2023 Mid-Year Book Freak Out

I have been doing this post for a few years now and I always enjoy it. It is fun to look back at all of the books I have read and think about them again. There were so many good books this year that it was hard to choose just one for some of the prompts.

How much have I read this year so far?

Last year I was so far behind that it took forever to catch up and make my goal. I am so glad that I am ahead this year. I used to not care about this so much, but for some reason I have become a little obsessive about it lately. Hopefully I can get back to not caring soon as it makes me a little crazy.

Best book

As always I can never pick just one. These are three books that I have been recommending to friends and family as they stuck with me as to how good they were.

Best Sequel

Again there were just so many good ones to choose from. These three were the ones that stuck out the most. Click on the pictures for my reviews.

New Releases I haven’t read yet

I am patiently waiting for Painted Devils to become available at my library. Fourth Wing is on its way to me from the library and I hope to pick it up on Friday. Love will Tear Us Apart is still a no show here in the states (except on Amazon), but I am hoping it will come soon.

Most anticipated releases for the second half of the year

I adored the first books for both Two Twisted Crowns and Everyone on this Train is a Suspect and I am really looking forward to their sequels. Sword Catcher is the first book by Clare not set in the Shadowhunter world so I am looking forward to seeing how that goes. If you want to read my reviews for One Dark Window and Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone just click on the titles.

Biggest disappointment

No surprise here, read my review if you want to know more about why I was so disappointed with this one.

Biggest surprise

Dragonfall has a lot of mixed reviews and doesn’t have a super high rating on Goodreads, so I went in not expecting much, but I ended up really enjoying this one.

Favorite new authors (debut or new to you)

Peter May is my newest favorite author. I really enjoy his writing style and his characters. I have only read a couple of his books so far, but I hope to read more soon.

T. Kingfisher is not necessarily new to me, as I have read her middle grade books, but I didn’t know she wrote for adults, so I am counting her as new. I love her books and I’m slowly working my way through her backlist.

Jane Harper is an australian author and so far I have been enjoying her books. I am looking forward to reading more of them in the future.

Underrated gems you discovered recently

A Spoonful of Time was a middle grade book that was just adorable and sweet and I really enjoyed reading it. It doesn’t seem to be getting the love it really deserves though.

Books that made you happy

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches was just so cozy and fun that it made me smile the whole time I was reading it.

To Have and to Heist was also a book that I was smiling quite a bit as I read it. I loved the banter between the characters and the heist was so twisty and a lot of fun.

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath mostly made me happy just because I was back in that world and with characters that I liked so much.

Goals for the rest of the year.

I only have a few goals for the rest of the year:

• I am planning on playing around with the look of my blog. Now that I have the time to focus on it, I really want to make the graphics and other things look perfect. I also need to redo my about page.
• Continue to read nonfiction. I have read 5 so far this year, but I would like to get at least 10 done by the end of the year.
• Slow down a little bit with my reading. I find myself pushing to finish a book in order to post about it, but then I feel like I didn’t really appreciate it enough.
• Write more reviews. For most of this year I have only written one a week. I would like to increase that to at least two, but maybe more.

I hope you enjoyed Mid-Year Freak Out. What is your favorite book so far this year?