Jaime from The Perpetual Page Turner hosts an annual book survey and this year I’m taking part.

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The Best Books of 2013

1. Best Book You Read In 2013? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

Contemporary YA – Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend by Louise Rozett

Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic – Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Historical Fiction – The Wrong Girl by C.J. Archer

Paranormal — The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead

Science Fiction — The Hork-Bajir Chronicles by K.A. Applegate

Fantasy — Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

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

See review.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013? 

See review.

 4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?

See review.

 5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?

I’m not even sorry.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

My first taste of erotica. See review.

 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?

See my thoughts on the entire Divergent trilogy here.

9. Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

See review.

10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2013?

11. Most memorable character in 2013? 

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?

See review.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013? 

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read? 

See review.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2013?

OK, I’ve got a few:

“Oh for mercy’s sake,” Bitterblue snapped at her advisors. “I’m proposing a walk to the smithy, not an expedition to the moon. I’ll be back in a matter of minute. In the meantime, you can all return to work and stop being annoying, if such a thing is possible.”

“At least take an umbrella, Lady Queen,” pleaded Rood.

“I won’t,” she said, then swept out of the room as dramatically as possible

― Kristin Cashore, Bitterblue

“Tell me my copy is missing the last twenty pages or something.

Hazel Grace, tell me I have not reached the end of this book.

OH MY GOD DO THEY GET MARRIED OR NOT OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS?!”

― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

“And oh, god, how could so much regret and so much sweetness and so much sadness all be present in that single moment. I was already dead and missing my unlived life. I was already dead and Tobias was mourning.

I tried to smile. For him.”

― Katherine Applegate, The Beginning (Animorphs, #54)

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?

Longest at 547 pages:

Shortest at 3 pages, ‘The Meeting’ (Vampire Academy #1.1) by Richelle Mead

 17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

I don’t want to spoil this, so at risk of that, see review here.

18. Favourite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

I only rated the book 3 stars, but there was something about Henry I really likes, and his developing relationship with Kate. See review here.

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

See review.

20. Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

Based solely on recommendation from Lyn from Great Imaginations.
See review.

21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?

Technically sci-fi, because I read the entire Animorphs series (64 books) plus a few others.

But apart from that, it was paranormal romance. Not by choice. Kind of accidentally. I was trying to cut back on paranormal romance books, but do you have any idea of the sheer number of them published? Sometimes it’s hard to find anything else.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?

MICHAEL! SWOON!

23. Best 2013 debut you read?

See review.

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?

See review.

25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?

See review.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?

I’ll warn you, I cry A LOT.  My fiancé says you can tell if it’s a good movie by whether I cry or not. I cry when people are brave or sad or mourning or something really great happens. He took me to see Frozen last weekend and I cried four times. FOUR! When we went to see Les Miserables in theatres last year I cried throughout THE WHOLE DAMN THING.

That being said, I LOVE books that make me cry. I love that feeling, and I love feeling so passionately about a book that it can bring me to tears. Books that make me feel so much are very special to me.
So I have rather a lot of books that I want to include in this section:

27. Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out?

See review.

Looking Ahead:

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014?

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)?

3. 2014 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

4. Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2014?

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014?

I really want to focus on whittling down my staggering physical to-read shelf and get through all those ARCs and review copies I owe. Currently I own over 200 books to-read combined on both my Kindle and my shelves, and have packed a double shelf full of physical book. I owe 16 reviews for books I’ve received. I would really like to work on emptying those shelves and get all my review books down, because I feel obligated and I want the freedom to pick any book I choose rather than succumb to a deadline. I’m getting better at only requesting books I’m a) excited for b) have already added to my to-reads list c) really really want to read and d) based on the cover, blurb and author think I will really enjoy.

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