I completed this survey last year (End of Year Book Survey 2014), and still think it’s the best way to round off your reading and blogging year. Thanks to Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner for inventing this Survey and hosting it, and THANK YOU to all of you who read my blog, comment on my posts, and visit me here in my cosy corner of the Internet! I hope you had an excellent 2015, and wish you all health, happiness and love in 2016!

Number Of Books You Read: 

I set my Goodreads Challenge at 52 books in 2014, and ultimately finished on 62. I debated increasing my Challenge target to 60 for 2015, but decided to stick with 52 because it’s much more manageable and realistic for me to aim to read 1 book per week, taking into consideration my other commitments. People who read over 100-150 books per year, I salute all of you, because I’ve no idea how you do it!

Number of Re-Reads:

Pitiful! I reread 8 books last year without even trying, and this year I aimed to reread more – I even signed up to the ReRead Challenge, yet somehow ended up rereading one measly book. It was Maybe Someday though, which is a fabulous read. I want to reread more, but it isn’t going to happen for the foreseeable future, which is probably a good thing, because based on my current reading habits and TBR pile, I currently own enough unread books to last 5 years. 6.5 years if you count unread eBooks. Eek!

Genre You Read The Most From:

Goodreads really needs to develop a method of tracking this for you, or does it already and I’ve overlooked it? Based on guesswork, I’d say my most read genre is Contemporary, but I read lots and lots of others!

1. Best Book You Read In 2015?

I CAN’T pick just one. I’ve picked these because they were either my 5* reads for the year (Slammed – Contemporary, To Kill A Mockingbird – Classic, and The Nightingale – Historical), or they came very close to being 5* reads, and they have stayed with me, and I’d recommend them to everyone (Bad Feminist – Non-Fiction, I’ll Meet You There – Contemporary, Asking For It – Contemporary, and Heir of Fire – Fantasy).

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

There were a couple of books that disappointed me this year. The DUFF was getting excellent reviews, and while I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t work for me. Not That Kind Of Girl was possibly my most disappointing read of the year and needs to be done for false advertising. All The Light We Cannot See is cherished by many, but again just didn’t work for me, and finally we have Grey. Le sigh. I actually am/was a fan of the original trilogy (I haven’t read them since they first came out, so I can’t claim to still be a fan until I get around to rereading them), but Grey was a massive let down.

 3. Most Surprising (in a good way or bad way) Book You Read In 2015? 

To Kill A Mockingbird and The Proposal surprised me in a good way – I don’t usually connect with Classics but TKAMB blew my socks off, and The Proposal was a completely new-to-me author and spontaneous purchase, which I ended up LOVING. Go Set A Watchman and All The Light We Cannot See surprised me in a bad way. I like to pretend GSAW never happened, and considering I usually love WW2 fiction, I was surprised by how much I didn’t appreciate ATLWCS.

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (and they did) In 2015?

 5. Best Series You Started In 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

 6. Favorite New Author You Discovered In 2015?

I’ve only read one book so far (The Nightingale), but if it’s anything to go by, I’m going to love Kristin Hannah. Also, Louise O’Neill. I read Asking For It and Only Ever Yours this year, and really liked them both. Thought-provoking and well written fiction with a feminist undertone, what’s not to love?

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

I don’t really read magical realism, or books that rely heavily on strange metaphors/symbolism. While this book was out of my comfort zone, overall I still enjoyed it.

 8. Most Action-Packed/Thrilling/Un-put-downable Book Of The Year?

 9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

10. Favourite Cover Of A Book You Read In 2015?

11. Most Memorable Character of 2015?

Scout and Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird, Will Cooper from the Slammed series, Isabelle from The Nightingale, and Joe from You.

 12. Most Beautifully Written Book Read In 2015?

13. Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2015?

 14. Book You Can’t Believe You Waited UNTIL 2015 To Finally Read? 

 15. Favourite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

I NEVER write these down anywhere to refer back to, and I really should start doing that! I keep a Quotables section in each review though… Here’s a fave off the top of my head:

“If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.” The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

Longest: Queen of Shadows @ 645 pages

Shortest: The Great Gatsby @ 122 pages

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most

18. OTP OF THE YEAR.

Seeing as Sarah J Maas is determined to shit on my dreams, I’ll go with Layken and Will Cooper from Slammed.

19. Favourite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Isabelle and Viann‘s sisterly relationship from The Nightingale, and Scout and Atticus’ father-daughter relationship from To Kill A Mockingbird.

20. Favourite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

Read thanks to Lindsey @ Bring My Books and Brandie @ Brandie Is A Book Junkie.

22. Newest Fictional Crush From A Book You Read In 2015?

Will Cooper from Slammed and Lucas from How (Not) To Fall In Love.

23. Best 2015 Debut You Read?

24. Best World-building/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

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

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

I LOVED it. And I was so mad, I wrote a blog post all about it – #NotAskingForIt.

1. New Favourite Book Blog You Discovered In 2015? 

Lindsey @ Bring My Books, Dani @ Dani Reviews Things, Belinda @ Bookarahma and Cathy @ 746 Books.

2. Favourite Review That You Wrote In 2015? 

Picking favourites is HARD… Asking For It because the book enraged me and it’s such an important topic, A Girl Undone because I co-reviewed the book with the book’s author (very fun!), and Confess because it’s been my favourite Babes and Books review so far (co-reviewed with Brandie and Stef ).

3. Best Discussion/Non-Review Post You Had On Your Blog?

Again, I’m throwing out #NotAskingForIt, and also how I turned my non-bookish Dad into a reader. The Death of the “Buy Link” was also a revelation for me.

4. Best Event That You Participated In (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

I have absolutely LOVED taking part in #otspSecretSister, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to sign up for the next round. Is it bad to name-drop your own feature? Myself and Alicia @ A Kernel of Nonsense launched The Transatlantic Book Project in 2015, and it is immense!

5. Best Moment Of Bookish/Blogging Life In 2015?

I’ve reached just over 600 subscribers on the blog by the end of 2015, and I’m really proud of that. Any and all interactions with authors are fabulous, as are the friends I’ve made in the online community, and some of the amazing fangirly discussions we have! A personal highlight for me was turning my non-reading Dad into an obsessive reader, who even read his first YA book in 2015 (I’ll Meet You There), and gave it 5*!

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

Most Popular By Views: Review – All The Light We Cannot See

Most Popular By Comments: My Birthday Tag

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

I don’t have one that sticks out – it’s nice to get comments on anything at all 🙂

9. Best Bookish Discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

This year has seen the revival of bookish shopping in Charity Shops! Keeping my Dad in reading material was getting pricey, so Charity Shops became my new best friend. But of course, if you let a Book Geek loose in a Charity Shop… Well, my own TBR has grown somewhat thanks to finding great reads super cheap!

10.  Did You Complete Any Reading Challenges/Goals This Year?

I wanted to take part in the ReRead Challenge, but I failed miserably! I did pretty well in the Discussion Challenge, so I’ve brought that one back for 2016. I’ve picked my Challenges more carefully this year so they align with my reading style (mood reader alert).

 1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

Hah! The four I picked for last year I still haven’t read yet.

 2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)?

Anything by Sarah J Maas and Colleen Hoover.

 3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

This Is Where It Ends.

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016?

None of the series I’m in the middle of are finishing this year… I just want ALL the books, and ALL the time to read them!

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016?

Hmm… This is a tricky one. I’d like to continue to grow the blog, and I’d like to reach out to more authors to do more interviews and host more giveaways. I’m planning to launch a new feature, which is exciting. Just more of the same I think!

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

Ha! I wish!! I haven’t read any yet.

Have you done an End of Year Survey? Leave a link in the comments so I can check it out! Happy New Year, Book Geeks!