I can’t believe the year is over halfway over already. Time seems to fly so much faster as you get older, and I’m not really sure how that works. It doesn’t seem particularly fair to me. However, I thought it would be fun to do this book tag. I’ve seen it circulating on BookTube, and I thought I would maybe do it, but I cemented that idea when I saw people on bookstagram doing it. So below the cut you will find my answers to the Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag.
Best Book so far of 2019:
- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I have read many good books this year so far, and it was really hard to choose my favourite. However, I think I have to go with Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book blew me away. I know that everyone and their dog is talking about this book, but it’s for a very good reason. This isn’t your traditional way to tell a story but it was amazing how engaged I was by the story. Very quickly these characters became real to me and I became very invested in the characters and their lives. I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction and that the characters weren’t real and that I wouldn’t be able to go out and listen to the music that the musicians made. I’ve never really read anything like this before and I was just so, so impressed.
Best Sequel so far of 2019:
- Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard – The Witchlands series is one of my all time favourites. Susan Dennard is a fantastic writer and her world building is superb. The characters are some of my all time favourites, and Bloodwitch was one of my most anticipated releases this year. It definitely did not disappoint me! I’m not going to go into depth about it because it’s the third book in the series, but if you haven’t picked up this series yet, you really need to.
New Release You Haven’t Read Yet but Want To:
- Finale by Stephanie Garber – Another of my most anticipated releases is Finale. I was really looking forward to the conclusion of this series because I really enjoyed Caraval and Legendary. However, I’m scared for it all to end so I haven’t picked up the book yet. I am hoping to get to it by the end of 2019, but we’ll see how it goes.
Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year:
- Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater – I really can’t wait for the Dreamer trilogy. The Raven Cycle was one of my favourite series ever and so I was stoked when I heard that Maggie Stiefvater was continuing the series with a focus on Ronan. I can’t wait to see what she’s doing with this trilogy and to revisit this world.
Biggest Disappointment:
- The Body by Stephen King – I have fond memories of watching the movie Stand By Me and I really wanted to read the book it was based on. However, it just wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. Some of the story was confusing and the way it jumped into the stories that the narrator wrote. I kind of feel like maybe Stephen King isn’t just for me.
Biggest Surprise:
- Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese – I picked this up as preparation for a course I’m teaching next year, and I didn’t have high expectations for it because it didn’t sound like something I’d really enjoy (hockey was a big focus of the book), however, I was surprised to find that I loved it. The way that it was written was really good and the way the story unfolded was really interesting. I highly recommend it.
Favourite New Author:
- Taylor Jenkins Reid – I have never read anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid before but holy moly, that lady is impressive. I’ve only read Daisy Jones and the Six by her, but I absolutely loved that book and it was really easy to get into it. I am definitely planning on picking up more books by her in the future!
Newest Favourite Character:
- Stevie Bell (Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson) – Stevie is such an interesting character. She’s very different from me, but she’s still a very relatable narrator. I like the way that she thinks about things and rationalizes her decisions. I appreciate her interests and fixations on crime solving.
Newest Fictional Crush:
- N/A – I read a lot of YA and as a 27 year old, I can’t really crush on teenage characters. It’s icky.
Book that Made You Cry:
- The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith – This book is so beautifully constructed and absolutely heart wrenching. The content is really heavy, and not for the feint of heart as it deals with a young girl being raped and how she dealt with it, but I just really couldn’t get enough of the story. It emotionally devastated me and made me bawl my eyes out.
Book that Made You Happy:
- The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin – This book was so much fun! I’m a total history nerd and the Tudor era and Henry VIII is one of my favourite periods, so a YA retelling of that story set in modern times was totally up my alley. This book was so good. I was really interested in the story and I loved the characters. To be honest, its existence just makes me really happy.
Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought so Far This Year:
- The Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan – I got this book in my Owl Crate one month and I was just blown away by how gorgeous it was inside and out. I loved the cover and the spine. And then I took off the dust jacket and was blown away by the text engraved in the cover as well. It’s just so so gorgeous in both the special Owl Crate edition and the regular edition.
SO that’s my Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag! If you want to do this, consider yourself tagged. If you don’t want to do the whole thing, feel free to tell me your answers to whichever questions in the comments below.
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