Weekend #BookTag: Mid-Year Book Freak Out 2019

I’m only about a month and a half late in posting this, but since I’ve been wanting to start blogging some Book Tags, this looked like a great place to start. 🙂

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where this Book Tag originated, but from what I could find, it was ReadLikeWildfire and Earl Grey Books. I may have more questions than the original??

The List of Questions

1. How many books have you read so far in 2019?
2. Your 2019 Books?
3. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019?
4. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019?
5. New release you haven’t read yet but want to?
6. Your most anticipated release of the second half of 2019?
7. Biggest disappointment?
8. Biggest surprise?
9. Favorite new-to-you author?
10. Newest fictional crush?
11. Newest favorite character?
12. A book that made you cry?
13. A book that made you happy?
14. Favorite book-to-movie adaptation you’ve seen this year?
15. Favorite review or post you’ve written this year?
16. The most beautiful book you bought or received so far this year?
17. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

1. How many books have you read so far this year?

2. Your 2019 Books?

3. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019?

I have to say best book so far has been The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. It was so well-written, so intellectual, so interesting. I could not put the book down once I started, and I mean from the very first line of the book. Just. So. Good.

4. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019?

This one, hands down, goes to A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. I really liked the first book (A Court of Thorns and Roses), so much so that I completely derailed my TBR for that month I read ALL these books in, but once I read this one, it made the first book pale in comparison. LOVED!!

5. New release you haven’t read yet but want to?

Hahaha… oh, where to start? Ok, since I read multiple genres, I’ll name a few.

I’m including The Whisper Man by Alex North, even though that book doesn’t technically release for another 2 days at the time of this post, but since I already have a copy from Book of the Month, I’m going to stick it in here. I’m definitely yearning to read it, that’s for sure!

6. Your most anticipated release of the second half of 2019?

7. Biggest disappointment?

Definitely the biggest disappointment so far this year for me has been The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory. I read a lot of the Hello Sunshine Book Club picks, and being one of the picks this year, I picked this up thinking it was going to be just fantastic. Instead, I found it to really drag, and I just couldn’t ever quite figure out where the story was trying to go or what the point was for any of it. I wanted to like it, but I just didn’t.

8. Biggest surprise?

I think my biggest and most beloved surprise this year was Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I wasn’t surprised by what happened in the story because we pretty much know it couldn’t have ended well, being what it was. No, the surprise was how much I loved this book! Soooooo good!

9. Favorite new-to-you author?

This one is hard to answer with just one response, too. I’ve found so many great new authors this year. Partly because I’ve opened up my reading tastes this year and have started reading books I wouldn’t have normally picked up (ahem, anything YA). So I’ll narrow it down to 3.

Camille Pagán’s books have been such a treasure find. For one, the characters have been around my current age, and I’ve found them and their circumstances just so damn relatable. I’ve been binging all the books by this author since I read the first one not that long ago.

Katherine Center was a surprise find for me, having been one of the Book of the Month picks recently, and you can tell she puts so much effort into researching the fine details that go into her stories that take a great book and make it a fantastic one. I’m definitely going to read more of her.

And Taylor Jenkins Reid, yes I’m just now finding her this year. Such depth to her characters! Such great writing! She’s so talented, I’m finding everything I’ve read by her so far to be very profound and so entertaining.

10. Newest fictional crush?

Haha, I have to say Ian from How to Walk Away by Katherine Center on this one. Aside from his Scottish brogue, which of course is totally hot, in the words of Katy Perry, “He’s like a hard candy with a surprise center.” Strong, funny, masculine, and he’s a physical therapist that’s great at what he does. Just so much to love about him! Super-swoon! Seriously, where can I find one of him?

11. Newest favorite character?

This one, I have to say, is Genevieve from Kristan Higgins’s newest book, Life and Other Inconveniences. She’s this old lady who is mean and crotchety and uppity, but she’s a spitfire! She was really fun to read and get to know little by little. She’s also suffering from dementia/Alzheimers, and it’s portrayed in such a way that you can’t help but be heartbroken for her. I just wanted to give her a big hug. And I’m not a hugger.

12. A book that made you cry?

The older I get, the more I cry over the most minuscule things, so I might not be a very representative person to fit the bill on this category. Lots of books have made me cry. So I’ll pick one that I haven’t mentioned yet in any way.

There was this one part in The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris that had me so broken, sobbing. It was at this one point in the concentration camp, toward the end (no book spoilers, I swear), when the captives saw US planes flying overhead … oh gawsh, I’m tearing up now thinking about it … and they began jumping, waving, and yelling for the pilots to drop the bombs. Even though it would blow themselves off the face of the earth in the process, they wanted these evil SOBs defeated so bad, they’d gladly forfeit their lives to be done with it. It was so powerful. I bawled like a baby.

13. A book that made you happy?

I really enjoyed this one. I don’t know if I think about it because it’s so bright and cheery looking, or if the story was just so fun and funny and awesome, or both. Probably both.

14. Favorite book-to-movie adaptation you’ve seen this year?

Apparently, I don’t see too many of these? I did watch that Tolkien movie, which was awesome! I was thinking does Harry Potter count? But alas, I have seen The Umbrella Academy, though I haven’t actually read the book. I have read Harry Potter, at least. Lol

But Circe by Madeline Miller is getting its own TV series! I can’t wait to see that. 🙂

15. Favorite review or post you’ve written this year?

Basically any #TBR post. I love planning out what I’m going to read for the month. Oh, the anticipation!

16. The most beautiful book you bought or received so far this year?

I really love the cover of Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. So vibrant and colorful.

17. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Well, this is embarrassing. I’ve at least started … one … of these. (Where I End and You Begin)

I’m ashamed.

So really, this is where the “freak out” in Mid-Year Freak Out comes in. Now, we see.

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This was a lot of fun to put together. Have you posted a Mid-Year Freak Out Tag on your blog? If so, link it down in the comments so I can see yours!