Best of 2011

Hey guys! Over at Inkcrush, Nomes has been running a survey all week about the best books of 2011. Since her survey is massive and I was sort of booked for the week, I decided to do a condensed version of it all and picked five questions of each category.

And her we go:

Favorite book of 2011
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - because I loved seeing the Finch-Mackee family rebuild itself after having imploded. And I loved finally getting to know Tom Mackee a bit better.
Good Oil by Laura Buzo - This is such an honest book about how hard is to grow up whether you're 15 or 21. Amelia is such a lovely girl, and Chris is a bit of a jerk but so unflinchingly honest about himself that I couldn't help liking him.
Where She Went by Gayle Foreman - I usually don't read books with a male narrator, maybe because I don't think I'll relate, but I felt Adam's loss and his pain and his love.

Best Ache-y, Heart-Breaking, Tear-jerking read
If I Stay/Where She Went - The story of Adam and Mia touched me in many ways, and it also felt very real. The bad things that happened weren't The Obvious for Obvious Reasons, so it made it all the more painful.

Delicious Rainy Day Comfort Read
Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer - It's a story that it's fun and cute, and a sweet old fashioned romance in the very best sense of the world. It makes me happy to read this book.

Series I'm Loving. 
Paranormlacy by Kiesten White - Because Evie is made of Awesome
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins - Because Sophie is kick butt, Archer is hot and I LOVE Cal.
The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade - Because Will and Alona are such a opposites-attract but it works couple. And Alona is such snarkily fun.
Princess for Hire by Lindsay Leavitt - Because I love Desi, and her adventures and how she finds herself when she pretends to be others.

Had No Idea I Would Love This So
The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagan - More chick-lit than romance, I loved seeing these people read their normal lives and their every day problems and the way they solved them.
The Ghost and the Goth - when I saw the cover I thought it was cute but nothing else. Well, it turns out there is a lot more to the story than that.
The False Princess by Eillis O'Neal - I'm not a Fantasy girl, but I loved Sinda who has to go through rough adjustments but still goes out there on an epic adventure, saves the day and gets the guy.

Best Couple
Adam and Mia from If I Stay/Where She Went - because their love story rang so true, and their happiness was such hard-won.
Tom and Tara from The Piper's Son - A large part of the book is about Tom finding his way back home, and Tara is in many ways a symbol of that. They aren't together for most of the book, but in my mind there is no doubt they are a couple.

Who I So Want To Be Friends with
Libby and Deb (boy) from Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink - They are Best Friends themselves and they so made me want to get in with them. Deb loves all things fashion, and Libby all things history, romance and BBC. Match made in heaven.

Best YA parents
Kat and Denny in If I Stay/Where She Went - Cool, quirky parents that loved their children, loved each other and were rock and roll even after they grew up.

Favorite Sibling Relationship
Anabel and Tom from The Piper's Son - These two are mad about each other, they love and tease each other and Anabel is the one thing that never sucks in Tom's life, even at his worse, Anabel is his ray of goodness. See what he thinks of his sister:

"She's beautiful and, God, he loves the fact that she still wears a ponytail and looks like a kid her age. She's running to him and there is nothing graceful about Anabel because the Finch women aren't really that graceful. They're just beautiful and smart and fierce and ridiculously uncool."

Who I fell completely In love with
Marcus from Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn - Most people see him as this aloof, arrogant guy but the truth is he doesn't know how to flirt, he's shy, has secret love for all things dessert and is fiercely loyal to those he loves.
Cal from Demonglass - I have a tendency to root for the guy who never gets the girl but Cal is honest and good and hot. Yeah, I totally go for that.

Best First Chapter 
Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn - Not so much the first chapter as the Prologue of the book, is so lovely, about how Marcus gets introduced to the infamous Smythe-Smith clan. Loved it.
The Reluctant Heiress - The prologue and the first chapter are AWESOME there is Vienna and it's lovely. Then the heroine shows up and the book goes to hell. But the beginning is lovely.

Best Plot Twist/Revelation
The Royal Treatment by Lindsay Leavitt - I had a serious OMG moment during this book, actually a couple of them.
Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta - I'm so not spoiling of course but I can't wait for the  next book! It just left me hanging int he most awesomely awful way.

Heart-breaking-tear-jerking moment
Froi of the Exiles, there is this part where I CRIED and CRIED and then CRIED SOME MORE. Like majorly.
Where She Went, when Adam sort of gives up: "This whole night was has been a mistake. It's not going to let me rewind. Or unmake the mistakes I've made. Or the promises I've made. Or have her back. Or have me back."

Best Swoon Worthy Moment
Adam when he tells to Mia (in Where She Went): "You dumbass. You don't share me. You own me." 
Tom and Tara in The Piper's Son: 

“I spilt my guts out all over the arrival lounge at Sydney’s domestic airport, Tara. It’s as bloody romantic as you’ll ever get from me. Where are you?”

“At a public phone in arrivals. I’ve run out of credit. I used my reprimanding voice and told my parents and Frankie and Justine that they couldn’t come near me for the next five minutes. I can see the four of them from here. They’re talking about me. They have a look of fear on their face. Even my parents, who created me, are afraid. I see that look on a lot of people’s faces when they see me, Tom. Never yours.”

“I keep it hidden, but it’s there. Believe me, you frighten me to death, but for different reasons.”

Favorite Meet Cute
Libby and Garret in Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink - he fishes her out of a barrel. :P

Fave Book Title
What Can(t) Wait - I loved the touch with the ( ) because it's both mathematical and technically correct.
Good Oil - Because it doesn't hint at what the story is about but it surprisingly has to do with it.
Dreams of Significant Girls - Book was not for me but I really liked this title.

Fave Reading Experience 
The Piper's Son -reading a book by Melina is always an experience and I loved this. It broke my heart and little by little put it back together. It made me laugh seconds after I had been crying.

Lived Up to the Hype
The Piper's Son, it's so good it hurts.

Killer Cliffhanger
Froi of the Exiles - I screamed about three different times when I was reading the epilogue.
The Royal Treatment - I know that, for sure, I screamed two times during the last leg of this book.

Can't Believe I waited This Long to Read
Friday's Child - such a classic, and I put it it off until this year.
If I Stay - I had owned the book for almost a year before I read it. I'm bad. I know
North of Beautiful - See above.

Favorite Covers of Books Read in 2011

Lonely Hearts Club: A Twist on a classic // Dreams: There is such a sense of possibility about this cover. 

Supernaturally: Evie in an awesome dress! // Good Oil: I've always loved this cover

Kat: Had to put it in full

Special Mention to the Ghost and the Goth covers! Love them.

Sorry there are not active links, but blogger has been messing with me lately and I don't wanna risk it!