Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag 2019

Dear reader,

I am so excited to be writing this blog post because it’s one of my favourites to post every year. In 2017 I did the tag on YouTube, but last year I did it here and I’m now obsessed with the idea of having blog posts to re-read to be able to see when certain books came into my life.

So without further ado, let’s dive right into the Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag, created by Chami and Ely!

---

❥ Best book you’ve read so far in 2019

Just so you know, I am incapable of only choosing one book for all those questions. For this one I decided to go with three different books because they all blew my mind in a different way this year.

Children of Blood and Bone is one of the first books I read this year and I was so afraid because of all the hype around it. Well, needless to say but it really worked for me! I adored everything about it and cannot wait for the sequel to come out.

I read Furyborn because I received an ARC of its sequel and boy oh boy wasn’t I expecting to fall in love that fast and that hard with it. It’s basically everything I love in a fantasy novel and I already can’t wait for the third book, though the author is still writing it.

With the Fire on High is one of my last reads and I still can’t believe how good it was. I fell in love with The Poet X last year so I had a lot of hope for this one and it didn’t let me down. I highly recommend it.

❥ Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2019

Obviously I had to include Kingsbane for this one, the sequel to Furyborn. I don’t know what else to say, except that this series is everything I love in fantasy and I need more of it. I can’t wait to re-read those books some time soon!

I also wanted to include What’s a Girl Gotta Do? for this question because I flew through it and it was one of my favourite books of 2019. I already adored the book before it and this one was just as amazing. I highly recommend this series.

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

There are two books I’m dying to read but haven’t been able to yet: We Hunt the Flame and The Priory of the Orange Tree. I’ll be getting the second one with my next pay check because I want to read it before YALC, but I still don’t know when I’ll be able to pick up the first one. Hopefully soon!

❥ Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

There is nothing I want more than those books. They all come from authors/series I adore and I just *need* them. Who’s with me on this?

❥ Biggest disappointment

I am so sad to write this but Eve of Man was my biggest disappointment this year. I had a little bit of hope for this one and I even got it signed because I have been a fan of the band McFly since I was 12 years old and because I always admired Tom and Gio as a couple (and of course as people). Unfortunately I didn’t like this book at all and wouldn’t recommend it.

❥ Biggest surprise

Every year I add Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me series in this tag, so maybe I should stop being surprised and just admit that I like it. I actually am not a big fan of the first trilogy, I mostly love Kenji, but I really like where the story is going in this second trilogy and I was so happy with how Defy Me turned out to be.

I also adored The Devouring Gray this year, which I received from the publisher. I had my eyes on it for quite a while because I picked up a sampler of it last year at YALC and I’m so happy to have been so surprised by it.

Finally I was (maybe weirdly) surprised by The Cruel Prince. I heard so much about it and was so sure I would be disappointed, well it turned out just fine. I was just disappointed in the fact that people mostly talk about their ship for this book when not a lot of things happen about it in it (it made me wait and wait for something to happen, and not of did). What I loved the most about this series is its political aspects, and that’s what I would tell people to make them buy it.

❥ Favourite new author (Debut or new to you)

I feel like I have two new favorites this year, meaning I would buy any books those two would write, and they are Lucy Powrie and Claire Legrand. Lucy is a booktuber I have been watching for a while and she also is the sweetest person alive. I was so happy to receive a proof copy of her debut novel and her book made me even happier. I wish I would have read it when I was 14 years old because it would have helped me a lot!

I also had to add Claire Legrand to this question, but it’s kinda obvious to why. (I mean, I already quoted her two times before, and we’re not done.)

❥ Newest fictional crush

As weird as it may sound… I do not have new fictional crush this year. I haven’t read as much as last year because I was terribly busy and I have been quite loyal to my boys, Julian Blackthorn and Peter Parker.

❥ Newest favourite character

Even though I do not have any new crush I do have new favourite characters: Evelyn Hugo from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Rielle Dardenne from the Emporium series. They both inspire me a lot, maybe because they truly are two Slytherin queens, and I love them with everything that I have.

❥ Book that made you cry

Those two books don’t really have anything in common except from the fact that they moved me a lot. I cried in the metro because of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I haven’t technically cried for A Very Large Expanse of Sea but it quickly became one of my favourite reads of the year because of its themes.

❥ Book that made you happy

In 2017 I quoted Jen Wilde for this question, just like in 2018, and we are back at it in 2019. She can keep publishing books every year and I will always buy them, always adore them and always quote them here.

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

Is this blog post dedicated to Furyborn? Maybe. But anyway it truly is one of the most beautiful books I bought this year, alongside Aurora Rising which I got in an Illumicrate box (I received it for free as I am currently a rep for them on Instagram). Do I need to say more?

❥ Books you need to read by the end of the year

We Set the Dark on Fire and Wicked Fox are two books I need to buy and read before the end of the year. They both seem amazing, and can we talk about those covers? I fell in love with them the first time I laid my eyes on them!

---

And that’s it for me! If you ever want to do it, please consider yourself tag! (and I mean it! Do it!)

What is the best book (or books) you’ve read so far this year? And what book(s) let you down?

Love always,

Clara