Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag

Welcome to the mid-year freak out tag! It is pretty scary that we’re almost halfway through the year already so the title feels very appropriate.

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BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR

I do have a top 10 books of the quarter post from January to March, and another one coming soon, but spoiler alert: my number one hasn’t been beaten since so The Fifth Season is still number 1! I’ve definitely talked about this one a lot but I should really hurry up and finish the series soon with The Stone Sky.

BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR

Another early read from January, but I had to go for the final book in The Poppy War trilogy: The Burning God. This is the only series I’ve finished this year besides Fence, and let me tell you it caused a lot of pain. For more insight into my suffering, here is my review. Still recommend it though, just be prepared for tears!

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT WANT TO

There are lots of new releases I would love to get to but my top 2 are definitely Honey Girl and Ace of Spades. I wasn’t that interested in Honey Girl when it first came out because I thought it was a fluffy romance but now knowing it’s a lot different to what I thought I’m actually more intrigued. Ace of Spades only came out this month so I haven’t got around to buying it yet but it’s another one that I really want to read!

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

I’m currently looking for releases in the second half of the year to make into a post but one that I’ve been excited about since the start of the year is A Lesson In Vengeance: a sapphic YA dark academia with boarding schools and witchcraft!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMEN

Unfortunately I did not enjoy Never Let Me Go and just don’t understand the hype around it. There was no structure or real plot, the characters were bland and distant, and the messages within it didn’t feel fully explored… sorry!

BIGGEST SURPRISE

I knew nothing about Hold Back the Tide except that it was a YA horror. It was cheap on my Kindle so I bought it with no expectations, and ended up absolutely loving it! I would love to go into most books not knowing what to expect because I think it really benefited my reading experience, but of course that can’t always happen.

FAVOURITE NEW AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)

I’ve talked about this in my potential favourite authors post so I’ll leave that there for your sanity because I don’t want to talk about the same people again and again!!

NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

I love all of the characters from One Last Stop honestly, but I’m definitely crushing on punk Jane and radiant Myla, who seem really different but are actually quite similar?

NEWEST FAVOURITE CHARACTER

I love the entire Kaul family, especially Anden, so I’m scared to read Jade War because I’m sure there’s lots more pain and suffering for all of them to come!

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

I do have a list of books that made me cry from March, but since then a few more tears have been shed. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was a solid 4/5 on the tears scale, which I was sort of expecting from everyone else but didn’t make it any better!

BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

I adored the lyrical writing of This is How You Lose the Time War and the slow progression of Blue and Red’s relationship, despite my confusion at what was happening most of the time!

MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE BOUGHT SO FAR THIS YEAR

In terms of physical copies, Gods of Jade and Shadow has to be the most beautiful cover I own. And luckily, the inside is just as good!

BOOKS YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR

I would love to finish some series this year, but the sequel I need to read the most is Royal Assassin. I’ve been putting it off for so long because it’s just so long, but now it’s summer I have no excuse not to read it! I would also love to finally start the Mistborn trilogy by reading The Final Empire.

FAVOURITE BOOK COMMUNITY MEMBERS

That list is too long to write here! I am thinking of making a post about my favourite booktubers and book bloggers, but for now I’ll say everyone reading this!

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Thanks for reading! How has your reading gone so far this year?

—ella♥

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