It Starts at Midnight (2)

There are three awesome surveys about the end of the year shenanigans going around. I am sure there are more, but these happen to be the three I know and love: Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner‘s End of the Year Survey ;  Andi @ Andi’s ABCs Brittany @ The Book Addict’s Guide’s Statistics Survey, and Erica & Christy @ Novel Reads’ Countdown Survey.

Do not fret, I shall not answer all the questions, since I want to finish before it is 2017. I’ll pick and choose, because who needs rules? But, since I am super nice, I will give you links if you do not wish to read each survey- and also so I can link up with them, Olé!

Jamie’s End of the Year Survey

Erica & Christy’s Countdown Survey

Andi & Brittany’s Statistics Survey

#1 (1)

Number Of Books You Read:

144
Number of Re-Reads:

3 (The Hunger Games series, of course!)
Genre You Read The Most From:

Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t really break things down by genre. Ever.

#2 (1)

1. Best Book You Read In 2015?

Kidding

Come on now. No one can answer that!

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

From L-R, my alternate titles: Bird People, What Even Was This?, So Bored I Might DieYou have GOT to be kidding with this crap, Shut Up, Azra, and Sequel Slump 101.

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

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I always push these. I feel like they’ve been well received, except for The Sin Eater’s Daughter, which lost me a bit of credibility 😉 I don’t even care, I still love it!

 5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

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(15-5

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7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

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Space stuff scares me sometimes, not going to lie. Also, it is huge.

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

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 9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

The Hunger Games Series covers

Bwhah shocking, right?

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

254676982462597823127048

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?

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13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?

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 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?

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 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

These. Too many to list here, certainly! 

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

SHORTEST: 161 Pages

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LONGEST: 599 pages

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18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

For my whole life? Or just this year?

2015 OTP:

tumblr_nf95heRz2d1rluzy1o2_250

Bellarke needs to be endgame. Or I will throw a tantrum, no joke. (Also, no one said this had to be from books so….)

OTP for always:

Peeta-Mellark-and-Katniss-Everdeen-image-peeta-mellark-and-katniss-everdeen-36579610-245-150

Katniss and Peeta. Shocking, I’m sure.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Emmy, Caro, & Drew 

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21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

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You’ll notice that these are the same exact books I waited until 2015 to read. Because I finally caved to peer pressure. 

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

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26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

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Uh, all the books made me cry, come on! But this one, I was sobbing almost too hard.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

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These, and you can win one here

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

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29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

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30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Mad in a Good “We Need To Discuss This” Way:

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Mad in a “What in the Fresh Hell is This?” Way:

2540727518584521

#3 (1)

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015?

I picked these, because I know for a fact that they started in 2015 and I love them! 

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2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?

Favorite Positive Review

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Favorite Negative Review

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Favorite Dual Review

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3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

I enjoyed this one:

The Fine Line2

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

If you mean online event, then this:

mhe5

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?

Three. These:

Nano WINIMG_4403 (Copy)

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6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

Time. Either time or Blood Rain, I don’t even know.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

By both and by a long shot:

What's The

8. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

Evie’s Society6 Shop! She may take ALL my money, because she is a creative GENIUS! 

9.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

grs

Goodreads just gets me. 

#4 (1)

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

One? Please. I was going to answer, but this is going to be a Top Ten Tuesday in like, 10 days, so you can read it then. But for shits and giggles, this:

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5. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

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These. Read ’em.


#5 (1)

10- 2016 Books You’re Excited About

I just picked sequels. Because 10 is hard.

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9- Favorite Covers of 2015

I did not read them all, but I drooled at them all.

#4
8- Books That Surprised You (Either in a good or bad way)

The Good

#1

Pleasantly surprised at how much I liked these!

The Bad/Ugly

#2

GRRR.
7- Books You Didn’t Get To in 2015

Oopsie?

#5


6- Books That Gave You All the Feels/Made You Cry

#6
5- Golden Finds (Unpopular Books You Loved)

#7

I took this to mean “Books that other people didn’t like so much but I did.”
4- Books You Wish Were Movies/TV Shows

#8I feel like these would be quite entertaining!
3 – Series You Started

#9
2 – Books Everyone Loved But You Didn’t

#10
1 – Best Book of 2015

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😉



#6 (1)

        • Number of books read…
          • Over 500 pages: Two, methinks. 
          • Over 1000 pages: Zero. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
        • Number of…
          • Audiobooks: Zero
          • Re-reads: Three (The Hunger Games, of course!)
          • DNFs (did not finish): ONE. (The Witch Hunter)
        • Number of books rated…
          • Five Stars: 24. Which seems a bit excessive I think?
          • One/Two Stars: 22. So I guess it balances out?
        • Number of authors met in 2015: No idea. Lots. And some celebrities! BEA is fun 😉
        • Number of book events attended in 2015: 1-2 (two, technically, but part of the same trip?)
        • Number of books you read in one day: Like full books? One.
        • Number of books that made you cry: At least 50. Has to be.
        • Number of 2016 books you have on pre-order: ? Okay, in seriousness… 9 or 10?

#7 (1)

Book read furthest away from home (vacation reads?): Uhh I read Sweet Madness on the bus from New York. That was my biggest “vacation”- a whopping 90 minutes away :/

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Book that took you the longest to read: 20613470
Pretty sure it took a solid 7 months. (No not really.)

Book that made you love the villain: 

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Book you said you’d come back to but still haven’t picked up again:
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Maybe someday?

Book you read waaaay before it’s publication date:

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Technically, this comes out in the US on April 5, 2016. I read it on December 8. But it came out in the UK in September so.. yeah.

Book you read on your birthday:

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Book with a character who shares your name: Still haven’t found any Shannons…

Book you weren’t entirely truthful about when rating (Fluff up any ratings? Rated even though you didn’t finish?):

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I rated The Witch Hunter, but I made it through 52% so I deserved to!

#8 (1)

 

Longest & shortest…

By title:

 19290513 (1) Infinite Number BGcvr.indd

Best & worst…

Average rating on Goodreads:
BEST: 4.90 24625978       WORST: 3.08 25407275

Series enders:
BEST: 23198876   WORST: 20753330

First & last…

Reads of 2015:
FIRST: 18457362  LAST: 23874615

Books on your bookcase (1st book on the top left and last book on the bottom right):
Top: 20983362 (1)  Bottom: 13042154

Most disappointing & biggest pleasant surprise:
YAY! 23480844       BOO17404295

Series you picked up & series you quit: Excuse you, I don’t quit.

#9 (1)

Book you read that is red:

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Starts with X, Y, or Z: 

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Book you hugged when you finished it:

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Book you wanted to throw across a room:

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Book that became an instant go-to recommendation:

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Furthest out of your comfort zone:

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Because really, child rape and forced prostitution should make everyone uncomfortable…

Read on a recommendation (that you may not have picked up yourself):

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Which I did not read sooner because I thought it was about bird people, and you know I don’t get along with them.

Forced yourself to finish:

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I will give all my money to anyone who can explain what in the fresh hell this book is about. (Disclaimer: I have like $7 in my bank account so….)

#10 (1)

First…

Post of 2015: Something about book buying (AKA, too much of it. Some things never change.)

Review of 2015:

 10944842

Last…

Post of 2015: This one!

Review of 2015: 23480844

Number of reviews posted this year:

105

Well, consider me impressed with my own self!

Least coherent review:
16071187
 I mean, there were muppet gifs involved.

Post you wish you could re-write:

On that note… my 600th post, and final one of 2015, is DONE! Feel free to answer a few of these yourself- it’s fun getting to know you all 🙂 #11 (1)

Posted December 31, 2015 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in Funsies / 38 Comments

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38 responses to “The One With All the Surveys

  1. Ahaha, your alternate titles are fabulous! I have Illuminae on my shelf and GOSHDANGIT it’s gigantic. But I feel like a lot of that is formatting. And dude, Hunger Games is all over this post which MAKES THIS POST FABULOUS. I think I would be disturbed if one day I walked over to ISAM and there were NO HUNGER GAMES REFERENCES. And wow, 600 posts! Yay! Can’t wait to see all the shenanigans on ISAM in 2016 😀 😀

    • Definitely a LOT of it is formatting. It’s really just a regular sized book in the end. Like, 350 pages probably. But done in a VERY fun way, I hope you enjoy it 😀 And seriously- what would we do without Hunger Games references?! Especially on a post like this 😉

  2. LOLOLOLOL. Last GIF is permanently me. (HOLY 600TH POST. CONGRAAATSS!!!)

    99 Days is seriously real. Really, such a surprise in so many ways. I still need to grab Truest & Devoted. The cover of TLTSW is SO GORGEOUS THO. I cannot stop staring, like OMG. The Firsts cover makes me kinda laugh, too, but in a good way if that makes sense? Proof of Forever is totally a must-read! So crazy & Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. (There’s a bit of slutshaming, but it’s lovely.)

    HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

    • YES I agree with you so much! 99 Days WAS really honest, which was why I enjoyed it so much (even though others ummm did not hahah) I am glad that you liked Proof of Forever too- I really wanted to like it, I think I wasn’t in a great place for it, which is why I put it aside, but I will have to go back to it!

  3. That is a LOT of books, but I totally agree with these. First of all, I’m only a few episodes in The 100 and I already know Bellarke needs to be endgame, even though they’re still snapping at each other. Less snapping, more smushing, guys.

    May the odds be ever in your favour in 2016, my dear Shannon. ♥

  4. You were smart to combine the surveys. Good on you! I don’t even know where to start though. Your favorite covers are so pretty. You reminded me to get to Denton Little’s Deathdate sooner rather than later. And well all the other books I need to get to 🙂 Great post!

  5. So glad Return Once More is on your list! I felt like I was the only person who read this! Yay!

    I like what you re-named your underwhelming reads – bahahaha!

  6. Sam

    I finally listened to my daughter, and started the Throne of Glass series. Then I read up through Queen of Shadows. I love this series!!!! The Accident Season is one of my top 2 2015 reads. I loved the writing, the story, the cover. Great read! I wish I had waited to read that Passenger ARC my daughter got at BEA, because there have been major changes to the story, but other than that, I have no reading regrets (other than I wish I could read more)

    • Oh YAY! What did you think about Queen of Shadows? I am SO SCARED. People either loved it or hated it. I don’t know if I can handle it! (Also, it is scarily large hahha) And I agree with you wholeheartedly about The Accident Season- everything about it was fabulous!

      And YES to the Passenger ARC situation. I HAVE the BEA ARC and started it and was kind of bored, honestly. But now, everyone says that the changes are BIG changes, so I kind of just want to get the finished version so I can KNOW if I like it!

      I am glad that you have no reading regrets, that is a nice way to end the year 😀

      • Sam

        I really loved QoS. Some great new characters, and I am actually excited about the direction Maas is taking some of the characters. She allowed for a lot of atonement, and forgiveness, which I thought was wonderful. It was full of action, and gasp worthy moments, and we got more insight into what is really going on. Loved it!

  7. YOU WROTE SO MANY POSTS IN 2016! We should really be paid for this; it’s basically a full time job. Tons of these books are on my to-read, like Illuminae and Made You Up and Cinder and others I’m too lazy to look up right now. I’m also really looking forward to A Gathering of Shadows.

    Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll never find a character named Vlora in a book. Unless I write it and… that seems a bit self-involved. Maybe under a pen name or something. Happy New Year’s Eve to you! I always look forward to your comments and your posts and I hope you have a fantastic year ahead of you. 🙂

    • I wish I knew exactly how many it was- the reviews were easy to figure out because I could search for categories, but I could NOT figure out how many posts I wrote! A lot, I guess hahah. At least 300. Insanity is what it is 😉

      And no, unless you write The Adventures of Vlora and Shannon- we could do research traveling the world, eating, and having really fabulous cocktails, just a suggestion- then you probably won’t find one. But in this case, since it’s our world travel memoir, it isn’t AS self-involved. 😉 Hope you have a fabulous year too!

  8. I SO WANT to reread The Hunger Games now that all the movies are out. I’ve been wanting to for a while but I wasn’t ready for the emotional impact and subsequent series hangover I KNOW will follow. That series destroys me every time. But it’s sooooo good! Illuminae WILL be one of my very first reads in 2016 and I was just gifted The Knife of Never Letting Go so I’ll finally read that one too! I LOVED Wrath & Dawn AND I’m excited that you read Throne of Glass, Raven Boys and Cinder in 2015 <3 I hope you adore QoS as much as I did! Happy 2016!!

    • DO ITTTTT! It was amazing- it was my 10th read of the series, and it was JUST as emotional as the first- maybe even MORE. And the movies… OMG. Have you seen them all yet? I just… THE FEELS.

      And YAY I am so, so happy that you have Illuminae and The Knife of Never Letting Go! A hint about TKoNLG- it starts off… weird. Like, I tried to DNF it but my friend wouldn’t let me hahah, and I am glad she didn’t, because I ended up LOVING the series, but it takes a few chapters to get into it. Hope you have a great 2016 too!

  9. Gah! I completely forgot about Seeker. An email from NetGalley drew me in and then I waited a bit to read it because of all the negative reviews from bloggers I trust. Then I forced myself to finish it. Bleck.

    I loved participating in the Shattering Stigmas event. It was amazed that my post drew so much positive attention. 🙂

    And Illuminae. I loved it, but I liked Ink & Bone more. I’m more likely to continue on with that series.

    • Bwhahhah Seeker. What a mess. I think that is what happened to me too, though I am pretty sure I am trying to block it out 😉 I think I was more a middle of the pack reader- a few reviews had come out- some were glowing, some were scathing- but I read it and then pressured everyone I knew to read it because I wanted to know if it was just me or if it really was that much of a mess. Still, I find myself wanting to know what happens (but don’t worry- not enough to read the next book 😉 )

      And I REALLY appreciated your participation in the event- you helped SO MANY PEOPLE. Like, I knew it would be relatable, but WOW- people came out of the woodwork for it, you did such a wonderful job!

      I need to read Ink and Bone, it looks SO good. I will continue all the series, because I have a compulsion to do so 😀

  10. There are SO MANY BOOKS on here that you have loved, but I haven’t read yet. Crazy, right?? I just started Illuminae today and I am loving it so far. The format is very unique, but is totally working for me. I read so many books, so it is hard for me to remember which ones would fit in which category. Seeker is one I thought I would love more, just like you did. Your new title for Hold me like a breath made me laugh. It is so funny though. I just bought Return Once More. Until I saw this post, I had forgotten whose review forced me to buy the book. I should have known it was you. Now I need to move it up on my TBR list. Denton’s little death date was on sale for $1.99 on Amazon and I could kick myself for not buying it at the time. I stalled too much. Maybe it will go on sale again? I don’t know, but I’ll get to it eventually. Loved your answers!

    • Yess that IS crazy, because you will OBVIOUSLY like them 😉 Seeker is such a mess hahah. And thanks! MAN, HMLAB made me stabby. OH I have an idea. Hold on. BOOM, remedied. You now have Denton. This was perfect! And thank you, my dear. I have been reading yours in increments for DAYS- I am such a mess- no surprise there 😉

  11. BELLARKEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They’re my favourite OTP, my gosh.

    I also tend to push people to read Unwind a lot. It’s one of my favorite series and deserves much more recognition than it’s gotten.

    I haven’t had time this year to read many books, so I’m glad you got to read so many! Happy New Years!!

  12. *Nods* Becoming Jinn was a DNF for me. I was excited because genies, but I couldn’t stand it and dropped it pretty early on. The Winner’s Crime was a great sequel! I wasn’t a huge fan of book 1, but I finally got on board with everything by book 2. I finally read The Raven Boys this year, too! I can’t believe it took me so long, ha. All the Bright Places crushed my soul as well. I was sobbing. *Cries again remembering* I also didn’t get to Queen of Shadows this year, even though I got it out from the library TWICE. And neither Under a Painted Sky of The Rose Society. Grrr. 2016 most definitely… Oooh, you’ve reminded me about Caragh M. O’Brien’s books! I really desperately want to read The Vault of Dreams. It just sounds so darn cool!

    Terrific year-long reading wrap-up! Happy New Year! Cheers to 2016!

  13. This post has given me a few new books to add to my TBR – thank you!! Sweet Madness looks seriously intense (I remember learning about the Lizzie Borden story in my psych class in high school) and both Return Once More and Air Awakens look really entertaining. (Sidenote to say: time travel YA really seems to have picked up speed in 2015 and will be continuing in 2016! And I’m so not complaining.)

    Also, I *just* saw Mockingjay Part 2 a couple days ago for the first time, so all the Hunger Games love in this post makes me happy. It was super gripping, and really true to the book, and basically I loved it. Although, kinda sad now cuz it’s the last one 🙁

  14. Wow! That was a lot of work for you! I hope you had fun looking back at your year. One of my favorite blogger events was your Shattering Stigmas event. I hope you do a repeat sometime in the future!!!! All the Bright Places was probably my favorite read of the year, and yes it shattered me!

  15. Love how you combined all the surveys, Shannon! So impressed that you read 144 this year. I didn’t meet my GR goal of 85 – but finished up the year at 75. Not bad for me. 🙂 I definitely want to read Return Once More. So intrigued by that one. Feeling out of the loop because I don’t know who Bellarake are. TV show? Movie? Loved the friendships in Emmy & Oliver. I see our favorite, Has to Be Love, made the list. LOL So glad to see 99 Days on your good list. It makes me sad that it gets so much shade. People hear the word cheat and lose their minds. Loved reading all your stats and picks, Shannon!! ♥

  16. I have no idea how you braved through all those questions but standing O to you. I remember your love for THG! What’s your opinion on the movies? I feel like I should strike up a convo about the series with you on twitter (: ONE DAY!!

    I’m usually not about sci-fi either but I really enjoyed Illuminae. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like The Sin Eater’s Daughter but a lot of people did so I’m definitely the black sheep here.

    144 BOOKS? SLAYYYY

    – Nova @ Out of Time

  17. YES TO ALL OF THESE. I completely agree with everything you’ve said here and then some Shannon. Ice Like Fire was so disappointing, wasn’t it? 🙁 I loved Snow Like Ashes so I was expecting the sequel to be amazing, but unfortunately not. 🙁 Hopefully the third book redeems it though.

    And OMG Illuminae. SO, so, so good, wasn’t it? ♥ The twists and turns and the creativity of the story are unmatched. So excited for the sequel.

    And The Winner’s Crime was such a satisfying and well-written sequel! (I’m still pretending that ending didn’t happen because I’m still in shock about it). I have no idea how anyone’s going to survive the wait for The Winner’s Kiss! Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous choices & post! ♥

  18. These posts are really fun! I have no idea how many books I read this past year though. I will say that space freaks me the hell out, so yeah, I’m surprised I read and loved Illuminae so much too. haha

  19. GREAT YEAR FOR YOU SHANNON. First off, 144 books. Man that is going to be hard for me to beat. I didn’t even finish my 100 (I tried).

    So first off, it is no surprise that you will be reread the Hunger Games AGAIN. No surprise. Maybe you’ll find another book series to absolutely love? Hehe. Also, didn’t we all love Seeker? AND YOU ARE REFERRING TO ME ABOUT SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER AREN’T YOU. Bleh.

    WE SHARE THE FUN BOOK TO READ FOR DENTON LITTLE. Unless you copied that from you YOU CHEATER YOU. Just kidding.

    Oooo I was going to put Hold Me Like A Breath as favorite review, but Seeker was really fun to write. Same as The Winter People, but that was in 2014 LOLOLOL. Don’t read it.

    YEAH FINE LINE POSTS. At least we did one good thing for the blogosphere!

    Man this is a lot of stuff you have in this post, not gonna lie. BUT STILL. SO PROUD OF YOU AND YOUR 600TH POST. AND I’M SO GLAD I MET YOU. AND WENT TO YOUR HOUSE. AND KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILDREN (almost).

    Happy New Year 🙂

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