The Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag | 2018 edition

This is the third year in a row I’m doing this tag and two years ago my blog was a tiny baby blog and now it’s grown so much (I’m getting sentimental). I’m so grateful for how far I’ve come and I’m so grateful that you all support me and my content, thank you!

Now that I’ve gotten the cheesy stuff out of the way, let’s get into the tag. It’s almost halfway through 2018, so it’s the perfect time to look back at what I’ve read in the past six months. I’ve read about 60 books (I’m writing this in advance so I can’t go any more specific than that but check my goodreads if you want more details), and loved the large majority of them! I’ve discovered some new favourites and overall had a great time reading!

I was tagged by the lovely Ruby, go check out her blog here!

The best book you’ve read so far in 2017

I’ve had added only two books to my “favorites” shelf, but I always struggle with picking my favorites. I always love books a lot but never so much that it really sticks out from the other books I loved. Anyway, I’m going to go with… I CAN’T CHOOSE. I’m just gonna pick two because they were both personally really important to me and also really fun!

 

Your favourite sequel of the year

Obsidio!! Okay, it wasn’t perfect but I love that series with all my heart (seriously, it broke it so many times, I think it just tricked me into thinking I love it). The new characters were a bit meh but I liked them nonetheless and *screams “Kady” into empty space*. I just have so many feelings for this series, and Obsidio was a pretty darn good conclusion!

A new release that you haven’t read but really want to

Let’s Talk About Love has been on my TBR since I first heard about it and I just need to read it. I just need to get my act together and buy myself a copy of that pretty thing and read it. It has an ACE POC MC (I’m pretty sure she’s also biromantic)!!!

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

So last year my most anticipated release for this question was All The Crooked Saints and I still haven’t read it oops. Let’s hope it’s different this time. I’m just gonna make a little list because I honestly have too many to just pick one!

First and foremost: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee- If I die before I read this book, someone better go to my grave and read it to my dead body because there ain’t no way I’m missing out on this book. It has the epic wonderful aro-ace Felicity as main character and my babies Monty and Percy better be in there. ALSO: SCIENCE GIRL GANGS, HELL YES.

others: Vengeful by V.E. Schwab (I still haven’t read the first book but shhhh I will), Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman, Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor.

 

Your biggest disappointment

I can’t really think of any one book that stood out, but perhaps The Opposite of Loneliness because I thought it was just very boring. I more often than not do not finish books I don’t enjoy so if I picked from those it’d be Stalking Jack the Ripper though I only read about a quarter of that. (rant review here)

Biggest surprise of the year

My biggest surprise was probably Far From The Tree by Robin Benway because I went in with no expectations whatsoever and ended up absolutely adoring it!

Favourite new to you or debut author

Ashley Herring Blake (new to me) and Laura Steven (debut)! I’ve read ARCs of both of their 2018 releases and now I definitely need to try and read everything they’ve written or will write!

 

Your new fictional crush

I don’t do crushes.

New favourite character

Felicity Montague from The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue!!! I just relate and look up to her so much!

A book that made you cry

I don’t remember if I read anything that made me really cry, only books that made me cry because I was laughing so hard (The Gentlemen’s Guide) or because they were hurtful…

A book that made you happy

I’m really trying not to mention The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue for every question so let’s go with something else. Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee and the sequel Not Your Villain both made me really happy! They’re just so sweet and uncomplicated without being boring at all!

 

Your favourite book to movie adaptation that you’ve seen this year

I saw Love, Simon a few weeks ago and loved it!! (except the ending)

Favourite book post you’ve done this year

The most popular post I’ve done in the past 6 months was this one which is about ARCs and alternatives to Netgalley, and as much as I enjoyed doing the series on ARCs with a focus on international reviewers, those are not my favourite posts! My favourite is definitely my post about Simon Spier and the rise of LGBT+ stories. I absolutely adored the response it got and I got to interact with a lot of lovely people and hear their stories and it was wonderful! I’ve been wanting to do more similar posts but I lack the inspiration.

The most beautiful book you’ve bought/received this year

I actually haven’t bought that many physical books (I read a lot of ebooks and audiobooks) lately but here are some of my highlights:

 

What are some books you need to read by the end of the year

My TBR is very plain right now, I’ve been ignoring it for a while and barely ever add books to it but I’d like to read Queens of Geek and Let’s Talk About Love (and all the before-mentioned books I’m anticipating of course).

 

Did you do this tag? What was your favourite read of 2018 so far? Do you agree with any of my choices? Do you have a favourite post you’ve written this year? Let me know! I’d love to read it (if I haven’t already)

Advertisement

Discussion | DNFing books + some books I started but never finished and why

I am quite critical about some books, because if I’m going to read it, it has to be entertaining. Or at the very least I should have some form of motivation to finish it. That can be because I think it’s funny or smart or that I can learn something from it, but that last one pretty much only applies to non-fiction. Lately, I’ve been DNF’ing (iow: not finishing) quite a few books and I wanted to talk a little about why I DNF books and why specifically these ones.

If you like this, then read this | Collab with Ruby from Ruby Rae Reads

Today, I have collaborated with the lovely Ruby from Ruby Rae Reads (check out her blog *hint hint*) for a recommendation post! We both have picked some books, movies and tv series we love and the other will be recommending what books to read based on those! So in the post below, on the left you can see Ruby’s pick and on the left, my recommendations! We have both done this so you can go see her post in which she recommends books for me here!

4 LGBT+ Books I Need to Read ASAP | Part 2

Since you all seemed to enjoy my last post, I thought I would do another one! (hush, this isn’t because it’s Sunday night and I was procrastinating writing a blog post and then ended up with no inspiration while it’s already late, of course not)

4 LGBT+ Books I Need to Read ASAP

There are so many books I haven’t read yet but need to read! One thing that always makes me want to read a book is LGBT+ representation or diversity in general, and I’ve read a lot of those already, but I always want more! So here are 4 books that are on my TBR that are queer and I really want to read. There are of course more on my TBR than only these ones so let me know if you’d like a part 2 of this post!

Somehow this post turned into a bi-rep post but hey, I like that!

Insta-Loving Books | In which I talk about books I fell head-over-heels in love with from page 1

Do you ever read one of those books that when you’re only a few pages in you already know you are going to love it? Because I do. Sometimes I start a book and I just insta-crush on it. SO BAD.

This post was inspired by my current read, which is The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven. I just started reading it today and I’ve just started it and couldn’t stop. I love it so much (as I’m writing this, I’ve actually put it down, but I’ve read a third of it in about half an afternoon.) Anyway, I wanted to talk about what made me fall in love with these books (and authors) instantly and why!

My Most Anticipated Books of 2018

I realize this is not exactly the most original topic to write about, I’ve seen about a hundred post like this one but you guys told me on twitter to write it so here I am! My list of most anticipated releases consists mainly of V.E. Schwab books (which sadly do not all come out this year :P) but I have plenty of others too! Most of these are from authors I’ve read before, that is because I tend to wait a little until there are more reviews so I can make up my mind about others. Anyway, let’s get into it!

10 Books that Surprised me in 2017 | The Best of 2017

Since the year is almost over, it’s time to recap all the books I’ve read in 2017. I’ve read so many amazing books this year it’s hard to create a top 10, but I’m going to try anyway. These books are not only books that surprised me (in a good way) but also books I loved so much I’d reread them right this second if I had all the time in the world (which I don’t).

All of these I’ve rated at least 4 stars and I have loved them to pieces! These books will count down to my favourite book of this year (why am I doing this to myself???). So before I start rambling too much about how much I love these books, let’s go on to the list!

10 Books that Disappointed me in 2017

I’ve read a lot of books this year, some of them really hyped by the bookish community and others not so much. A lot of the hyped books I really enjoyed but others really disappointed me and didn’t live up to the hype. So in this post, I’m going to give you my top 10 books that disappointed me in 2017!

Just a note, none of these books are bad (well… except one), they were usually not how I expected them to be or I couldn’t connect to the story. I rated most of them 3 stars, which is mediocre, but not bad. So if you love these books, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! I’m happy you do!

Predicting my Rating for 5 Books on my TBR | How Well am I at Estimating?

I had this fun idea to predict my rating for a book before I read it, so that’s what I’m going to try to do today. I’m going to pick 5 books on my TBR that I want to read really soon, and I’m going to try to estimate what my rating will be based on the synopsis. And then, hopefully, after a month or so, I’ll do another post comparing my estimated rating to my final rating! I’m really curious to see how well I know my own reading tastes and how well I can predict what I will love and what I don’t. So let’s get started!