2015 in Review

I hope the new year is going well for everyone! Since I actually reviewed all the books I read in December, I’m skipping the monthly wrap-up post and doing this list of my favorites for 2015 instead.

Books

In 2015, I read a total of 134 books, which is about 75 less than I read in 2014. Out of those books, the majority of them were erotica (I blame you Kindle Unlimited!) and about 22 were published in 2015 (that’s less than the 64 new releases I read in 2014).

Overall, this was a weird reading year for me. I started out 2015 strong, but things tapered off in March. Around that time I started a new job and was going through a major relocation. So, I had a huge gap where I didn’t read anything that was over 100 pages in the spring and summer. What I read during that time mostly consisted of back issues of Time magazine and random Kindle Unlimited short stories that I could whip through in one sitting. This made it a little difficult to create a favorites list for last year.

Where what I read came from in 2015:

• Bought and Read Immediately: 49
• Kindle Unlimited: 53
• ARC: 13
• Library: 9
• TBR Pile: 9 (more than I thought!)
• Keeper Shelf/Re-Read: 1

Author Breakdown by Gender: 90% female, 10% male (this is actually the most male authors I’ve read in a year since probably 2008)

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Favorite New Releases in 2015

All links go to my review for the book.

Favorite New Release
Archangel’s Enigma by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter #8)

Favorite New Series
Lumberjanes, Vol 1 by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis

Favorite Novella
Unbearable Desire by Vivi Andrews (Lone Pine Pride #4)

 

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Best of What I Read in 2015

The following books are my favorite picks of what I read in 2015. If I read more than 4 in a particular genre, I made a category for it below and listed my favorite. So, some of these categories are different than what I listed in 2014.

Favorite Overall
Radiance by Grace Draven (Wraith Kings #1)

Favorite Urban Fantasy
Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs (Alpha and Omega #4)

Favorite Paranormal Romance
Soulbound by Kristen Callihan (Darkest London #6)

Favorite Mystery/Thriller
Innocent in Death by J.D. Robb (In Death #3)

Favorite “New to Me” Comic Series
Chew by John Layman

Favorite New Adult Book
Lead by Kylie Scott (Stage Dive #3)

Favorite Young Adult
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (Cruel Beauty Universe #1)

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Film

All links below go to IMDB.

Favorite TV Series
The X-Files (1993 – 2002)

  I discovered this was on Netflix over the summer and randomly decided to try watching a couple episodes. That decision led to the most hardcore binge watching I have ever done. I swear the only reason I took breaks was because I had to go to work. I was essentially a hermit until I hit season 6 and finally started to lose interest. I plan to do some sort of Film Friday feature about it, eventually. I just need to decide exactly how I want to handle talking about TV shows in those posts. Best and worst episode lists? Season by season reviews? Any thoughts?

Runner-up
Frasier (1993 – 2004)
 I unintentionally binged on a lot of shows from the 90’s this year. I’d always caught glimpses of “Frasier” growing-up but it never really interested me. Late this fall I was looking for something light to watch and this fit the bill. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Favorite Movie
Darjeeling Limited (2007)
 I saw exactly zero new releases this year. Even though I had every intention of going to see at least “The Martian” while it was in theaters, time slipped away too fast. I did, however, manage to stream a few movies I had been wanting to see for a while. Out of them all, “The Darjeeling Unlimited” was my favorite. I really have a soft spot for Wes Anderson’s films. The tone he sets with each one hits all the right chords for me.

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Games

All the links below go to Steam.

Favorite Game Overall
Contrast
 What else was I doing besides reading this year? Playing random video games. Out of all the games I played, “Contrast” was by and far my favorite one. It’s pretty short (only took me about 5-ish hours to completely finish), but extremely atmospheric. I loved that it’s set in the 1920’s and mixes elements from film noir and vaudeville together. Even better is that it features some great female characters. I’m hoping that we eventually get another game set in this world, since it feels like there’s so much more left to explore.

Favorite Otome Game
Amnesia: Memories
 I played a lot of otome games this summer. They’re a big guilty pleasure for me. Out of all of them “Amnesia: Memories” was my favorite. The story lines can be pretty disturbing and most of the time you end up dying or meeting some other rather horrifying fate… I loved that. It also helps that the artwork is gorgeous and the stories are all very interesting.

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What were some of your favorite books, movies, TV shows and video games from 2015?