The End of 2012 Part 1 (Favorite Book Edition)

It is officially the END OF THE YEAR!!! Wow, it honestly feels like this year just flew by!  It feels like just last month I went to Passion and Prose (which was in February!)

And that means discussing what has been our favorite reads of the year, right?!

Well, usually I come up with my own categories, like I did Last Year, however, this year I ran across something pretty cool!  A Survey!  I LOVE surveys!! I am serious! I love filling out things! haha

Anyway, there are some awesome questions on this survey that I think will round up and bring to an end this year very nicely!!

So here goes:

This survey was started by The Perpetual Page Turner!

1. The Best Book you read in 2012? (You can break it down by genre if you want)

I am DEFINITELY breaking this up into categories!  I read SO many awesome books this year!

• Favorite New Series: Cinder by Marissa Meyer (LOVED this one SO much! I have been DYING to get my hands on Scarlet (book 2) since reading Cinder in February!)

•  Favorite Paranormal Series Continuation: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare(This is one of my absolute favorite series! I just love everything about these! The Characters, the story, the writing, everything! It is just brilliantly done!)

• Favorite Contemporary: A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger (Kody just doesn't stop with AMAZING books! I love her characters because they are so relate able!  This one was no exception, and I loved the extra surprise of having some of my favorite past characters make a cameo appearance in this one!)

• Favorite Book in a Series that FINALLY Continued!:  Size 12 and Ready to Rock  by Meg Cabot (I had been waiting for this book for FIVE Years!!)

• Favorite Book that Made me Bawl my Eyes out: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (My first ever John Green book, but definitely not my last! I had to stop reading this one while I was helping out in the fifth grade class I volunteer at every Thursday, because I could feel the tears start streaming!  I was telling myself, "Mandy, you are not going to cry in front of these kids! No CRYING!!" I ended up having to finish it at home after school, and I was sitting their on my bed crying for like twenty minutes as I read those final last chapters!)

2. Book(s) you were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love More But Didn't?

Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bauman (Review Here)

I was SO looking forward to reading this! I was chosen as a Summer Ambuzzador on Random Buzzers, and I was really excited to help promote this one!  However, once I read it, I was so disappointed!  I absolutel disliked this book! The main character was awful!  She never learned a lesson at all, I felt like! All the side characters, along with the MC, were really trashy, which was just sad!  I just personally, could not stand this book! And it was my only 1 Star rating this year, I believe.



3. Most Surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012?

Hmm...good question. Let me see...I think I might go with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Series.  Only because, I honestly hadn't heard that much about it before the movie came out.  I guess I'm just not in the age group of its normal readers.  But when I saw Katherine Heigl was in the movie, I knew I wanted to read the book before seeing it. 

And dang it surprised me by how HILARIOUS this series is!! I've only read one and two so far, but I've been collecting them at Thrift Stores, and just can't wait to continue them!  However, I will admit the movie was quite a bit disappointing...definitely not as funny as the book!

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012?

There are actually a couple I think...

I remember recommending Cinder a lot, just because of how great it was.  And then I recommended The Fault in our Stars and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, because of their messages.  I recommend everything by Cassandra Clare all the time too!


5. Best Series you Discovered in 2012?

There were a few series that I started this year, that everyone seems to be talking about! It was great finally getting to them!

Among them were:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

• The Nightshade Series by Andrea Cremer (I've only read book 1, but I really liked it and I can't wait to read the next one!)
• Delirium and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (actually am really liking this Dystopian series!)
• The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare (finally started this one shortly before or after (I can't remember haha) Clockwork Prince came out.)
• Withering Tights by Louise Rennison (I loved this one! And I have been REALLY wanting to read book 2!! I think I'll get it out of the library, if they have it, next year!)
• 1-800-Where-R-You Series  by Meg Cabot (I FINALLY read these this year! The first book had been sitting on my shelf for A LONG time, so I was definitely excited to finally read it! It was a great series, with a GREAT ENDING!! I LOVED that ending SO much!!)

 6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?

Marissa Meyer, whom I met in February at Passion and Prose, is an AWESOME new author! Her novel Cinder was amazing!
John Green (I know he's not a new author, but to me he was, because The Fault in my Stars was my first John Green book, and I absolutely loved it!
And Louise Rennison, because I have never read any of her Confessions of Georgia Nicholson Series, which I've also heard great things about, and I just LOVED Withering Tights!

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

I read this non-fiction Psychology book this year, that was SO completely out of my comfort zone, but absolutely surprised me because I felt like I got so much out of it! It was called The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (Review Here!)! Seriously check this one out if you get a chance! EXTREMELY interesting!

8. Most Thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?

I'm going to go with Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret on this one.  This book was absolutely gorgeous! It was so difficult for me to put it down, in the short few hours it took me to finish it, because of the drawings! If you haven't read, or heard of Hugo, then you must know that this book consists of pictures and writing.  But here's the thing that makes it so unique, compared to other picture books: The pictures TELL THE STORY! You can't skip them, because then you get lost in the story! It was so unique and amazing! Plus Selznick's picture are absolutely gorgeous!

9. Book you read in 2012 That you are Most Likely to Re-Read next year?

I'm not sure, if I'll 100% be rereading them, just because I have too many others to get to first, but if I were to reread any I read this year, it would most likely be Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Wanderlove by Kristen Hubbard (LOVED that one so much!) or The Twilight Saga for the hundredth time! Oh and possibly Catching Jordan  by Miranda Kenneally!

10. Favorite Cover of a Book you Read in 2012?

There were A LOT of gorgeous covers this year! The ones I read include Cassandra Clare's City of Lost Souls, Marissa Meyer's Cinder, and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (which I just recently read) (I just love that cover so much!  It fits the story so perfectly!)





11. Most memorable character in 2012?

I was introduced to SO many amazing characters this year, and some I've been reading about for a while now!  The ones that stick out the most for me are Anna and Etienne St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, Clary and Jace from Cassie Clare's The Mortal Instrument Series, Cinder from Marissa's Cinder, Melinda from Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak! Jordan from Miranda Kenneally's Catching Jordan! There are just so many!!

12. Most Beautifully Written Book read in 2012?

The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green.  Absolutely beautiful book! And Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins! LOVED both of these so much!







13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green because both had such a great story line that absolutely devastated me!  I had to sit there thinking about both for a while, especially TFIOS, because I just don't even want to think about something like that happening to someone I love.

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read?

Probably Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins and Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, because both are exactly the type of books I love!  The PERFECT Teen Contemporary Romances!

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From a Book You Read in 2012?



-"I'm telling you it's fu*%ing hard to be classy." -One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
- "I'm in love with you," he said quietly.
"Augustus," I said.
"I am," he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling.  "I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things.  I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you." -The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

And I'm sure a ton of others, but I just don't know them off the top of my head right now! :)

16. Shortest & Longest Book you Read in 2012?


Longest: Breaking Dawn with 756 pages, however, it was like my hundredth time rereading it, so definitely not too bad! :)

Shortest:  In a way this book could technically fall into both categories, because it was one of the longest books I read (page wise), but at the same time the shortest because over half of it you just sort of look at and skim through:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick at 522 pages
And Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick too, at 640 pages.

These both took me a couple of hours to get through, and that with a couple of breaks in between!  Such great stories, and told through a seriously interesting and unique way!

17.  Book that Had a Scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it? (A WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

Okay, before I say what this one is, let me just promise you I am NOT a perv!! The only reason why I really wanted to discuss this one with people was to see what they thought of it! There are so many reasons to hate and love this book/series, that it's interesting to hear why from people!  And that series is Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. 

18.  Favorite Relationship from a book you read in 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc.)?

There were a few that I truly enjoyed and just loved! The three off the top of my head right now are:

Jordan and Sam from Catching Jordan (love how it evolved! And I've always loved a guy and girl best friendship!
Anna and Etienne St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (same reason pretty much as Catching Jordan).
And Whitney and Nathan from Kody Keplinger's A Midsummer's Nightmare (loved the drama that ensued after their rocky start! Whitney was such a damaged great character, it was nice seeing Nathan put her back together again, piece by piece)

19. Favorite Book you Read in 2012 from an Author you Read Previously?

Meg Cabot and Kody Keplinger both came out with amazing books this year! Oh and Cassie Clare!  Those books were Size 12 and Ready to Rock (Meg), A Midsummer's Nightmare (Kody), and City of Lost Souls (Cassie)!  All great books that I highly recommend!

20. Best book you read that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from Somebody Else?:
Well, I got a lot of author requests this year, and with those came some amazing books!  Those included In Need of Therapy by Tracie Banister and Night Sky and Knee Deep by Jolene Perry!
All three of these books were absolutely great! Tracie's was hilarious!  Loved the main character!  Jolene's were touching and absolutely beautifully written!  After I read both of Jolene's I went on Goodreads and Amazon and checked her other books to add to my wishlist! :)


So those are all the books I loved this year!!

Tomorrow I'll be posting Part 2 of this, but this time instead of discussing my favorite books of the year, I'll be discussing my favorite Blogging Moments of the year! :)

The Romance Bookie :)