End of Year Book Survey 2012

                                                               Best in Books
1. Best Book You Read In 2012?
Fantasy: Game of Thrones
Contemporary: Perfect
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
 Anna and the French Kiss, I was really looking forward to reading Anna and the French Kiss because I heard it's was this great sweet romance with wonderfully developed characters, a relate able main character and an extremely charming love interest. But once I actually read the book I felt like it was okay but not really anything special and I hated that St. Clair had a girlfriend the almost the whole book even though it was clear that he was in love with Anna and he basically went on dates with her all year and that he only broke up with his other girlfriend once his friends caught him with his tongue halfway down Anna's throat and I felt like the writing of St.Clair was trying to make him too perfect with the being French but having a British accent, I really didn't like St.Clair so that kind of ruined the book for me.
3.Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2012? The Lost Gate, I just kind of picked this book up one day in the book store and I was happy to discover that it was a great story of someone coming of age and also having the whole mage thing and all it's mythology.
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2012? Probably, Fruits Basket because Fruits Basket is my favorite series of all time it's a great story with great character development for all of it's characters and it also does a great job at writing relationships of both friendship and romance.
5.Best series you discovered in 2012? A Song of Ice and Fire
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012? George R.R. Martin, the write of A Song of Ice and Fire series.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you? The Poisoner's Handbook, this book was non-fiction and had to do with different kinds of poisons and I ended up really enjoying this book which I thought I wouldn't since I was only reading it because it was assigned for a class.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012? The Awakening, the second book in The Darkest Powers series was even more exciting than the first.
9. Book You Read In 2012 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year: Tokyo Babylon volumes 5-7 because I still have to review those volumes therefore I have reread them next year.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012? Hex Hall

 

11. Most memorable character in 2012? I can't really pick just one so I'm going to list my top 3.
1. Daernerys(A Song of Ice and Fire): Daernerys is a great character who had a fantastic character arc in Game of Thrones and she was able to walk through fire without getting burned and brought dragons back from excination all of which is very memorable.
2. Sansa(A Song of Ice and Fire): I just really loved, understood and related to her character through out most of the first book and I really feel bad for at the end of the book but I really admire how she's keeping herself together in A Clash of Kings.
3. Cole St. Clair(Wolves of Mercy Falls): I just love that he's filled with self-hatred and he's such a wreck and really reckless but also very smart and I think he brings a lot to the series.
12.Most beautifully written book read in 2012? I'd say Tricks by Ellen Hopkins she has the most beautiful way of writing and her characters always have such depth.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012? Game of Thrones, I just got really obsessed with both the book and tv series after reading this book.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read? Thirteen Reasons Why, I've been wanting to read this book for like five years and I finally read it this year and I loved it.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2012?
Sansa stared hard at his ugly face, remembering how he had thrown down her father for Ser Ilyn to behead, wishing she could hurt him , wishing that some hero would throw him down and cut off his head. But a voice inside her whispered,  There are no heroes,and she remembered what Lord Petyr had said to her, here in this very hall. "Life is not a song, sweetling," he'd told her. "You may learn that one day to your sorrow."  In life,the monsters win, she told herself, and now the Hound's voice she heard, a cold rasp, metal on stone. "Save yourself some pain, girl and give him what he wants."-Game of Thrones
16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2012?
Shortest: Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover: 263
Longest: Game of Thrones: 673
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.)
The end of Game of Thrones and volume 7 of Tokyo Babylon were both things that made me cry and want to talk to someone about what had happened.
18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2012 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
Sophie and Jenna's friendship from Hex Hall, I just really loved their friendship and I found myself enjoying the parts with the two of them the most.
19. Favorite Book You Read in 2012 From An Author You Read Previously:Perfect by Ellen Hopkins.

Top 5 New to me Authors of 2012

1. George R.R. Martin: I love the A Song of Ice and Fire series although I'm just now starting on A Clash of Kings, I love the Martin writes it gives just the right amount of description and emotional depth to the story and I feel like every word he wrote needed to be written which is saying a lot due to how long the books are.
2. Orson Card Scott: I read the book The Lost Gate which he wrote and I really loved the book overall and how the book was written as well.
3. Rachel Hawkins: I'm reading Hex Hall right now and I just love the way that it's written there's a nice sense of humor about the book and the book seems to be able to balance the witch stuff and the teenage stuff excellently.
4. Jay Asher: I read Thirteen Reasons Why this year and this book was very well written and intriguing in a sad way.
5. Stephanie Perkins: I read Anna and the French Kiss this year and while I was disappointed by the book overall, I still loved the way that Stephanie Perkins wrote the book in this way that was light and fun.
6.  Naoko Takeuchi: I started reading the Sailor Moon manga this year and I found it to be very exciting with good characters and a good romance not to mention that the artwork is absolutely beautiful.

Book Review: The Lost Gate

                                                             The Lost Gate Review

The Lost Gate is by Orson Scott Card who is most famous for writing Ender's Game. The Lost Gate is set in a world in which there are mages who live on earth now but are originally from a world known as Westil but they can no longer go there because there are no more gates. There are several families of mages around the world and they hold an uneasy truce with each other part of this truce is the agreement that if a gatemage was born they would kill the gatemage. The main character of the book is a boy named Danny who discovers when he's about eight years old that he is a gatemage and he is able to mostly hide this from his family until he is thirteen. After the family discovers that he's a gatemage he runs away.

Through out the book we follow Danny's journey were he tries to stay alive, learn how his gatemagery works as well as just grow up.The book is divided into several periods of time it starts with the parts were Danny is still living on the family compound then goes to the part were he starts off on his own and meets up with this guy Eric and then they burglarize a few houses. The next period would be when Danny starts living with the Slivermans and the final one is the one after the three year time skip.

Also through out the book there's a subplot of about a gatemage who lives in Westil. I find the parts that are set in Westil to be less entertaining and it's hard to tell for most of the book why this plot has anything to due with the main storyline but it does make sense by the end of the book.

I overall liked the book it had an interesting plot and mythology. I also liked most of the major characters in this book. I'm pretty sure this book is going to have a sequel and I'm planning on reading it. Please tell me your thoughts on the book.

Fangirl Friday 3

1.Doctor Who: This week I finished season 2 finally(although I've watched the series in a weird order so I've already finished season 5 and most of series 6) and I loved the second half of the season my favorite episodes being The Idiots Lantern,The Impossible Planet/The Satan's Pit, Love and Monsters and Doomsday.

2. Merlin: This week I started getting myself caught up with the BBC Merlin series and i found the show to be just as delightfully entertaining as I have in the past.

3. Fruits Basket: I've reread volumes 1 through 11 this week and I've loved this series just as much as I did the first time I've read it and I find it really interesting to read this series again because the second time around you know the characters from the start and therefore you have a better understanding of them. I also liked seeing how well foreshadowed everything is.

4. Game of Thornes:I've started watching this show this week and although I've only watched the first two episodes so far I really love this series. I find the plot, the characters (my favorite being Daenerys) and the world in which the story is set to be very interesting.

5. The Lost Gate: Is the book that I am currently reading, I am about halfway through the book and so far I love it. This book has a lot of magic, there's also some mention of conning which I love and there's also a whole other magical world.

Fangirl five Friday is a weekly meme host Nancy Drew is my Homegirl and what it's meme that has you list the top five things you've been fangirling about this week.

Top 10 books I want to read this Spring

1. The Secret Circle: The Divide: I first read the Secret Circle books last spring and I loved them and I've been enjoying the tv series as well so I was both surprised and delighted to see that a new book is being released this spring and I will read it as soon as I get my hands on a copy.
2. Two Truths and a Lie: I've loved the first two books of The Lying Games series and I'm sure I'll love this one as well and maybe in this book we'll get closer to solving who Sutton's killer is. Also judging by the end of the we'll learn a lot more about Thayer in this book.
3. The Awakening: I loved the first book of the Darkest Powers series and I really want to read this book because the book ended on a few big cliffhangers.
4.The Selection: This book sounds really interesting and I heard that the CW is making this book into a tv series so I want to read the books first.
5. Only the Good Spy Young: I've loved the first three books of the Gallagher Girls books and the last book ended on a cliffhanger so I really want to read this book.
6. Anna and the French Kiss: I've heard this book is great and I now own a copy of it so I plan on reading it soon.
7. Grave Mercy: His Fair Assassin: This book sounds super interesting but I worry that it may not be the book it sounds like it is.
8.The Thorne of Fire: I loved the first book in The Kane Chronicles series and I'm sure I'll love this one as well.
9. Lost Gate: This book sounds interesting and I own it so I'm planning on reading it soon.
10. The Lost Hero: I love Rick Riordan book's Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The red Pyramid so I'm sure I'll love this book as well.