Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag


Hey all! Today I'm finally doing a tag that I've been excited to do for months: the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag. I've seen so many people doing these and I've loved watching/reading all of it so I'm especially excited for this post. This tag was created years ago and this is my first time actually doing it! 

So far in 2019 I've read 87 (!!) books. I'm still not quite sure how I've managed to do that but I can only hope that the second half of the year is going to be as good. I have read so many great books and I have so many books that I'm excited to get to so let's just dive in! (P.S. just so that things don't get too crowded, all of these questions pertain only to this year and exclude rereads. P.P.S. some of these I could have listed 10+ but I've limited all but the last question to 5 or less). 


1. Best Book You've Read 

This was so hard to narrow down BUT I have a few. I'm not going to go super in depth on any of these since there are more of them than some other questions, but in no particular order we have:
  • The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty
  • Hunting Prince Dracula and Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
  • Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
  • Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
I have so many other books I loved this year so far but these are the ones that are tied for top book of the year (so far). 


2. Best Sequel You've Read 

For this one I only have two, so I will be discussing them a bit but, again, not super in-depth. Also, I only picked books that were the second in a series even though I did read some books that were third, fourth, etc in a series. 

First up is Kingsbane by Claire Legrand. I was so highly anticipating this sequel that I was worried it wasn't going to live up to my expectations. It did. Everything got so much more intense in this book and the stakes were a lot higher. Additionally, that ending had me absolutely shook (and still does).

I also have The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty. I loved the first book so much and this book takes things to a whole new level. You care even more about the characters, the political intrigue and tensions are that much higher, and you're on the edge of your seat the whole time. 


3. New Release You Haven't Read but Want To

I have so many of these, so I've again narrowed it down to five. These are also only books I currently own and not all of the books I haven't yet bought but want to!
  • Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  • Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
  • Finale by Stephanie Garber
  • We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
  • The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

I'm actually currently reading one of these right now, but I'm not very far in yet so I still decided to count it for this question. 


4. Biggest Disappointment

I have three of these so I figured I would actually talk about them in this section. For two of these, I still enjoyed the book but it wasn't what I was expecting. For the last one, I just flat out did not like it.

First we have Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare. Now, I didn't hate this book but I also was expecting something so much better. After the amazingness that Lady Midnight was, this book just let me down so much. I can't even get into it too much without making this super long so...just...here's my review.

Second is Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff. Again, I still enjoyed this book but I also didn't think it lived up to my expectations, the hype, or the greatness that was the Illuminae Files. I also think that it might not have been the right time for me to read it as I was super stressed and basically forcing myself to get through it. You can find my full review here.

Lastly is Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan which I just genuinely did not like. I can see from a rational standpoint where the hype is coming from but I also don't understand how so many critical readers think that this book is so amazing and has nothing wrong (insert shame-faced emoji here). When I first finished it I thought it was pretty good but looking back over the past few months...I did not have a fun time reading it. I could go on a whole tangent as to why this book disappointed me.


5. Biggest Surprise

First I have Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard which surprised me in the sense that it took this series to another level that the first two books hadn't reached yet. Also, all the twists in the end were just BAM BAM BAM.

Second, I have Kingsbane by Claire Legrand due to that killer plot twist at the end of the book that I still cry over. I honestly didn't see it coming and that in and of itself was a big surprise this year. 


6. Favorite New Author

S.A. Chakraborty, hands down. I'm so excited that she's going to be releasing another series after the conclusion of the Daevabad Trilogy. 


7. Newest Fictional Crush

I don't really have one? I just don't crush very hard anymore and a lot of the characters I love are ones that I loved before this year. I think I crush hard in the moment but for crushes I constantly think about, I've noticed that it usually takes a few books for me to die-hard love them. 


8. Newest Favorite Character

Nahri from The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty. She's just so strong and amazing even though she's in such a terrible situation. I love her so much and we STAN. 


9. Book that Made You Cry

The short list?
  • Only A Breath Apart by Katie McGarry
  • Kingsbane by Claire Legrand
  • Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard
  • The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty
  • The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Some of these were happy tears, some were sad tears, and a lot had a mix of both. There were others, but here are the books where I cried the most. 


10. Book that Made You Happy

Pretty much everything above but add Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey and so many other books. I read a lot of books that made me happy so far this year and I'm so glad about that fact.


11. Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation

I didn't see any. 


12. Favorite Review You've Written
I think the main reason I liked these were because I could just gush or put a lot of discussion into them. Also, I loved most of these books. 


13. Most Beautiful Book you Bought

To go with one that I haven't yet talked about: Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout.


14. What do you need to read by the end of the year? 

Pretty much my entire TBR but especially:
  • Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
  • Godsgrave and Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff
  • Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
  • The Beautiful by RenĂ©e Ahdieh
  • Red Rising saga by Pierce Brown
  • Finale by Stephanie Garber
  • Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
  • The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
  • Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren


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