End of Year Survey- 2015 (better late than never!!)

I'm doing Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner's annual End of Year Book Survey again (and very very late).  I love looking back on all the books I've read.  2015 wasn't my favorite year of reading.  I read a lot of amazing, life-changing books, but I didn't read as much as I wanted.  I went through a lot of painful reading slumps.  I hope in 2016 I get my love of reading back and stop being distracted by distracting things :)

Number Of Books You Read: 39
Number of Re-Reads: 4 (I'm Rereading HP to my son)
Genre You Read The Most From: YA Contemporary

1. Best Book You Read In 2015?

(If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

• Out of My Comfort Zone: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Young Adult Contemporary: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
• LOL Funny/Awesome: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) by Amy Spalding
• OVERALL BEST: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

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

• The Devil You Know by Trish Doller- I've been on the lookout for great YA Mysteries, and both of these books sounded like they could be it... sadly neither were.
• My Secret to Tell by Natalie Richards

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

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews- I had no idea I could LOL while reading a book about such a sad subject.
• All of Gillian Flynn's books- I was never expecting what I got with Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, and Dark Places.  Not in a million years.  But what I got was so much crazier and better.

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

• The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu- I only just read this in October, but I've been recommending it ever since.  It will definitely go on all my YA Contemporary lists from here on out.
• Breakaway by Kat Spears- I've hard-core been recommending this book because I think it's greatly underrated.

 5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

• Started: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Sequel: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer
• Ender: Stand-Off by Andrew Smith

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?

•  Lauren Oliver- How??  I can't believe I've gone this long w/ no Lauren Oliver in my life.

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

• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

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

•  Thrilling- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn- I HAD to know who the killer was.  This book FORCES you to keep reading it just so you can get these crazy people out of your life!!
• Unputdownable- Those Girls by Lauren Saft- This is probably just a me-thing, but I could not stop reading this book.  I was completely hooked.

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

•  I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

•  Lois Lane Fallout by Gwenda Bond
• Read Between the Lines by Jo Knowles

11. Most memorable character of 2015?

•  Noah from I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson- I'll never forget Noah.... ever.
• Greg Gaines from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews- Greg was one of the most self-depreciating, hilarious, and memorable characters I've ever encountered.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?

• I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson- No one writes like this!  I was convinced Jandy Nelson was an alien for at least the first 2/3 of the book.
• The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) by Maggie Stiefvater- I thought the 2nd book in this series REALLY showed who Maggie was as a writer.

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

• What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler- I don't know if this one changed my life.  It wasn't the best book I've ever read, but it DEFINITELY made me think.

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

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- Basically I'm insane.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

• "We walk and walk through the gray ashy dusk and the forest starts to fall asleep: The trees lie down side by side, the creek halts, the plants sink back into the earth, the animals switch places with their shadows, and then, so do we." ~I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
• "I really can't handle talking about this for too long because it just hurts too much, but I do want to say there is one thing I've learned about people: they don't get that mean and nasty overnight.  It's not human nature.  But if you give people enough time, eventually they'll do the most heartbreaking stuff in the world." ~The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

• Longest- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- 555 pgs
• Shortest- What We Knew by Barbara Stewart- 256 pgs

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most

(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)

• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- This book was CRAZY.  Definitely had more than a few jaw-dropping moments.

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

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

•  Sam & Kent from Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver- *tear*

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

• The crew of 5 in The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater- Blue, Ronan, Noah, Gansey, and Adam.  I love the friendship in this series more than any other element.
• Ryan Dean & The Abernathy from Stand-Off by Andrew Smith- How freaking cute were these 2 roommates???  I laughed so hard reading Ryan Dean's reactions to his 12-year-old freshman "friend".

 20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You've Read Previously?

• All the Rage by Courtney Summers- SO glad Ms. Summers was back this year.  And with such a POWERFUL book!!  Congrats to her!

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

•  The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater- was totally peer pressured from my book club.

 22. Newest Fictional Crush From A Book You Read In 2015?

•  Kent from Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver- Kent!!!  I fell hard for Kent.
• Jason from Breakaway by Kat Spears- Jason had a hard life, but something about his swagger made me want to make him a book boyfriend.

 23. Best 2015 Debut You Read?

• Those Girls by Lauren Saft- I could not put this book down.  So unexpected and SO addicting.

 24. Best Wordbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

• Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) by Marissa Meyer- I loved reading about Luna- the logistics of living on the moon, the government, the way glamours work, etc.
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver- The setting made this book.  The "living" house gave this book a creepy, watched feel.

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

• Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys) by Amy Spalding- Had SO much fun reading this book!!  I was smiling like a fool as I read this in public, but I didn't care one bit!!

26. Book That Made You Cry or Nearly Cry in 2015?

• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

• Those Girls by Lauren Saft- I don't think this book is for everybody, but I definitely think it's underrated.

 28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

• Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn- I think this book "crushed my soul" because the characters were so harsh!!  I learned that Stephanie Kuehn's characters are not ones that are good for me to get emotionally invested in.

 29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

• The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma- Ballerinas and prison.  I was surprised with how cool and different this book really was.
• Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn- I loved that this book wasn't afraid to cover the subject of teen sex.  It's not often I come across YA that really explores it as fully as this one does.

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

• Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer- SO MAD!!!  Between the M/C being annoying and self-involved and the big "twist", I was seeing red.  

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015?

•  Super Space Chick- I've talked about this blog before, but I really like the variety on it.
• Rebel Mommy Book Blog- Definitely one of my new favs :)
• My Thoughts Lit- I like how she does monthly reading themes and she reads out of my comfort zone a lot, so I get to know tons of new books.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?

• Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

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

• Reading Slump Discussion- Where I talk about what my reading slump taught me about myself as a reader.
• So Obsessed- Posts where I share my recent obsessions (bookish and not).
• BEA- Where I talked about my 2nd year attending BEA.

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

• BEA 15
• Book Signings- Maggie Stiefvater, Rainbow Rowell.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?

• OTSP Secret Sister stuff- Meeting some really great people that I hope I will be friends with for a long time.
• New Friends- I'm not the most sociable blogger in the world.  It's not that I don't want to make blog friends, it's just that it's hard for me to feel like I "know" someone when it's just over the internet.  I was really glad I got to become real-life friends with Jamie, Kristen, Cassi, Andi, Gail, and others.

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

• Reading Slumps... so many reading slumps.

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

• My BEA 2015 Post

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

• Always Reviews

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

• Etsy stores- who knew how many people made awesome jewelry, decorations, and other stuff related to books??

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

• One goal I had was to be more personable on my blog and I think I took steps in that direction with my So Obsessed... posts
• Blog Design- one of my main goals was to get a new blog design, which I totally love

I really need to get it together for the rest of 2016.  I've been behind on everything that I want to do and that needs to stop.  Definitely goals for me will be to get organized, less lazy, and more consistent.