The Mid Year Freak Out Tag – 2019 Edition!

The year is halfway gone already (WHAT?!) so it’s time to FREAK OUT and reflect on what I’ve accomplished in my bookish life and what I still hope to accomplish before the end of the year. I look forward to this post every single year and this will be the third edition. If you’re interested in the previous years, click HERE for the 2018 tag and click HERE for the 2017 tag. loved looking through the last two posts and seeing what I was loving and hoping to accomplish. It created a bit of a problem though….. my excitement about the books I mentioned made me want to read them all over again!!! But there are still so many books to get to in 2019…. too many books, too little time! Anyways, let’s see how 2019 has treated me so far…..

1 – THE BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2019:

Starting this tag off with some stellar decision making….. I couldn’t choose just one! AND, there have been so many amazing books this year, it was even hard to only mention just 5!!! This is making me realize just how impossible it’s going to be to pick a top 10 for the year!!!

2 – YOUR FAVOURITE SEQUEL THIS YEAR:

This book….. GOD THIS BOOK! I’ve loved all of the books in this series (*cough* the second book was shit though *cough*) but this one stands out above the rest. I loved this book SOOOO much! I loved the story, the characters, the world….. SO GOOD!!! I honestly think that the world and its rules will go down in history as one of my all time favourite worlds. I’m so glad that this is a series of short novellas so that I can reread them quickly!

3 – A NEW RELEASE THAT YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT REALLY WANT TO:

Apparently we’re keeping on the Seanan Mcguire train for a minute. I’ve heard nothing but high praise for this book. Even from people that I wouldn’t expect to love it. It’s quite big though, and I haven’t been in the right frame of mind just yet. I actually did try and start it last week and I immediately realized that this one is going to take some brain power to understand…… I don’t have that capacity at the moment! LOL!

4 – MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR:

I NEED THIS BOOK AND I NEED IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know I’m obsessed with Jay Kristoff (putting things mildly). I know this book will crush my soul and make me throw a temper tantrum fit for the most spoiled of 3 year olds, but I need it none the less! I need to know what happens, and I need more of Jay Kristof’s unflinching writing….. my soul calls to you Darkdawn!

5 – YOUR BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:

This really hurts to say, but The Librarian of Auschwitz was hands down the biggest disappointment this year. There was so much hype surrounding this book. And, most of all, there was so much promise for an amazing story! But it fell flat and I was bored to tears. It was impossible for me to read through this and not compare it to other books that are similar to this one…… there are far too many books out there that touched the subject better.

6 – BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE YEAR:

I don’t hide the fact that YA contemporary isn’t usually my thing. I’m in my mid (ok, fine, late…) 30’s so it’s usually hard to relate to teenage “problems”. But this book….. it’s probably hands down my favourite YA contemporary to date! The characters were phenomenal, the story was hard hitting and real, the romance was slow and realistic…. I could go on for ages! This book was everything!

7 – FAVOURITE NEW TO YOU OR DEBUT AUTHOR:

I might be a little biased….. but L. Ryan Storms has emerged onto the writing scene and the world should be thankful! This is a slow burning fantasy that captured my heart and her writing is smooth and grabs your attention. This is the type of book that you want to lay down in and make snow angels with the words. I know you love the cover (just look at it!!!), and I’m pleased to say that the inside matches the outside 🙂

8 – YOUR NEW FICTIONAL CRUSH:

Hmmmm I actually don’t think that I have one yet this year! I loved both Alex and Prince Henry in Red, White, and Royal blue but……. I have the wrong plumbing for them! LOL!!!!!

9 – NEW FAVOURITE CHARACTER:

Hands down…… Locke Lamora!!! The king of cunning and smart-assery. He’s bloody brilliant, has a plan A, B, C, D…. all the way through Z, has a mouth that he backs up with action….. I loved him so much! He also has the best one liner in a book, and that is – “Nice bird, asshole.” Yup, that’s why I love him!

10 – A BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY:

This hasn’t been the year for books to make me cry, so it was really hard to think of something to list for this question. I did cry at least once and got teary eyed MANY times. I think it was the fact that this book caught my emotions off guard that made me cry! It wasn’t always sad tears either. It was happy, sad, excited, overwhelmed, and so many more emotions. My heart wasn’t prepared for this rollercoaster!

11 – A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY:

Ever since I met Ariel in the first book of this series, I knew that her book would be my favourite. She’s so feisty, bold, in your face, dirty, foul mouthed, fearless….. basically me! She was the one I related to most…… but it wasn’t until I read this book that I realized just how much I would relate to her! This book was perfection. Made me feel better that I’m not the only one who hides her pain and insecurity with a loud mouth and fearless words. I had all the emotions!

12 – YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK TO MOVIE ADAPTATION THAT YOU’VE SEEN THIS YEAR:

Once again, this one is easy….. I haven’t seen any!! There are so many adaptations out there right now but, in order to watch them, I would need to stop reading and actually watch something! The worst part of this admission – I’ve had the DVD of The Hate You Give sitting on my coffee table for months……… but I just haven’t watched it!!

13 – FAVOURITE BLOG POST YOU’VE PUBLISHED THIS YEAR:

This touched a bit of a nerve with me. I’ve really been struggling over the last few months to come up with original and creative content. I’ve really only had the time to stick to reviews, wrap ups, haul’s and TBR’s. Pretty much all of my creativity gets put into Top 5 Tuesday (which isn’t a bad thing necessarily). And I feel like my lack of originality is making my blog suffer a little. I plan on making creativity more of a priority for the remainder of 2019.

Whew! Long winded intro to that question…… the answer is – If You Like This Then #19. This was the first If You Like This recommendation post of 2019, and it was also the recommendation post that had both Jay Kristoff AND Brandon Sanderson in the same post! You can’t get more epic than this!!!

14 – THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK THAT YOU’VE BOUGHT/RECEIVED THIS YEAR:

No need to explain this choice – JUST LOOK AT IT!!!!!

15 – WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BOOKS THAT YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

These are just a few of the MOUNTAIN OF BOOKS that are my TBR pile. All of these books have been sitting on my immediate TBR pile, and I swear I’m going to read them next…. but I NEVER do! I really hope that I can get to them before the end of the year!!

The tag is over, and I’m officially freaking out looking at all the books I want to get to by the end of the year! I’m also a little overwhelmed but how many top notch books i’ve read this year! Here are some bloggers I would love to share my middle of the year anxiety with…… (sorry!):

I Should Read That —— Kyera’s Library —— Shades Of Paper —— Anxious Nachos
Meeghan Reads —— CJR The Brit —— Lili’s Blissful Pages —— Much Ado About Books
A Fictional Bookworm —— The Punk Theory —— Storeys of Stories

If this sounds like a fun post, feel free to consider yourself tagged!!! I LOVE these types of tags and can’t wait to see your answers!

Until next time, happy reading!