Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag 2018 // Favorites, Anticipated Reads, + More

I’m officially freaking out because it’s June.

How can it already be June? 2018 doesn’t have my permission to go by this fast. Due to my state of panic at this rapidly passing year, it’s only fitting that I participate in the Mid-Year Book Freak Out tag. 😉

Even though I haven’t read at all much this year, I still wanted to take part in this fun tag. That way I’ll be able to look back at the end of the year and see what I was reading way back in June! Maybe by then I won’t be 9 books behind on my Goodreads challenge.

First of all, thank you to Lily for nominating me for this tag! Lily’s blog is beautiful, her posts are amazing, and on top of all of that she’s so incredibly kind. Definitely go check out her blog and her post. Thank you again, Lily!♥

I’m so excited to do this tag, because although I’ve read only a little this year, I’ve discovered a lot of amazing books and some of my new all-time favorites. Without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Best book you’ve read so far this year

This is the hardest question ever! (Says every bookworm ever.) I’ve been lucky enough to read so many books that really left an impact on me. I think it’s going to have to be a tie between A List of Cages (my review here) and They Both Die at the End (my review here).

If you haven’t read either of these…please do, they’re amazing!

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far this year

The only sequel I’ve read this year was a reread of The Perilous Journey, by Trenton Lee Stewart. It’s the second book in the Mysterious Benedict Society, a middle grade series that I highly recommend to anyone looking for some quality MG. 🙂

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to

Literally so many?? So many bloggers have been doing amazing “new release” posts that cause me to add about 10,000 more books to my TBR. I’m slowly drowning under its weight, but it’s fine.

These were all published in May, and are all books I really want to read soon. I’m hoping they become available in my library soon so I can read them!

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

Honestly, I’m not 100% sure? But I do know that I absolutely can’t wait for What If It’s Us, by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (!!).

This year I got introduced to Adam Silvera and learned of his tendency to break my heart in each and every one of his books, BUT I always end up loving them so much and I just can’t wait to read this one! (I haven’t read any of Becky Albertalli’s books, but I’ve heard she’s amazing as well!)

Y’all, I can’t wait.

5. Biggest disappointment

The only book I’ve read that I completed despised was 1984, by George Orwell. I had to read it for school, and while I know it’s a classic and maybe I shouldn’t despise, I just do.

Okay, maybe I just disliked it because I was forced to annotate it? And because I had to write essays about it? Whatever the reason, I don’t recommend it and will not be rereading it (even though I own a copy because yay! annotations!).

6. Biggest surprise

This definitely has to be The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green.

After everything I’d heard about it, and after waiting so long to jump on the bandwagon, I really didn’t know how I’d end up feeling about it. But I LOVED it! I can see myself reading it again in upcoming years.

7. Favorite new author (debut or new to you)

Does it surprise anyone that the answer is Adam Silvera??

8. Newest fictional crush

Okay, how am I supposed to remember all the amazing characters from books I read way back in January? *cries* I may be leaving someone out, but I have to pick Adam from A List of Cages.

I did way too much gushing about him in my last post, but if you missed it: he’s sweet, kind to everyone, clumsy, has the best relationship with his mom, takes in a younger character like a brother, and just all around is the best guy. I wish he weren’t fictional.

9. Newest favorite character

I don’t know that a character from a book I read this year is my new all time favorite character, but one of my favorite character out of all the books I read would have to be Starr Carter, from The Hate U Give.

She’s so strong and brave and so many other things that I don’t even have the words to describe. I admire her so much as a character!

10. Book that made you cry

I cry a lot in books. And, as it turns out (as I look at my Goodreads), I’ve read a lot of books this year that broke my heart into a million fragments. I’m looking at you, Adam Silvera.

I apologize for the long list, but how could I pick just one? So many books have contributed to slowly breaking my heart.

11. Book that made you happy

This has to be Happily, by Chauncey Rogers (my review here).

It was a fairytale retelling that just left me feeling so happy and just…ahh, I love fairytales and this book so much.♥

12. Favorite book to movie adaptations you’ve seen this year

The only one I’ve seen so far was the 2018 A Wrinkle In Time movie, and I really liked it! I know a lot of people disliked A Wrinkle In Time, but the movie was really well done.

13. Favorite review you’ve written this year

I’d have to say my review of A List of Cages! (I’m sorry not sorry for the amount of times I’ve mentioned this book in this post.)

I enjoyed that book so much, and genuinely loved writing the review. I was typing a mile a minute because I had so, so much to say and all I wanted to do was share my love for the book with everyone else!

14. Most beautiful book you’ve bought (or received) so far this year

I’ve only bought a few books this year (thanks to Barnes & Noble gift cards), and I’d have to say the most beautifully, cover wise, is More Happy Than Not.

There’s a lot going on, but I love it. The rainbow just makes me so happy, and the way the cover is about half an inch shorter in width is really cool. (If that makes sense at all. 😉 )

15. What book do you need to read by the end of the year?

I’m going to take a leaf from Lily’s book and say… a ton of books on my TBR. I just want to get as much reading done as possible!

And that concludes my freak out! It was really nice to look back over what I’ve read this year and remember some favorites in particular. 🙂 I know by the time this post goes up, June will be close to being over (what?), but there’s still time to do this mid-year tag.

I nominate…

Aimee // Elizabeth // May // Tiffany // Bella // Michelle // Kimberly // Joanna

As always, no pressure at all to do this if I nominated you! And if I didn’t and you’d like to do this, go right ahead (and let me know if you’re doing it so I can read your post).

So, tell me about your 2018 so far, reading wise. Favorites? Least favorites? What books made you cry? Have you read any of the ones I’ve mentioned? I’d love to chat with you in the comments.

Photo by Beatriz Pérez Moya on Unsplash >> Credits for the image I used in my featured image! Thank you to the photographer.