Saturday 31 December 2016

The Smashing & Dashing 2016 Character Awards Tag!


AHHH! More analyzing 2016 reading and characters and all that jazz but I'm excited. Aren't you? 

This tag was created by the lovely Cait over at Paperfury, which is where you can find the original tag and questions and her answers. 




1. Most Relatable Character

So, most of these characters are out saving the world and battling aliens, monsters and general bad people. And then there's me. The little bookworm who struggles to balance her humungous pile of schoolwork with her blogging, reading and tv watching responsibilities. Oh and helping her parents and cat of course. :)   That being said, there is someone who I still can relate to and she's not a contemporary book character!  This lovely character is Katy from Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout. She is a book blogger and she is really funny and sweet. 


2. Most Pure and Precious Animal Companion

This is really hard for me since I didn't read many books this year with animal companions or animals in them. But, I will go with Kamala from The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi. I mean, Kamala does have the urge to eat everyone's flesh but she's still an animal [horse] and I loved her. 


3. Fiercest Fighter

Another difficult question for me.  There are so so many. I will go with three main ones. Both female because girl emporement. The first is Inej from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. She is badass. I love her so much.  The second is Caelena from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas because have you seen her? She literally reaks with fighting power. She's an assassin. And lastly, Aileana from The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May. She saves everyone from the evil fae, all while being a lady in the 19th century. 


4. Most Amazing Sidekick

I hate thinking of people as sidekicks but I will go with Samirah from Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan. I really liked her because she was diverse and was not there for a love interest. [Can I hear a hooray?] She was also not afraid to tell our main character what to do every once in awhile. 


5. One You're Surprised You Loved

I assume, she is talking about a book at this point. I will go with Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I do not read Adult books and yet I picked this one up and loved it so much. It was hilarious, sad and beautiful. 

If she's talking about a character, then I will go with Magnus from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes. I hated him in the first two books but then he began to grow on me and I love him so so much. He is a very complex character. He goes from hating everyone [basically] to actually liking/loving Cleo and being all nice and protective and ugh. #Goals. 


6. Best Sassmaster

I'm just going to go with Magnus Chase from The Sword of Summer because if you read that book, you'd know I'm right. 

Honorable mention also goes to the cast of Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes. 


7. Best Anti-Hero and Morally Grey Grape

This is an obvious one for me. I am going with the whole cast of Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo but especially Kaz Brekker. I love this character but he is such an anti-hero. I don't think he even knows that he is a hero. He saved many people and his 'friends' but he still considers himself to be an anti-hero [all without saying that at all].


8. Best Worst Villain to Hate. 

Aka. The worst villain ever to walk the earth. I am going with Amara from Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes. OMG. I don't know what happened to this woman. I hated her in Frozen Tides and now, she is just a really bad villain. Ugh. 


9. Truly Astounding Worst YA Parents

Valentine Morgenstern from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. This guy pretends he cares about Jace but he doesn't. That's all I am going to say. 


Oh and the Malfoys from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. They need to stop being so prejudiced against people. Like Draco would be a good person otherwise. 


10. Truly Astounding Best YA Parents

The Weasleys. I love this family to death and Molly and Arthur are so good to their children and Hermione and Harry who aren't their children. 


11. Toot. Toot. The Best Ship of Them All

Not this question again.  I'm going with my previous answers. Cress + Thorne from Winter by Marissa Meyer, Inej + Kaz from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo and Cleo + Magnus from Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes. 


12. The Most in Need of Protection

Cleo and Magnus from Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes because they deserve protection from this evil world. Oh and The Lunar Chronicles gang because they are all so smol and precious. They all have such hard lives and they do not deserve it. 


13. Most Boring as a Barnacle

I'm going to skip this question...


14. Best Little Royal 

Ugh. I don't know. Maven from Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard. Yes, he's evil but he would be a good king if he let other people in and I adore him so he stays.  

And an honorable mention would be Lia from The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson. 


15. Very Surprised You're Still Alive

The cast of Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes because honestly, they should all be dead. 


16. Best at Horrible Decision Making

No idea. 


17. Cutest Dork

Percy Jackson from The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan [re-read]. Percy is the biggest dork ever but we love him. 


18. Cleverest Little Hellion

Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: I know, I have mentioned him so many times but honestly he is really smart.  


19. Most in Need of a Nap


Me and everyone at my school. 

JK 

Kaz Brekker because he does too much and never rests. 

Magnus Damora from Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes. He drinks too much and then sleeps but still needs help so take a nap my young padawan. [I don't even know why I just said that]


20. I Want to Read More About You


For this question, I will go with books that are either stand-alones or I've already finished the series. 

Kaden from The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson. Because, I love this character so so much and I need more. 

All the Lunar Chronicles characters from Marissa Meyer 

Friday 30 December 2016

2016 End of the Year Survey





Hello guys. So, I did this last year and it was pretty enjoyable so I am doing it again this year. Plus, I did better at reading this year so this will be a pretty difficult survey to answer. 

Let's jump into it. 

This was created by Jamie at the Perpetual Page Turner I'll be linking up there as well. 


Number of Books You Read: 109
Number of Rereads: 2
Number of Pages: 38, 912
Genre You Read the Most From?: Young Adult Fantasy


1. Best Book You Read in 2016 

I did a whole post with my favorites of 2016 which you can find here.  This is always the hardest question, because I love so many. 


2. Book You Were Really Excited About and Thought You Would Love More But Didn't? 


A Taste for Monsters by Matthew J. Kirby

I'm very disappointed in myself, to say that I am still struggling to get through this book. This isn't even a hard book, it's just a little boring. One day, I will just sit down and read the entire thing but that day has not come yet. 

3. Most Surprising [in a good way or bad way] book you read?




[Pictured Above in Order: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, Shadow of a Girl by Shannon Greenland, And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich, Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls]

Most of these, I didn't expect to really enjoy. Me Before You and The Glass Castle are both Adult books that I really enjoyed. I never read Adult books unless they are Fantasy/Sci-Fi and one of these is a contemporary and the other a memoir. Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows didn't look up my ally but I enjoyed them both. Shadow of a Girl looked like it would be boring but it wasn't and I never read horror so I thought I would hate And the Trees Crept In. 

4. Book You 'Pushed' The Most People to Read [and they did]?



I push everyone to read Cinder by Marissa Meyer and they do which makes me so so happy. I also push everyone to read Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and so far not many people have but I have hope. 

5. Best Series You Started in 2016? Best Sequel? Best Series Ender?





Series: Tie: The Lux Series and Falling Kingdoms Series
Sequel: The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May and The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
Series Ender: Winter by Marissa Meyer and The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?

Jennifer L. Armentrout, Morgan Rhodes, Leigh Bardugo and Sarah J. Maas

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?





Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, Shadow of a Girl by Shannon Greenland, A Drop of Night by Stefan  and And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich. 

The first two books are both Contemporaries that are way out of my normal reading zone. Especially Me Before You because it is an adult contemporary and I loved them both so much. The last two are both Horror/Paranormal books which were really well written. 

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



Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Winter by Marissa Meyer and any Falling Kingdoms book by Morgan Rhodes. 

 9. Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?




Any Falling Kingdoms book by Morgan Rhodes

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?


[I have a full list that you can find here]

11. Most memorable character/s of 2016?



The Six of Crows gang.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?




The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokra

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016?




Me Before You by Jojo Moyes or The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. 

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read? 




Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, and Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. These were honestly so good and I have had them on my shelf for the longest time. 

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016?




I don't have just one but here are two that I really like from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo:

“Kaz leaned back. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?"
"Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.
"Gun to the back?" said Jesper.
"Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina.
"You're all horrible," said Matthias.” 

AND

“I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.” 

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?



Shortest: A Reaper of Stone by Mark Gelineau: 90 Pages
Longest: Winter by Marissa Meyer: 832 Pages

 

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most



All the Falling Kingdoms books by Morgan Rhodes

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)


 




DON'T YOU DARE ASK THIS OF ME! There are so so many. I did a whole post which you can find here. But I have a couple main ships that I obsess over: 

Cress and Thorne from Winter by Marissa Meyer

Cleo and Magnus from the Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes

Inej and Kaz from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

 

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year


I have a couple for this question as well: 

Jonas and Cleo [friends] from the Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes

The Squad from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Kate and August from This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously



Winter by Marissa Meyer

The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan 

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

21. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:



Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo because the internet was screaming at me to read it, so I did. 

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016?


Another really hard question to answer. I will just list new ones [not ones from sequels of books I read in 2015] Here are my top ones: 

Magnus from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Daemon from Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Pan from Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell

Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo 

Chaol Westfall from Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

The Darkling from Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo


23. Best 2016 debut you read?


Burning Glass by Kathryn Purdie 

The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

 

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

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


 


I'll have to go with Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout OR Winter by Marissa Meyer. 

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?


Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This book made me cry, which is pretty obvious. 

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?


GO READ THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN BY ROSHANI CHOKSHI. Okay, sorry for the caps. But this book is so beautiful and well-written and everyone should devour it and love it. 

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?


Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, again. Why? Why, must you make my poor little heart suffer?

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?


After the Red Rain by   was pretty interesting. I've never read anything like it.  Of Metal and Wishes was also an interesting book. 

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


Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.  I adored this book but I'm so angry that things didn't turn out perfectly. 



1. New Favorite Book Blog You Discovered in 2016?

Paperfury. I love Cait's blog. Her blog is hilarious as she is and she actually responds to my comments and tweets. <3

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2016?




3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?


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

 Blogmas 2016 was fun to participate in. 

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016?


Actually being able to reach out to other bloggers and talk about books and flailing! 

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?


Managing reading and my blog with all my schoolwork. 

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


My Blogmas Posts got a lot of views. 

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?


My movie and book reviews as I put so much time and effort into them and yet, they never get enough love. 

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?


Society6 and NetGalley. I use NetGalley so so much and I got a cute mug from Society6.

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?


Yes. I did. Mainly my Goodreads challenge which I set for 80 books and I surpassed it. 


1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017?




I don't know about it being my number one priority in 2017, but I will read this book in 2017. And that book is Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. 

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-debut)?




There are tons but a main one that isn't a sequel is RoseBlood by A.G. Howard.


3. 2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?



Daughter of a Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017?


Kings Cage by Victoria Aveyard

The Fallen Kingdom by Elizabeth May

The Falling Kingdoms Sixth Book by Morgan Rhodes

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017?


Keep a consistent blogging schedule. Aka, write posts ahead of time so I can post them consistently. 

6. A 2017 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:


 I haven't read any.