Tuesday, December 29, 2015

2015 Rewind: The Books

Somehow, we’ve arrived at the end of another year. Another whole year! In the past I’ve combined the look back at the year in reading and blogging into one post, but this year I feel like I’ve got a lot to say about both, so I’m splitting the post into two separate ones. Today is all about the books.

I fell short of my Goodreads goal again this year, and unlike last year, I’m not beating myself up over it. Even though Goodreads says I read 38 books, it’s not including three books that were rereads. The actual total was 41 out of 50, and considering how hectic this year got at times, I was lucky to have made that number. Work became super, super busy over the summer, plus I took a job-related course that took a few months to complete. By that time it was already the end of September, and the chances of making the 50 looked pretty slim. So I decided to just read as much as I could for the rest of the year and let the final number be whatever it ended up being. Taking that pressure off myself felt great. It’s something that I should have done a lot sooner, too. I’d become too caught up in reaching a certain number, and I wasn’t always taking the time to fully enjoy reading itself.

Most of the books that I read in 2015 came from my own shelves, which was one of the resolutions I made at the beginning of the year. I still have quite a few to get through, but I’m pretty happy with the progress I made this year.

Rereading the first three Study books by Maria V. Snyder and Persuasion by Jane Austen was also on the 2015 resolution list, and I was able to reread all of them. Persuasion was especially sweet, since I love that book above all others—and still do.

I read some fantastic books this year; I rated most of them four stars or above, so it’s a little tough picking out my favorites among very qualified candidates. I loved all of these very, very much, starting with:


Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas just keeps writing these phenomenal books in this series, magically making each new release more mind-blowing than the previous one. I want to be a fire-breathing bitch queen just like Aelin when I grow up!


A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

This book right here is perfection. So much originality (parallel Londons, Kell’s impossibly many-sided coat) and stellar storytelling. I am a Victoria Schwab fan for life.


Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search by Gene Luen Yang (Script) & Gurihiru (Art)

2015 was the year in which I finally sat down and watched Avatar: The Last Airbender—and utterly and completely fell in love with it. Both this graphic novel and The Promise were amazing, but The Search earns a few bonus points for centering around one of the TV show’s biggest unresolved story lines. Oh, and there’s lots and lots and lots of Zuko in it. Did I mention there’s lots of Zuko in it?


The Wolves of Mercy Falls by Maggie Stiefvater

Determined not to go the year without reading a Stiefvater book, this was the perfect time to read this series at last. Sam and Grace’s romance was swoony enough to melt all of the snow in Mercy Falls, Minnesota and probably the polar ice caps, too. Cole and Isabel’s chemistry was explosive enough to level the planet, and their snark made me laugh out loud more than any other book I read this year. A big thank you again to Micheline of Lunar Rainbows Reviews for making reading this series extra special by agreeing to buddy read it with me, and also for listening to all of my fangirling about it (and there was a lot of it).


Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

This features such a unique narrative—the chapters alternate between the main character and that of the protagonist of her novel. So there’s a novel within a novel, and the whole concept works winningly.


A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

As if Queen of Shadows releasing this year wasn’t enough, we also got this oh so very fine Beauty and the Beast-like fantasy from SJM. The exquisite slow-burning romance is to. Die. For.

And that wraps up the reading side of the things for 2015; the next part will be all about the blogging. How was your 2015 in books? If you have any year end review posts, please leave a link so I can pop by and check them out!

12 comments:

  1. hahaha! You make it sound like you were the only one fingerling but I seem to recall a Twitter assault on my part with LOTS of CAPS and exclamation points!! LOL! Thank you for buddy reading the series with me - we'll have to buddy read some more in the new year…when we find a mutually-worthy series ;) For this year we definitely have Queen of Shadows AND Wolves of Mercy Falls as ultimate favourites in common…we also share ADSOM and and ACOTAR <3 And if I hadn't read The Search in 2014, it'd be on my list this year too!

    I fell short on my GR challenge too (which was initially 50 too) but I took a tip from a blogger friend and updated my challenge when it became obvious I wouldn't make it. The goal was smaller but meeting it felt good after a few years of failing haha! Most of my books WILL come from my shelves in 2016 since I have no bookish events lined up. I bought few books in 2015 and plan to keep that trend going too. It feels good :) I also want to get to rereading again like you did this year. I think a HP reread is in order…and maybe a few others!

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    1. YES!!! We should definitely do another buddy read in 2016! We read some really outstanding books this year, didn't we? :D

      I cut down a lot on my book purchases this year and will continue to do so in the new year, although The Raven King, A Court of Mist and Fury, and ToG #5 are MUST-HAVES, lol. I'd love to do an HP reread in the near future, but I already have like 20 books on my TBR for next year, so we'll see how it goes. XD

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  2. Good job on reading mostly books from your shelves! I need to get better about that this year, for sure!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I still bought more new books than I should have this year, lol, but I did read mostly from the ones already on my shelves. I plan to keep working on the pile in the new year!

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  3. I am planning to make ACoTaR to be my last read for 2015 and my first for 2016. Thanks again for my copy, Lee. I will cherish it for sure!

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    1. Aww- I hope you love it as much as I did! I can't wait to see what you think of Feyre, Tamlin, Lucien, and Rhys!

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  4. SO many great books on your list!!! =D I feel in love with ACOTAR and I can't wait for A Court of Mist and Fury to release!! I loved the relationship growth between Tam and Feyre and I really hope a certain High Lord from the Night Court doesn't screw it up. Can you tell which team i'm on, lol :D
    I am so happy Sarah J. Maas decided to start publishing a new series because now we'll get two of her books a year! One in the beginning of the year and one at the end. It's going to be so great!

    I need to read The Wolves of Mercy Falls this next year! With both you and Micheline singing its praise I just can't not read it! It'll be priority for 2016, no doubt about it =D

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    1. The Wolves of Mercy Falls is AMAZING! I usually don't go for all-out romances, but this one completely won me over.

      I'm psyched for ACoMaF and ToG #5! On the other hand, though, I'm not sure how much more heartbreak I can take between those two books, lol!

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  5. I am so looking forward to reading A Darker Shade of Magic, and The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Looks like you had a good year for reading :)

    Ally @ The Scribbling Sprite

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    1. It was a fantastic reading year! I hope you enjoy ADSoM and The Wolves of Mercy Falls- they were all amazing reads! :D

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  6. I really loved ACOTAR too! Some great reads there! Hopefully you'll make your GR goal this year!

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    1. I hope so, too, lol! And ACoTaR was just fantastic; looking forward to A Court of Mist and Fury in a few months!

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