Can you believe it’s June 30th already? We’re almost exactly halfway through the year now.
Since we’re halfway through the year, I figured I’d do the Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag. I spotted it over at Quite the Novel Idea, although I have no clue who originally started it.
I’ve read 66 books this year so far:
The Best Book of the Year So Far
Ack! Do I really have to choose? Can’t I just say that I read a ton of amazing books and they’re all good? I think I’m freaking out over having to pick just ONE best book more than I am about the year being halfway over!
To be honest, if you ask me tomorrow, I might have a different answer for you. I loved Sky Without Stars though, and it will probably end up as one of my favorite books for the year, so we’ll just go with this one. For now.
Best Sequel of the Year So Far
I was going to put Holly Black’s The Wicked King under Best Book of the Year So Far, but then I realized that it could also fit under Best Sequel. So I’m going to put it here. This book was fantastic and I can’t wait for Queen of Nothing to come out in November!
There were other amazing sequels, like Finale, but if I’m going to keep from putting 10 books here, I have to stop sometime.
New Release You Haven’t Read But Want To
Finally an easy question! It doesn’t ask which new release I haven’t read that I most want to read, just a new release I haven’t read but want to. Since I read an ARC or new release every week, I’ve read a lot of them, but there are always new books to read.
One of the books that I’d like to read but haven’t yet is Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners. That and The Bride Test. But I could only pick one here, so we’ll go with this one.
Most Anticipated Release for Fall/Winter
Did you really have to ask? This one is self-explanatory. I’ve been gushing about how excited I am about this book since October 13th of last year.
Yes, there are several other books that I’m looking forward to this fall (including books by Veronica Roth and Leigh Bardugo that are also coming out on October 1st) but Marie Lu’s Rebel is the book I’ve been waiting for all year. Maybe I should relabel this the October 1st freak out book tag, because that’s when all the books I’m most excited about come out!
Biggest Disappointment of the Year So Far
There were a few books that I’ve read that I gave three stars to that were just okay, but I think I expected more from The Gilded Wolves.
There have definitely been books that I’ve liked less that I’ve read this year, but this book sounded so good. And the cover is gorgeous! There are things I like about this book too. Some of the prose here is gorgeous. It just wasn’t as good as I expected it would be, and that was disappointing to me.
Biggest Surprise of the Year So Far
I had never even heard of Beverly Jenkins prior to this year (now I know that she’s been around forever) but I wasn’t expecting to like her book Rebel so much. It probably wouldn’t have even made it on my radar if Bookish Pisces hadn’t been talking about it on Twitter.
But I really liked this book a lot and I’d read more of her books if I was in the mood for a romance novel.
New Favorite Author
Although Leigh Bardugo isn’t a brand new author to me (I read one of her short stories last year in Summer Days and Summer Nights), I hadn’t read any of her novels prior to this year. I ended up reading both her Grisha Verse Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology earlier this year. I like her writing so much that I ended up pre-ordering Ninth House, which is one of the books I’m excited for that’s coming out on October 1st.
Your Newest Favorite Character
Eden isn’t exactly a new character to me, but he was 12 years old last he was really seen (with the exception of the Life After Legend books and the Champion epilogue). He’s one of the main characters in Rebel though, and I really like him so far.
I don’t want to say too much about him, but he seems to have a good heart, at least from what I read about in the Rebel Sampler. I guess he gets that from his brother.
Book That Made You Cry
The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner had me in tears on multiple occasions. The main character has Alzheimer’s Disease and wants to see her friend Mariko one last time before she dies. The two girls met in the US concentration camps during World War II, were separated at the end of the war, and haven’t been able to see each other since.
I’ve got a little tear in the corner of my eye just thinking about this book. Bring the tissues if you decide to read this one.
Book That Made You Happy
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon was such a beautiful book! The story was lovely and it was such a fun read. I just flew through it. It’s a great book to read during the summer.
Plus, can you really not be happy when looking at that cover? Ms. Menon said that originally one of the major book retailers didn’t want an Indian girl to be on the cover, but I’m glad that they ended up putting her up there anyway.
Most Beautiful Book So Far
There have been some gorgeous books out there this year, but one of the beautiful books has been Finale by Stephanie Garber. Look at the beautiful heart! It’s gorgeous.
And I guess putting Finale in this slot is doubly appropriate because we’re done with this tag and it’s time to say goodbye for now.
And that’s all I have! If you’d like to do this tag too, consider yourself tagged! I might do this one next year too with an all-new set of answers.