Tales Post – 2015 End Of Year Book Survey

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This fab 2015 end of year book survey is the 6th annual end of year survey hosted by Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner and is the second time I am participating!

Before I start I would like to thank everyone for their support in 2015!  The brilliant book community, all the friends I have made, fab authors for writing fab books and being generally awesome and everyone who has supported me through my first full year of book blogging.

Thank You All x

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Number Of Books You Read:

63 completed and finished books

6 partially read books

1 beta read

1 read I am sworn to secrecy over!

You can find out all about the books I read in 2015 here

Number of Re-Reads:

I think 2 in total, but this does not include the Point Horror books as I can’t remember which ones I read as teenager!

Genre You Read The Most From:

Whilst the genre I appear to have most read is contemporary I read a lot of UKYA books which is not a genre I know, but a worthy mention.

Best Book You Read In 2015?

I did a list of my 15 best books of 2015 here

Arrrgggghhh it’s so hard to choose just one!

If I had to be pinned down and forced to decide it would be one of these three books!

I know I totally cheated there 😉

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

Hmmmmm I’ve read so many brilliant books this year I seem to have loved them all!

For this one I’m going to go for a Point Horror!

Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read in 2015?

I knew nothing about this book before it was bought for me by a friend….it is now one of my favourite books EVER!

Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did) In 2015?

I think I there’s two books I pushed the most on people throughout the year….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best series you started in 2015?

Best Sequel of 2015?

Best Series Ender of 2015?

Favourite new author you discovered in 2015?

I’ve discovered so many new brilliant authors this year!

I think for me and my son Corey the answer to this question is Abi Elphinstone!

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

This book was so out of my comfort zone!  I don’t typically read Fantasy, but this book had me hooked from the beginning!

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

Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Favourite cover of a book you read in 2015?

Most memorable character of 2015?

Papa S from Seed!  And not for good reasons!

Most beautifully written book read in 2015?

Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?

Favourite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

“You make me feel like I just stepped out of the wardrobe and into Narnia”

From All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

Book That Shocked You The Most?

I knew I was going to love this book right from the very first page, but nothing….I MEAN NOTHING prepared me for the ending in this book!

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

Theodore Finch and Violet Markey from All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Favourite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year?

Kaz and Ruby from Remix by Non Pratt

Favourite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

This is not out until 2016, but I am lucky enough to have read a proof copy and loved it!

Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?

Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road!  Oh my heart!

Best 2015 debut you read?

Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

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

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

Crying is an understatement!

Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

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

New favourite book blog you discovered in 2015?

Wow!  There’s so many fab new blogs I discovered I’m scared of missing anyone out!

I would say that chouett.com , thereadingfangirl.wordpress.com , jessheartsbooks.BlogSpot.co.uk and thebloggersbookshop.com are some of my new faves!

I must do a list of all my faves very soon though!

Favourite review that you wrote in 2015?

I think my favourite review I wrote must be  for Darkmere by Helen Maslin.  Helen is a good friend of mine and I was terrified of not doing her fab book justice, but the book was that good the words just flowed onto the page and I was so incredibly proud of Helen and what she had achieved.

You can find my review here

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

I was lucky enough to interview the lovely Jennifer Niven for my blog and I treasured every moment and every answer.

You can find the post here

Before this I did a post with some friends and family about their Bright Places which made me smile lots.

You can find the post here

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

Without question!  YALC!  I even got to be part of hosting a blogging workshop!

Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?

Winning Champion Newcomer at the UKYABA Blogger Awards in March which is voted for by industry professionals.  I still can’t quite believe it!

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

I think juggling a full time job, 10 year old and family amongst reading and blogging will always be challenging, but also as I am half blind (I lost the sight suddenly in my right eye) I find it frustrating that my healthy eye does not want to read sometimes and when I push it I give myself terrible headaches…learning when to stop reading or knowing that my eye just will not cope with it at a particular moment has been challenging and a learning curve.

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

Without a doubt my UKYA Extravaganza Birmingham post!

You can find the post here

Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Oh I’m really not sure on this….I’m terrible at looking at Stats and things like that so I don’t know which posts are popular or not.  I’m not a stats person….I write the blog posts that I enjoy and if others enjoy them too than that’s brilliant!

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

I have loved visiting more independent bookshops this year!  Kenilworth Books, The Big Comfy BookShop and Tales On Moon Lane have been my favourites.

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

You can find a whole post about this here

Goodreads Challenge – I read 63 out of the 75 book challenge I set myself at the start of the year.

British Books Challenge – I read 41 books by UK authors in 2015 and reviewed 29 of these which  counted towards the challenge.

2015 Classics Challenge – I only managed to read 3 Classic books and didn’t review them.

Also…..

One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

There’s actually 4 books that I am gutted I didn’t get to in 2015 that are my priority for 2016….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)?

2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016?

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016?

I want to become a little more organised in my blogging life.  Normally I type up posts the night before I schedule them and rarely schedule in advance (yes that includes this post!) so I would like to at least schedule post a week in advance.  I would like to prepare my posts of a weekend and have evenings after work reading and spending time with family.

Watch this space!

A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone

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Thanks to Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner for hosting and I’m looking forward to 2016 already!

Happy Reading