I know what you're thinking...
It's already 3rd of January.
BUT THIS IS MY BLOG, so... :P
This survey is hosted by Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner.
Best In Books 2012
1. Best Book You Read In 2012? (You can break it down by genre if you want)
Adult fiction: I think the only book I read which falls into this genre is The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke. So there's hardly a competition eh?
Contemporary YA: Slammed by Colleen Hoover.
Dystopian YA: Renegade by J.A. Souders
Sci-fi/supernatural/paranormal-ish (big lumping together): Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
New Adult: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff DAMMIT! I swear I wanted to buy both the UK and US editions. Luckily I didn't because I couldn't even get pass page 12! I'm neither a native English speaker nor I'm familiar with all those Japanese vocabulary. Le prose - it was as if Mr Kristoff tried to throw every fancy English words from the dictionary into his work. I think I can follow the storyline if the book is made into a movie. :)
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012?
This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers. A zombie book, you say? On regular day, I won't even dream to pick up a zombie book but apparently This Is Not a Test is a zombie book not only with BRAINSSSSS but also with a heart. I cried, need I say more?
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?
Haha. Definitely The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke. I think my blog readers and Goodreads friends had gone tired with my swooning over Naji.
5. Best series you discovered in 2012?
I'm a SERIAL SERIES SLACKER. I get bored easily so I never read books in one series in one go. The closest I got last year was with The Grimm Diaries Prequels by Cameron Jace. I know, I know, it's a series of PREQUELS but I have read all six published prequels so that's something, ya know. And I still haven't grown tired with the series.
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?
Colleen Hoover, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Laini Taylor and Laura Lam. (Gosh, I sound feminist but believe me, I'm not!). I think I'd read anything by them.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover. I'm sorry I couldn't provide a review for this book (I scribbled some of my random thoughts on Goodreads if you're really interested). Know this, I COULDN'T RATE IT. I can't give it a 5-star but it deserves nothing less than a 5-star.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?
Renegade by J.A Souders. I was Evie when I read it. Enough said.
9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year:
The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke LOL! Plus I won the annotated copy!
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?
Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey. The book itself was okay. But THAT DRESS! AND THAT POSE! When I read it, I had to stop after a few minutes just to look at the cover all over again.
11. Most memorable character in 2012?
Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone. THIS GIRL CAN FREAKING FLY WITHOUT WINGS! And she has blue hairs. How cool can one person be?
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?
Still Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Laini Taylor is one peculiar author. She sees beauty in things we take for granted. :)
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?
Hopeless (again). I don't think I'll ever be able to forget this book and its impacts on me. I cried myself to sleep the night I finished reading it. And on the next morning, I swear I'll never re-read it. LOL!
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read?
The Hunger Games LOL! I'm guilty as charged. I knew I should just buy it instead of waiting for the library copy. The queue took forever!
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?
“Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well.”
― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone
16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012?
Longest: Shortcake by Christopher Gorham Calvin with 497 pages. Not even worth it. The book was mediocre.
Shortest: I read a lot of novella. So this question loses its appeal on me just for that very reason LOL!
17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
That humping scene on a picnic table in Fade by A.K Morgen. Blegh~ One of the most distasteful books I ever read in my lifetime! Please refer to Oceana's badass review.
18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
The Merrick Brothers bromance in Storm (Elemental, #1) by Brigid Kemmerer. I really love their dynamic and how they exchange insults with each other.
19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously.
The only book relevant to this question is Hallowed (Unearthly, #2) by Cynthia Hand and honestly, it's hardly my favorite. I was bored to tears. T_T
20. Best Book You Read That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:
Renegade. The two reviews that got me on the wheel were Giselle's and Keertana's.
Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2012 (optional)
1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2012?
I LOVE every single blog I listed under Qwertwins blogroll on my sidebar and since I started book blogging in 2012, I discovered most of those blogs in 2012 indeed. But if I really have to choose, it's Lauren's Love is Not a Triangle. I appreciate the simple look to her blog, what a way to really SELL your contents! And I keep visiting this blog purely just for contents alone, not for giveaways or for looking for the latest cool widget to add to my blog. Hihi. My favourite features are the Love Triangle Factor, Cliffhanger Scale, and Six Degrees of Separation posts.
2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2012?
I think it's my Sweet Evil review. I particularly like the curve. :D
3. Best discussion you had on your blog?
A discussion on my Onyx review. As it turns out, I'm not the only black sheep. :P
4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi review on Love is Not a Triangle. I love how Lauren didn't need funny pictures or gifs to make people read her reviews. What's thought-provoking are the fact that after I read the review, I reconsider whether to root for Adam or Warner and whether to read Unravel Me or not because 1) I'm hopelessly and helplessly drawn to Warner before, and 2) I absolutely loathed Shatter Me.
5. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
Living a million miles away from the rest of the world (haha!) means I hardly have a chance to participate in any book-related events. But I enjoyed my time as one of the Crewel Street Team members (haven't read the book, don't tell anyone!). I started book-blogging seriously following this event.
6. Best moment of book blogging in 2012?
Getting signed paperbacks of Slammed and Point of Retreat from Colleen Hoover. I casually tagged her on my 5-star review of Slammed on Twitter. I didn't even think she even has time to read my review. The best thing she could've done is to retweet it and I would be more than happy if that's the case. She did retweeted it, but she also read my review, commented on it, and offered to ship both books to me. I insisted on paying the shipping fee but she adamantly refused. I LOVE THIS WOMAN!
7. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
NetGalley LOL! It always feels amazing to score an ARC. But I don't think I'll be requesting many this year since I still have lots of untouched books on my shelf. Hihi.
8. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
Technically I did (I aimed for 75 books and read a total of 83 books) but that's including like a dozen of novellas. I also planned to read a parody and finished all my existing review copies before 2013 but sadly, that didn't happen. :(
Looking Ahead…
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2012 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2013?
ANY Harry Potter books. I watched ALL the movies at least twice but still haven't get around to read the actual books. Shame on me.
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2013?
Many. Namely The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke, Boundless by Cynthia Hand, Pivot Point by Kasie West and Antigoddess by Kendare Blake.
3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2013?
This year is my Honours year, so honestly I don't think I can do as much reading/blogging like last year. BUT I WILL TRY MY BEST! I appreciate every single of my followers and fellow book bloggers and I feel wrong if I don't try to update this book as often as I can. :D YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!
2 comments:
Dragonswood does have a beautiful cover! I think I gave it a it a 4/5 stars rating, with one of the stars being just for the cover art :)
I rated Dragonswood 4/5 too. I'm a fantasy books junkie anyway so that might skew my rating! :D
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Hi! I welcome comments and feedback! But because I suck at HTML code, I don't know how to add reply button to each comment (I tried googled it but I think this template doesn't allow such change), so I will be very lousy at keeping track of the comments but it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate your comments! ^_^