Mid Year Book Freakout Tag 2019

Hello!! I hope that you are having a great day/night! I have been getting so much reading done since my summer break began! With that being said, I have been catching up on my Goodreads reading goal, slowly but surely, and now I believe I have read enough books to complete this tag without being overly repetitive!

1. How much have you read this year?

So far this year I have read 20 complete books! I am in the middle of a couple of books also, but I don't know if they will be finished anytime soon.

2. BEST BOOK YOU'VE READ SO FAR IN 2019

So far this year, I've read a lot of 'okay' books. A lot of 3 and 4 star books. Because of this, it is so easy to pick my favorite book!

This is Colleen Hoover's most recent book and her first delve into the thriller genre. I read it at the beginning of the year, in like a day and now I am trying to get my husband to read it! It is very eerie and creepy. Their is some sick stuff in this book, that I can't believe exists, but also makes this book so good!

3. BEST SEQUEL YOU'VE READ SO FAR IN 2019

I've read a couple of sequels this year and I have given 4 and 5 star to all of them, and because of that it is so hard to choose just one. I'm going to choose two, just because they are both SO SO SO good!

The Crimson Crown is the last book in The Seven Realms Series. I love this series so much! I highly recommend this to YA fantasy lovers. It is one of the best I've read in a while. I seriously finished this series in 2 years, that is like unheard of for me, but goes to show how good it is!

Thunderhead is the second book in the Scythe series. I read Scythe last year and really liked it. I read Thunderhead at the beginning of the year and I was blown away by it! I couldn't believe how into it was! This is a sort of sci/fi/ fantasy universe. It follows a couple of different story lines. Usually when I read books like that, I prefer one or two more, but in this series I pretty much loved every chapter! I am so excited for the third book to come out at the end of the year!!

4. NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN'T READ YET, BUT WANT TO

I'm not great at keeping up with new releases, but these are a couple of the books that have been on my radar for a little while!

These are all really different books, and two of them are new to me, but I feel like I will them all...? Hopefully! I definitely plan on reading them this year!!

(I don't really know what any of them are about, at least not enough to tell you with full certainty, but they have been recommended by people that I trust!)

5. MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

Hands down this answer goes to...

I am so excited for this book, I don't even know what to expect except greatness. I have loved every book by Rainbow Rowel that even if it is nowhere near as good as the first one, I still think it will be good in its own way.

The first book was pitched to me as a sort of spoof about the 'chosen one' trope, similar to Harry Potter. A lot of people get mad when people compare things to Harry Potter, and that makes sense, it is such a hard series to compete with, with it being so beloved by so many different people. I will say that if their were to be a book to compare, this one is a good option. I mentioned spoof earlier, and I say that because it is not a very serious book. Don't go into it thinking that. It is very much a comedy, with some serious parts in it. It's like a fantastical rom/com!

6. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Honestly, when I was going into this next book, I didn't know what to expect. The cover is obviously beautiful, and the synopsis is interesting, but I did not enjoy this book at all. It took me forever to finish it, and I just kept waiting for it to be over, and it would never be. I honestly would have DNF'd it, but I really can't afford that because I am so far behind on my challenge.

This book follows a neighborhood of women in NYC a few years after 9/11. The women in this neighborhood, at least most of them, believe that they are cursed and if they fall in love with anyone, then that person will die. This book would be considered magical realism. After reading a couple of books in this genre, I have decided that I DO NOT LIKE MAGICAL REALISM. I haven't quite decided why, but I am hoping to have a blog post up soon explaining why it just does not work for me.

An honorary mention to this number is The Kiss of Deception. I haven't finished this book yet, and I don't know when I will. This book also WILL NOT END. It is not nearly as interesting as it has been sold to me. It looks so small, but it is not. I want to finish it for the challenge, but I don't know if I can.

7. BIGGEST SURPRISE

This is a sequel, but it is not a five star read, so I didn't include it in the previous question, but I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. The first book in this series was just okay. I didn't love the writing, but the plot was interesting enough for me to want to pick up the next book.

The first book follows a fantastical universe where three sisters are born by a queen. When they are born, they become queens themselves with different powers. When they are about 10 years old, they are taken to different parts of their island to be raised by people with their same power. By the age of sixteen they are supposed to be skilled enough in their powers and are to use them to kill each other off. The last sister standing is the queen and then the cycle starts all over again.

8. NEW FAVORITE AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)

This one is easy because I knew as soon as I finished this book that I would be picking up EVERY book that his author put out! I could not wait to come home to read this book and I stayed up late into the night reading it! Favorite thriller of the year so far!!

This book follows a seemingly perfect couple. They have basically every thing, two great kids, a nice house, jobs that support them enough to not really want for anything. Everything seems perfect, which is why they are pretty bored. To spice up their life they 'hunt' and kill different women! Obviously something goes wrong, and the twist at the end had me howling! One of my favorite things in books, especially thrillers, is when they have short chapters. I feel like I read so much faster, because I feel like I can keep going and going! Also usually with shorter chapters the author leaves mini cliff hangers and you just 'gotta find out what happens next.' I highly recommend this book, especially if you are new to the thriller genre!

9. BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

I am not a huge crier in books, so I don't have an answer for this question, but I can tell you the saddest book I've read this year is probably Sadie by Courtney Summers. This book follows two different story lines one from the main character Sadie in the past tense as she tries to find the guy who she thinks killed her sister and one set in the present tense from the perspective of a guy who hosts podcast about missing girls. While this book did not make me cry, I did feel a lot of emotions and I can see how this book could make people cry.

I was told to listen to the audio book when reading this book, and I 100% am so glad I did. The audio book is an experience because it is a full cast with music and sound effects!

10. BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

I guess I've read a lot of sad books this year, because only one book is standing out that made me happy! The Bride Test by Helen Hoang is an amazingly happy book that I am so glad I got the chance to pick up this year. I got it in my Book of the Month box a couple of months ago and read almost right away!

This is a sort of companion book to her first book The Kiss Quotient which was in my top 3 favorite books of last year! Helen Hoang is a terrific writer and story teller and her books make me so happy.

This book follows two perspectives one from a girl who has lived in Vietnam her whole life. She is a maid, a young mom, and very poor. She is insecure, but has a huge heart for her family and wants to do right by them. The second perspective is from a guy who is perfectly happy with being single, he doesn't believe that he has the heart to love someone, so he is content to life alone. His mother is not content with that, so she goes to Vietnam to find him a wife. The story continues from their and of course we watch as they slowly and quirkly (not a word, but it describes perfectly what I am trying to say) fall in love. I don't know how anyone could not like this book! Also, this is an own voices book because Helen Hoang has come out to say that she has Asperger's and the main characters in both of her books have Asperger's.

11. MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU'VE BOUGHT THIS YEAR

For some reason, no books are popping out at me for most beautiful cover. I feel like I've bought a lot of just okay covers. The book Not That I Coould Tell by Jessica Strawser has pretty colors on it, so I guess I will pick that one.

I don't know a lot about this book, except that it is about a murder in a neighborhood. When I read the synopsis, it gave me Big Little Lies vibes and I really enjoyed that book, so I hope that I will like this one!

12. GOALS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR

I feel like most people's answers are to just read! I want to find more books that I enjoy! I want to get through my never ending TBR pile! I want to finish more series, I am actually proud of myself for the series that I have kept up with, or that I have completed! I want to read those books that I am anticipating! It would be really nice to reach my goal by the end of the year without stressing! I hope that I can catch up by the end of the summer! Wish me luck!

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As always, I hope that you have enjoyed this tag! Maybe you've read some or maybe you are hoping to get to one soon! I hope that you are reading a good book, or about to pick up a good book!

Let me know what you're reading, or if you have any suggestions based on what I've read so far this year! I love the idea of finding something new that isn't on my radar!

#booktag #summer