Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag! 2019

This is only slightly late but since it's halfway through the year, I figured it would be good to do this tag to wrap up the first half of my reading year. I've seen this tag a lot on Youtube and various blogs so I decided it'd be fun to do myself.

CREATORS:

Chami from IsThatChami

Ely from Earl Grey Books

NOTE: Even though it's mid July, this tag only covers the books read from January 1st to June 30th of this year since it's the mid year book freak out tag.

STATS so far:

- 51/100 books read (so I'm ahead of schedule), follow me on Goodreads!

- 19,667 pages read

- 3.6 star average rating

- 13 5 star (or 4.75) reads

- 15 3.75-4.5 star reads (basically 4 star)

- 14 2.75-3.5 star reads (basically 3 star)

- 6 1.75-2.5 star reads (2 star)

- 2 0.75-1.5 star reads (1 star)

So now onto the actual tag:

1) Best Book of 2019 so far?

This is a hard question but I'm going to have to go with the Wicked King by Holly Black, sequel to the famous Cruel Prince by Holly Black. This book was just so good and perfect and wonderful. It mixed political intrigue, action, rivalry, fae, romance, and folklore so well.

2) Best Sequel of 2019 so far?

Even though the Wicked King is a sequel, I have to pick Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard as my top sequel because it was utterly FANTASTIC. Again, the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard is so underrated which is wrong because it's SO FRICKING GOOD. This sequel especially took everything to a new level and I'm so eager for the next book, it's not even funny. I picked this over WK because it did everything a sequel should do perfectly and blew me away.

3) New Release You Want to Read but Haven't Yet?

Definitely On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (came out in February), the second book from the Hate U Give author. I've heard that this book is even BETTER than THUG which has me excited.

4) Most Anticipated Release of the Second Half of 2019?

There's A LOT but here's a few:

- Ninth House by my favorite author ever Leigh Bardugo (Yale + occult + secret societies + dark dark dark = hell yes)

- The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (final book in the trilogy, so frickin' excited!)

- The Toll by Neal Shusterman (third and last book in the Arc of Scythe trilogy)

- The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan (fourth book in the Trials of Apollo)

- Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare (first book in the Last Hours trilogy featuring the loml Will Herondale's children!!!)

5) Biggest Disappointment?

Definitely The Case for Jamie (third book in the Charlotte Holmes series) by Brittany Cavallaro. This series just went downhill with each book and I was waiting for a redemption... and I'm still here waiting.

Other honorable mentions: The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee and Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (don't get me wrong, I really really liked this book and I'm eager for the next book which I'm sure will be even better but I feel like the hype got to me and it just didn't live up to all my expectations)/

6) Biggest Surprise?

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills. I did not expect to completely fall in love with this book and these characters (especially Gideon Prewitt, whom is wonderful and deserves the world). I also was surprised by how absolutely hilarious this book is. I've never laughed out loud while reading a book.

Honorable Mention: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen because I'm not usually one for classics but I loved this book.

7) Favorite New Author?

I'm definitely going to have to say Jandy Nelson. I read both the Sky is Everywhere and I'll Give You the Sun by her and adored both of them (especially IGYTS). She's such an incredible writer and her characters and stories are divine.

Honorable Mention: Emma Mills (of course) and Jay Kristoff/Amie Kaufman (the author duo responsible for the Illuminae trilogy).

8) Newest Fictional Crush?

Um, well we all know I'm in love with Will Herondale but since I read and fell in love with him in Clockwork Angel last year, I'm going to pick Gideon Prewitt from Foolish Hearts. Shoutout to Mr. Darcy from P&P who also owns my heart. Also a shoutout to Nikolai Lantsov (King of Scars) and Aeduan (Witchlands) who aren't *new* crushes but I love them both and I wanted to tell you anyway.

9) Newest Favorite Character?

I'm going to do you a favor and not be repetitive by naming all of the above characters (even though every single one is a favorite to me). Some favs are Jude and Cardan from the Cruel Prince series (technically favorites from last year but oh well), Jude (ha, two Judes) and Noah from I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Stevie from the Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (actually the sequel to Truly Devious which I read last year but Stevie only became a fav this year), Alex and Henry from Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, and every single character from the Aru Shah series by Roshani Chokshi.

10) Book That Made You Cry?

CLOCKWORK PRINCE BY CASSANDRA CLARE. WILLLLLLLLLL. This book will probably never not break my heart. AHHH.

11) Book That Made You Happy?

I have two: Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (I was grinning nearly the entire time) and Aru Shah and the Song of Death (second book in the Pandava quartet) by Roshani Chokshi (I love this series with my whole Indian heart).

12) Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation You Saw?

I don't think I've really watched any so far??? The best I can think of is a Cinderella retelling: A Cinderella Story starring Hillary Duff and Chad Michael Murray (iconic, classic, wonderful, highly recommend). I don't know if that counts but oh well?

13) Favorite Review You've Written This Year?

Well funny that you'd ask, ahem. My favorite review is the one for Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard which is also the longest I've ever written.

Honorable Mention: King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo.

14) Most Beautiful Book You Bought This Year?

I'm definitely going with King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo because have you seen that cover? If not, here it is:

G O R G E O U S

15) Any Books You Need to Read by the End of the Year?

Other than the releases I already mentioned:

- Caraval by Stephanie Garber

- Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

- Flashback by Shannon Messenger (upcoming release)

- Supernova by Marissa Meyer (upcoming release)

- The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

- The rest of the Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare

- The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

And many, many more.

So that's it for this tag and for this blog post. I hope you're reading as much as you want to (if you want to at all) this year and maybe you found some recs from this list (it is a bit repetitive, I apologize). I'm excited for all the books I have yet to read by the end of the year and I can't wait to do one big wrap up in December of stats, favs, and more.

Until next time,

no mourners, no funerals

-SureenaWrites