It’s freak-out time! Technically, the middle of the year has already passed, but the mid-year book freak out tag is always so much fun and I just really enjoy seeing how much I failed at reading consistently too much to pass up on this opportunity. (Jk…kinda)
Thank you so much to the wonderful Olivia @ Purely Olivia for tagging me for this!
There are a bunch of different versions of this tag that float around every year, so I’ll mostly be using the questions I used last year, which I’ll include in a list at the end in case anyone wants to copy them into their own post!
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This post contains affiliate links for Amazon and Bookshop, meaning that I will earn a commission if you click through and end up buying something, at no extra cost to you. Thanks so much for your support!
First, an update on my Goodreads challenge:
I am behind by kind of a lot, but the good news is, my average rating is 4.5! So I haven’t read as much as I’d hoped but I have been reading books that I’ve really enjoyed.
I’m also making progress on my #StartOnYourShelfathon challenge for the year (This is a year-long challenge at one of my favorite blogs, The Quiet Pond!):
(The blue stars are placeholders, the yellow stars are for completed books, and the red stars are for new favorites.)
Now, onto the tag!
Note: all book covers are from Goodreads and link to my review, or the book’s Goodreads page if I haven’t written one.
Favorite Book of 2020 So Far
A Very Large Expanse of Sea is so good! I loved the characters, the sibling relationships, the romance. I’m super excited to read more books by Tahereh Mafi now (especially since I’ve been hearing Ilsa @ A Whisper of Ink rave about the Shatter Me series for a while).
Favorite New Series
Definitely the Aru Shah series! If you don’t know, it’s Roshani Chokshi’s middle grade series from Rick Riordan’s imprint, and it was absolutely adorable. There are two more books out from this series right now, with another on the way, so I’m excited to continue reading it.
Favorite Sequel
Legacy is the most recent installment of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which is so fun and addictive (probably not the most high-quality, but I do not care). I’ve been reading this series for ages and I’m always so excited when another sequel comes out!
New Release I Need to Read
There are SO many books I could pick for this one, because there have been so may fantastic-sounding releases recently, but my top choice is probably A Song Below Water, which has been backordered for a while but I think should be coming to me soon! It’s about sirens and intersectionality and it sounds INCREDIBLE.
Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of 2020
Another Roshani Chokshi book! I was fortunate enough to get an e-arc of The Silvered Serpents through a Netgalley promotion and I am SO excited.
Biggest Disapointment
Ok so I actually haven’t disliked a single book this year! I didn’t realize that until writing this post but wow, that’s a good sign I guess.
Biggest Surprise
Okay so I don’t think I read anything this year that I thought I wouldn’t like but ended up liking, so both of my picks for this are books that I was surprised existed, if that makes sense? Firstly, The Girl Who Steals Christmas, because one day I was scrolling through my WordPress reader and happened to see that it had been published on Cait @ Paper Fury‘s blog. (It’s a short story sequel to her novel The Boy Who Steals Houses!) And I hadn’t heard of Courtney Summers’ debut Cracked Up to Be until I received an email from a publisher about it, and it turned out to be really good!
Bookshop.org | Amazon (for Cracked Up to Be)
Favorite Hidden Gem
In the Role of Brie Hutchens… is middle grade, so because I mostly follow YA readers I haven’t heard a whole lot of buzz for it, but it’s so sweet!!
Favorite Debut or New-to-Me Author
Zora Neale Hurston is probably my choice for this one. We read Their Eyes Were Watching God in my English class this year and I really enjoyed it.
Newest Fictional Crush
Definitely Ocean from A Very Large Expanse of Sea.
Newest Favorite Character
I’m trying not to list books twice in this post but I have to use In the Role of Brie Hutchens… again because both Parker, the protagonist’s love-obsessed best friend, and Wallace, their adorable classmate, were some of my favorite new characters.
Book That Made Me Cry
Both of these books made me cry!
Bookshop.org | Amazon (for Between the World and Me)
Bookshop.org | Amazon (for In the Role of Brie Hutchens)
Book That Made Me Happy
Love, Creekwood takes the cake for this one. I’m not sure I’ve ever swooned so hard as I did when I read this novella full of emails from the Creekwood characters.
Favorite Adaptation
(Photos from IMDb)
All of these are incredible! I especially appreciated the changes that the Little Fires Everywhere show made from the book—usually, I’m not a fan of adaptations that make a lot of changes from the original, but in this case, it was so well done and actually added so much to the story.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Just Mercy | Little Women | Little Fires Everywhere
Favorite Review I’ve Written This Year
I’m really happy with my Foul is Fair review, and I also really really liked reading the book. (A very murdery and feminist Macbeth retelling!)
Favorite Cover
The House on Mango Street was another read for my English class (a reread for me), and another one that I enjoyed. I felt like I got a lot more out of it than when I read it the first time around in middle school.
My mid-year freak out posts from previous years!
I hope you enjoyed this check-in about my reading so far this year. Let me know in the comments how you’re doing with your reading in 2020 and if you’ve read any of the books that I talked about (or seen any of the shows/movies)!
Here’s the list of questions I used, in case you want to do the tag:
Click to view the questions
1. Favorite Book of 2020 So Far2. Favorite New Series
3. Favorite Sequel
4. New Release I Need to Read
5. Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of 2020
6. Biggest Disapointment
7. Biggest Surprise
8. Favorite Hidden Gem
9. Favorite Debut or New-to-Me Author
10. Newest Fictional Crush
11. Newest Favorite Character
12. Book That Made Me Cry
13. Book That Made Me Happy
14. Favorite Adaptation
15. Favorite Review I’ve Written This Year
16. Favorite Cover
♥ Annie
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Love Creekwood definitely made me happy too! I loved revisiting the characters again and I really want more from the Simonverse!
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Yesss same!! Fingers crossed Becky comes through with more Simonverse content at some point, but I’m also really excited about her upcoming book Kate in Waiting (which I think isn’t part of the Simonverse)
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Ooh I didn’t know about that!!
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Super excited for it!!
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Ahh, I loved reading this post, Annie!! I’m happy to see you loved A Very Large Expanse of Sea, I did too- and Ocean was SO sweet. I’m convinced boys like him don’t exist outside of books…but I hope I’m wrong, lol. This made me want to reread The House on Mango Street- I read it for the first time in middle school too and didn’t love it, but maybe I’d have different thoughts now. Oh, I’m glad you haven’t been disappointed by any books this year, that’s so good! Here’s to hoping you have a happy rest of 2020 with reading (and everything else).💛
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Ahh thank you Olivia!! Omg I know, Ocean is incredible. I feel exactly the same way lollll, I have yet to meet any boy as top-tier as him but here’s hoping I guess. The House on Mango Street was definitely a different experience reading it now, so I don’t know, you might like it more! I hope you have a great rest of 2020 as well ❤
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Ah I loved the Little Fires Everywhere adaptation, too! And Little Women was incredible! Just Mercy was also a really great movie, but I haven’t read the book yet. I really loved Their Eyes Were Watching God, too. I read it my junior year of high school, I think, and I really enjoyed it! I’m so glad that you’ve enjoyed all of your reads so far this year. That’s great 🙂 Hope the second half is just as good!
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Ahh yes they’re all so good!! Thanks so much Jessica, same to you! 🙂
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Thank god 2020 is halfway over indeed… let’s just hope it can’t possibly get that much worse in the rest of the year?? It’s amazing that your average rating is so high glad you’re reading books you like! I really want to read A Very Large Expase of Sea and A Song Below Water and aldsfj asdflksajf asldfkjsdlf adslfkjsdfk I neeeeeed The Silvered Serpents!!!
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Ugh same…fingers crossed I guess. Ahhh I hope you love them!! Ahah I feel very lucky about Silvered Serpents, I got an email from Netgalley that it was read now for like a day or something and I hit that button so fast
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OCEAN AS UR FICTIONAL CRUSH MAKES ME HAPPY. best choice!! he is SUCh a sweetheart. i don’t talk about expanse of sea enough but i really did love that book! (and also shatter me is such a different vibe from a very large expanse of sea so no idea if you’d like it (first book is terrible) but the original trilogy was so worth it for me!) ALSO YEAH perks of being a wallflower supremacy! it is literally my favourite movie of all time!! i enjoyed reading this a lot ❤
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He is AMAZING. Ahh good to know about the first book haha but I look forward to seeing what I think of the series. Yesss perks is so good!! I read the book a while ago but never got to see the movie recently and I ended up watching it twice in the span of a few weeks. Yay, thank you Ilsa, this makes me so happy ❤
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As long as you are loving what you are reading, the number isn’t as important!!! Loved your answers
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I absolutely agree! Thanks Sean 🙂
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