So, it’s halfway through the year and I haven’t posted much, but I have been reading. Depression sucks, am I right? We’ve had multiple funerals, dealing with cancer in the family and honestly I just couldn’t get up the energy to do much posting.
I had thought about a quarterly thing and just posting a little wrap up of what I read the first quarter and a little highlight reel of the good stuff, but that didn’t happen and now here we are half a year gone.
I saw Lala post her tag and thought at least I can do that! So here we go!
1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2019.
The best book I’ve read so far this year would have to be Beartown by Fredrik Backman. I love hockey, small towns, sports in general. Halfway through this I actually thought about putting it down because it felt like it was dragging a bit and I couldn’t figure out where it was going but the ending just brought it up to 5 stars. I’ve read a lot of good books this year, but I don’t think any will top Beartown for me. I have Us Against you, the sequel to Beartown, out from the library and I’m pretty excited to read it.
2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019.
Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. That’s such a lame answer for me, obviously if you’ve read any of my post I’m obsessed with everything written by her.
I also liked The Reptile Room which is the second book in A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really wish we had those books when I was a child because I know I would have loved them and they would have been my favorites.
3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.
Outpost Zero volume one.
4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
99% Mine by Sally Thorne
5. Biggest disappointment. Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren. I love them so much, but boy was this book just irritating. It was also compared to The Hating Game, which is one of my new favorites of all time, so I went in with high hopes.
6. Biggest surprise. I just read Better When He’s Bad by Jay Crownover and I’m not usually into the bad boy romances just because I feel like so many of them just romanticize abuse but this book wasn’t like that at all. I thought it would be a 2 star read for me but gave it 4.
7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you) Maria Luis.
Our book club read Hold Me Today, which I loved, and after that she hosted one of our meetings (our book club is online). She was so sweet and had such a great personality and her writing was just awesome. The book was a perfect romantic comedy and I can’t wait to read more by her.
8. Newest fictional crush.
Leo from the Jane Yellowrock series. I’ve read the first 4 books and loved him since book 1. He’s a super powerful vampire and the Blood Master of the City. Jane and Leo are my ship, the rest of the guys are just whatever for me honestly.
9. Newest favourite character.
I’m super late to the party, as usual, but I just finally read Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. Kate Daniels is super bad ass while also being sarcastic and funny. I’m aware this book has been out for over 10 years. But I’m here for it now!
10. Book that made you cry.
https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1512278185l/35068763.jpg The Home For Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman. That book was a flipping tear jerker from start to finish if you can’t already tell by the title.
11. Book that made you happy. I just realized I’ve been reading a lot of dark, depressing books this year! Night in Werewolf Woods by R.L. Stine is a horror story choose your own ending book that I read with the kids and they loved it, so while the story wasn’t always the happiest (Depending on the ending) we had fun reading it and that made me happy.
12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)
13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year? My main focus is completing my romanceopoly tbr which I’ll be posting about soon.
That’s my mid year book freak out! If you want to see my answers from last year when I also did this tag hit the link here:
2018 mid year book freak out tag