My Favorite Books of 2011

Whew… what a year in reading 2011 was. Such fabulous titles this year! I had so many favorites, it so very hard to narrow it down! I stole most of these questions from The Perpetual Page Turners Year End Survey, and threw a few of my own in there. I think maybe the last two!

1. Best Book Read

I couldn’t narrow this one down so I decided that I would pick a favorite from a few genres instead!

Historical Fiction- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys 

Paranormal- (such a hard one to narrow down!) A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young

Fantasy- This one is a toss up between The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor and The Gray Wolfe Throne by Cinda Williams Chima

Contemporary- The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Dystopian- Divergent by Veronica Roth (Also loved Wither by Lauren DeStefano and A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan)

Sci-Fi- Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Romance- Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (Also The Statiscial Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith… but since it doesn’t officially come out until 2012, I shouldn’t really count it toward my 2011 favs.)

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did

This would probably go to the last book I reviewed which was Illuminated by Erica Orloff, I thought for sure I was going to love this one and I couldn’t even finish it. I was rather sad about the whole thing.

3. Most Surprising (in a good way) Book

Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker. I think it was surprising because of how well Melissa tackled and presented the issues in this novel. I was afraid it might come across as preachy or even hypocritical, but I ended up loving this story and it’s characters.

4. Book(s) You Recommended to People Most

Divergent by Veronica Roth, Wither by Lauren DeStefano, Where She Went (If I Stay) by Gayle Forman, Shift by Jeri Smith Ready… and about a dozen more!

5. Best Series You Discovered

I used 2011 to catch up on a lot of series. But there was one that I had been meaning to read and finally did and LOVED and that was Raised by Wolves and Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.

6. Best Book That Was Out of Your Comfort Zone

I won’t really say it was out of my comfort zone, but it wasn’t really in my initial interest grasp zone and that was Inconvienent by Margie Gelbwasser. The summary wasn’t very memorable to me so it sat on my shelf far to long. I ended up really loving the story!

Another book that wasn’t necessarily out of my comfort zone but made me squirm was Want To Go Private by Sarah Darer Littman. It’s a fabulously written book, just a very difficult subject.

7. Most Thrilling, Unputdownable Book

I wouldn’t say that it was the most unputdownable book for me this year, because it actually took me a while to read it. It was definitely the most thrilling though.  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

8. Book(s) You Most Anticipated

The Future of by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler, Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, Love Story by Jennifer Echols and Hallowed by Cynthia Hand.

9. Favorite Cover of a Book You Read

Wither by Lauren DeStefano & The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

10. Most Memorable Character

Cam Cooper in The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

11. Most Beautifully Written Book Read

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwabb

12. Book You Can’t Believe You Waited Until 2011 to Finally Read

The rest of the Soul Screamers books! My Soul to Keep, My Soul to Save & If I Die by Rachel Vincent.

13. The Books that Didn’t Get Enough Buzz, but are FABULOUS

Warped by Marissa Guibord & Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

14. Books I Wish I Had Gotten Around to Read this Year

The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (I need to get on this one!)
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

15. Favorite NON-YA Book

Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning 

Related posts:

  1. My Favorite Reading Spots
  2. Body Image Week Guest Post: My Favorite Author
  3. Goals for 2011 (Blogging/Reading)
  4. Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Books of 2011 (that I want to read, but haven’t!)
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