Alright, it’s time for the last parts of the End of Year Survey originally created by Jamie @The Perpetual Page Turner! If you haven’t yet, check out Part I, which is all about the books I read and where I happily gushed about all my new favourites. This next part is more about my blogging journey in 2022 and looking ahead to 2023.
Check out my previous survey wrap-ups:
2019 – Part I / Part II / Part III | 2020 – Part I / Part II & III | 2021 – Part I / Part II & III
As we’ve wrapped up another year, you know it’s time for the annual End of Year Book Survey originally created by Jamie @The Perpetual Page Turner. I first stumbled upon this survey in 2019 and have done it every year since. If you’re keen to check out my earlier wrap-ups, you can check out the links below! Just like last time, I’ll be breaking this survey into parts with Part I today and Part II following shortly after. Let’s get to it!
2019 – Part I / Part II / Part III | 2020 – Part I / Part II & III | 2021 – Part I / Part II & III
It’s time for parts 2 & 3 of the End of Year Book Survey! This part of the survey looks more at blogging and future planning but you can check out part one for my 2021 Stats & ‘Best in Books’!
The End of Year Book Survey was originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner.
I didn’t do half as much blog hopping this year as I had planned so there were only a few new bloggers that I discovered but I’m so glad that I discovered them! They produce great content and write great reviews, so you should definitely check them out: Nick @ Infinite Limits of Love, Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse, Kerri @ Kerri McBookNerd , Lia @ An Ode to Fiction, Maria @ The Character Study, Georgia @ Lost in Neverland, Hasini @ Bibliosini, Sam @ We Live and Breathe Books, and Lori @ Fifty-two!
I also have to give a special shout out to my favourites on here because they’ve made this reading year even more incredible with buddy reads and great chats: Leslie @ Books Are the New Black, Julie @ One Book More, Jess @ Jessticulates, Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog and Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den!
I also started watching my fair share of booktube this year and these three were my favourites:
I’m not usually good at boosting my own stuff? But there were a few posts that I really enjoyed making and two reviews that I’m particularly proud of, even though they’re a bit lot on the long, I couldn’t help gushing about the books because I loved them *so much*!
I didn’t take a lot of bookish-related photos this year but I did do a book look for my stop on the Cast in Firelight blog tour, a photo of my newly reorganised bookshelf (that didn’t last long lol) and another photo of one of the (very) few hauls I did this year!
There were none this year (but are there ever any events? no… lol) 🥲
I don’t know if I can really say whether I had a “best” moment because my blogging and reading life felt pretty low-key in 2021. I guess one of the best moments I felt was when I came back from my extended hiatus to find that there were still people following my blog? 😂 I still feel the imposter syndrome pretty often, especially when things felt really tough this year, but yeah… I’m just thankful for all of you who engage with this weird third-culture kid across the sea! ❤️
Oof, I’ve said it a million times already but this year was a weird one and I felt it on both the blogging and reading front. I planned to take a short break early on in the year which then turned into a several-month-long hiatus which I apparently really needed! It wasn’t a smooth journey diving back into blogging but I found my groove again after a while. I still question why I’m producing anything at times because my engagements weren’t what they were before, but I love this community and I’m still glad to be here. In terms of reading, I was stuck with a weird reading mood that didn’t disappear until… well, it didn’t really disappear all year! 😂 While I’d normally read a pretty balanced mix of fantasies and romances, I could hardly focus on anything except the latter all year and without them, I probably would’ve read next to nothing in 2021. 🙈 I’m planning to try reintroducing more fantasy into my life this year but if not, I’m totally okay with mainly reading romances!
The most liked post on my blog this year was my Top Ten Tuesday: Goals & Hopes for 2021! The post with the most comments was also a Top Ten Tuesday: Re-reading 5-star Books Like It Was the First Time.
As with every year so far, my reviews always get the lowest views out of all the posts on my blog. I’m also sure that because I took an extended hiatus this year, my stats dropped considerably but again, I’m just glad that anyone stuck around. ❤️
I gotta be honest, I didn’t really discover any new book-related sites or bookstores this year because I didn’t really do much retail therapy (surprisingly!) and outside of work, I spent very little time online and engaging. 🙈 Boring, I know!
Well, I can say with certainty that I didn’t reach many of the reading/blogging goals I set for myself this year. Some of the reasons for why were out of my control and the others… Well, it just didn’t happen and that’s fine! The one goal that I did surpass was my Goodreads Reading Challenge. I set my goal for 150 books in 2021 and I ended up reading 199 (welp, that one to 200 😂). I’m happy I at least did that!
I’ve technically been reading She Who Became the Sun for… A long time now. It’s been on my “currently reading” list since I picked it up mid-year and I’m disappointed that I haven’t finished it yet but as I’ve mentioned, I really struggled with fantasy last year. I’m definitely going to prioritise it this year and I do hope I love it as much as everyone else seemed to!
Ooh, there’s not just one book I’m highly anticipating! I’ve just made a list of ten but here are ten more that I’m really looking forward to this year:
A Magic Steeped in Poison isn’t my most anticipated debut because it has the most gorgeous cover but it definitely doesn’t hurt! 😂
I’m really looking forward to reading Bound by Firelight, the second and final book in the Wickery duology.
I wrote last year that I wanted to spend more time engaging in the book community and sadly, I didn’t do as much as I’d like. So I think I’m going to keep this goal the same! I hope to be more active in the book community and engage with more amazing book lovers!
I’ve only read two 2022 releases (I’m so behind please don’t judge) and one I didn’t quite enjoy and the other I absolutely loved but haven’t gushed much about yet.
If you’re looking for a sweet and adorable graphic novel to read this year I’d highly recommend Chef’s Kiss! It’s got great friendships, realistic and relatable adulting situations post-uni life, and a very sweet MM romance. Not to mention all the food!
So, that’s the last bit of the End of Year Survey. I actually feel like there are maybe some things that I haven’t reflected on yet in this wrap-up—mostly to do with my 2021 goals—but that’s OK. Maybe I’ll do a separate post for that. I can’t believe 2021 is already over and we’ve started another new year, sadly with the same circumstances. That said, I hope 2022 gets better and is kinder to all of us!
How was your year of reading and blogging in 2021? What was your best blogging or book-related moment? Is there anything that you’re really looking forward to or something you really want to achieve in 2022?
It’s that time of the year again and I’m keen to look back on my year of reading with The End of Year Book Survey originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner. Since this is a bit of a longer recap I’ve split the survey into two, combining parts 2+3 but that’ll also be going up later this week! And on that note, let’s dive straight in:
Number of books read: 199
Number of pages read: 62,038
Number of re-reads: 3 (Illuminae, Gemina, Aurora Rising)
Genre(s) you read the most from: Romance and Fantasy
This is the first time I’ve checked the details of my reading stats on Goodreads but I love to see it! Interesting to see just how few 5-star reads I had in 2021—I know I had a few but I didn’t realise it was so few either! 😅 Despite that, my average rating was 3.7 this year, which is a surprisingly minor difference from 3.8 last year!
I really don’t think I can pick one for this prompt. I’m sorry! I made a Top 10 list but if I had to narrow it down to a Top 3 I think I’d pick: Jade City, The Goddess of Nothing at All, The Death of Vivek Oji, The Love Hypothesis and The Ones We’re Meant to Find.
I buddy-read Jade Fire Gold with Becky and unfortunately, we both didn’t end up loving it. It had potential but it fell short; the whole time I wanted more and sadly, we didn’t get it by the end.
I decided to look at a book that surprised me in a good way! I struggle with anthologies/short story collections but I really enjoyed Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise. Lots of fun, feel-good, nostalgic YA stories that gave me the warm fuzzies 🥰
Hmm… This is a tough one. I’m not sure that I managed to convince anyone to read anything that I gushed about? 😂 But the books I’m quite sure pushed the most were these three: Jade City, The Goddess of Nothing at All, and Sing Anyway! All were brilliant. *chefs kiss*
I love Lim’s writing and world-building and I’m so happy this story was gorgeous as its cover!
This was a great ending to an amazing series. I adore this queer historical mystery/ romance!
Ooh, there are so many new favourites including Fonda Lee, Martha Wells, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Holly Jackson, KJ Charles, Brighton Walsh, Ali Hazelwood, Lucy Parker, Anita Kelly and Danielle L. Jensen.
Dark SFF is not usually my jam but this had a compelling mystery, intriguing powers and awesome characters! 😍
I don’t read much adult sci-fi but this book was wow! The world-building was amazing and the characters grew on me quickly. I became very *invested* 👀
The Bridge Kingdom series was one of my more recent reads and I sped through this so quickly I surprised myself! The action steadily escalated, the romance became deliciously angsty and I adored every moment of it. 😍
I think I’d re-read Silver in the Wood before starting the next book in the series.
So so many but here are a few:
Just like last year, this year’s favourite is not just one person but one family from The Green Bone Saga! After craving fan art all year, I’m so glad so much exists now. This family portrait by C.J. Merwild is my favourite. Everyone’s just so freaking stunning—I can’t 🥲
There were two books tied for this but A People’s History of Heaven won by a small margin. The prose flowed like magic. Subramanian really knows how to give life to her words because I was able to vividly picture everything!
Hmm… Well, I wouldn’t necessarily say that Before the Coffee Gets Cold was life-changing but it did make me think a lot about time and life, changes and chances. This hit really deep emotionally!
I honestly can’t believe I didn’t read A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder before this year! I loved Poppy and the mystery had me hooked until the very end!
“Everyone loses their way at some point, and it’s not just because of their mistakes or the decisions they make. It’s because they’re horribly, wonderfully human. And the one thing I’ve learned about being human is that we can’t do this alone. When we’re lost, we need help to try to find our way again.”
T.J. Klune, Under the Whispering Door
Shortest: 52 pages (Surrender: An Erotic Short)
Longest: 672 pages (Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2))
Credence was pretty taboo and it definitely won’t be for everyone but it wasn’t the forbidden elements that shocked me. It was more how much I enjoyed the story! 😂
I didn’t even have to take a second to think about it: Olive and Adam from The Love Hypothesis. They’re so precious and aah, I squee thinking about them! 😍
Honourary mentions: Sylvie & Dom (Battle Royal), Lara & Aren (The Bridge Kingdom), Will & Kim (The Will Darling Adventures), Gianna & Christian (The Maddest Obsession), Mac & Hudson (Captain Heartbreaker)
I loved the ride or die friendship between Olive and Lucy. Their relationship was my favourite aspect of this Love & Hate series.
Chloe Liese is one of my favourite romance authors and I adored both books by her that I read this year: Ever After Always and With You Forever.
I’d seen a few of the Havenbrook series covers circulate on book Twitter throughout the year and all the threads gushed about how awesome they were so of course I had to find out for myself! It’s become one of my favourite small-town romance series and I can’t wait to read more by Brighton Walsh in 2022!
Ooh, this is a toughie. I read so many romances with swoontastic heroes that swept me off my love-drunk feet! I’m gonna do my best to narrow it down to a Top 5… I was a sucker for Zaf, Adam, Dominic, Hudson and Rahul! 😍😍😍😍😍
I still can’t believe The Hand of the Sun King was a debut with its immaculate world-building and stunning prose! The Love Hypothesis is also another stunner of a debut and I can’t wait to read more by Hazelwood ASAP!
I only read a few fantasies this year but I would have to say The Green Bone Saga books had the best world-building. It’s so intricate and vivid that I felt like I was there experiencing it myself!
Chef’s Kiss was one of the only graphic novels that I read in 2021 and I was constantly smiling as I read! It was so cute and relatable and ah, happy heart sighs. 🥰
I’m an emotional reader so once I become invested in characters and their stories, it doesn’t take much to make me laugh, cry, scream at all the injustice… Anyway, it’s safe to say I cry easily while reading but these are the books that made me ugly cry.
I feel like I haven’t seen enough people talk about Skin of the Sea in 2021 and it’s a gorgeous YA fantasy debut that deserves all the love!
The soul-crushing honour definitely goes to The Goddess of Nothing at All. This book absolutely wrecked me and I felt so bereft when it ended 😭 (and obviously I mean all of this in the best way)!
I can’t remember the last time I read a story from an animal perspective and Pighearted was a heartwarming story about family and belonging, told partially through the eyes of J6, a little pig who thought he was human. So cute!
As Good As Dead took a turn that I really didn’t expect or wish for the main character and it frustrated me because why was she done like this?! I don’t mean it in a bad way either but just in a heartbreaking way, I guess?
2021 was a pretty weird reading year. I read more than I did in 2020 but I also feel like I read less impactful or memorable books too—or more like they left less of an impression on me? I’m still pretty happy with what I read though and I’m looking forward to (hopefully) more amazing reads in 2022!
How was your year of reading in 2021? Did you do the End of Year Book Survey too? What was your favourite book(s)? What about the book that surprised you the most?
Alright, it’s time for part two and three of the End of Year Book Survey! This part of the survey looks more at blogging and future planning but you can check out part one for my 2020 Stats & ‘Best in Books’!
The End of Year Book Survey was originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner.
Oh, I discovered so many amazing book blogs this year. I really wish that I could mention every single person that I follow because everyone deserves such a huge shoutout for constantly posting great and inspiring content, but also for being such supportive people! You keep me motivated and excited to keep engaging and I appreciate all of you so much! 😍 Some of my faves who’re a few of the most supportive bloggers I’ve met in the community and who’ve also heavily contributed to my increasingly gigantor TBR with their recs are: Becky, Leah, Julie, Lisa, and Stephen!
I never watched Booktube until this year but I did start watching a few although in the end the one that I keep coming back to is Noelle Gallagher. First of all, I could listen to Noelle speaking all day because her voice is so incredibly soothing, plus I love how much passion comes through when she speaks about books. I love her discussions, her reviews, and pretty much everything she posts 🤣
This is surprisingly difficult to answer because I actually have a few posts that I really enjoyed writing and am happy I wrote, thanks to the Let’s Talk Bookish discussion prompts I joined. One of the posts that I had tons of fun writing was the one for “What Makes You DNF A Book?” because 2020 was the year that I finally took the steps to DNF books that weren’t giving me joy without feeling crushing guilt for doing so.
2020 was the year that I disappeared off bookstagram because I feel like I pretty much burned out with all of that at the end of 2019. The pressure of trying to get a decent enough shot for the gram was just too much and I lost my enjoyment for it and rarely took photos in the end. There were a few pictures I took that I did like though! If you wanna be bookstagram friends you can add me: @dinipandareads
Sadly, I participated in none this year… I didn’t have the time with work but also, the time differences being on the other side of the world made it even more difficult to try and attend events without having to either stay up ridiculously late or wake up ridiculously early 😂
I think one of the best moments was achieving one of that goals that I set out for at the start of 2020, which was to get 500 followers on my blog. When it happened, I honestly had no words for how amazing it felt to wake up and see that I reached that number because I never actually believed it was possible, or at least that it’d take me a few years to achieve. I know that everyone says the numbers don’t matter and it’s about the enjoyment you get from doing this and I totally agree, it’s definitely that. But knowing that there are people out there who like what I post enough to subscribe and keep coming back really fills my heart with such warmth. Thank you so much, friends! ❤️
What wasn’t challenging about this year though, right? Lol 😂 In all seriousness though, I think the most challenging thing was finding balance with my blogging/reading and my work life. Work was particularly trying this year and as I was already struggling to keep my motivation high, one of my biggest struggles was not succumbing to my desire to say “screw it” and just hole up in “cave reading mode” all year long 🙃 It’s a very privileged stance, I know. Sometimes blogging does feel like second job (although personally a lot more fulfilling for me than my actual job) and I’m quite proud that I did both without compromising on quality.
Um, so I can’t actually recall how to get the exact post numbers info but I think my most popular post this year was my Let’s Talk Bookish discussion post about Rereading Books! This was another really fun discussion post to write 🙂
Umm… I don’t really know the answer for this question? I think my posts get pretty okay views and engagements overall. After I took a short hiatus earlier this year my stats did drop and from that point on they stayed lower than they were at the start of the year, but I wasn’t particularly disappointed about the lack of engagement on any one post! 🤷🏻♀️
Thanks to Becky’s post with a list of bookish stores we could shop at to treat ourselves, I did discover a few bookish Etsy shops that I would one day like to purchase from because their merch is awesome and you can never really have too many bookish things! 😉 Some of my favourite shops were: Bookishly, Miss Bohemia and Bookworm Candles & Crafts!
This feels like a personal attack 😭 Kidding… Sort of! I was quite ambitious at the start of 2020 and set myself quite a few reading challenges/goals that I mostly failed at achieving. The one goal that I did achieve and tend to always reach was my Goodreads Reading Challenge. Last year I set out to read 100 books and ended up reading 160. I was so very close to completing the POPSGUAR Reading Challenge but when I ended up DNFing one of the books in December I just decided it wasn’t worth rushing through reads just to complete it. That’s okay. 2021 is another year to try 😂
Easily: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I got my copy towards the end of the year but I’ve heard so many amazing things about it, it was on so many favourites lists, I also really love Schwab’s books, so I’m really looking forward to reading this one 😊
There are so many amazing sounding/looking books that I really can’t wait to get my hands on in 2021 but I’m super excited for TJ Klune’s next book: Under the Whispering Door 😍
Witches Steeped in Gold sounds so good and I can’t wait to check it out!
Um, I seriously cannot wait for The Heart Principle! I needed Quan’s story last year already so this is definitely one of my most anticipated releases 😃
I think what I’d really like to try doing this year is spend more time engaging with other book bloggers on the blogosphere and book twitter but especially on bookstagram. I won’t be working full-time this year so I hope it’ll give me the time to focus on getting my bookstagram lively again, but also to have more meaningful interactions with others on here 😊
The book that immediately jumped to mind was Amari and the Night Brothers (I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again… Lol). This was a fantastic middle grade fantasy that is chock full of everything I love about MG books. I cannot wait until the world gets to experience its magic this month 😍
I still can’t believe that 2020 is over and that we’re kicking off with another new year already. Truthfully, I’m quite pleased with what I’ve accomplished in 2020 especially when it came to blogging. I’m glad that I didn’t let any hurdles stop me from pushing forward! I’m really looking forward to seeing what 2021 will bring in terms of reading and blogging. I’m hopeful and excited that it will be another amazing year for the books!
How was your year of reading and blogging? What was your best blogging or book-related moment in 2020? Is there anything that you’re really looking forward to in 2021?
Sorry I’ve been a bit MIA over the last week. My desire to do the absolute bare minimum took over and I’ve done nothing but read (and game) since my last day of full-time work on Wednesday! It’s been grand but okay, it’s time to hop back on the horse! In my typical disorganised fashion, I’ve saved up all the “ending 2020″/wrap up posts for the first week of January, so if you’re sick of looking at wrap up posts now is the time to quit reading 😅
The End of Year Book Survey was originally created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner. It’s a bit of a long one and when I did this for the first time in 2019, I split it into three parts, though I think for 2020 I’ll split it into two (combining two and three as they’re shorter)! On that note, let’s dive straight in:
Number of Books Read: 160
Number of Re-reads: 2 (Scythe, Thunderhead)
Genre(s) You Read THE Most From: Young Adult Fantasy, Romance
I’ve been thinking this over a fair bit since making my top ten favourites but after some thought, I think the best book I read was The House in the Cerulean Sea.
Oh, it pains me to say it but… Kingdom of the Wicked. I did enjoy parts of it and gave it ★★★ but I thought I’d for sure love it, and then ended up feeling on the fence about it. I’m pretty sure this is more “it’s me and not the book” though because I also ended up feeling “so-so” about SJTR.
One of my December reads was the non-fiction Bad Blood and even knowing how praised it is, I was surprised by how I sped through it. I’ve got a mixed relationship with NF as most of the time I find them a bit of a slog to get through but I devoured this book in a span of 8ish hours? It was intense. It was amazing. I would definitely recommend it (especially the audiobook)!
I think it’s a tie between two books and they’ll come as no surprise either. Plus, I don’t know if I’d say I “pushed” people to read them and also, I doubt it was me who convinced them to read them in the end? 😂 But I didn’t stop raving about both The House in the Cerulean Sea and Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow and often highly recommended them!
Oof… The best series started is so freaking hard to pick because there were so many that I started and absolutely loved this year… How am I supposed to choose?! 😩 I think I’m just gonna have to go with the first one two three (cough) that popped into my head and that’s The Poppy War, The Kinder Poison and Amari and the Night Brothers. (I’m sorry it’s so hard to choose okay!!!)
For best sequel I’m going with Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, which is book two in the Nevermoor series! For the series ender, I’m choosing Unravel the Dusk because it was a really satisfying conclusion to a beautiful duology.
I don’t think I can just choose one for this because I read so many books by new-to-me-authors that it’d be really impossible for me to pick one. I refuse. So here are some of my new faves: T.J. Klune, Jessica Townsend, Talia Hibbert, Chloe Liese, Kate Stewart, Teagan Hunter, Devri Walls, R.F. Kuang, Zoraida Cordova, June Hur. Basically, these authors are or are close to being auto-buys for me! 😂
Hmm… I think I’m going to also pick two books for this one. The first is Bad Blood, as I already mentioned this was a fantastic non-fiction and I’d highly recommend it, especially if you like true crime. The second is Children. Although this is fantasy, it was pretty dark and different to what I usually read. It was definitely out of my comfort zone but Larssen’s writing and characterisation were exquisite!
I think this one goes to Amari and the Night Brothers. This was packed with action from the go and it was an absolutely thrilling adventure from start to finish. It was so much fun and 100% unputdownable (for me), and I can’t wait for the world to experience its awesomeness when it’s out this month (Jan 2021)!
While I can pick more than one, I don’t tend to re-read very often so it’s gonna be With the Fire On High. Acevedo’s writing is so evocative and Emoni’s story was so beautiful and touching. Not to mention the recipes and all the talk about food made me crazy hungry. I definitely want to re-read it!
I’m not even going to pretend that I can pick just one favourite cover because there were so many that were gorgeous and I refuse to choose ONE. 🤣 So, feast your eyes on some gorgeous covers:
Surprise surprise, I think I’m gonna go with… The cast of my favourite book this year! I loved Linus, Arthur and all the kids in this book. They won my heart big time ❤️
Ooh, this one was a really tough pick but in the end I think Words in Deep Blue takes this one. This book was so deeply touching. It was beautifully written and made me feel ALL THE FEELS. It’s a gorgeous book!
These books really made me think a lot about history and the society we live in, especially with the murder of George Floyd. The Nickel Boys and The Black Kids are really important, impactful and timely reads that are so worth your time!
I have a tendency to put off hyped books (or, well, many books but mostly hyped ones) because the hype is intimidating a lot of the time, but I was so annoyed with myself for putting off reading Well Met until earlier this year. It’s SUCH a great romance! The banter, the character development, the faire! I loved it so much and can’t wait to read the next book set in this town!
“Words matter, in fact. They’re not pointless, as you’ve suggested. If they were pointless, then they couldn’t start revolutions and they wouldn’t change history. If they were just words, we wouldn’t write songs or listen to them. We wouldn’t beg to be read to as kids. If they were just words, then stories wouldn’t have been around since before we could write. We wouldn’t have learned to write. If they were just words, people wouldn’t fall in love because of them, feel bad because of them, ache because of them, and stop aching because of them.”
Cath Crowley, Words in Deep Blue
Shortest: 56 pages (The Straw King)
Longest: 631 pages (The Toll)
It’s not just the brutality of certain scenes that shocked me in The Poppy War but I was also shocked by how much I loved it! This was definitely one heckuva dark read, especially as the story goes on, as Kuang does not shy away from the gruesome details of war. But it’s brilliant writing!
Omg, why is this so hard? Lol I mean, there were so many wonderful couples that I would do this for like Ren & Frankie, Citra & Rowan, Meg & Reid, Yadriel & Julian, and Chloe & Red because I love all their loves… But I think Maia & Edan take the OTP cake this year! So swoon. *sigh*
I’m a sucker for the found-family trope and strong friendships, and there were some really great ones in the books I read this year but I have to say that my favourites were from Nevermoor. The relationship between Juniper and Morrigan and also the friendship between Morrigan and Hawthorne filled my heart with such joy and warmth. These relationships made me fall even more in love with this book/series!
Vengeful. I love Schwab and I honestly wasn’t expecting to love Vengeful more than I loved Vicious because that book was *chefs kiss*. It was so great to come back to the devious characters I loved in the first book and I can’t wait to see what else Schwab has in store for these ‘Villains’.
Get A Life, Chloe Brown/The Brown Sisters series has been hyped everywhere (blogosphere, bookstagram, book twitter, booktube) and y’know what? Even though I’ve only read Chloe’s story, I know the praise is so well deserved. The banter, the romance, the diversity, the disability rep, THE STEAMINESS *fans self*. Ooh, I can’t wait to continue the series!
Ryder from Only When It’s Us. Um, yes, hello. THIS GUY. Ryder had me from the beginning even at peak broody mountain-man mode. That gruff exterior but soft interior is such a weakness for me. But I loved the disability rep in this book (and the series overall). Also, there’s this scene that involves Ryder + Pride & Prejudice and oh my heart, how I melted and swooned! 😂
It’s honestly hard to believe that The Silence of Bones is June Hur’s debut because it is so beautifully done. I’ve never read a book set in 1800s Joseon Dynasty Korea but the writing made it so easy to picture the historical setting perfectly. The inclusion of the sociopolitical climate of the time was intriguing and the mystery kept me on my toes! Plus, this cover? I LOVE! 😍
There are three books in the Venators series (so far) and Walls amps up the world building with each book we read and it’s done amazingly. I love that we get to explore so many different areas of this world in such great detail. It’s so easy to picture it all coming to life before my eyes and it doesn’t hurt that the characters and plot are fantastic as well!
The Good for Nothings was such a treat to read and I’m so glad it got put on my radar! It had me laughing out loud so often because the characters, their banter and their many shenanigans were so entertaining. This was a fast-paced, action-packed space drama that I absolutely loved!
I’m just a *bit* of an emotional reader (read: a big one) so it actually isn’t that hard to make me cry 🤣 Haha what can I say, I’m weak with the emotions! The book that probably made me cry hardest was The House in the Cerulean Sea because FEELS, but also The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones, The Mountains Sing and The Poppy War made me pretty freaking weepy, too! 😅
I’m shouting four books that I really enjoyed reading this year (I gave all of them 4-5 stars) but haven’t seen a lot of on the blogosphere. I haven’t spent *that much* time on bookstagram or booktube so I don’t know if they were mentioned there, but I think all of these deserve much more attention: Tristan Strong Punches A Hole in the Sky, The Silence of Bones, The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice, and The Kinder Poison.
I really think it’s gonna be The Poppy War. I mean, this book just forking devastated me emotionally especially towards the end. It was… Wow. A lot. It was definitely worth it though! LOL
Oh, easily the biggest standout for this is Big Girl, Small Town. This was easily the most unique book I read in 2020 especially because it combines so many elements that tend to frustrate me in books, but instead I ended up loving this and the MC, Majella. I learned a lot about The Troubles and the simple, every day life in Northern Ireland. It also made me ridiculously hungry!
There were actually a few books that made me quite mad this year and I loved all of them! I got mad at the blatant discrimination and bullying in these books, especially when it’s directed towards a child by the “adults” in the book. I wonder that I can still be surprised at the cruelty of humans when terrible and infuriating situations happen so often (even IRL)!
Oof, despite all the crazy that happened this year, there’s no doubt that some really amazing books were read and many new favourites were discovered. I’m really hoping that 2021 will continue to be an amazing year for books and blogging! Stay tuned for part 2 & 3 of the End of Year survey which I’ll hopefully post tomorrow! 😉 Hope you’re doing well, taking care and staying safe, friends! ❤️
How was your year of reading? Did you do the End of Year Book Survey too? Have you read any of these books? Any favourites?
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