2013 End of the Year Book Survey: Part II

These questions (and pretty graphics) come from Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner's Annual End of Year Book Survey. I LOVE surveys. Reading them, filling them out myself, doesn't matter. I love them.

I also have a terrible attention span and I hate long things, so I've divided this survey up into multiple posts.Click HERE to read Part I of the survey.

Oh, and if you haven't already noticed, I agonize over the idea of picking just one of anything. So I didn't even try.

I only included books I read for the first time in 2013.  

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

 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!

There are two scenes in this book that made my jaw drop. First one was toward the final quarter of the book and I wasn't sure if I should believe what I was reading. The second one was the final scene and I LOVE that the authors had that character GO THERE. Finally, a villain who takes the hero's So There trump card and rips it into tiny pieces, with a smirk. Yay!

So many! But two especially stand out. Or, three. First, when everything is pure perfection. Then when that thing happens to a character I love and never thought would actually happen! And then the scene where everything wonderful shifts and Sarah J. Maas wrote it all in this almost slow-mo way where I could savor every tiny horrific second of watching all my dreams shatter around me. And then the end, with all its promises of pain and possibilities. I guess that's four.


The coat. Oh my gosh, the coat. I can't even. That whole scene was SO emotionally gutting. The realization in the end was also pretty sob-worthy. At least, it would be if I weren't stubbornly ignoring it.






THOSE THINGS! At the end, when Penryn find out and oh gosh, I don't know whether to barf or sob and I still have all that residual swoon and I was such an emotional mess and my gosh the imagery. It was, I don't even know how to describe the emotional blender Susan Ee shoved my heart, and stomach, into.

Pretty much every scene. I'm glad I buddy-read this one with Ruby, because all I had to do was exclaim, "And the scene with the dog! EEEEEEEEE!!! And the way she said that?! AAAAAAAHHHHH!" and she understood the importance without me having to try to be any more coherent than that.







Between the humorous character banter and unexpected twists, this series made me exclaim out loud (while in a quiet library) enough to make bystanders take note. It's a six book series, so I couldn't even begin to pick out memorable scenes in any sort of succinct manner. Suffice it to say, Michael J. Sullivan had me running the emotional gamut and left me with more surprises than not.

I knew it had to happened and I thought I was totally prepared for it. I mean, I have someone extremely worthy to help me pick up the pieces in the main series. But, yeah, when the time came to read THAT scene, no amount of swoony promises of the future could stem my sobs.






Who gets the Worst Husband EVER award? Juana's husband, that's who! He was vile and awful and I HATE HIM. Juana spends most of the book in political battles trying to wrest control away from her jerk-face husband, and I spent most of the book ranting to anyone who would listen about how much I hated his stupid guts. And then THAT happened and I thought it was time to break out the YAYs, except, no, a totally unexpected twist happened and I was raging alongside Juana once again.



This book and the previous book (Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow) gave me plenty of, "Oh my gosh! Did you know...." fodder to bug anyone within earshot. Juliet Grey packs in the period details, and watching the French populous get swept up in the lies and manipulations that fomented the revolution was as chilling as it was infuriating.

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

Best brothers-in-arms book ever! Hadrian and Royce MAKE this series with their banter, growth, support, and bickering.








 This is kind of an, erm, untraditional relationship. While I love the relationship between Lady Trent and her husband, the true gem of this book is Lady Trent's relationship with scholarship. She's a voracious student of all things dragonish and the passion, dedication, and wonderment she brings to this relationship is a pure joy to read.




 *SOB* I can't even. Much as I am a huge fan of Celaena and Chaol, I might be the teeniest tiniest bit more on the side of Sam. Maybe. His relationship with Celaena is so tender, new, and based on years spent together growing, learning, and developing together. He knows her.






But then, of course, there IS Chaol, and I LOVE Celaena and Chaol together! Honorable mentions go to Celaena's awesome friendships with Dorian and Nehemia.

 

 

 

 19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously (not counting sequels)?

 

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

 

21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?

Probably a toss up between historical fiction and fantasy.

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

Hadrian (Theft of Swords), Sam (Assassin's Blade), Raffe (Angelfall), Duncan and Jeck (The Decoy Princess). Sure, their names could be better, but I loved getting to know each of these leading men.

23. Best 2013 debut you read?

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

 

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

Part III coming soon!

Read Part I HERE

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