Sunday, December 29, 2013

End of Year Survey: Part 2

http://www.perpetualpageturner.com/2013/12/4th-annual-end-of-year-book-survey-2013-edition.html

Today is part two of the End of Year Survey put together by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner, you can check out part one in yesterday's post if you missed it! There was a lot of gushing over my favorite books. Gushing that will only continue today. Win.

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PART TWO



Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

I went with romance. Of course ;-)

Warden and Paige from The Bone Season

Isaiah and Rachel from Crash Into You

Janelle and Ben from Unbreakable

Kaidan and Anna from Sweet Peril

Lela and Malachi from Sanctum

Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously.

I’m going to change this question just a touch to be “authors read in 2013 that never disappoint”.

Karen Marie Moning, Jennifer Estep, Katie McGarry, Ann Aguirre, Elizabeth Norris, Wendy Higgins, Chloe Neill, Thea Harrison, and Nalini Singh.

Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

Sanctum by Sarah Fine. I’d seen it around a lot when it first came out and made note of it, but then more and more of the bloggers whom I love and whose opinions I trust implicitly started talking about it and I knew I had to pick it up.

Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?

Paranormal YA! Try not to be so surprised, everyone ;-)

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?

This question is torture! There are so many I could list, but several of them are on this list multiple times already, so to shake things up I’m going with the oh-so swoon-worthy Trevor from Pivot Point. I loved him so much!

Best 2013 debut you read?

Pivot Point by Kasie West, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke, and All our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill.

Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?

Poison by Bridget Zinn. This was a light and cute fantasy story complete with an adorable pet pig, and I just smiled the whole way through. A close runner-up would be The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett. Main character Dusty wielded her snark like a boss and I adored her.

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?

Endless by Jessica Shirvington and Fractured by Sarah Fine. Months later, my heart hurts still.

Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out?

Impostor by Susanne Winnacker. There didn’t seem to be a ton of hype surrounding this book before or after it came out and I didn’t see too many reviews for it (though that could entirely be my fault and I just never ran across them), but I so enjoyed this book. I would say the same for Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen. Both are books I would strongly recommend to anyone.




One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014?

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. This was one of my must-haves at BEA this year, but I came home, got distracted, and then never got to it. *hangs head in shame*

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)?

Burned by Karen Marie Moning (I know you’re all shocked by this given the prevalence of Iced in all my answers yesterday)

2014 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Half Bad by Sally Green and Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2014?

Sweet Reckoning by Wendy Higgins, The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, and Up from the Grave by Jeaniene Frost.

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014?

This might seem like a strange or lame answer, but this year with my blogging I really want to just be content. It’s so easy to get caught up in the sometimes-competitive nature of book blogging (especially YA book blogging), feeling compelled to compare page views, comments, number of ARCs received, etc., and I fully admit to focusing on the wrong things numerous times in my almost 4 years doing this.

With each year I’ve been blogging though, the exhausting need to make the blog bigger and better (in terms of statistics and popularity) has waned, and as 2013 draws to a close I’m finally finding that I’m happy with things just as they are. My blog will never be the biggest, best, or brightest stat-wise, but I have an AMAZING group of readers and followers, and a core group of blogging friends that I simply can’t imagine my life without, so 2014 is a year that's going to be all about being satisfied with what I have. I’m still going to strive to improve the quality of my content of course and make the blog better in that way, but I’m going to try and rein in my competitive nature and just be happy with Supernatural Snark as it is moving forward ;-)

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Finally, just as a little extra addition to this survey, I thought I would list the books that received a rating of 4.5 or 5 stars this year since it's a fairly rare occurrence. After looking through all my reviews for this survey, I've found that I'm fairly critical in terms of rating assignments and I'm a bit stingy with those upper numbers O.o

Out of 150 or so books read and reviewed this year, I gave exactly 5 the highest rating I have. That's not very many at all. Apparently I'm hard to impress :-) Here are the best of the best for me in 2013:

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Dare You To by Katie McGarry
Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre (part of the 'Til the World Ends Anthology)
Iced by Karen Marie Moning
Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

I was a tiny bit more generous with the 4.5 rating, and had a whopping 19 of those this year:

House Rules by Chloe Neill
Pivot Point by Kasie West
Emblaze by Jessica Shirvington
Breaking Point by Kristen Simmons
The Rules by Stacey Kade
True by Erin McCarthy
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke
Heart of Venom by Jennifer Estep
Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley
Through the Zombie Glass by Gena Showalter
All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
Endless by Jessica Shirvington
The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas
Finding It by Cora Carmack
Sanctum/Fractured by Sarah Fine
Kinked by Thea Harrison
Crash Into You by Katie McGarry
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Any books I haven't listed above that I absolutely should not miss out on? I'm always looking for recommendations! *makes grabby hand motions*

19 comments:

  1. I'm holding back on reading Sweet Peril because I don't want to wait for Sweet Reckoning, but you'll get to read the arc soon I'm sure so go, Jenny! ;) I have heard so many mixed things about The Coldest Girl in Coldtown though, but I hope you'll enjoy it :)

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    1. I'm all nervous about Sweet Reckoning. I just want them to be happy and I don't want anything bad to happen to them before the happiness happens. Doesn't seem like that's likely to be the case though.... *bites nails*

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  2. Thanks! That's so nice of you to say. :-)

    And I totally agree with you about POISON. I saw your review here and read it. A really cute, charming book. Thanks for the recommendation!

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    1. OF COURSE! You know how much I love your books:) And I'm so glad you liked POISON, it was just so cute!

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  3. The Bone Season is at the top of my TBR list...I picked it up from the library the other day after reading all the great reviews about it. I can't wait to get started!

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  4. I really do love that you took part in this, it is so much fun to see all your favorites from the past year, especially when a lot of them are mine as well. ;)

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  5. I didn't see this on your list. So I wanted to recommend a series that I absolutely fell in love with. :) The name of the 3 book series is *The Crescent Chronicles* By: *Alyssa Rose Ivy*. The 3 books are, *Flight, Focus, and Found* I think you may enjoy this series.If you do Alyssa wrote a spinoff series called *The Empire Chronicles* and the 1st book is *Soar*. I hope you will find the time to check out both of these series.in 2014'. I won't describe what the books consist of.Just know Alyssa created a new paranormal world I think you will enjoy reading about. :) I would have to say this series is a Paranormal Romance but with a kick! Happy Reading! :) I hope you have a Blessed New Year! :)

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  6. I have read almost none of the books on your 4.5 list. I'm going to read the Fever series I promise and then Iced. So then we can discuss it. Like at the end of next year, lol.

    I like your goals for the blogging year, but don't change your content! It's great just as it is!
    Happy New Year!

    Heather

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  7. Love this survey, Jenny! And, no, I can't believe that your most anticipated 2014 book is Burned. Say it ain't so! You've got some awesome blogging goals for next year...I think I'm pretty much on the same page as you. I'm pretty happy with where I am right now -- I've got some plans but I don't want to be obsessive about any of it, just want to have a great 2014!

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  8. *pokes* Hi friend! <3

    I love your survey. And I'm with you - the need to be the biggest and the best is draining. I'm happy with my blog. I'm in a good place, and I still deal with blogger jealousies, but we all do.

    See you in a few months at BEA!

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  9. My goal for next year is to be a bit more stringy with the higher ratings. I think I have a tendency to rate high for some reason. The second half of this year I was definitely slower to give a 5 star rating though, I noticed.
    SO many books you mentioned are ones I REALLY want to read! I need to just log off now and go READ, READ, READ and maybe get to some of them!

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  10. I never got around to read The Bone Season. I've heard tons of good things but also some back things so I put it off. And re Coldest Girl...isn't it funny how a book you can be so excited about at BEA gets put on the back burner when you get home. That always happens to me.

    Do you think you'll be going to BEA again? I'm not sure yet.

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  11. I think your blog is perfect as are you! :)

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  12. I think being content with things is so huge and I love that. Comparing to others is a snare we all can easily be entangled in, but isn't productive. We can always find someone bigger, better, higher in rankings, etc, but you have to ask yourself. Why? Why did I start this in the first place? I personally got into this for fun and as a hobby. If I think about that, it always puts blogging into to it's proper place.

    I, too, love all the fantastic bloggy friends I've met through blogging, who I always go to for recommends, shared rants, and just to put a big fat smile on my face every time I read one of their reviews. I count you high up on that list, Jenny!

    P.S. I can't wait for BURNED!!! I'm soooo excited. :)

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  13. Don't worry Jenny! I get distracted a lot. I probably have books that have been on shelf for years...

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  14. Trevor..yep, he definitely put a goofy grin on my face whenever he showed up. I can't wait to see what happens next! Like Heather, I also need to read the Fever series. I must meet these fabulous characters you're talking about!

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  15. That is not at all a lame answer!! I've come to feel the same way about blogging over the years and I'm much happier and more relaxed about it now than I was in the beginning when it was all about numbers. Thanks for summarizing all your fave books of 2013 here - makes it easy for me to look over and decide which ones I still need to get to!!

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