For the past two years I have enjoyed this end of year survey by Jamie at the Perpetual Page-Turner! This year I decided to only focus on the Best in Books section. (Below graphic by Jamie too)
1. Best Book You Read In 2015? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. And yes, it was my FIRST TIME READING IT. I don’t think I have ever loved an ending so much.
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? SHADOW SCALE
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? Probably The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, or All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill (both in good ways!)
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? I keep pushing For Darkness Shows the Stars and Across a Star-Swept Sea (2013 and 2014 reads for me, respectively) and I think people are hearing my cry! I’ve also been pushing Mistborn and The Start of Me and You lately and I think that might be working too.
5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015? Started: Mistborn/Sequel: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling/ Ender: Deathly Hallows
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015? Only time will tell for sure, but either Emery Lord or Annie F. Downs, I think.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? For genre out of my comfort zone it would be Do Over by Jon Acuff, a non-fiction business book, but I’ve read most of his books so that feels a little like cheating. I read almost entirely YA fiction though so I think that’s the best option. I might need to read more out of my comfort zone next year!
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Though reading it while I had strep throat probably helped with the unputdownable part. All Our Yesterdays would probably be second.
9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? Probably The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015? The Start of Me and You and Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee. Obviously I like pretty sunsets/sunrises.
11. Most memorable character of 2015? Luna Lovegood from the HP books.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015? The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdeih.
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015? Let’s All Be Brave by Annie F. Downs. I needed it so much. Also, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was super thought-provoking.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read? All the Harry Potter books I read. And Mistborn! Nikki has only been pushing it for forever, with good reason!
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015? My first fave is a super long passage from The Hero of Ages from when Vin and Elend dance for the first time. MAJOR swoons right there. You can check out a portion of it on my Tumblr. For a shorter quote though, I’ll go with…
16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015? Shortest: Austenland by Shannon Hale: 197 pages. Longest: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling: 870 pages.
17. Book That Shocked You The Most The ending of The Hero of Ages was SHOCKING to me to say the least. I experienced a very wide range of emotions, but needless to say, I think it was definitely the right ending.
18. OTP OF THE YEAR Vin and Elend from Mistborn! Oh the bantery swoons! Second place goes to my non-canon ship of Luna and Neville (thank you Deathly Hallows part two movie for making this almost seem real!).
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year Harry and Hermione, though this was definitely intensified once again by the Deathly Hallows movie because THAT DANCE SCENE. <3
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously Deathly Hallows & other HP books first, Mistborn trilogy second, Winter by Marissa Meyer third.
21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: Mistborn
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015? When you’re married and nearly 30 this is sort of an awkward question, but if I had to choose it would be Max from The Start of Me and You. I mean, he knows Pride and Prejudice AND Firefly.
23. Best 2015 debut you read? Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? I think the best worldbuilding would go to Rook by Sharon Cameron, but the most vivid setting would go to The Wrath and the Dawn. The latter was filled with so much rich description that I loved. The former’s world was so interesting, and though I’ll admit I didn’t complete understand some of it until I read the author’s note after the novel, I could tell it was very well-thought out and carefully crafted.
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord, Austenland by Shannon Hale, The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and In Between by Jenny B. Jones.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015? I think The Hero of Ages and The Deathly Hallows both got me to tear up or nearly cry.
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? Don’t Touch by Rachel M. Wilson. This book deserves more love!
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand.
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015? The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)? Shadow Scale
Check out all the books I read and re-read here. Thankfully, I enjoyed almost everything I read this year, but obviously there were a few stand-outs mentioned a few times in this survey. 🙂 What were some of your favorite reads this year?
