Hello everyone! As my last post of the year, I’m going to do a super fun thing: the End of the Year Survey created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner! I first participated in this bookish survey’s 2015 edition but for some reason, I didn’t take part in the 2016 version. However, I’m back to participate in the 8th annual edition for 2017! Without any further ado, let’s get started.
Number of Books Read: 66
Number of Rereads: 12
Total Number of Books Read: 78
Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary*
*I’m seriously shocked my most read genre isn’t fantasy but apparently, I read 35 contemporary books and 33 fantasy!
1. Best book you read in 2017?
HA! I’m expected to pick just one book?? I couldn’t possibly do that. Instead, check out my blog post about my favorite books I read in 2017.
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t?
While I still enjoyed parts of this book, I didn’t love it as much as the first book in the series, The Impostor Queen.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
I was surprised how much I ended up enjoying Long May She Reign! The book has a pretty low overall Goodreads rating but I really liked it. The anxiety rep was very good and it meant so much to me seeing a main character with anxiety in a fantasy book!
4. Book you “pushed” the most people to read (and they did)?
I’m not sure if I really pushed anyone to read a certain book this year. I can’t think of any right now anyway.
5. Best series you started in 2017? Best sequel of 2017? Best series ender of 2017?
I would say the best series starter I read this year was Timekeeper by Tara Sim, the best sequel I read was The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan, and the best series ender was A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab.
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2017?
For this question I’m going to answer with both my favorite new-to-me authors and my favorite debut authors of 2017. My favorite new-to-me authors are Claire Legrand, Maurene Goo, and Mackenzi Lee and my favorite debut authors are Angie Thomas and Akemi Dawn Bowman.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
The Dark Days Pact is categorized as fantasy and historical fiction but it also is categorized as paranormal, which is a genre I don’t read that often. While I didn’t 100% enjoy the first book in this series, The Dark Days Club, this sequel was a vast improvement that I really liked reading!
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Once I started reading The Hate U Give, I didn’t want to put it down! It was so, so good and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next!
9. Book you read in 2017 that you are most likely to re-read next year
I definitely have to go with The Hate U Give for this question too. I’ve been wanting to reread it since I first finished reading it back in March so I’m definitely going to be rereading it in 2018!
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2017?
I did a whole blog post on this! Check it out by clicking here.
11. Most memorable character of 2017?
I picked 3 characters for this one: Alex from The Hammer of Thor, Dimple from When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, and Monty from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2017?
I also have 3 answers for this question: A Conjuring of Light, The Hate U Give, and The Names They Gave Us.
13. Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2017?
I keep using this book as an answer but oh well. It was spectacular!
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2017 to finally read?
I don’t think I have an answer for this one. More than 50% of the books I read this year were 2017 releases and I don’t think any of the older ones were books I’ve been really wanting to read for a long time or anything.
15. Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2017?
I’m terrible at keeping track of quotes I like but I’m positive there were tons I liked from several books I read this year!
16. Shortest & longest book you read in 2017?
The shortest book I read was a companion story to Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase series called Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds at 143 pages. The longest book I read was A Conjuring of Light at 624 pages.
17. Book that shocked you the most
I was pretty shocked at how much I ended up loving The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord! I had read one of the author’s previous novels I think last year and while I liked it, I didn’t love it. The Names They Gave Us, however, was the complete opposite! It was one of the few books I gave a 5 star rating to this year!
18. OTP of the year (you will go down with this ship!)
For this one I’m going to go with Monty and Percy from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. I love them so much!
19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year
Some of my favorite non-romantic relationships I’ve read this year are Kell and Rhy in A Conjuring of Light, Suzette and Lionel in Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert, and Frances and Aled in Radio Silence by Alice Oseman.
20. Favorite book you read in 2017 from an author you’ve read previously
21. Best book you read in 2017 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else/peer pressure
My best friend highly recommended By Your Side by Kasie West to me and while I’m not always a huge fan of contemporary fluff, I ended up really liking this book! It had really great anxiety rep and also accurate representation of panic attacks. I would recommend it!
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2017?
… I don’t think I have one?
23. Best 2017 debut you read?
I HAVE to go with The Hate U Give. Honorable mentions: Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman, and Dear Martin by Nic Stone.
24. Best worldbuilding/most vivid setting you read this year?
I had to pick three for this one: A Conjuring of Light (sorry not sorry that I keep answering with this book), Want by Cindy Pon, and Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco.
25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read?
I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo was super adorable and fun to read!!
26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017?
Some Kind of Happiness definitely made me tear up because it was the first book I read that I truly related to when it comes to anxiety. It just spoke to me so much. I had borrowed the book from the library so as soon as I finished reading it, I went online and ordered a copy of my own!
27. Hidden gem of the year?
I picked more than one again: Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham and Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman. I don’t feel like people talk about these books enough. They’re both so amazing!
28. Book that crushed your soul?
Dreamland Burning was a very dark, emotional book and it was based on true events so it definitely crushed my soul. TWs for racism, violence, murder, death.
29. Most unique book you read in 2017?
I couldn’t narrow it down to one so here are three answers: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, Timekeeper by Tara Sim, and I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo.
30. Book that made you the most mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
The Bronze Key really made me mad and not in a good way. I had such high hopes for this series since I really enjoyed the first book. Unfortunately, the series went downhill from there. 80% of this book was downright boring and then when it was finally getting interesting, they killed someone off (I won’t say who because of spoilers).
1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2017?
I’ve done really bad this year at blog hopping/commenting on others’ blogs. This is something I really want to improve on in 2018!
2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2017?
I didn’t write tons of reviews this year but I really like the reviews I did for Radio Silence by Alice Oseman and Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas.
3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
I am really, really proud of the blog series I did during Asexual Awareness Week called Let’s Talk About Asexuality. I had many ace-spec people from the book community contribute and I’m really happy with how it turned out. If you would like to check it out, click here!
4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
I unfortunately didn’t get to go to any author signings or book festivals this year but I participated in the reading part of Booktube-A-Thon in July and really enjoyed myself! I was able to read 5 books in one week, which hardly ever happens, so I was very proud of myself!
5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2017?
Creating and publishing Let’s Talk About Asexuality and completing all my reading challenges!
6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
I feel like I had a lot of reading/blogging slumps this year, which was mainly due to my poor mental health. Because of this, I wasn’t able to read more and create all the blog posts I wanted to. I’ve been working on improving my mental health and will continue to do so in 2018!
7. Most popular post this year on your blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
My most popular post this year was my day 4 post of Let’s Talk About Asexuality titled Q&A with Authors on the Ace Spectrum. I absolutely love this post and I’m glad others did too!
8. Post you wished got a little more love?
I spent a lot of time making aesthetics for The Book Aesthetic Tag and loved how they came out so that would be great if that post got more love!
9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
Hmm, I can’t think of any right now.
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
Yes I did!! I completed all 5 reading challenges that I signed up for. Check out my post all about it!
1. One book you didn’t get to in 2017 but will be your number 1 priority in 2018?
One book I can think of on the top of my head is the third and final book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, The Ship of the Dead. I can’t wait to see how this series ends! There are so many 2017 releases that I didn’t get the chance to read. I’ll probably make a blog post soon talking about them all!
2. Book you are most anticipating for 2018 (non-debut)?
There are SO many 2018 releases I’m anticipating (I’m going to make a blog post about this too) but if I had to pick one right now, I’d go with the final book in The Illuminae Files series, Obsidio.
3. 2018 debut you are most anticipating?
Again, there are so many I’m anticipating but I’ll go with Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.
4. Series ending/a sequel you are most anticipating in 2018?
Again, several! But I’ll go with The True Queen by Sarah Fine.
5. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2018?
I’ll have a blog post up with my specific reading/blogging goals sometime soon but I know I definitely want to post more consistently and read/comment on others’ blogs more often.
6. A 2018 release you’ve already read & recommend to everyone (if applicable)
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann is the only 2018 release I’ve read already and I highly recommend it! It features a black, biromantic asexual main character and has truly amazing ace rep (probably the best I’ve ever read). Definitely check it out when it’s published on January 23rd!
This was such a fun post to do! I loved looking back on what I read/blogged this year. If you participated in this fun bookish survey, feel free to leave the link to your post down in the comments. I would love to read your responses! See you all in the new year!
Brooke's Books 