Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2021

June is nearly over and what better way to close off this month’s blog post than to do the ‘Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag’. I’ve seen a lot of my favorite booktubers and book bloggers do this tag and I thought I’d do it too. It is such a fun tag and I enjoyed coming up with answers to all the questions. Some of them even made me think a lot because it was hard to pick just one book as the answer. But yeah, all in all, I think this is the perfect post to wrap up my first month of blogging and mark the passing of the first six months of the year.

Without any further ado, here’s my answers! (And also, I don’t have anybody to tag so if you feel like doing this, consider yourself tagged by me 🙂 )

BEST BOOK(s) YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2021

Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

I’m a very indecisive person and I always have a hard time picking just one book, so I decided to go for these two. I felt very lucky that I got to be on a book tour for Counting Down With You so I had a chance to read this book. It swiftly took its place in my heart and became a comfort read. It’s one of my favorite YA contemporaries that I’ve read this year and I’ll forever be praising this book. You can check out my post on instagram for it, right here. As for The Jasmine Throne, it’s one of my favorite fantasy reads of this year and Tasha Suri’s beautiful writing has me completely enchanted. I’m so looking forward to the sequel because I want more of Priya and Malini and Bhumika. I also posted a review for this book on my blog, which you can check out here.

BEST SEQUEL(s) YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2021

Legendary by Stephanie Garber (Caraval #2)
Finale by Stephanie Garber (Caraval #3)

Would it be cheating if I picked the final two books in a trilogy?? I’ve read quite a lot of sequels this year, but since I just finished the Caraval trilogy, I decided to choose these two books. The first book in the series, Caraval, was somewhat enjoyable, in the sense that I absolutely loved the worldbuilding and the writing style, but I didn’t like Scarlett as a protagonist that much because there were just some things about her that I didn’t really enjoy. But Legendary and Finale were incredible. I absolutely enjoyed both these books and that’s because of Tella; she was a fantastic protagonist and her relationship with Jacks…wow, I loved it. And that’s why I’ve picked these two as the best sequels I’ve read so far.

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO

Instructions For Dancing by Nicola Yoon
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Nicola Yoon’s books have always made me bawl and I bet Instructions For Dancing will do that too, so I’m looking forward to reading it. I absolutely loved Red, White and Royal Blue, which became one of my comfort reads, and I’m sure One Last Stop will also become one, so I’m looking forward to getting it soon.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE (s) FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao
XOXO by Axie Oh

How We Fall Apart has been on my TBR the second I heard about it and I feel so utterly honored to be a part of the street team for it. It’s an Asian dark academia murder mystery with lots of betrayal and I highly highly recommend it.

As for XOXO, I saw it in a book recommendations list on instagram and saw the adorable cover it has, and I was immediately pulled in. So I went and looked it up on goodreads and the premise just found me falling for this book in an instant. I’m a very new entrant to the k-pop/k-drama fandom and I know I’m just gonna love this.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas

I got this book second-hand and it had been lying on my shelf for a while so I thought I’d give it a try, seeing all the hype it has. And I’ll be utterly honest. I hated reading this book. 75% of it was so horribly boring that I wanted to DNF it and I forced myself to push through. I really wanted to continue this series, but honestly, I don’t think I’m even gonna attempt to do that.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich

So I don’t even know how I got approved for an ARC of this (bless the netgalley gods), but I’m so glad I did. This book was an unexpected favorite and I absolutely loved every single part of it. I highly recommend this book because oh god, it has everything you want. The writing is just *chef’s kiss*

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)

Blood of the Stars duology by Elizabeth Lim
-Spin The Dawn
-Unravel The Dusk

I discovered Elizabeth Lim’s Blood of the Stars duology by chance and I am so glad I read it, because it’s become one of my favorite fantasy reads and I really enjoyed both the books. The writing is so utterly beautiful and the world building is so well done and Maia and Edan’s relationship is really done well. Please, please do check this out!

NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

Jacks from the Caraval trilogy.

He’s a morally grey character, done well which makes him my type. Just the perfect new crush to have hehe.

NEWEST FAVOURITE CHARACTER

Error. Malfunction. This question cannot be answered.

(but seriously, I really can’t answer because I have a list of favorites)

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY/EMOTIONAL

Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Both these books struck me in completely different ways, but both made me utterly emotional. Eight Perfect Hours, because the main character was struggling with multiple things in her life, which is kind of what my situation is right now, though it’s not exactly the same. But she manages to overcome her struggles after a lot of challenges and that really struck me. And as for Hani and Ishu, I’ve had experiences with toxic friendships and bullying and Adiba Jaigirdar captures these two things very well. There were multiple scenes in the book that left me reeling. But it was such a great read.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

Again, I can’t just pick up a single one. At the risk of sounding cheesy, reading in general is something that makes me happy and so, even if I read a book that makes me feel a whole rollercoaster of emotions, I feel happy because I read it, finished it and enjoyed it. And even if I had to pick, I don’t think I could limit myself to just one or two choices. I’m sure there would be more than ten at least.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE BOUGHT/RECEIVED THIS YEAR

Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar

The second I saw the cover of Star Daughter, I knew I would end up buying it because it’s just so stunning. And I did end up buying it. It’s going to be on my July TBR and I hopefully will post a review on the blog as well.

WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

There’s so many! But on my priority TBR is The Song of Achilles and An Ember in the Ashes. I’ve been wanting to read these books for so long and I hope to get to them before the end of the year.

FAVORITE BOOK TO MOVIE/TV SERIES ADAPTATION YOU’VE SEEN THIS YEAR

As many as problems as this has, I think Shadow and Bone was adapted pretty well. I mean, the show made me like Mal, while I didn’t enjoy his personality in the books. Plus the crows…the crows…they were done so well and Freddy Carter, Amita Suman and Kit Young were the perfect casting for Kaz, Inej and Jesper respectively. (And of course, Ben Barnes….that man is too good looking)

How has your year been, reading wise so far? Have you read any of the books from my list?