The Priory of the Orange Tree – Wonderfilled Reads

2019 End of Year Survey

2019 was a solid reading year for myself, if not as great as I was hoping it would be. However, I did get to read some amazing books and find new favorite authors so I can’t complain too much. I can’t wait to look back on everything that I’ve read over the past year!

If you wish to participate in the survey, please link back to the original creator – Jamie @ The Perpetual Page Turner.

2019 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 64
Number of Re-Reads: 2
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy

Best in Book

Best Book You Read In 2019?

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

Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

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

Best series you started in 2019? Best sequel of 2019? Best series finale of 2019?

Favorite new author you discovered in 2019?

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

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

Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?

Most memorable character of 2019?

Jude is a total badass and no one can say otherwise.

Most beautifully written book read in 2019?

Most Thought-Provoking/Life-Changing Book of 2019?

Book you can’t believe you waited until 2019 to finally read?

Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2019?

“By you, I am forever undone.” – The Queen of Nothing

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2019?

Book That Shocked You The Most

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

Jude and Cardan… I think it’s pretty easy to see how I feel about this book.

Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Morrigan and Hawthorne crack me up with their friendship. She’s cynical and he is Mr. Get-Into-All-of-the-Trouble.

Favorite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.

Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2019?

I will always go for the moody and brooding guys, especially ones with a bit of darkness in them like Nathaniel.

Best 2019 debut you read?

Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

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

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2019?

Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Most Unique Book You Read In 2019?

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

Your Blogging/Bookish Life

New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2019?

I have done a terrible job keeping up with the bookish community this past year. Maybe that’s why I was affected by so many reading slumps – I wasn’t keeping myself hyped up.

Favorite post you wrote in 2019?

If You Liked That…Read This: Historical Fiction Edition

Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2019?

Ummm, I did not take one. Oops!

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

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to BookCon this past year but I was able to participate in the blog tour for Songs from the Deep!

Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2019?

Probably when I finally reach over 1000 followers on my blog. I don’t really promote it a whole lot so it’s been nice to see it grow so much this year.

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

My reading life took a bit of a hit this year from going into so many random reading slumps, which has really affected my will to actually post regularly. It’s something I’m really hoping to not have an issue with this coming year.

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

The 5 Most Disappointing Books of 2019

Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Top 5 Audiobook Recommendations

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

I don’t think I really have one this year.

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

Hahahahahaha… Nope, didn’t finish either of one. Epic 2019 fail.

Looking Ahead

One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2019 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2020?

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2020 (non-debut)?

2020 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2020?

One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2020?

Keep away from the dreaded reading slumps and try to consistently blog post.

How did you reading year go in 2019? What was a book that surprised you the most? Did you read a hidden gem of a novel? Did any books disappoint you? Please leave a link to your reading survey in the comments below!

End of Summer Recap Book Tag

Fall is officially almost here and I am so happy. I am not a fan of the summertime and all of its hellish heat. However, I saw this awesome book tag over on the lovely Scorpio Book Dreams blog and decided that it was a good time to look back over the books that I’ve read during the past few summer months. I’m always talking about books on my TBR, so this will be a nice change of pace to reflect on the books that I’ve already finished. Please feel free to tag yourself!

Original post was created by Faith @ Bookself.

Which book can you not stop thinking about?

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

I just really enjoyed this story. It was a nice feel-good story that I think everyone would enjoy picking it up. It was the perfect summer read for me. I keep waiting to hear that Mindy Kaling has optioned the rights to adapt into a miniseries or movie. I think she has the perfect writing style for a story like this.

Which book would you rather not have read?

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

This was one of my most anticipated releases for this year.. but dear God, was it sooooooo long. And trust me, I don’t mind lengthy novels. However, I could really feel the length with this story. It took far too long to actually get into the meat of the story, which caused me to not feel the need to ever pick it up to read. I’ll just continue looking forward to the next installment of The Bone Season series and try to forget that this book caused it to get postponed.

What genre did you read the most?

Surprisingly enough, due to my recent reread of the Red Rising series, my top genre this past summer was science fiction. Which I’m actually really happy about because it is one of my favorite genres to pick up. Not to mention the fact that all of the books for that genre that I have read recently were really good. I’m also in currently in the middle of two more!

What book surprised you the most?

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

I figured I would enjoy this book (helloooo, I’m a sucker for historical fiction!), but I didn’t realize how much I would love this story and all of its characters. Rye has always been on my list of English villages I’d love to visit, but now I am DYING to go see it during the summer and channel my inner Beatrice.

Which book disappointed you the most?

Just look above a couple of questions and that should answer this one too…

What was your favorite cover?

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Another lovely design by the supremely talented Charlie Bowater. I honestly love all of her designs.

What was your favorite summer release?

Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle, #1) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

This book was just as fun and engaging as what I was expecting from this writing duo. I thought it was a great start to another science fiction series from them. I loved how we get multiple POVs and they were each so different from one another. Also, let’s all give a cheer for the fae-inspired, Kal. Seriously… SPACE ELVES.

What book did you plan on reading but never got around to?

Kingsbane (Empirium, #2) by Claire Legrand

I actually preordered this beauty but then I realized I desperately needed to do a reread of the first book before diving in. I’ve finally gotten around to downloading the audiobook version of it and so hopefully I’ll be able to finish that after my current listen of Iron Gold. So I’m hoping to add this to my TBR for next month. It’s just been begging me to pick it up.

What’s on your Autumn TBR?

What was your favorite summer release? Was there a specific book you meant to read but never got around to it? What books do you plan on reading during this fall?

August Wrap-Up: Reviews, Reading Challenges, etc.

I’m just going to go ahead and apologize to everyone for my shitty reading habits this summer. I’ve been struggling with being able to focus long enough to actually make progress with what I’m reading. It’s taking me far too long to finish a book and I want to bang my head against the wall. Seriously… this is annoying. With that being said, I do have a lot of faith in things turning around for me during September because fall is my favorite and I find myself wanting to cuddle up with a book more often. I just know that once I finish my current read, I’ll find a book that will just completely suck me in. Did anyone else struggle with reading this summer, or was it just me?

Books Read

Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle, #1) by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – physical book
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – physical book

Total Books Read: 2

Overall in 2019: 49

Reading Challenge Updates

POPSUGAR

A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter – The Priory of the Orange Tree

Goodreads Challenge

Total: 49/75

Previous Total: 47/75

Blog Posts

Book Reviews

Book Review: Antigoddess (Goddess War, #1)

WWW Wednesday

Discussions/Misc.

Did you get a lot of reading done in August? Were you able to read all of the books on your TBR? Did you read any new favorites? What book did you like the least? What do you plan on reading in September?

WWW Wednesday – August 28th, 2019

Welcome to WWW Wednesday which is currently being hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words. It’s really just a place to do little update on what all you’ve been reading lately. Anyone is welcome to join, just leave a link to your post in the comments and be sure to give the appropriate credit to Sam!

The Three W’s are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen – physical book
Morning Star (Red Rising, #3) by Pierce Brown – audiobook, reread
Middlemarch by George Eliot – physical book
The Game of Love and Death by Marth Brockenbrough – physical book

I’ve finally passed the halfway point on Morning Star, which is pretty exciting since my life has been taken over by podcasts lately… You know, it happens to the best of us.

And no, I haven’t really made any progress in the other novels. My plan is to focus on The Game of Love and Death this weekend and try to finish that one up. I will admit it’s a bit slow-moving and I’m craving a little something more exciting to keep my attention to help pull me from this mini reading slump.

What did you recently finish reading?

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – physical book

Y’all, I have very conflicted feelings on this book. I mean, it took me over a month and a half to finish. I was super excited for this book but it just didn’t live up to the hype for me. It took wayyyy too long to get to any serious action and that it was one of my main pet peeves when it comes to novels.

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson – physical book
The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor, #1) by Jessica Townsend – physical book
The Oracle Year by Charles Soule – physical book

What are you currently reading? What books did you finish this week? What are you planning on reading next? Have you read any of the books on my list? If so, what did you think of them? Leave a link to your WWW Wednesday post in the comments below!