Mid-Year Freakout

The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

I keep seeing this tag on almost every blog I follow and today I saw it on two of my favorites so I guess that is a sign that I must do this.  I usually avoid tags just because it is so hard for me to choose favorite books and characters and authors.   That is like asking me to choose a favorite child (which might explain why I only have one!)  It is a really hard thing for me to do, so many of these will have more than one book but because there are so many questions I will try not to repeat to much.  

The Best Book(s) I’ve read So Far This Year:

This is probably the hardest one for me because I have read so many good books this year, but I think these would be the ones that are certainly at the top of my list so far! Heartless and Roseblood are my favorite retells from this year and This Savage Song and Caraval would have to be my favorite original science fiction and fantasy books so far. 

Best Sequel I’ve Read So Far This Year:

I haven’t read that many sequels this year yet. Many of them will be in the fall so I will have a harder time deciding at the end of the year what my favorite sequel was this year.  But for now I choose:

Sorry I had to show the two covers just one more time.  I loved this sequel! This is still one of my favorite series of all times and I have yet to be disappointed by any of the books.  My only disappointment with this one was the cover!  Why did they change it!  I don’t get it!

New Release(s) That You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To?

        

I just got my copy of Our Dark Duet and can’t wait to get started on it!  I’m still waiting on my copy of Lord of Shadows to come from the library.  I’m probably doing the audiobook (I have done almost all of her books on audio) but we will see which one comes first from the library.

Most Anticipated Release(s) For The Second Half of 2017

This is a tough one for me because there are a lot of books coming out from some of my favorite authors but I’m going to go with these two:

     

I have yet to be disappointed by either of these authors so I am really looking forward to their new books. 

Biggest Disappointment From a Book So Far This Year:

This was actually a pretty easy one for me.  It wasn’t that the book was bad, it was actually quite good.  I was disappointed that it didn’t further explore the riders and their roles in our world.  I’m still hoping that there will be more books about the other riders that will be offshoots of this series. 

Biggest Surprise

This one was kind of hard, because I’m not sure what they mean and I’ve seen some different interpretations.  But I decided to go with this one because I was surprised that the author is a local, living here in the Seattle area.  I did not know this until I went to an author event and got to meet her. I am ashamed to say, that I just gushed at her about how much I liked the book like a true fan girl.  I was also pleasantly surprised how much I liked the book too.

Newest Favorite Author(s)

Here you go again asking me to choose favorites.  Okay so I have four, I just couldn’t narrow it down farther than that.

I know I am very late to the Victoria Schwab love fest, but after reading This Savage Song, I get what all the hoopla is about.  I hope to find some time soon to read some her older books.  I really admire the style of Kendare Blake, Katherine Mcgee and Breeana Shields.  They all just write so beautifully and really make their stories come alive.

Newest Favorite Character(s)

This was another tough one.  I met so many characters that I would like to spend more time with this year, but I decided on these three:

         

I fell in love with Jest, from Heartless.   I really need a Jest to be my friend and confident.  I just finished Strange the Dreamer and I wouldn’t mind sharing some dreams and stories with Lazlo.  And finally I really liked both Naomi and Abel from Defy the Stars. 

Book(s) That Made Me Cry

Maybe something is wrong with me, but I don’t often cry when I read a book, and so far there has been no book this year that has made me shed a tear.  I did feel sad with these two books though when favorite characters died, so I will share these.

    

Book(s) That Made Me Happy

I love a book that makes me laugh out loud and so I am always on the lookout for those. There have been quite a few of these this year, but I think these two made me laugh the most

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Geekerella was such a light hearted Cinderella retelling that I pretty much smiled the whole time I was reading it.  There were some really good laugh out loud moments too.  Revenge of the Evil Librarian was just as good as the first and I had to stop reading a few times because I was laughing too hard.

Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation You Saw This Year

I didn’t see any movies based on books this year so far, but I did watch The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu so I will count that. 

I read the book a long time ago (maybe even when it was published, I know I’m showing my age here).  So luckily that means I don’t have a great memory of all the plot points.  But from what I do remember, Hulu seems to be hitting the mark with this one.  I keep thinking I will reread the book, but I’m afraid that will ruin the series for me, because my brain will go “That wasn’t in the book” which ruins so many movies and TV show for me. 

Favorite Review You’ve Written So Far This Year

Picking my favorite child is so hard, I’ve worked so hard to create each one of my reviews that I love them all, but I will pick these two:

    

I didn’t pick these two because there was anything spectacular about them.  They were good, but I picked them because the authors of these two books took time out of their busy lives to comment on them.  That truly made my day and actually my week because they both commented within a week of each other.  That was awesome!

Most Beautiful Book You Bought So Far This Year?

I think I’ve mentioned before that I don’t buy many books, I’m a librarian remember?  Then of course do I interpret this as most beautiful cover or what is between the cover?  If I choose based on the cover alone then I have to go with these two:

     

I love both of these covers, just because they make me want to pick them up and know what is inside them.  I haven’t read York yet so I hope I’m not disappointed.  I was not disappointed by Roar, story is just as beautiful as the cover. 

If I have to choose based on the story itself then I think this one wins with the restriction of a book I bought.  I might choose something else if I didn’t have that  ownership clause in there.

I chose this one mostly because even though I read it as a galley, I went out an bought a copy too.  I think I’ve only done that a couple of times.  

What Books Do You Need To Read By The End Of The Year?

Way too many.  I have 55 listed on my Goodreads account, but I don’t update that list as much as I should and I think some of them are Netgalley and Edelweiss reads as well.  I have 24 books sitting on my NetGalley shelf and only a couple of those are for 2018.  I also have 5 books on Edelweiss.  I also have around thirty books sitting on the floor by my bed which is a mix of old ARCs from conferences, books I’ve bought for my school library and a few others. But if I have to choose which ones I need to read I think I will go with the books shown below plus the two mentioned above in the anticipated releases section: 

Wait was this a trick question?  Didn’t I cover this already.  Anyways, I am sure there are many more I’m not remembering, but as many of you know that TBR pile only ever grows, it never gets smaller. 

This is my longest post ever!  I hope you enjoyed it and stuck it out to the end.