It’s my favourite time of the year again and the holiday season is upon us! It’s the 4th year of the Aussie YA Bloggers Secret Santa Blog Hop, and together with my hosts Thoughts by J and Loony Literate, we’re launching the blog tour to kick off today. The Aussie YA Bloggers & Readers group is on Facebook and Goodreads, where we talk about the latest Aussie YA releases, events and blog tour opportunities and it’s a lot of fun!
Blog hop questions:
1. What are your top 5 favourite books this year?
This is the hardest question ever lol. My top 5 favourites are mainly sequels and series enders:
- Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo,
- Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (surprise surprise),
- Morning Star by Piece Brown,
- Nevernight by Jay Kristoff and
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (or in fact, the whole trilogy!).
2. What are your top 5 favourite Aussie YA books this year?
Because of covering these books on OzYAY and lots of wonderful recommendations I’ve picked up from you all this year, my favourite are:
- Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar,
- My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier,
- Freedom Swimmer by Wai Chim,
- The Flywheel by Erin Gough (called Get It Together, Delilah in the US)
- The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub.
There are so many great Aussie YA books to suit everyone and I’m so glad that they explore so many different issues in such a convincing way. Diversity is also done so naturally and I love Aussie YA.
3. How did you go with your Goodreads challenge?
My Goodreads challenge was to read 120 books this year. Given that we’ve moved house and I’ve switched jobs twice and we’re soon to get a puppy, I’m pretty happy with my progress so far! I’ve read about 108 books and hopefully will reach my goal, but if not I’m not too fussed about it.
4. What is your favourite blogging moment of 2016?
My favourite part of blogging is meeting other bloggers and authors at blogging events, and Teencon 2016 at Sydney Writer’s Festival was the best! I hung out with Aentee @ Read at Midnight and Jenna throughout the day and also caught up with lots of bloggers, plus got to find out about the latest releases from publishers.
It was also amazing attending Brisbane Writer’s Festival and following Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman around as well as my QLD bloggers Sarah T, Sarah M, Chiara and all the lovely other bloggers I hung out with over the weekend!
I also loved starting the #Ozyay segments on ABC Local radio with Rhianna Patrick and Sarah Mayor Cox, we can’t believe it’s almost been a year! I have so much fun chatting about books with these girls.
5. What are your blogging goals for 2017?
This is always the hardest question every year because while I do have blogging goals, it feels like every year comes with opportunities that I would’ve never imagined otherwise! Next year, I hope to grow my instagram followers to 5k and be more consistent with my booktube videos. I hope to host some more fun blogging events as well plus more fun combined posts with Aila and Jenna!
6. What books are you looking forward to in 2017?
There are so many that I’m looking forward to:
- 2nd Nevernight book by Jay Kristoff
- 3rd Illuminae book by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
- Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner – tomb raider in space!
- Wires and Nerves by Marissa Meyer – a graphic novel on the Lunar Chronicles
- Flame in the Mist by Renee Abdieh
7. What is your favourite thing about the Aussie YA community?
I love how there’s a real sense of community here between all the bloggers, booktubers, authors, publishers, etc.! Compared to the drama that always seems to be going on, we feel like one big happy family. We’re also incredibly lucky that Aussie publishers are so incredibly supportive of us doing our thing too, and I love interacting with authors. I’m so glad to be a part of it!
3 clues for my santee:
1. We haven’t spoken before.
2. You have lots of romance reads on your wishlist.
3. Your name is very holiday appropriate.
Follow the Aussie YA Blog Hop below! If you’re part of the hop, add your blog link to your post:
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I'm so glad to be a part of the Aussie YA community, it's definitely the best! YESSS I loved it so much, it's so creepy and memorable all the same. YES THAT WOULD BE GREAT
Thank you so much Kathleen, that's such a lovely message to send us! I hope you have a lovely holidays and a great new year too.
Of course hahaha my favourites! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE! Omg read Gemina now pls
I'm so proud of everything that you've achieved with your blog this year, despite all the challenges that life has thrown at you in 2016. You are such a strong and inspiring person Jeann, and I'm so glad to have found you on this blogging journey! Hope 2017 treats your well and here's to many more amazing books! x
Oh man I can't figure out who your Santee is!
JOY DID YOU WRITE ME THIS SO I WOULD CRY. You are so lovely Joy and I'm so proud to call you my friend! I'm so glad we found each other through this as well! Yes she's not on the blog hop if that helps 😀
[…] Don’t forget to check out the rest of the blog hop! […]
Gemina and Crooked Kingdom were both absolutely amazing – and made it onto my favourites list too. It sounds like you had such a fantastic year! Merry Christmas Jeann!
My recent post Aussie YA Bloggers & Readers Secret Santa Blog Hop 2016
Yessss I'm so glad you enjoyed them as well! Thank you lovely, Merry Christmas and thank you for participating!
I cannot believe I forgot to put My Sister Rosa and Summer Skin on my list! They were two of my absolute FAVES but it feels like I read them so long ago…anyway, what a year! It was so great to finally meet you 🙂 🙂
My recent post Aussie YA Bloggers Hop – Because Aussies Rule
Emily I am ashamed of you. YES I am so glad I met you toooo!
I haven't heard of The Flywheel but I totally raised my eyebrows at that title change for the USA (whyyyyy do they do this?!)
Wow, your Goodreads challenge seems so giant lol go you for reading so many books!
Yeahhh that name change is actually kind of offputting lol. Yeah I don’t know if I’ll get there given there’s 3 weeks left, but we’ll see XD
This is SO fun! Obviously, I approve of your choice of The Chaos Walking series 😉 Also, I really liked Crooked Kingdom and Gemina! I MUST read Nevernight. And also, your Aussie YA list? Yeah every one of those (except for Summer Skin because SOME awesome human being sent it to me ♥) is on my wishlist, so I am even more excited to see them here! (Also, super excited that My Sister Rosa is out here now too!) This is SUCH a cute idea, I love Aussie YA bloggers! And Aussie YA books. Clearly, I am in the wrong country 😉
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Haha yess how great was the series! I'm glad I got to read it because of the Bookish Games. OH MY you're so lucky to receive Summer Skin 😉 I can't wait for everyone in the US to read My Sister Rosa! Seriously it was so good. Yes Aussie bloggers are the best if I do say so myself bwahaha
Such a surprise that Gemina and Crooked Kingdom are on your list, hahaha!
It was great to catch up with you this year Jeann 🙂 Keep up the awesome work!
My recent post Special Feature: Aussie YA Bloggers Secret Santa Blog Hop 2016
Hahaha that's what everyone's saying! At least I'm consistent though right? I had a great time catching up too! Thank you Angelya!
Meeting you and other QLD bloggers was definitely a highlight of my blogging experience this year!
I also love that you have really realistic and achievable goals – all the best for all of them! <3
Preach that sense of community as well – it's so easy to find a place with everyone here! <3
My recent post Aussie YA Bloggers' Secret Santa
Yay, I'm so glad you enjoyed it Geraldine! Lol the booktube for me is the worst because it takes me so long to get into the filming mood. Yay for our Aussie YA community!
I wish I were Australian so I can participate in Aussie Secret Santa. I love your clues for your santee! I see several new to me books on your top 5 favourite Aussie YA, I’ll definitely check them out.
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Hehehe I wish you could too Ksenia! Yay, I'm glad you're keen on checking those out!
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All the stars to Gemina and Crooked Kingdom! I need to check out The Knife of Never Letting Go! And so many yeses to new Illuminae book, more Aime and Meagan and Iko in comic form! Have fun with your hop (:
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Yessss I definitely agree! I loved the whole Chaos Walking Trilogy, it was sooo good omg.
[…] can link up at either Jeann or Joy’s blog (because it won’t work on mine #diewordpressdie)! Make sure to check out […]