Aussie YA Bloggers Secret Santa Blog Hop 2016

04:06 Cilla 12 Comments


 This year, I'm taking part in the Aussie YA Bloggers' Secret Santa! It's my first time participating, so I'm excited to join on all the fun. 😁 This post is part of the blog hop. 

1. What are your top 5 favourite books this year?

 In no particular order, my favourite books read in 2016 are: 
↠ Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin 
↠ A Useful Woman by Darcie Wilde
↠ These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
↠ The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
↠ A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis  

2. What are your top 5 favourite Aussie YA books this year?

 I only started getting to know Aussie YA this year, so unfortunately I haven't read enough to pick out 5 favourites. This is something I'm hoping to change next year though, so do toss some recommendations my way! In any case, these are my favourites from this year:

 ↠ These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
↠ The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer
↠ Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

3. How did you go with your Goodreads challenge?

 Very well, surprisingly! I set my Goodreads challenge quite low at 30 books because I generally am a slow reader and was expecting to be really busy. At the time of writing this post, I'm at 57 books. I'm putting this down to my longer commute time when compared to last year and my newfound love for audiobooks. 

4. What is your favourite blogging moment of 2016?

 It's not really a specific moment in time, but my favourite is when I realised that there are people who read my blog, leave comments, and actually come back. 💜

5. What are your blogging goals for 2017?

 My main goal is to maintain a regular blogging schedule, which is to post twice a week here and on Instagram. My other goal is to go back to my original mission about this blog and read some of the books my parents love or have had lying around the house for ever. 

6. What books are you looking forward to in 2017?

 I had a hard time trying to think of something for this question, but then I went to Centre for Youth Literature's YA Showcase! All the books discussed on the night sound brilliant, but some of the ones that stood out to me are: Friends Anonymous by Fiona Wood, Cath Crowley, and Simone Howell; In the Dark Spaces by Cally Black; Untidy Towns by Kate O'Donnell; and The Stubborn Seeds of Hopes by Brian Falkner.

 Also, there are heaps of backlist books that I'm hoping to read in 2017, aka books I've bought and are still sitting untouched on my shelves. These include: The Magician by Lev Grossman; The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes; and The Sidekicks by Will Kostakis.

7. What is your favourite thing about the Aussie YA community?  

 It's a very welcoming community! I only started joining the book bloggers community a couple of months ago, and while my socially awkward self is awkward about jumping in sometimes, everyone's generally lovely to talk to. 

Leave 3 clues for your santee below!

1. We're friends on one form of social media, but we haven't spoken before.

2. Your Instagram feed makes me think of summer.

3. You read Harry Potter.
Follow the blog hop with the link-up below!

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous7 December 2016 at 09:28

    Wolf by Wolf often makes it to my top lists too - it was just pure fun from start to finish, and I really loved the main characters! And I really need to read The Intern. From the summary it sounds like exactly the kind of thing I would love.

    SO JEALOUS that you got to go to YA Showcase! I was flying back here on Monday and pretty much spent all of Tuesday sleeping, resting and settling in. Sounds like we've got amazing books coming out next year, though.

    Reg @ She Latitude

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    1. Cilla11 December 2016 at 16:29

      Wolf by Wolf is definitely one of my favourite books now - it kept me glued from beginning to end. The Intern is a lot of fun, hopefully you'll get to it one day!

      Wish you were there at the showcase, but I hope you had a good rest on Tuesday! Travelling always knocks me right out. But yeah, 2017 has a great line-up of OzYA books!

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  2. Unknown10 December 2016 at 12:23

    Man, I need to read Wolf by Wolf so bad. I've heard nothing but amazing things.I love how inclusive the Aussie blogging community is. I myself am also very socially awkward, but it's great that have the internet to help with that :P

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    1. Cilla11 December 2016 at 16:50

      You should read it! And haha, that's true - the internet makes socialising much easier :D

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  3. Batch of Books11 December 2016 at 03:37

    I loved Wolf by Wolf and These Broken Stars too. Oh, and I also have an enormous backlog of books that I bought but haven't read. That's one of my goals for 2017—to whittle it down!

    Dena @ Batch of Books

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    1. Cilla19 December 2016 at 15:49

      *highfives* I'm doing a challenge next year for that exact goal!

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  4. Diva Booknerd11 December 2016 at 10:53

    Ooh, I think I might know who your secret Santa is! I completely forgot to sign up this year, so hopefully we'll be hosting one at Easter again. I'm hoping for the same thing from blogging next year, just to be able to blog more regularly and maybe work out a schedule for myself to become more organised too.

    Oooh, I have to recommend Summer Skin for an awesome Aussie read. It's mature YA / NA, but absolutely loved it!

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    1. Cilla19 December 2016 at 15:55

      I found out who my Santa is too! Ooh I'll keep an eye out for the Easter one, and I hope you get to participate then. Working out a schedule for blogging is always much harder than it sounds! Here's to both of us being better at it next year. :D And thanks so much for the recommendation! I've added it to my TBR. :D

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  5. Jeann @ Happy Indulgence11 December 2016 at 15:39

    Yesss These Broken Stars and A Madness So Discreet are so good! I'm so glad you enjoyed The Intern, it was so much fun. It sounds like you've done really well with your GR goal! YA Showcase sounds like it was so much fun!

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    1. Cilla19 December 2016 at 16:05

      It's been a fantastic reading year for me! :D YA Showcase was excellent - I can't wait for the books to come out in 2017!

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  6. Joy @ Thoughts By J11 December 2016 at 16:18

    Ah I've had Wolf by Wolf on my list for so long but haven't gotten around to it yet! So glad to hear that you loved it! Other Aussie Ya I would recommend is Illuminae and anything by Tara Eglington! And Jay Kristoff does a mean adult book in the form of Nevernight!

    So glad to have you a part of this wonderful community Cilla! Hope you had fun :) xx

    Joy @ Thoughts By J

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    1. Cilla19 December 2016 at 16:07

      I hope you get to Wolf by Wolf soon! It's an absolutely fascinating read. I really need to read Illuminae - everyone keeps telling me it's great! I'm actually reading Nevernight at the moment. I'm moving through it a bit slowly (I'm a bit queasy when it comes to violence), but it's interesting so far!

      Thanks so much, Joy! xx

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Thanks for reading! It makes my day to hear your thoughts and I will respond asap. :)

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