2014 End of Year Book Survey

I'm SO thankful that a couple of the book blogs I'm now following on bloglovin' have done this (and also that Perpetual Page-Turner set it up in the first place!)! It looked like great fun so I've decided to give it a whirl. (copied/pasted so all the pretty fancy headings are all her doing - not mine).

Number Of Books You Read: 55
Number of Re-Reads: 4
Genre You Read The Most From: Cozy Mystery

 

1. Best Book You Read In 2014?

(If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

Seriously? This is like being asked to pick a favorite child when you have more than one!
Oh .... okay ....

Winston Graham's Ross Poldark (the first in the Poldark saga). OOOOOH how I loved this book

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

Leslie Meier's Mistletoe Murder. Couldn't even make it past chapter six.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read in 2014? 

I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did. I really only read it after I saw the trailer for the movie and a friend gave me a copy so I could read it before seeing it.

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did) In 2014?

Ummmmm .... I know I got at least one person hooked on Charlotte MacLeod after oohing and aahing over Rest You Merry.

 5. Best series you started in 2014? Best Sequel of 2014? Best Series Ender of 2014?

(all of these are READ in 2014 - not necessarily published in 2014)
Series: Catriona MacPherson's Dandy Gilver

Sequel: Ransom Riggs' Hollow City

Series Ender: Julia Hughes' An Explosive Time  (although I keep hoping she'll continue the Celtic Cousins' Adventures!)

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2014?

Charlotte MacLeod. I know. She's not new. In fact, she's dead. BUT she's new to me.

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

Joe Hill's Horns (I don't typically do "horror")

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

Diana Gabaldon's Outlander -- I finished it in two days, I believe!

 9. Book You Read In 2014 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Easy! Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel! I read it every year!

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014?

Gail Carriger's Etiquette & Espionage

11. Most memorable character of 2014?

Charlotte MacLeod's Peter Shandy

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2014?

I'm seriously stumped on this one. I don't know if I'd consider anything of read really "beautifully written."

No! Not true! I finally started reading the Harry Potter books with my son, John, and was seriously blown away with how beautifully written I found The Sorcerer's Stone.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2014?

Going with The Sorcerer's Stone again. 

It completely changed how John views reading as being a joy and not a chore.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to finally read? 

And, yet again, The Sorcerer's Stone. I never had much interest in Harry Potter until I had John and then was just waiting until I thought he might be old enough. I was expecting to wait a couple more years at least.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2014?

from

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?

How I did this: Went to my read books on Goodreads and sorted by page number and just looked for what I knew I read this year that was the shortest and longest.

Shortest:

Longest:

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most

(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)

Winston Graham's Demelza had so many "oh. my. heck." moments that I read the next two in the series immediately after. I hardly EVER do that with a series!

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

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

Charlotte MacLeod's Peter Shandy and Helen Marsh

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Catriona MacPherson's Dandy Gilver and Alec Osborne

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2014 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Ann Charles' The Great Jackalope Stampede 

21. Best Book You Read In 2014 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

Kate Racculia's Bellweather Rhapsody

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014?

Charlotte MacLeod's Peter Shandy

23. Best 2014 debut you read?

I don't think there were any! At least, not any published in 2014.

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

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Really. Can you get better than Hogwarts?

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

Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel

(There's a reason I read it every year!)

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2014?

I cried during each of the Winston Graham books read -- Ross Poldark, Demelza, Jeremy Poldark, Warleggan & The Black Moon

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Anything written by Ann Charles. She's delightful!

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Ummmm .... why would I read something that would crush my soul?

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2014?

Ransom Riggs' Hollow City, I suppose. 

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

.Leslie Meier's Mistletoe Murder

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2014? 

Does my own count?

I discover so many wonderful blogs every day I can't possibly choose!

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2014? 

Of the few that I've written, I think I had the most fun with Etiquette & Espionage since I spread it over two posts -- here and here.

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

On the blog? We don't talk much. BUT we can get a bit chatty on the Facebook page. Of course, all but 2 of my FB followers are actual friends of mine ....

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?I'm still so new to this whole thing that this and a couple of Top Ten Tuesdays have been all I've done!

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2014?

Starting the blog at all! (It's only been up since December 9th!)

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

Ridiculously enough - the post where I asked for opinions on formatting The Reading Thing, HERE.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Any of them. BUT I'm new. It takes time and I get that.

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

Litographs! (A friend even surprised me with a tshirt of The Secret Adversary!)

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

My original GoodReads goal for the year was a mere 25 books. I hit 55.

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2014 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2015?

I guess the one I'm reading now, Death at Wentwater Court. I was originally hoping to have it done by New Year's Day but it's not looking real likely right now.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2015 (non-debut)?

Honestly couldn't tell you. There are just far too many!

3. 2015 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Ann Charles has a new series coming out and I'm SO excited about it!

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2015?

The second in Ellery Adam's Book Retreat series, Murder in the Paperback Parlor

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2015?

Become better acquainted with other book bloggers!

6. A 2015 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

Sadly, not applicable