Well, hello 2016.
2015's been a pretty eventful year for me with it's fair share of ups and downs. And as sad as I'm to say goodbye (I AM GETTING OLD, YO), it feels great to start afresh. It's been only 7 days and my life seems to be getting a major overhaul! I hope to tick a LOT of things off my bucket list in the upcoming months (before my birthday-NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHIN') so fingers crossed.
Speaking of 2015, I thought I'd share a few things that I particularly loved about the past year + what to expect on the blog this year!
Favorite Reads of 2015
My 2015
favorite non-review posts
What to expect in 2016
OVER TO YOU:
2015's been a pretty eventful year for me with it's fair share of ups and downs. And as sad as I'm to say goodbye (I AM GETTING OLD, YO), it feels great to start afresh. It's been only 7 days and my life seems to be getting a major overhaul! I hope to tick a LOT of things off my bucket list in the upcoming months (before my birthday-NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHIN') so fingers crossed.
Speaking of 2015, I thought I'd share a few things that I particularly loved about the past year + what to expect on the blog this year!
Favorite Reads of 2015
The Night Circus | The Wrath & the Dawn | The Absolutely True Diary
of a Part-time Indian | Throne of Glass | What We Saw
Favorite Bloggers of 2015
- A Reader of Fictions - For basically ever Cover Snark post that Christina has graced us with. Bless that girl and her snarking abilities.
- A Writer of Wrongs - Anyone else love Gillian's pun-y & GIF-tastic posts?
EvenEspecially when she proclaims her love for glittery vampires and whatnot. - Book. Blog. Bake. - Stormy's blog is my go to site for book recommendations because her reviews are in-depth without being boring. Her book related discussions are also on point - One of my favorite's being her Why I Hate “The X’s Wife/Daughter” Titles.
- Chasing Faerytales - Whether it's to fangirl over the latest read or discuss blogging woes, we all need that one IRL blogger buddy. Mishma's is not only an amazing local blogger but she is also a great friend!
- HAWWA, ETC - I think of this chica and I think of crabs. The crustacean (on her sidebar) not the STD. Christ! A+ for originality and ALL THE PRETTTAY ART!
- Naziyah Mahmood - I came for the eloquent poetry and stayed for the beautifully badass photography! This martial art loving hijabi's blog is a must read.
- Nose Graze - The resident Wordpress expert. Whether, it's a coding, business or blogging, Ashley's posts cover it all.
- Paper Fury - Snark- tastic writer by day. Devour-er of books by night. Cait's book reviews never fail to entertain me and she has some of THE quirkiest posts in town - Remember her post What if book genres were pizza?
- Read Me Away - By day she works in STEM(cool huh?) and by night Ana's an avid reader & gamer. She merges her two interests with her monthly Read Play Blog feature.
- These Paper Hearts - Stephanie's coding expertise + her fab discussion posts make her blog a must-follow. Her recent collaborative post on Pinterest for Book Bloggers is a gem!
Favorite covers of 2015
Typography was HUGE in 2015 and as font hoarder it comes as no surprise that my favorite covers pay homage to exceedingly gorgeous type. Like it's predecessors, 2015 was underwhelming year in terms of representing people of color on the covers. I must admit there has been somewhat of an improvement compared to 2014 (check out this list of YA covers that feature POC), but we can do MUCH better!
Favorites from the blog
Typography was HUGE in 2015 and as font hoarder it comes as no surprise that my favorite covers pay homage to exceedingly gorgeous type. Like it's predecessors, 2015 was underwhelming year in terms of representing people of color on the covers. I must admit there has been somewhat of an improvement compared to 2014 (check out this list of YA covers that feature POC), but we can do MUCH better!
favorite non-review posts
- A Letter To (Magical) Readers
- Do You Call Yourself A Feminist?
- 10 Truths No One Tells You About Blogging
- The art of perfecting blog post visuals
- Taking the guilty out of guilty pleasure reads
- What is your blogging identity?
- Literary tattoos for the logophile in you
What to expect in 2016
- A better balance of back-list titles and new releases
- More blogging related posts
- More guest posts/collaborative posts
- Some of my own writing as flash fiction
- More literary discussions (trends in publishing, representation of real-life issues in literature etc)
- A mix of review styles
- A cohesive brand for my blog (both in terms of visuals and blogging tone of voice)
- Better networking, better reader-blogger interaction
What were your favorite reads of 2015? What plans do you have in store for 2016?
Six of crows and The wrath and the dawn are AMAZING. Definitely two of the best books I've read last year. A reader of fictions, Chasing faerytales, Nose graze, Paperfury and These paper heart are also some of my favorite bloggers. I really hope this trend in covers stays like that.
ReplyDeleteI hope so too, Mel-The choice of fonts can make or break a cover for sure. :)
DeleteSIX OF CROWS AND THE NIGHT CIRCUS ARE JUST <333
ReplyDeleteand awwwwwwwh thank youuuuuuuu <333 HAH, is that a good association or a bad one though? ;o
I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME 2016!
Well, they are tough, little critters so I'd say good. ;)
DeleteHope you have a fab 2016 too, Hawwa! :D
Omg I'm SO honoured to be included on your list. :') *sniffles happily* THANK YOU. And eeeep these books! This amazingness! I will forever flail over All the Bright Places and The Wrath and the Dawn .<3 MY FEELS ARE MANGLED AND I'M NOT EVEN SAD.
ReplyDeleteI FEEL YOUR PAIN, GIRL.
DeleteBut I'd read them all over again because they are so worth all the heartbreak! :D
Is it terrible that from your list of favourite books of 2015 I've only read Throne of Glass, and that was like two years ago? *nervous laughter* Practically all of them are on my TBR, though! I actually received Six of Crows for Christmas, so I will be picking it up soon. I hope I love it as much as everyone else does!
ReplyDeleteI think we definitely need to improve in terms of having POC on YA book covers. But I also think we need to have more POC protagonists for that to happen, as well. More diversity is needed everywhere in YA!
Some of my favourite reads for 2015 were Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, The Marvels by Brian Selznick, Incite/Infinite by Erica Crouch, The Raven Boys/Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater, and Captive Prince/Princes Gambit by C.S. Pacat. I had a pretty good year in terms of finding new favourites, but I also had A MASSIVE reading slump towards the end of the year.
I don't really have many blogging goals for 2016, except to get back on top of comments! I wish you luck with all of yours <3
Yes to all of this Nuzaifa! Six of Crows and All the Bright Places were definitely two of my favorite reads of 2015 as well. :) So glad you liked them as well! ♥ So glad we found each other's blogs this year, and I can't wait to read more of your amazing posts! Here's to a fabulous 2016! xx
ReplyDelete