Midyear Freak Out Tag

I know I'm late to this but I've been watching all of the BookTubers doing this tag since June and I've contemplated doing one myself over but I've been putting it off since I didn't know how well it would translate to blog format. But since my content has been pretty dismal lately I feel like it would be a great thing to do and make it a yearly thing that I'll do in June from now on but this is going to be interesting to see the answers. 

As always the links to these books will be on the picture and will take you to Goodreads so that you can see more of the book, have links to where you can purchase them, and see what other people think about them.

1. Best Book You've Read so far in 2020

I had a really hard time deciding on what is the best book I read this year. I've so far have had an amazing reading year. I've already read 32 books (which is a lot for me) out of the 40 books for the year that I have planned to read. Out of all of those books, I have 14 5-star books! So there was a lot of competition for my favorite of the year so far. I ended up leaving this one for the last question to answer because I really like to only use a book once on a list and since I had so many I couldn't pick just one and while working the list I was able to come up with my favorite which is Red, White, and Royally Blue. This book is one of the first ones that I read for the year and it was so much fun reading it. McQuiston wrote such a beautiful book and I cannot wait to read more from her. I think everything in the book was just perfect! I loved the writing, the story, the characters, just everything in this book was perfect so of course, this one had to be on the list I just wasn't sure where. If you want to see more of my thoughts on the book here is the post that I made for it. 

2. Best Sequel You've Read so far in 2020

I knew I was going to have to have The Happy Ever After Playlist on this list somewhere I just had no clue where it was going to go just yet. This is another one that I don't think I gave it it's own post but it definitely deserved it. I did add it to my May wrap up and it even made it onto my Spring Readathon that I was doing at the time. I actually got this book while I was in North Carolina getting married and I just love getting a book and a postcard wherever I travel so that I can have a little memento. I write up what we did on the postcard and put it in the book for it to live. Anyways this book could've gone under a lot of different categories but I ultimately decided that it needed to go under the best sequel because I haven't loved that many sequels I read this year. This book was just amazing and I love how it tied so much of the first book into it. Usually, romance books like this when there are sequels you follow a new character that you were introduced to in the first book but we don't see much of the first book transfer over to the new book. I hate when series follow different characters because it's hard for me to get connected to the characters when it is always swapping. I think Jimenez did perfectly and I loved it so much. I actually picked this up without knowing it was a sequel and I was loving this book so much that I picked up the first one in audio form to listen on the drive home. I learned that Jimenez is potentially a new auto-buy author too. So this book just opened up so many doors for me and I just love it.

3. New Release you Haven't Read Yet but Want To

 

I feel like this one and the last question are basically the same so I'm going to put the two books that I know were released this summer that I already own and want to read really, really soon so here they are. To be completely open I was going to pick up Midnight Sun. I wasn't really excited about it, I'm not really into the supernatural world anymore, and I typically hate books that are the same story but told from a different perspective. So all of these things should equal out to be saving money and not picking it up. The last time that I've read the twilight books was probably back in middle school when I read them with all my best friends and we would go tonight premiers and everything. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about it. Most of the time I reread books because of the nostalgia and I feel like I should reread the series and read this one. Plus I mean if anything we could get some really good content out of it since I've been wanting to start a series where I reread some of my favorite books growing up which includes Twilight. I have already bought it because when I'm mad or hurt my bookstore is my therapy place and I was mad this week and it was there so hey it came home with me. Spoiler it will be in my August wrap up. I'm also dying to do another book vs movie. The only reason I haven't is one they take a lot of work and two I've just not been reading anything. All of this adds up to feeling like its time to go back into this world.

The Boyfriend Material on the other hand is something that I just purely want to read. It seems like it is going to be a fun read and remind me a lot of Red, White, and Royally Blue so I'm really curious how its written. It's a new author and it was surprisingly not that expensive. I'm so used to adult paperback books being $15-20 but this one was only $12! So I just had to pick it up. 

4.  Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year

    

 

Okay, so I've gone through everything on my list to see what I had coming out between now and the end of the year just to see what I'm curious about, and to be honest the only thing that was coming to mind was Ready Player Two! I've been dying for this since I read the first book and now that it is coming I'm thrilled! Ready Player Two is scheduled to be released on November 24, 2020, and I so hope that it does come out as planned I really want to preorder it but I'm nervous. We have no clue what it is going to be about and even on Goodreads it doesn't give much away. So I'm so curious but very hesitant about it. The way this year is going I'm going to stay optimistic about this book and hope that it comes out as scheduled and we get a little synopsis on it in the next few weeks. 

Since that was the only book coming to mind I went through all of the books I read last year to see what else had sequels coming out because I knew Well Met did but I didn't know what else did so I now have a couple others that I'm really curious about and hope that at least two of them will be a book of the month picks in September and October. Well Played comes out on September 22 so I really hope it's a BOTM pick. But it does follow different characters so I'm curious how it plays out. DeLuca has already said that we will see our OG's but they won't be a main focal point. Troubles in Paradise is actually the third book in Hilderbrand's series and I really hope it will be a pick in October however I feel like the subscription service and Hildrebrand might be having issues because her book over the summer wasn't a pick because they didn't want the subscription to be a Hilderbrand subscription service and she made a post about it. I'm truly sad because this is where I discovered my love for her and really hope that a third book is an option because I need it in my life. This series is amazing and again where I was introduced to Hilderbrand's work and since then I've been picking up her other books as much as possible. If it isn't I'll just have to pick it up on October 6.

During my search, I feel wrong if I don't include Roberts. Nora Roberts is my true adult fiction love and what really got me immersed in adult fiction. She has two books coming out in the fall/winter and the first one is Shadows in Death which is going to be book 51 in the In Death series which is another reason I want to reread that series. I love it so much! The second one is called The Awakening which is going to be her newest trilogy and it is the first one in the series. I'm curious about it and going to pick it up. For her books, I usually just pick them and go with it without much information on it, and this one is no different. The only thing I know about is that it has dragons in it or involves dragons in some way. I'm curious I've never read a fantasy book by her before. 

5. Biggest Disappointment

 

I couldn't choose which one is my biggest disappointment for the year so far so I've put both on them here. Now even though they are both disappointments for me they are disappointments for different reasons. For Alex, Approximately I had such big hopes for this book. I really have heard so many good things about it and it sounds like something that I would adore! Since my bookstore had it on sale I picked it up and read it pretty much right after I got it but I was so disappointed. I ended up giving it 2-stars and for more on what I think about it here is the blog that I made for it. I feel like I ROASTED this book and it is because it did one of the things that I hate which is tell you literally everything that is going to happen in its synopsis! So if you do choose to read this book you will enjoy it so much more going into it blind. 

Now as for You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen I ended up being disappointed by it because of the story. Since I've read The Wife Between Us I was addicted to Hendricks and Pekkanen's work however An Anonymous Girl was awful I hated it so much! I told myself that You Are Not Alone was going to be the break it or make it book for me for these authors. It was going to decide for me if they would stay auto buys and An Anonymous Girl was just a fluke OR A Wife Between Us was their unicorn for me and they just aren't for me. Since reading it, well listening to it on Audible, I've decided that 1. I can't just automatically buy every book that these authors put out. I need to really look into it and decide if it is something that I will like. And 2. if I decide that I want to read a new book by them I will listen to it instead of reading it. I feel like they are more enjoyable for me in audiobook versus me reading it for the first time on my own. You Are Not Alone wasn't a terrible book, I even liked it some, but I didn't love it. I didn't do a post for this on its own but I did include it on my June's wrap up. I'm just awful with doing reviews for audiobooks since I normally just pick them up on a whim. 

6. Biggest Surprise

 

I feel like I had to put the Royal We here because one I didn't even know this book existed. I was sort of in a book slump, I wasn't reading anything, it was late at night and I just wanted to read so bad but didn't have any books that really grabbed my attention at the moment so I saw this one on probably my BookBub email for the day because it was on sale and it sounded so interesting to me. I mean it is a book about an American girl going to England for a semester and falling in love with a prince, like a freaking Hallmark movie that I'm just trash for. Well, the second I bought this book I couldn't put it down! I was staying up until 4-5 in the morning just reading this book and I was living for it! To my surprise, there was a sequel that was coming out the very next day which just pushed me to read through this thing even faster. So I feel like this qualifies it as my biggest surprise of the year so far. Is it the best book ever in the world? No, but it is still a very fun read. You can see what I thought of it and the sequel here. I kind of really want a third book too even though the sequel wasn't as good but if it takes another 5 years to come out I don't know if I'll pick it up. 

After by Anna Todd I needed on this list somewhere and I really had no clue where to put it so I think under biggest surprise will be best. Unlike the Royal We I've seen After EVERYWHERE! I think it got really big while it was on Wattpad so when it started being printed I saw it just everywhere at the bookstore, but my curiosity about it didn't start until the movie came out on Netflix. I watch Tessa and Hardin all the time on Netflix and I just love the movie so much it is probably in the top 10 of my favorite movies on Netflix. I've been really curious about the series since I watched the movie but I couldn't ever talk myself into buying the book since it costs so much money, like $18 since it is adult fiction. Also, I hate the first book with the movie poster cover so when school came to an end, we were under lockdown, and I was just stuck at the house I caved and started renting from the library and this one is what I picked up and I'm so glad that I did. I love Tess and Hardin and even though I don't love them together I had so much fun reading this series. I want to pick up the physical copies soon but until then I can love my eBooks just as much. I might even do reread soon, I just really dislike the middle two books I think they were unnecessary. Since I read these all back to back, and literally did nothing for a week straight but read these books I even made a post for them so here is that post. I go more in-depth as to why I didn't much care for the middle books and how much I loved the first book. 

7. Favorite New Author (Debut or New To You)

Riley Sager isn't a new author, but he is definitely new to me. I've been avoiding Sager ever since he has been appearing on Book of the Month club. I just felt like his books wouldn't be for me because they aren't my typical reads. However, one of my favorite series is a mystery based so I don't know why Final Girls was something I was avoiding so hard. But the second that I read Final Girls I just knew that I needed to read the rest of Sager's work which I have started accumulating through Book of the Month. I just got the last one this month and I really need to just sit down and read them. I started The Last Time I Lied, but I just couldn't get into it. That's on me, not the book, I've just been in a reading slump. If you want to see how my read of this one went here is a post that I made on it.

8. Newest Fictional Crush

Hideaway by Nora Roberts wasn't my favorite Roberts book, even though it should've been. You can see why it should've been here, and more explanations about why and how it went wrong for me. But one of the things that it really did right was the male character. One of the things that Roberts's standalone books do well is write in a love interest and this one was no different I LOVED Dillon so much! I think he was the perfect side character and helped the book so much. But I usually always love her men characters, um Roarke is like the GOAT of fictional crushes and if you don't know who Roarke is I've definitely failed you. 

9. Newest Favorite Character

Beach Read by Emily Henry I feel like I just read at the right time. I read this right after I got back from the beach and it was just so cute and light-hearted. Something that I feel like we can all use while we were all stuck at our houses. I love the characters and I really want more like this from Henry. June was such a great reading month for me and blogging because I posted so much content in June. Here is a post that I made for Beach Read because I suck at doing little snippets of thoughts for books I read. This really does a good job of explaining why I waited so long to do my freak out tag! I was too busy reading! 

10. A Book that Made You Cry

Okay so this is going to be one of the weirder picks on this list but I'm not just picking the first book in the series I'm picking all of Saga. When we ordered new cases for our phones I also used the money to get the rest of the comics that I was missing. There are like 9 volumes I think. They are all so amazing. I've laughed, I've cried, I've gotten so mad at them, and I've fallen in love with them. This series follows the story about a baby who's parents are supposed to be on opposite sides in this war that has been going on for forever. It's all very star warsy as to how its all different alien species with two dominant species using other planets to fight out their war. The last one came out a while ago but I so hope that there are more because the last one just broke my heart! The creators said they were going on hiatus but that was like 2-3 years ago. I did make a post about this last read-through since I read it from Vol. 1 all the way through volume 9 here. 

11. A Book that Made You Happy

Even though I loved this book I had some issues with it. I hated some of her decisions throughout the story and really didn't like the ending but overall I loved the story. It was just such an interesting take on the bachelor/bachelorette and so much fun to read. This is also the book that I took floating down the river that didn't survive too well. You can see how that adventure went here. 

12. Most Beautiful Book You've Bought so far this Year (Or Received)

Okay, this picture is just not doing this book cover justice and I know this is so freaking shocking for me to pick. I normally always pick book covers that are colorful and flashy and I could've picked one of those but I honestly really love this book and its cover is amazing. In real life, it's hardback the black is like that satin feel cover and the emblem is super shiny white and silver writing. It's really beautiful and the picture really doesn't do it any justice. Plus this comic is amazing and if you haven't seen the Netflix show of it you are really doing an injustice because it is AMAZING! 

13. What Books Do you Need to Read by the End of the Year?

Gosh, I have so many books that I need/want to read before the end of the year. As I mentioned above this one and 2020 releases I still need to read really go hand in hand with one another. Up there I mentioned an In Death book coming out soon and I really want to do a full read-through of the In Death series or read any of them I'd be really happy because I haven't read any of them this year! I would love to read all of my backstock of Book of the Month books too so those are always top priorities for me. I actually just made a very embarrassing post of books that I have on my TBR pile that are all Book of the Month books. I pick them with all intentions to read them as soon as I get them but life just has other plans. Then I have a bunch of new books that I've bought that I would love to read, such as the Boyfriend Project and Midnight Sun, so I'm just going to add a bunch of book covers below with links to each one that I would love to read before the year ends. But here are some books that I haven't picked up yet that I think look really good and would love to read before the year ends. Or books that I have sitting on my shelves staring at me, telling me, hey um you've had me for like ever but haven't read me yet! 

            

I know I won't get to all of these books but I would love to read them all before the year ends so we'll see what happens. If I ended up reading them all I'd be even happier but I would be happy with reading at least 4 of them so we'll see. I know I'm currently working on Cassidy Holmes so I'll at least get one finished!

So this was fun if you all like it let me know and we will definitely try to make this something that happens more. I would love to get to the point that I'm reading enough to on Sunday and then do something like this on Wednesday but we'll see. I wish it wasn't so sporadic but I don't read as much and it's only going to get worse as school starts.