End of Year Book Survey 2019

Hi everyone! It’s that time of year again, the end of another year and time for another end of year book survey. The survey was created by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner as a way of looking back and celebrating our year of reading and blogging. I’ve been doing this since 2015, and have found it a really great way to wrap up my year so I’m doing it again this year. You can find the questions on Jamie’s blog here:

9th Annual End Of Year Survey – 2018 edition!!

2019 reading stats:

Number of books you read: 42

Number of rereads: 0

Genre you read the most from: Fantasy

Best In Books

1. Best Book You Read In 2019

VE Schwab’s Vengeful was released in 2018, but being me, I didn’t get to it until this year and it was AMAZING. Even more complex than Vicious, the a-linear timeline works so well and the cast of characters, especially the new ones, Marcella and June are so brilliant. It’s an almost 600 page book but I flew through it in a matter of weeks, the plot was so gripping!

2. Book You Were Excited About and Thought You Were Going To Love More But You Didn’t

I’m going to have to go with Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House for this one, I didn’t hate it, but I was expecting to really love it and in the end found it only okay, I think my expectations were just too high!

3. Most Surprising (in a good or bad way) book you read?

I think the Diviners series was probably my biggest surprise this year, it kind of passed me by when it came out, but my friend loved them and pushed me to read them and I devoured all three books in just three months! I can’t wait for the final book to come out next year!

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read And They Did?

I’m never sure what to put for these because I only really push books on my two real life reader friends but I know the books I’ve been pushing most on the blog this year are Vengeful and King Of Fools so let’s go with those, even though I don’t know if many of you guys read them!

5. Best series you started in 2019? Best Sequel of 2019? Best series ended of 2019?

Okay best series I started in 2019, I’m going to go with Enchantee, Gita Trelease’s debut, though there is only the one book so far, it was a really fun and creative historical fantasy and I can’t wait for the sequel, Liberte in 2021!

Best sequel of 2019, was King Of Fools, it was even better than Ace of Shades, so much character development, loads of great new characters and tons of twists and turns which have set up for a great final book next year.

As for series enders, I actually only read two this year and I’m going to go with Kingdom of Ash rather than Finale, both kind of disappointed me, but I thought Kingdom of Ash had the more satisfying ending.

6. Favourite New Author You Discovered In 2019?

Alexandra Christo! I read both of her published books this year and absolutely adored them both, I love her writing style and found both of her books absolutely addictive. So excited for the second Into The Crooked Place book!

7. Best Book From A Genre You Don’t Typically Read/Was Out of Your Comfort Zone?

Michelle Obama’s Becoming! I’m not usually a memoir person, but my parents got me this for Christmas in 2018, and I absolutely loved it. Michelle Obama writes really well, and she’s had such an interesting life so I found it really absorbing.

8. Most action packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

King of Fools! I was sucked in from the first page, and 600 pages later, it felt like time had flown by. Amanda Foody packed so much stuff in there, it made for a really exciting read.

9. Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be Most Likely To Reread Again Next Year?

Again, probably none! I have so many new books to read that I don’t have time to reread anymore. My friend Hannah finds this quite amusing because we’ve switched places, she’s the one who rereads now and I don’t!

10. Favourite Cover of A Book You Read In 2019?

This cover is potentially one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen so this one was a no brainer! I read this on Audible but had to get a physical copy as well, just so I had this beautiful cover in my life.

11. Most Memorable Character Of 2019?

Marcella Riggins! Hands down my favourite character of 2019, she wants power and she doesn’t care what she has to do or who she has to kill to get it. She was absolutely my favourite new character in Vengeful.

12. Most Beautifully Written Book Of 2019?

Agh this is really hard because I read so many brilliantly written books this year! I think I’ll go with Enchantee for this one, Gita Trelease really throws you into the 18th century court of Versailles and though I don’t picture things in my head all that well, the atmosphere she created was lovely.

13. Most Thought Provoking/Life Changing Book You Read This Year?

I think Becoming fits quite well here, as I said before, I’m not a massively big memoir fan but Michelle Obama’s story was a very powerful and thought provoking one.

14. Book You Can’t Believe You Waited Till 2019 To Read?

Vengeful! Granted, it only came out in 2018 so I didn’t wait that long, but if I’d known how good it was going to be, I would have read it as soon as I got it.

15. Favourite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2019?

“I have a heart for every year I’ve been alive” -To Kill A Kingdom, Alexandra Christo

This is possibly one of my favourite first lines that I’ve ever read, it really sets the scene for the book and makes you want to read on.

16. Shortest and Longest Books You Read In 2019?

Shortest Book: The Steel Prince Vol 3 by VE Schwab-29 pages

Longest Book: Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas-984 pages

17. Book That Shocked You The Most?

King of Fools, there were so many surprises in that book, especially in the last part!

18. OTP of the Year

Ah so hard because I have loved so many couples this year, but I’ll have to go with Sam & Evie from The Diviners, they have my favourite bickering dynamic!

19. Favourite Non-Romantic Relationship of The Year

I think Tavia and Karam from Into The Crooked Place win this one, I love their journey from enemies to friends over the course of the book, and they have such great banter.

20. Favourite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously?

Without meaning to sound like a broken record here, definitely Vengeful! I enjoyed Vicious but Vengeful was even better and definitely one of my favourite Schwab books I’ve read.

21. Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based Solely On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Bookstagram/Peer Pressure

I’ll go with The Diviners series for this one because I read them largely because of my friend Nicola who really loved them, and after a wobbly start with the first book, I ended up really loving the series!

22. Newest Fictional Crush From A Book You Read in 2019?

Thomas Cresswell from Stalking Jack The Ripper. I thought he was kind of a jerk in the first book but he’s really grown on me in Hunting Prince Dracula, I think the audio helps in that regard, the narrator does a great accent for him!

23. Best 2019 debut you read?

I actually read hardly any debuts this year, and only a couple that were actually released in 2019, but my favourite was definitely Gita Trelease’s Enchantee. I’m definitely really looking forward to Liberte in 2021.

24. Best worldbuilding/most vivid setting you read this year?

Without a doubt, Samantha Shannon’s Priory of The Orange Tree. The level of detail that went into her worldbuilding was incredible, and I loved the lush, Elizabethan inspired world she created, you could clearly tell how much research and effort she had put into creating her world.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most Fun To Read?

The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice and Virtue, it was a really fun adventure and Monty, as the narrator was incredibly funny.

26. Book That Made You Cry/Nearly Cry In 2019?

Kingdom of Ash! I was definitely close to tears during the last few chapters of that book, it was very emotional listening to the ending of a series that I had loved for so many years.

27. Hidden Gem of The Year?

It’s kind of a niche read since the book community usually focuses on fiction, but I really loved Kira Cochrane’s Modern Women: 52 Pioneers, it made my history loving heart very happy!

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Before The Devil Breaks You! WHY LIBBA BRAY WHY? HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO US?

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2019?

Definitely Ninth House, I’ve read books that have magic in a contemporary setting, but the way Leigh Bardugo built her world within the secret societies of Yale, I’ve definitely not read anything like it before.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad?

Probably You, not in that I didn’t enjoy it, more just that the main character is truly heinous!

Your Blogging/Bookish Life

1. New Favourite Blog/Bookstagram/Youtube Channel you discovered in 2019?

I’ll take this chance to plug another of my friends, also called Hannah, but this time, it’s my friend H.T. King who has a great YouTube channel filled with writing advice.

2. Favourite Post You Wrote In 2019?

I didn’t get as much love for this post as I would have liked, but I really enjoyed getting to interview Amanda Foody this year and thought her Q&A came out really well.

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/07/writing-corner-qa-with-author-amanda-foody/

3. Favourite Bookish Related Photo You Took in 2019?

I honestly didn’t really take many this year, so this isn’t a picture of actual books, but I did love this photo of me and my friends at YALC (though I did not take it!).

4. Best bookish event you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events etc)

Of course it’s YALC again! It’s my favourite event every year, and once again, me, Hannah and Hannah had a great time this year.

5. Best moment of blogging/bookish life in 2019?

I got to interview my first two authors for the blog, CG Drews and Amanda Foody, which definitely felt like a milestone for me, I was so happy that authors were willing to take time out of their days to answer my questions!

6. Most challenging thing about your blogging/bookish life this year?

Again, just balancing my blogging with Uni, work and also my other writing!

7. Most Popular Post on Your Blog This Year (by comments or views)?

I’ll do this by views this year, as I did it by comments last year. This year my most viewed post was my review of Neal Shusterman’s Unsouled, which I was very surprised by as it’s not the first book in the series, and I wrote it almost six years ago!

8. Post You Wish Got A Little More Love?

Aside from the one I mentioned earlier, I would have liked my most recent Quarterly Rewind to get a little more love, as they take quite a while to write!

https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/12/21/quarterly-rewind-september-december-19-edition/

9. Best Bookish Discovery This Year?

Audible! It turns out that I really enjoy audiobooks, I’ve read 7 this year and really enjoyed them.

10. Did You Complete Any Reading Challenges or Goals You Set For Yourself This Year?

Yes! You’ll get to hear more about them when I post my End of Year Check In tomorrow.

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2019 But Will Be Your Top Priority In 2020?

Malorie Blackman’s Crossfire, it was on so many of my TBR lists last year, but I never got around to it. It’s going to be my first read in 2020.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2020 (non debut)?

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I love Schwab’s adult SFF the best, and everything I’ve heard about this one sounds really good, so I’m really looking forward to it.

3. 2019 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Janella Angeles’ Where Dreams Descend. Moulin Rouge is my favourite film so to see a book that uses it as a comparison title instantly made me excited!

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating In 2020?

King of Crows! After that third book, I cannot wait to see how the Diviners story will end!

5. One Thing You Hope To Do/Accomplish In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2020?

Honestly I’m not sure this year! I’d really like to expand my adult fiction reading this year, much as I love YA, I’ve found myself more drawn to adult books in recent years. Recommendations for adult SFF definitely welcome!

6. A 2020 release you’ve already read and recommended to everyone?

None! I actually haven’t read any 2020 releases yet, though I do have a few waiting on Netgalley.

How was your 2019 reading year everyone? What are you looking forward to reading in 2020? Let me know in the comments!