It’s the end of the year! And my one-year blogging anniversary (I started this blog on 31st December 2021). Can you believe I’ve been at this for a whole year? Cause I can’t. This year just sort of flew by and it seems like it got over way too soon.
I’d always loved reading, of course, but this is the year that developed me more and got me obsessed and into all things books and reading even more, and this year also made me fall head over heels in love with blogging. Before I started blogging, I had no idea what any of the blogging/bookstagramming terms meant, no idea that a blogging community even existed on instagram, no idea that you could even get advanced copies of books before they came out, and so much more.
I never anticipated I would come to love blogging, that I’d be an active part of it. I never thought I’d make these wonderful friends through blogging or feel the happiness I feel when an author I love follows me after I gush everywhere about their books. This year, blogging was one of the highlights of my life and what made me happy, especially because I’m now in Year 12, one of the two worst years of high school where everything is always stressful and BAD.
So, with all that out of the way, onto this post! I’m going to be doing the End of Year Book Survey created by Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner. I love her blog so much and this annual survey is truly amazing, so detailed and perfect for an end of year wrap up post. I hope you like this post (and do it, if you want to!)
Merry Christmas! And I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years spent with family, friends and surrounded by lots of joy and happiness! Happy reading!
Number of Books Read: 303!!
Number of Books Re-Read: Easily more than 50 but I don’t know the exact count because I’m not in the habit of tracking re-reads (I do it too often). However, I will track them 2022 onwards!
Genre Most Read: Contemporary! But there was a lot of Dystopia and Apocalyptic there too.
1. Best Book You Read In 2021?
YA: Nil– Lynne Matson, Beautiful Disaster– Jamie McGuire, You’d be Mine– Erin Hahn
NA: The Ribbon Duet– Pepper Winters, The Girl in the Love Song/The Sinner/In Harmony– Emma Scott, Low and Poesy– Mary Elizabeth, Throttled/The Fine Print– Lauren Asher, Ghosted– J.M. Darhower, The Takeover– T.L.Swan, When Heroes Fall– Giana Darling, A Kiss of Venom– Beena Khan, Incubation– Adrienne Lecter, Twisted Games– Ana Huang, Managed/Make it Sweet– Kristen Callihan, The Darkest Temptation– Danielle Lori, Contagious– Emily Goodwin, Everlast– Alex Grayson, Blood Moon/Bloody Sunset– Gwendolyn Harper (Sorry! I’m too indecisive to just pick ONE)
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
This surprised me in a good way, I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. Usually my limit for a series is 4 books if they follow the same story-line. If it’s a series of stand-alones, it doesn’t matter but if it’s one storyline, more than 4 is too much. However, I loved this one SO much, it made it onto my list of favorite for 2021 AND I read every single one of it’s 12 books. Yes, that’s right. TWELVE BOOKS.
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
5. Best series you started in 2021? Best Sequel? Best Series Ender of 2021?
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2021?
I discovered so many absolutely wonderful authors this year whose books I adore but authors that would make it to the very top of that list are Emma Scott, Giana Darling, Lauren Asher, T. L. Swan and Ana Huang.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
This wasn’t out of my comfort zone or anything since I do generally love mysteries and thrillers but I don’t really read solely mysteries or thrillers in books so this was a change in pace for me and something I don’t typically read.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
There are so many books I’d categorize for unputdownable but this one was one of the most action-packed/thrilling books. I mean it’s serial killer romance, what do you expect? There’s always something keeping you on your toes and keeping you going. Some twists, some turns, some reveals, some mysteries solved.
9. Book You Read In 2021 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I’m BIG about re-reading books I love all the time. The non-readers close to me never get it but it’s something I love to do. That being said, probably half my books next year will be re-reads but these two first because I plan to re-read The Girl in the Love Song at least once every year and my schedule for reading is packed for December (with ARCs) so I won’t have time to re-read The Fine Print but I’ve wanted to for a while so the first chance I get, in January, it’ll be the re-read I’ll go to first. Well, these and Idol by Kristen Callihan because it’s one of my favorite musician romances and it’s been a while since I’ve re-read it.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2021?
I know people say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, and I agree with it for the most part in a real life sense, like don’t judge people from their outside, etc. But when it comes to books, I totally judge them based on covers. I have read books that had bad covers but were amazing, but I do get more attracted to know what a book is about if it’s cover attracts me. Pretty covers are not ALL I need, if a cover is pretty but I look in and don’t like the synopsis, I won’t read it, but the cover got me to that point, you know? That being said, I have so many favorite covers from 2021 but here’s one of them that I just find really pretty for some reason.
11. Most memorable character of 2021?
Okay so this one might sound a little drab but Elena Lombardi is my most memorable character of 2021 because of how much I relate to her personality. I aspire to be a criminal lawyer, just like she is, I aspire to have the type of life she does. But it’s more than that, it’s the way she feels about herself. How she feels like she’s never good enough or how she’s never been anyone’s first choice (Until Dante). I related to her so much because that’s how I feel in life on a daily basis and that, along with other things, is what instantly made her my most memorable character from 2021.
Now for different reasons I could list all my book boyfriends of this year. Like Dante Salvatore, Miller Stratton, Killian James, Alex Volkox, Rhys Larsen, Nate Miller, Ronan Markov Allister, Christian Allister, Ren Wild, Twitch, Alessandro Rocchetti, Vlad, and so many more.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2021?
There should be no question as to why I adore these books, if you’ve read them after my million insistences. The Sinner follows the story of a wonderful romance that knows no bounds. Lucy and Cas met once, lifetimes ago, and had a love worth everything, until they were tragically ripped apart. The emotions within Cas resulted into him turning to something else entirely. Now, lifetimes later, he wants to let go of it all, once and for all. But before that, he has to make sure Lucy is safe and happy, forever. I bawled my eyes out in this story. The love they shared is something people always wish for, but none ever really get. The love worth killing and dying for over and over again. Emma always writes beautiful stories (Case in point, The Girl in the Love Song, Full Tilt, etc) but this one crossed them all in my eyes.
The Boy and His Ribbon was another thing altogether. You can read the synopsis, and you can think you know what their story is. But whatever you think, you’ll be wrong. Ren and Della’s story was so beautiful and stunning and nothing could contain the love they had for each other. This easily made it instantly into my list of books to recommend to people, always. And I did. I recommend this book to so many people, seven of which actually read it, which was a record for me.
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2021?
I know this is a romance as well but it’s the more underlying issue, the conflict in the plot if you will, that I’m talking about. As someone aspiring to one day be in the industry as a musician, all things of the sort intrigue me. In this book, Johnny was your average teenage hero with a dream, and if achieves it, but at a great cost. And even though I hear a lot about celebrities in all industries getting into things like drugs, alcohol, depression, etc. this fiction work kind of took a closer look at it even if the character aren’t real. Johnny gets fame and success but at the loss of the woman he loved and who supported him unconditionally, left everything for him, and his child. And it was sort of more eye-opening and thought provoking for me, personally. It hasn’t deterred me from wanting to be in the industry, but it has made me thinking about the things it’s easy to fall into while being there. (That’s to say, if I ever even make it)
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2021 to finally read?
This book instantly came to mind. This YA Science Fiction had been on my TBR for more than a year and I don’t know why I never picked it up, considering I love Sci-fi. I picked it up out of boredom one day this year and I instantly loved it, making me wonder why I hadn’t read it before.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2021?
There’s dialogues I love because a certain character said it or some quote I thought sounded beautiful in every book and if it’s an e-book, I highlight it. That is to say, there’s MANY quotes and passages I’d consider my favorite this year but the one I’m talking about it something I personally related to.
It was something Alex says to Ava in Twisted Love. He says, “You don’t have to work overtime to get people to love you. Love isn’t earned, it’s given.” And I truly relate to that because as I grow older, I’ve realized how much of a people pleaser I am? (Sort of). I know one of my biggest fears in life is that no one will ever really love me, and I KNOW I’m no one’s first choice and so I sort of work overtime, hoping that it’ll make people love me when that’s not really how it’s supposed to be right? You don’t have to get people to love you, they should do it by themselves if they do.
16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2020?
Shortest (73 pages)- Poesy by Mary Elizabeth
Longest (915 pages)- Instauration by Sarah Lyons Fleming
17. Book That Shocked You The Most
To be honest, I was shocked with how good it was and how the author handled it. I went in mostly blind but I didn’t expect it to be THAT good of a book to be honest but boy, was I wrong. The storyline was amazing, and the author’s writing so unique. She perfectly blended a historical feeling to a modern-world vibe and I was all there for it!
18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
If you think I can pick one, you’re crazy. But here’s a few. Lowen and Poesy from Low, Cas and Lucy from The Sinner, Nate and Bree from Incubation, Miller and Violet from The Girl in the Love Song, Lincoln and Molly from Everlast, Travis and Abby from Beautiful Disaster, Ronan and Mila from The Darkest Temptation and my all time OTP: Ren and Della from The Boy and His Ribbon.
Here are however, some honorable mentions (:)): Jonathan and Kennedy from Ghosted, Rowan and Zahra from The Fine Print, Rhys and Bridget from Twisted Games, Isaac and Willow from In Harmony, Twitch and Lexi from Raw, and Caitlin and Jack from Bloody Sunrise.
(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
My favorite non-romantic relationships of this year would be The Lucky Thirteen from Green Fields by Adrienne Lecter, The 4 Girls from Twisted by Ana Huang and The Lost Boys from Lost Boys Series by Emma Scott.
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2021 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Idol is one of my favorite books of all time which I read December of 2020. Managed is it’s sequel and I loved it so much! To see that Killian and Libby are a married husband-wife with a happy life and to see them together? It was such an added bonus, it easily made my year. I loved seeing the grumpy and scary Scottie find his own person, even if it’s crazy, chatty-girl Sophie. (That is to say, I adore Sophie, she’s my spirit animal)
21. Best Book You Read In 2020 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.:
I don’t know why I didn’t listen to the peer pressure and recommending sooner. I adored this duet so much, if I didn’t make it obvious the first 100 times I spoke about it. People had to beg me for months before I picked it up.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2021?
Nate Miller. I mean, the man is crazy. And this might make me sound crazy but one of the relationships in my head that I wouldn’t mind having is the relationship he and Bree have. The badass, power couple relationship. If you read the book, you know what type of things he does, career wise and what not and I would honestly do it with him. Plan missions with him, run them with him and then…run away with him ahhh.
23. Best 2021 debut you read?
It’s not the type of book I usually read but I loved The Love Hypothesis and it’s undoubtedly my best debut-read of this year.
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Everyone knows I love dystopia and post-apocalyptic worlds. I loved how the world was built in Legend, how the world was shown to be in the future.
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
I mean, it’s always fun to watch people who hate/rival each other fall in love even though they don’t want to.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2020?
HA. Every book ever. I cry at sad endings, happy endings, heartbreaking ends, happy scenes, sad scenes, pretty much always. I’m a HUGE crier, even though no one knows it until I tell them because I NEVER cry in front of people.
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
This book is so underrated its unreal. It deserves the world and its the first book I read by Emma Scott, followed immediately by all her other books because it is AMAZING. I love this book so, so, so much.
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
I don’t even have to explain. If you read this book, you’ll KNOW. Despite how badly it broke my spirit and crushed my soul, I love it to the moon and back. One of the best books I’ve ever read, in my entire life. And that means a lot considering I read 200-300 books every year.
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2020?
The plot and story of two literal, honest-to-god criminals? Sign me up for that. One of my best reads for 2021. They weren’t shown as the VILLAINS, but we saw how they came to be who they were. The female MC came from a good-well to do family, even if they were terrible parents, and yet she turned down this path for the man she loved, who was wronged by the world and was put through hell time and time again.
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
I honestly can’t think of just one or even PICK. Books make me mad all the time.
1. New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2020?
Favorite blog: Jeevesreads, Yukireads
Favorite bookstagram: there are so many but here’s two! @thebooksiveloved and @meg_inlove
Favorite Youtube channel: I don’t watch Youtube a lot and I’m not OBSESSED with any of them but I do like some of Steph Bohrer‘s videos. Basic, I know, but can you blame me?
2. Favorite post you wrote in 2020?
I love giving book recs, whether it’s to a specific person or in general (like the mafia books one) and I do it often on Instagram. I’d mentioned on the mafia recommendations post that I was planning to make recommendations a regular thing so look out for more of those in 2022!
3. Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2020?
I know it’s a LOT to say 23 pictures but considering I have a total of 183 pictures and I post almost everyday, it’s a huge feat that I managed to shorten it down to even this much.
Follow me on Instagram!
4. Best bookish event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, etc.)?
I didn’t participate in any bookish events 😦 And 2022 is going to be so stressful academic and college-wise but I plan on attending one of the RARE events in 2023!
5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2020?
All the times when I had authors follow me or reply to me on Instagram. I know this seems a little tiny but I’ve only been blogging for a little less than a year so even now, every-time I get an email that tells me I’ve been approved for an ARC, especially the selective ones, it makes me so happy. And let’s not even talk about the few times I got accepted into some of my favorite authors’ personal ARC and Beta teams.
6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
The most challenging part was the disappointment of not getting things. Blogging and Bookstagramming is a tough community and engagement on Instagram is pretty bad to say the least so it was pretty discouraging and sometimes still is.
7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Even though it’s my most recent post, somehow it has the most amount of views from all my posts so far.
8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
There’s so many! Because my posts hardly get any love:((((
9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
The whole blogging and bookstagramming community if I’m honest. I had no idea it existed until I started blogging.
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I hadn’t really ever set goals or anything for myself so far, any of the years, but I do plan to set goals and pick up challenges for 2022.
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2020 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2021?
Everyone’s been begging me to read this one ALL year and I have no doubt I’ll love it. But I also know it’s heartbreaking, more so for me than others so I’ve been putting off reading this. Maybe I’ll get to it in 2022.
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2021 (non-debut)?
Twisted Hate comes out in January (I’m hoping I get the ARC so it’ll be before release end of Jan!) and The God-Parent Trap comes out in July which is so far away!! I need it now, I’m so excited for it.
3. 2021 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
I’m so excited for How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder. It’s a romance debut I absolutely can’t wait for since I love industry-themed romances.
4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2021?
I also can’t wait for the sequel to Of Violent Lineage by Bree Porter, which is planned but not announced yet because Bree is on a hiatus:(((( AND THE VINTAGE CLUB BY DANIELLE LORI. Oh my god I’m so excited for it but there isn’t even a release MONTH for it yet:((
5. A 2021 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone (if applicable):
I haven’t finished reading this yet but I’m loving Destined by Susana Mohel so far! It’s such a good book. It releases on 6th January!
I’m not that into setting reading goals, or any goals to be honest for the new year, but I see more and more people who set goals and I want to do it for once. Plus, I do believe that setting literal goals will help me achieve them so let’s give it a shot!
Bookish
- Read 100 books. I’m setting the goal kind of low for 2022 because this year is going to be really stressful on me school-wise. Exams, college prep, college applications, and what-not.
- Write reviews for as many books as possible. I sometimes slack on this currently, with reviewing books but I’m hoping I’m better at it in 2022.
- Keep a better track of every single read and re-read. I’m so bad at keeping track, and it’s so hard to do but I like doing it so!
Blogging
- Try to create more original and creative content for the blog. I’m not all that satisfied with my posts for this year, it was mostly reviews and blog tours with some scattered recommendations and stuff here and there. I want my blog to be more than just that so I want to come up with better content for 2022.
- Reach 200+ followers on the blog. My followers are growing at a really slow pace so I figured 200 isn’t an excessive goal for the end of 2022.
- Reach 2,500 followers on my Instagram. I have 1,700 followers right now so 2,500 by the end of next year seems realistic right? Right.
- Increase my interaction with my followers on Instagram and this website. I usually do reply to comments and interact on my blog (because interaction is less) but not so much on instagram because there’s too many comments and too little time to take out from school to be able to reply and interact more. I want to change that for next year.
Writing
- Try to finish at least ONE Work-in-progress. I have this terrible habit of starting books but not finishing them and I want to get over that. I want to pick one WIP from all the ones I’ve written down plots for/started writing and actually concentrate and work on that.
- Write at least 50,000 words of ONE wip. I think that’s a decent amount if I focus on the book??
- Write more often in general. I love writing, irregardless of whether it’s a book or something else and I’ve gotten a bit out of touch with it because of school but I want to get back into writing for myself, next year.
General
- Get better at taking care of myself. I’m usually really bad at this. I sleep REALLY late, don’t really do any skincare, and although I do physical activities, I want to start going to the gym again everyday (It’s been off because of my fracture which still hasn’t healed but I’m planning to go back anyway after my exams end)
- Become more confident. I’m very…dissatisfied with myself and I have this image in my head of the type of person I want to be and I want to focus this year on getting closer to achieving that in real life and being happy with myself.
- Start a YouTube channel. I’ve always wanted to get my music out there and people have been motivating me to do it even more recently so I’m planning to start a YouTube channel after exams to post music videos on regularly. (If I get over myself and actually get the confidence to do it)
- Do an internship. I really want to do this one, I haven’t had much time for it so far but it is important for college and something I want to do.
- Focus more on academics. Since I hate studying, I tend to get distracted sometimes from studying but this year is so important, I can’t afford to do that anymore.
- Prepare for college. This one is so stressful but I need to start getting things in order for college applications since they usually start June onwards. I need to start working on my essays, personal statements, etc.
- Ace the SAT. I’m giving the SAT in March and I’m terrified of how it’s going to go. Wish me luck!! (It’s important for the US colleges I’m going to apply to)
- Learn a language. I’ve always been fascinated by languages like German, Italian, Russian, etc and I plan to pick up one of these and focus on learning them this year by myself! (One at a time, of course)
Let’s talk!: Do you have any goals for 2022? Tell me about some of the best and worst books you read this year! Did you cry over any? Which ones are you waiting for that release in 2022?
ShelfLove 