It’s that time of year again! All credit for this totally awesome, incredibly bookish survey goes to Jamie at the Perpetual Page Turner. If you’d like to give it a try on your own, feel free to leave me a link to your survey post in comments. I’m always on the hunt for new books to read!
2017 Reading Stats
Number of books you read: 99
Number of re-reads: 6, which I know because I actually remembered to count them this year.
Genre you read the most: YA contemporary, because I am nothing if not predictable.
1. Best book you read in 2017?
YA contemporary: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
YA fantasy: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
YA Sci-Fi: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken
NA: The Deal by Elle Kennedy
Adult: Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Nonfiction: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more, but didn’t?
Wayfarer, by Alexandra Bracken. I spent far most of my time feeling totally befuddled by the way time travel worked in the story-verse, despite having read the two books in the series only seven months apart.
3. Most surprising (in a good or bad way) book you read?
The Way of the Gun by Iain Overton, which was often surprising in a horrifying way.
4. Book you pushed the most people to read (and they did)?
Still Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, even though I read it last year. It’s just that good.
5. Best series you started in 2017? Best sequel of 2017? Best series ending of 2017?
Best series I started: Strange the Dreamer, by Laini Taylor
Best sequel: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Best series ending: Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2017?
Angie Thomas. Paula Garner and Janet McNally are tied for second.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. I hardly ever read poetry collections, and her collection made me want to start.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, without question.
9. Book you read in 2017 that you’re most likely to re-read next year?
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I’ve already read twice so far this year.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2017?
Passenger by Alexandra Bracken.
11. Most memorable character of 2017?
Monty from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, who is a perfect mix of hilarious and heartbreaking.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2017?
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. Hands down.
13. Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2017?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I’m sensing another trend here . . .
14. Book you can’t believe you waited until 2017 to read?
The Deal by Elle Kennedy, which I thought would be stereotypical new adult romance and turned out to be my favorite new adult book of the year.
15. Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2017?
“Normal is a story. As a writer, it’s my job to construct new normals for people. It’s my job to show folks what’s possible. It’s my job to rewrite narratives. Because we can change these narratives. We can choose better ones. We can tear it all down, and build it up again. It makes us the most poorly paid by most powerful people in the world.” –Kameron Hurley on writing and representation, in The Geek Feminist Revolution.
16. Shortest and longest books you read in 2017?
Shortest: Anti-Bride Guide: Tying the Knot Outside of the Box by Carolyn Gerin and Stephanie Rosenbaum
Longest: A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
17. Book that shocked you the most?
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis, because OMG that ending!
18. OTP of the year? (You will go down with this ship!)
Molly and Reid from The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, because relationships between awkward, not conventionally attractive people who share nerdy pursuits are my kryptonite.
19. Favorite non-romantic relationship of the year?
The friendships between Jordan and the various boys in the Sharpshooters in Noteworthy by Riley Redgate, for making me laugh, choke up, and feel ALL the feelings.
20. Favorite book you read in 2017 from an author you’ve read previously?
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
21. Best book you read in 2017 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation/peer pressure?
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, which I picked up only because every YA writer and book lover I follow on Twitter seemed to love it. Now that I’ve read it, I completely understand why.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2017?
Either Otis from Phantom Limbs by Paula Garner, or Jonah from When We Collided by Emery Lord. Gotta love those sweet, emotionally compromised boys.
23. Best 2017 debut you read?
Once again, I’ve got to go with The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. I’m sure that’s a huge surprise.
24. Best world-building/most vivid setting you read this year?
For a world that doesn’t exist: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
In the world that does: When We Collided by Emery Lord, which absolutely made me want to move to CA and live on the ocean.
25. Book that put a smile on your face/was the most FUN to read?
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, which was a wild romp from start to finish.
26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017?
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord, and A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas all came pretty darn close.
27. Hidden gem of the year?
Either Autoboyography by Christina Lauren, which deserves just as much love as their new adult romance novels, or Noteworthy by Riley Redgate.
28. Book that crushed your soul?
You in Five Acts by Una LaMarche. Talk about a gut-punch of a book.
29. Most unique book you read in 2017?
Last year I gave this award to Illuminae, and this year I’m giving it to the sequel, Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. There aren’t any other books like these being published for the YA market right now – at least not that I’ve found.
30. Book that made you the most mad (but doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
The Way of the Gun by Iain Overton, for its brutal exploration of how many millions of human lives are negatively impacted or ended by gun violence every year.
1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2017?
I don’t believe I discovered any new book blogs this year. Which would you recommend I check out?
2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2017?
My review of The Hate U Give, which somehow managed to sum up my favorite parts of the book eloquently and concisely, despite the fact that I could’ve written essays about it.
3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?
I’m pretty partial to Changing Plans and Spiraling, which both deal with the impact of my mental health on my ability to create. Not particularly earth-shattering for other people, but considering the amount of time I spent refusing to acknowledge my mental illnesses, it feels pretty damn ground-breaking to me.
4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.?)
I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo this summer with a whole bunch of local writer friends, and we all kicked serious butt on our projects. The cabin conversation and shared snippets from everybody’s WIPs went a long way toward keeping me inspired and motivated.
5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2017?
Having the opportunity to sensitivity read A Taxonomy of Love, a YA contemporary novel that’s coming out early next year and that I’m SO excited about. It was exactly the kind of personal, powerful story I would’ve devoured as a teenager, and I’m thrilled that it’s going to be out there in the world for teenagers to read.
6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
My reading habits changed quite a bit following the election this year, which meant losing interest in a whole bunch of books I’d been excited for. It was also hard to blog and carve out time for blogging when political engagement, or just bad political news, took up so MUCH time by comparison.
7. Most popular post this year on your blog, whether by comments or views?
Surprisingly, a post I wrote almost a year ago titled Romance is Hard, about my personal struggles with writing love stories.
8. Post you wished got a little more love?
Most of them, honestly, but I would’ve loved to have seen more discussion on my project post-mortem post. Hearing about other people’s creative processes is fascinating to me.
9. Best bookish discovery (book-related sites, bookstores, etc.)?
I am coming up totally blank on this question this year. Clearly, I need to make more bookish discoveries next year.
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of the year?
I kept a casual eye on a few different reading challenges, from the Goodreads challenge to Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge. I didn’t actively participate in anything though, and I still don’t have any regrets.
1. One book you didn’t get to in 2017 that will be your #1 priority in 2018?
I’ve heard many wonderful things about Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia and Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman. I’d like to get my hands on those books as soon as I can in the coming weeks.
2. Book you are most anticipating for 2018 (non-debut)?
Boomerang by Helene Dunbar, which I’ve been super excited about ever since the deal was announced in Publisher’s Marketplace. She writes compelling, heartbreaking YA from boy perspectives, and I can’t get enough.
3. 2018 debut you are most anticipating?
I’m still really excited about You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon, which is coming out next year and NOT this year, like I’d previously thought. Oops.
4. Series ending/a sequel you are most anticipating in 2018?
The number of books in Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series may have changed between last year and now, but my answer still hasn’t. I’m dying to find out how the last book will end!
5. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2018?
Refine both the style/appearance of my blog and the way I blog. I fell back into the habit of blogging more frequently toward the end of this year, and it turned out to be both a) a tool that kept me writing and b) a lot of fun. I want to build more of a community around this blog if at all possible, without de-prioritizing my writing. We’ll see how that goes.
6. A 2018 release you’ve already read and recommend to everyone?
Apparently I need to sign up for more ARC giveaways or something, because I don’t believe I’ve read any 2018 releases quite yet.
What were some of your favorite books this year, and why? Let me know in the comments, or link me to your own survey!