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Writer's pictureHolly J

annual end of year survey (2020)

hey all, it's been awhile, LOL. Between revisions for THE BONE WAY, COVID outbreaks at work, and a hectic last few months of the year, I let the blog slide for a bit. I was going to do a massive post for my fave books I read from October-December, but then I saw the Annual End of Year Survey floating around on Twitter and was like omg I should do this again! I haven't done it since my book blogging days! The survey was created by Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner, who was always one of my favorite bloggers. I won't be completing the whole questionnaire (there's an entire section dedicated to blogging), but I always loved writing this post so let's get to it! Fair warning, I like to cheat as much as possible. :D


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2020 READING STATS

Number Of Books You Read: 184 (including all the stories, even if they weren't book-length) Number of Rereads: 16 Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy



BEST IN BOOKS


1. best book you read in 2020?

The Roommate by Rosie Danan! I still can't stop thinking about this book.


2. book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t?

*whispers* The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.


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

I was not expecting to love The Empress of Salt and Fortune as much as I did! What a fantastic novella.

4. book you “pushed” the most people to read (and they did)? I have been a very, very bad book pusher lately so I can BARELY answer this one. But I did tell Val to read If We Were Villains by M.L. Ro and she really enjoyed it!


5. best series you started? best sequel? best series ender? Best Series Started: Heart of Iron and The Diviners

Best Sequel: Before the Devil Breaks You and Storm of Locusts!

Best Series Ender: The Faithless Hawk


6. favorite new author you discovered in 2020?

Elizabeth Acevedo, she's amazing! Also Nghi Vo!


7. best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? I read a book about books bound in human skin, LOLOL. Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom was so fascinating, tbh, but a few years ago I might never have picked it up because of the subject!


8. most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? I seriously inhaled Fable by Adrienne Young, hooked me from the first page!


9. book you would be most likely to reread next year?

The Roommate for sure!


10. favorite cover?

cover for The Ship of Shadows by Maria Kuzniar

11. most memorable character of 2020? Simon Gutmunsson from None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney tbh.


12. most beautifully written book?

It's not really a purple-prose book, but Piranesi was gorgeous. Also Clap When You Land is beautiful!


13. most thought-provoking/life-changing book?

I honestly had SO many thoughts and feels over The Project by Courtney Summers, I don't even know how to unpack them all.


14. book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2020 to finally read?

Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta. I know better than to wait on a Marchetta. Shameful.


15. favorite passage/quote?

oh god so, so, so many. I'm gonna try to stick to like three! from The Roommate and Wuthering Heights respectively.

“I’d do terrible things, Clara, to suffer the perfect torture of watching you fuck yourself again and again.”
"We've braved its ghosts often together, and dared each other to stand among the graves and ask them to come... But Heathcliff, if I dare you now, will you venture? If you do, I'll keep you. I'll not lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me; but I won't rest till you are with me... I never will!"
"I have not broken your heart—you have broken it—and in breaking it, you have broken mine."

I really just wanted to quote like all of Wuthering Heights but I resisted. You're welcome.


16. shortest & longest book?

technically season one of Lore Olympus is like, a thousand pages, but I'll go with a book for the longest: Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray. for shortest it's harder because I read a lot of short stories and can't always get a page count on them. so I'm not totally sure, but Goodreads is saying it's the first episode of The Haunting of Beatrix Greene, so yes let's go with that!

17. book that shocked you the most?

If We Were Villains. That ending floored me in the best way possible! Also Two Can Keep a Secret had one of the most shocking, perfect last lines I've ever read.


18. otp of the year (you will go down with this ship!)?

Sam and Evie from The Diviners series


19. favorite non-romantic relationship of the year?

everyone in the Diviners series; so much soft, beautiful friendship.


20. favorite book from an author you’ve read previously?

Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha! I love these characters so fucking much; they write found families so well. And the banter was just

(gif of Seth Meyers doing the chef's kiss)


21. best book that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else/peer pressure/bookstagram, etc.?

Again, this kinda question was hard for me to figure out so I had to ask friends, LOL. Val is the reason the Murderbot series got on my radar to begin with. I also think bloggers were the reason I found The Prince and the Dressmaker.


22. newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2020?

hello Josh Darling (The Roommate)


23. best 2020 debut you read?

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart was super intriguing and I love bone magic stories!


24. best worldbuilding/most vivid setting?

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust had such an exquisite world.


25. book that put a smile on your face/was the most fun to read?

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon was just utterly delightful. I hope she never stops writing romcoms!


26. book that made you cry?

I've been trying to find a book for this for so long, but I can't?????? SHOCKINGLY??????? I *did* reread (aka listen) to Finnikin of the Rock which made me cry. Again.


27. hidden gem of the year?

3 wonderfully-good books that I hope more people read:

Cute Mutants by S.J. Whitby

Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton

Tin by Candace Robinson and Amber R. Duell


28. book that crushed your soul?

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow hurt me A LOT.


29. most unique book?

The Tea Dragon Tapestry and Even If We Break.


30. book that made you the most mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

*side eyes* The Secret History.


LOOKING AHEAD


1. one book you didn’t get to in 2020 but will be your number 1 priority in 2021?

sorry I can't just choose one: Mexican Gothic, The House in the Cerulean Sea, Raybearer, A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, The Burning God, Legendborn, and Catherine House.


2. book you are most anticipating for 2021 (non-debut)?

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler


3. 2021 debut you are most anticipating?

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Daughter of Sparta by Claire Andrews


4. series ending/a sequel you are most anticipating in 2021?

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I must know what happens next!


5. one thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging life in 2021?

I want to get more ruthless about DNFing. I feel like I waste so much time on books I don't end up enjoying. There's too much to read to spend it on things that aren't worth it!


6. a 2021 release you’ve already read & recommend to everyone?

okay I know I've said this a bunch, but The Accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody is the book for the Harry Potter-shaped hole in your life! I've never read a book that has quite captured that FEEL and childhood excitement before, and I can't wait for the sequel.

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