Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2020

Better (very) late than never, right? This is one of my favourite posts to do, and I actually drafted it in June, but then I didn’t get around to posting it. But here it finally is!

---

Best Book You’ve Read So Far

The best book I’ve read in the first half of 2020 is definitely The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. It’s such a heartwarming, whimsical read, with the most wonderful found family. It’s already become one of my ultimate comfort reads.

---

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far

The Gilded Wolves was one of my favourite reads of 2019, so I was over the moon when my friend sent me an ARC of The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi for my birthday! I loved it just as much as the first book – I can’t wait until it comes out and you can all read it!!

---

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

There have been too many amazing releases that I haven’t gotten to yet, so I made a list with a release for every month:

• January: Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim
• February: This Train is Being Held by Ismée Amiel Willliams
• March: Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman
• April: Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan
• May: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
• June: I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee

---

Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year

I actually have three most anticipated releases for the rest of the year:

• Loveless by Alice Oseman
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
• The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

---

Biggest Disappointment

I had very high hopes for Failure to Communicate by Kaia Sønderby, especially because of the autism rep. And the autism rep was great, so definitely read it for that! But otherwise it fell very flat for me. It was not a bad book, I was just really hoping it would be an amazing read for me.

---

Biggest Surprise

I started I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn thinking it would be an enjoyable contemporary, and then I absolutely fell in love with it and it was a 5 star read. It spoke to me so much more than I expected.

---

Favourite New Author (Debut or New to You)

I read only one book by Talia Hibbert in 2019, so that was to soon for me to decide if she was a new favourite author or if I just loved this one particular book (Get a Life, Chloe Brown). Now though, I’ve read the sequel, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, as well as most of Talia Hibbert’s Ravenswood series, so it’s safe to say that she’s a new favourite author for me.

---

Newest Fictional Crush

Being aroace, I don’t get (fictional) crushes, but a love interest who absolutely stole my heart, from a book that I absolutely have to mention in this tag, is Ezra from Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender. He’s just the softest, kindest person, and I loved him a lot. Also: read this book, it’s amazing.

---

Newest Favourite Character

My newest favourite character has to be Vivy Cohen from Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit. This was the autistic main character of my heart and I loved her so much. This is an amazing epistolary middlegrade that I really need more people to read.

---

Book That Made You Cry

Queer historical YA just hits different, and Music From Another World by Robin Talley was no exception. This is such a special book.

---

Book That Made You Happy

One of the happiest queer books I’ve read this year is Camp by L.C. Rosen. Read this book for a love letter to the queer community in all its diversity. There’s just something so special about reading about a queer summer camp for teens if you consider that a lot of the time, these types of camps would be conversion camps, rather than the safe space Rosen created in the pages of this book. Camp Outland is a big “fuck you” to those. The teens here get a four week vacation from any kind of homophobia and transphobia in their lives, they get queer camp councillors who introduce them into queer culture and queer history, and everything a queer teen would need to know, on top of giving them a space where they can meet other teens like them.

---

Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

The most beautiful book I’ve bought this year so far is definitely the Illumicrate edition of Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. This naked hardback with orange sprayed edges is honestly so stunning.

---

What Books Do You Need To Read By the End of the Year

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman and Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao because I’ve been putting both of those off for way too long when I know I’m going to love them. These books are both by authors I think will be favourite authors, but by whom I’ve only read one book so far. If possible, I also want to get to Harley in the Sky and Rent a Boyfriend, by the same authors respectively.

---

What’s your favourite book of the year so far?

If you order books through the links in this post, I’ll make a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps me review more books and host more giveaways, so I’d be very grateful if you used it!