The time it was 2013 best of list

When digging through the posts at Fic Fare to get to a giveaway page, I saw that Jaime and Erin had filled out an end of the year book/blog survey.  And since I'm such a whore for surveys, of course I was going to do this...

Thanks to the Perpetual Page Turner for this awesome idea and the pretty pictures.  Make sure you go over there to see all of the links from other bloggers.

 

1. Best book you read in 2013? (If you have to cheat, you can break it down by genre)

Ugh.  Already this is hard.  Ummm... How about: Splintered, The Distance Between Us, Crown of Midnight, Something Real, The Winner's Curse, These Broken Stars, Time After Time.

2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love, but didn't?

No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale.  I love the idea of this book, but I just couldn't get into it at all.

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

Something Real by Heather Demetrios.  I don't normally read a lot of contemporary, but I read the synopsis and was intrigued.  Turns out, I absolutely fell in love with this book and may or may not have a mild addiction to it.  I loved Patrick all of the characters and Patrick and the storyline and Patrick and it was refreshing to read something so unique.  Oh and I've already got a deal with Heather for Patrick, soooo....

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

Either Splintered, Crown of Midnight, or The Distance Between Us.  Anyone who stood still long enough was told about those three beauties.

5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

Splintered [Thank you, Kristen!] I mean, it's a darker take on Alice in Wonderland that has a kick ass girl and a super swoony artist boy. Oh and it is just phenomenal.  Unhinged is even better and I'm convinced that Anita is out to kill me with Ensnared.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?

A.G. Howard and Kasie West

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott.  I tend to stay away from anything dealing with death/terminal illness and the like, but for some reason, I picked this one up.  Man, I was blown away.  I loved every single page of it.

8. Most thrilling, un-put-downable book in 2013?

Crash into You, Unhinged, These Broken Stars, A Darkness Strange and Lovely, Time After Time... I'm pretty sure I could keep going on this one.

9. Book in 2013 you are most likely to re-read next year?

Something Real, The Art of Lainey, The Winner's Curse, Unhinged.  All 4 of those come out next year, so I'll definitely be reading the finished copies when I get my grubby hands on them.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?

11. Most memorable character in 2013?

Sturmhond from Siege and Storm

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?

Dream Thieves. Maggie has a special way of writing that makes me want to read every single word on every single page.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?

Crown of Midnight and Dream Thieves were both books that were amazing.  They both also had wicked endings that gave me serious feels and major book hangovers.

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to read?

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff. You need to read this immediately. 

15. Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2013?

Nothing immediately comes to mind and it's probably better that way.  Otherwise, I'd more than likely end up typing up entire pages of a couple of books. Like the outside dancing scene between Chaol and Celaena in Crown of Midnight.

16. Shortest and longest book you read in 2013?

The Moth in the Mirror -- 40 pages
Ashen Winter -- 576 pages

17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it?

Pretty much the entire time I was reading The Distance Between Us by Kasie West.  Xander and his sips just slayed me with swoons. I forced friends to send me their flails while they read it.

18. Favorite relationship from a book you read in 2013?

Jeb and Alyssa from Splintered, Xander and Caymen from The Distance Between Us, Lilac and Tarver from These Broken Stars, Patrick and Bonnie from Something Real, Micah and Lainey from The Art of Lainey... this is another one I could go on and on and on with. 

19. Favorite book you read in 2013 from an author that you've read previously?

Crown of Midnight.  I didn't think anything could top the epicness that is Throne of Glass and somehow Sarah did it.  I can't wait to see what she has planned for us with book 3.

20. Best book you read in 2013 that you read based solely on a recommendation from someone else?

Scarlet.  I wasn't totally in love with Cinder, so I had put off reading Scarlet.  Everyone told me I would love Wolf and they were right. Believe it or not, Cress is even better.
  
21. Genre you read the most from in 2013?

All of them? I don't know.  Probably dystopian or paranormal, since those are what I like the most. 

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?

Jeb from Splintered [he's mine, I have proof], Xander from The Distance Between Us [he's Jaime's but I have a claim on him just in case she hits her head and becomes completely delusional], Patrick from Something Real [he's mine, I have proof], Micah from The Art of Lainey [he's mine, I have proof].

23. Best debut 2013 debut you read?

Why haven't you stopped reading this post and started reading Splintered already? Sheesh.

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?

Should I just stop reading the questions now and answer with Splintered for everything? With this particular question, Anita takes Wonderland and makes it creepier and all her own. Oh and there's some epic swoons.  Make sure you check out question 22 when it comes to Jeb.

25. Book that was the most fun to read in 2013?

My Ex From Hell and My Date From Hell by Tellulah Darling and Audrey, Wait and Also Known As by Robin Benway.  Those books actually had me laughing out loud while reading.

26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2013?

None? I didn't cry at TFiOS, sooooooo....

27. Book you read in 2013 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out?

Degrees of Wrong by Anna Scarlett. It was released as an e-book in 2012 and then released in 2013 in paperback and it's just awesome.  It's one of my to-go books when I'm in a slump.

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2013?

Polished Readers is pretty awesome.  They combine book reviews with matching manicures, which I just love.  Pandora's Books is another great blog and Meredith is super sweet.  Go follow both of them in all of the places.

2. Favorite review you wrote in 2013?

Umm. Well, I don't really do reviews, but of the ones that I did, I would have to say the one I did for My Date From Hell by Tellulah Darling.   It was especially fun because Tellulah put together an entire contest leading up to the release of the book.

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?

I don't post these sorts of things.  :)

4. Most thought providing review or discussion you read on someone else's blog? 

This post on Oh Chrys after the GoodReads debacle was extremely well written and really looks at the situation without being assy.

5. Best event that you participated in?

There were so many good events that I went to in 2013.  My favorites of the year were:

**The SCBWI guerrilla panel with Gretchen McNeil, Veronica Rossi, Jennifer Bosworth and Brodi Ashton.

**Driving to Berkeley to support Tamara Ireland Stone for her release day for Time After Time.

**Going to Vegas Valley Book Festival and getting to spend some quality time with Anita.

6. Best moment of your blogging/book life in 2013?

Hands down: being asked by Bloomsbury to be a Throne of Glass Ambassador.  I mean, they knew me for my fangirling and actually referenced it in the invitation email.. Also, being asked to be Macmillan's designated blogger for the Fierce Reads tour stop in Vegas. And then again for the Fierce Reads tour stop in San Diego.

Pretty much, being acknowledged by any publisher is pretty awesome.

7. Most popular post this year on your blog (whether by views or comments)?

4136 views for the extra scene that Sarah J Maas gave the Throne of Glass Ambassadors.

136 comments for the post where I hit 500 followers on GFC and 1000 followers on Twitter on the same day.  I gave away books, one of them being an arc of Crown of Midnight.

8. Post you wished got a little more love?

All of them? Don't get me wrong, I love blogging, but the majority of comments I get are during giveaways.  I guess I don't make it easy because there aren't discussion posts and the like. But it would be nice to know if people are actually reading the stuff I'm putting out or just waiting for the next giveaway.

9. Best bookish discovery?

The Book Depository. I feel like I spend a lot of money there, so I don't know if that's a good thing or not. 

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

I set a reading challenge of 250 and right now, I'm at 281 books with a couple of days before the new year.

1. One book that you didn't get to in 2013, but will be your number one priority in 2014?

Does a reread of the Mara Dyer series count? I've been wanting to read them badly [Noah is mine, I have proof], but have been waiting for Retribution to come out.

2. Book you are most anticipating for 2014 (non-debut)?

Retribution of Mara Dyer.  I would do horrible, horrible things to get my hands on this early.

3. 2014 debut you are most anticipating?

Umm.  I don't really keep up on this. I should, but I just don't. I'll sit back and watch what people add to their GoodReads shelves and decide from there. 

4. Series ending you are most anticipating in 2014?

Retribution of Mara Dyer

5. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging in 2014?

I'm not the same as the other book blogs that are out there, I'm different and I really like that.  I guess I hope that people continue to like that too.

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Don't forget to head over to the Perpetual Page Turner to see the linky list of all the other blogs who participated.  And of course, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your best of 2013 survey or just answer a few of the questions!