obnoxious girl that asked for pictures with all the authors haha.
      
Tahera Mafi is just as funny in person as she is on twitter.  Veronica Rossi is sooooo nice.  She wrote down my blog address and followed me on twitter that day. And she visited my blog when I tagged her on twitter in one of my posts.  Lauren Oliver is just awesome and waited patiently as I had my cousin retake the picture twice since the first one was blurry.  I can't wait to go to another signing.
6. Best moment of book blogging in 2012?
I think this would have to be

 1. When I was emailed by the publishers of Dear Teen Me to be part of the blog tour.  It was the first time I'd been contacted by someone other than an independent author to review something.

 2. The twitter parties I attended including the #LoveJLA one we had the other night!

 3. I also started using a new rating system this year that I love and I redesigned my blog layout/background and love it...for now lol.

 4. When I was interviewed =)

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
This post had 279 views.  My guest post from Susan Dennard author of Something Strange and Deadly.
8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
I wrote this post and then it got deleted.  I was sooooo angry, but I rewrote it.  Then it only got a few views lol.  Book Boyfriends I'd Like To Meet Under the Mistletoe
9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
I found goodreads this year which transformed my life.  I also like Netgalley and Bookblogs.ning.  And of course Books Of Wonder where the signing was.
10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I set my 2012 goal for 100 books and actually read 105!  I think it was because for awhile I was just working part time and I was sick for a few months.  I'm not sure what goal I'll make for 2013.  Maybe 50?  What are you guys doing?

 The Bout of Books readathon was awesome and I plan on doing the next one this January.  Here's the first one I did BOB #1.  You basically set a goal of books you want to read that you haven't gotten to yet and there's challanges, twitter parties, update posts, etc. 

Looking Ahead…

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2012 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2013?
The Evolution of Mara Deyer and Opal just came out and after waiting forever for them I didn't end up buying them right away, but those will be the first books I purchase in 2013!
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2013?
The obvious: Sweet Peril, Origin, Unravel Me, etc. This one is a stand alone that I can't wait to read:
3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2013?
I want to either create a meme or new event to host on my blog.  I also want to do more discussion posts and possibly if I ever have enough money a giveaway.  I really want to make more friends.  I talk to lots of bloggers regularly on twitter, but only have a few that actually come to my blog regularly.  Kimba the Caffinated Book Reviewer is one of them who always visits and I love her for that.  She also runs Sunday post which is a lot of fun.

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Melissa has read 5 books toward her goal of 100 books.
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