Tuesday, December 30, 2014

2014 End-of-the-Year Bookish Wrap-Up

So this year I decided the only reading challenge I was going partake in was the Goodreads one, and though I made my goal low on purpose, I must say I—
(I could not pass up the opportunity to use this gif. Found here)
At the writing of this post (Dec 30, 4:00pm), I have read 96 books of my 50 book goal! *happy dance* Last year I read 58 books, so it looks like my experiment to see if I read more when not participating in reading challenges was quite successful. And though there are many 2015 challenges that look super fun, I think I'm going to stick with this no challenges thing (Okay, I might do the PopSugar reading challenge.) and see if I can make it to an even 100 next year.
(I am both Haymitch and Katniss in this gif. Found here)
Now some stats! (As per usual, all covers & book titles are linked to Goodreads.)

Top 10 favorite books of 2014 overall (excludes re-reads, bc those are obvious faves):
Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Sisters' Fate by Jessica Spotswood
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Defy by Sara B Larson
The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz
Erased by Jennifer Rush
Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

(Okay, I made this list without looking at the covers and the order was completely random O_O) (Also, I apparently really like green and pink/red books.)

Honorable mentions:
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare & Holly Block
Death Sworn by Leah Cypess
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins

(More pink and green books!)

xxx

No. of series-enders read: 11
Top 3 favorites:
Books read:
Wild by Sophie Jordan
Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins
Shatter by Erin McCarthy
Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins
Sisters' Fate by Jessica Spotswood
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Breakable by Tammara Webber
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Good Neighbors: Kind by Holly Black & Ted Naifeh
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Resolve by Melissa Marr & Xian Nu Studio

(It was really hard to choose my Top 3; there were so many good endings this year!)

xxx

No. of stand-alones read: 10
Top 3 favorites:
Books read:
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii by Vicky Alvear Shecter
Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols
Steel by Carrie Vaughn
The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

(Another category that was hard to narrow down to my Top 3, all were quite good.)

xxx

No. of 2014 debuts read: 6
Favorite:
Books read:
Defy by Sara B Larson
Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (Their MG debut)
Boomerang by Noelle August
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
The Falconer by Elizabeth May (I read the UK edition, which came out Sept '13, but the US debut was in 2014, so I'm counting it.)

xxx

No. of graphic novels read: 7
Favorite:
Books read:
The Good Neighbors: Kin by Holly Black & Ted Naifeh
The Good Neighbors: Kith by Holly Black & Ted Naifeh
The Good Neighbors: Kind by Holly Black & Ted Naifeh
The Exile by Diana Gabaldon & Hoang Nguyen
- Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Sanctuary by Melissa Marr & Xian Nu Studio
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Challenge by Melissa Marr & Xian Nu Studio
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Resolve by Melissa Marr & Xian Nu Studio

xxx

No. of non-fiction read: 1
- Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World by Jane Yolen

(Picked it up for Anne Bonny and Mary Read, but all the "sea queens" were interesting. Lady Pirates FTW!)

xxx

No. of ebooks read: around 18

(I don't always record ebook reads on GR, so that # is based on what I did record.)

xxx

No. of re-reads: 13
Top 3 favorites:
Books (re)read:
Poison Study by Maria V Snyder
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey
Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
Tithe by Holly Black
Rule by Jay Crownover (I re-read this 2x in 2014)
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas

xxx

And that was my year in books. Did you guys make end-of-the-year lists? Link or tell me in the comments! I'd love to see what books I might've missed this year!
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Friday, November 21, 2014

It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet? [14]

"It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet?" is inspired by the #fridayreads Twitter meme, Book Journey's "It's Monday! What Are You Reading?", Should Be Reading's "WWW Wednesdays", Tynga's Reviews "Stacking the Shelves" and the various other book haul memes, and probably a few others I can't remember right now.

All covers/book title links lead to Goodreads.



Still reading it. City of a Thousand Dolls put me in a high fantasy mood, so I have a feeling I'll be setting Rowdy aside before finishing soon.

Started reading Mistborn a couple months ago, but wasn't in a high fantasy mood at the time, so I set it aside. Now I'm itching to read ALL THE HIGH FANTASY, and decided this shall be first.

Stolen just came out Tuesday, and I am so excited! Post-apocalyptic! Dragons! Melissa de la Cruz! Eep!


I've had this on my shelf forever, and since I'll be reading about dragons in Stolen, I figure I'll continue the theme with Seraphina. (Plus, I've heard it's ah-mazing.)



I really, really liked it! I felt like it was a bit slow in the beginning, but the end definitely made up for it. Itching to get my hands on the (newly-released!) companion novel, Empire of Shadows.

(Books/Stuff that came in the mail.)

Nothing came in the mail this week. :(


(Books I bought/borrowed.)
From Barnes & Noble:
Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Stolen by Melissa de la Cruz & Michael Johnston

And that's everything! See you all next week!
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Friday, November 14, 2014

It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet? [13]

"It's Friday! Have You Turned Into A Book Yet?" is inspired by the #fridayreads Twitter meme, Book Journey's "It's Monday! What Are You Reading?", Should Be Reading's "WWW Wednesdays", Tynga's Reviews "Stacking the Shelves" and the various other book haul memes, and probably a few others I can't remember right now.

All covers/book title links lead to Goodreads.



With the companion novel releasing last week, and accompanying buzz about the series, I decided it was finally time to start this. About half-way through, and quite liking it so far!


I'm really liking it, but for some reason I just can't lose myself in the story like I could with the other books in the series.


I haven't read any of the Bane Chronicles stories because I was waiting for bind-up, and it's finally here! Definitely plan on spending some quality time with Magnus soon.


My friend Lisa lent this to me forever ago, and I've decided I really need to get around to reading it.



Instead of reading Crown of Midnight like I said I was going to, I decided to read The Assassin's Blade instead, though I just couldn't bring myself to re-read the last novella because SAAAAAM. (It goes without saying that I loved them all, right?)

                         (Books/Stuff that came in the mail.)         (Books I bought/borrowed.)

I forgot to separate the books when I took the picture, so the two "Book Faery" categories are combined this week. It is also all of the books I collected over the last two weeks.
From Claire Legrand:
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

From Stacie:
Spellbound by Cara Lynn Shultz

From Cynthia Leitich Smith/Candlewick:
Feral Nights by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Feral Curse by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Feral Pride by Cynthia Leitich Smith (ARC)

Clariel by Garth Nix (ARC)
The Young Elites by Marie Lu (ARC)
Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper (ARC)
Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant (ARC)
17 First Kisses by Rachael Allen (ARC)
Atlantia by Ally Condie (ARC)

From Tera Lynn Childs:
Straight Stalk by Tera Lynn Childs (signed)

From Alyxandra Harvey:
Whisper the Dead by Alyxandra Harvey (signed)

Every Breath by Ellie Marney

Bought/Ordered:
Crave by Melissa Darnell
Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld
Lirael by Garth Nix
Blood & Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, & Sarah Rees Brennan (signed)
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Origin by Jennifer L Armentrout
Revel by Maurissa Guibord
The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Challenge by Melissa Marr & Xian Nu Studio
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales: Resolve by Melissa Marr & Xian Nu Studio
Rowdy by Jay Crownover (not pictured)


See you all next week!
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