The Mid-Year Freakout Tag

Hey guys, this is Abi here,

And even though I do this tag every year, it never gets old. At least for me anyway.

So I'm doing it again.

Enjoy.

1. The best book you've read so far in 2020.

I really don't know with this!

I can't decide now, but here's my top three:

-Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1), by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

-Skyward (Skyward #1), by Brandon Sanderson

-What If It's Us, by Adam Silvera & Becki Albertalli

They're all amazing, I recommend picking up any of them. Clearly, What If It's Us is a contemporary, it's an LGBT romance that takes place in New York, and there's musical theatre references too so it's frickin adorable. Skyward is an amazingly well crafted novel about proving people's opinions of you wrong, and Illuminae is a case study made out of reports and text messages, it's not structured like an ordinary tale. Obviously there's more to these amazing novels, these are just sum ups, but all three are fantastic in their own right. (And the authors are absolutely phenomenal.)

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2020.

I haven't read a whole lot of sequels yet this year for some reason, but so far, this is my favourite sequel:

I finished this today, so I'm counting it! This series is so amazing, unlike anything I've read before, especially with the format, and aside from that, it's basically surprise after surprise, that I just didn't see coming. More on my wrap up, but if you haven't read this, come and join! Jump on the bandwagon. It's a crazy ride.

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to.

I'm planning on getting every book from my April-June anticipated releases post that I haven't read yet for my TBR next month, and out of all the books that are left, The Lightness of Hands is the one that's been stuck in my brain the longest. The Lightness of Hands is about sixteen-year-old Ellie, and after her Dad's magician gigs dry up (after he fails on the biggest stakes trick ever), their insurance lapses, leaving her Dad's heart condition unchecked, and forcing Ellie to battle her bipolar II disorder without medication. But when he's offered a chance at redemption, a second chance to perform the trick that ended his career, Ellie takes it and lies about it to drag him across the country. But when her lie is exposed, Ellie will have to take her illness head-on- to save her father- and herself.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail on this one, if you want all the in-depth information on Grown, you can see it here. Grown is a story based on the allegations and accusations of the R&B star R Kelly, but there are a long list of trigger warnings, and even though I feel like this is a book I need to read, I urge people to do your research on what this book discusses before jumping into it. This comes out in September, and you can bet I'm going to be tearing through the pages as soon as I get my hands on it.

5. Biggest disappointment.

After loving Tomi Adeyemi's debut, I had high expectations for the sequel. Children of Blood and Bone took the Booktube community by storm when it's own voice narrative struck the YA section in 2018, so I had high hopes. And even though I still enjoyed it, I didn't hold a candle to the first book in the series. If there's one more book, I've managed the first two, so without a doubt I'll continue to the end, but Children of Virtue and Vengeance just fell flat for me. (Don't hate me please.)  

6. Biggest surprise.

Although I'd heard everyone singing this book's praises, I didn't truly believe it until I listened to the audiobook back in April. Every Heart A Doorway takes place at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, for children that have come back from secret lands (through magical doors that take them to places outside of the ordinary world) and haven't been able to deal with it. The tale starts when Nancy first arrives at the Home, and before basically 5 minutes, disaster strikes. And it just starts from there. I was so surprised at how much I instantly loved this, and how much was packed in within 174 pages/ 3 ish hours (audiobook), that I had to choose this. I'm three books in now, and this series continues to be amazing.

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you.)

I finished this just last Friday, and the ending is still spinning in my mind. (Yes, even after picking up Gemina after.) I'm telling you now, Diana Urban is an author to watch. All Your Twisted Secrets has a simple, yet incredibly deadly, fast paced, edge of your seat plot- 6 teenagers trapped in a room with one instruction- kill one of them, or they all die. The character development is spot on, it's so easy to link events to the characters, I never had any problems. Such an addictive read.

8. Newest fictional crush.

I'm pretty sure I skipped this one last year, and the trend continues...
I don't really have a new fictional crush.

Oh wait...

KELL!

I suppose he counts.

(Of course he does, I'd never forget you, my dear Kell.)

9. Newest favourite character.

I really hate to name two characters from one series...
But not enough to not do it anyway!
LILA BARD.

She's not stupid, she doesn't try to take on the world. (Often.) She's incredible with a knife, and I think her and Tanith Low would be an awesome team. Maybe not Lila and Valkyrie though. But she's awesome.

10. Book that made you cry.

There are a few contenders for this one, so I'm just going to list them:
-The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman
-The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
-A Girl in Three Parts, by Suzanne Daniel
Go and read these three, they're all masterpieces. (In my opinion.)
Also I love all of these covers.

11. Book that made you happy.

Although this wasn't Mo Farah himself talking in my ear when I was listening to this audiobook (the physical copy is out of print at the moment), it was fantastic to hear about his experience from a scrawny secondary schoolboy to Great Britain's golden medal winner he is today. Being the runner and athletics fan that I am, I found it truly inspiring, hearing about the work he put in for years, as he faced obstacle after obstacle. But he did it, and it wonderful to find out about his journey and how he reached his success.

12. Most beautiful book you've bought this year (or received.)

Just look at that cover. The physical copy is just as gorgeous, and it's perfect for the plot too. I mean, Marie Lu has always had stunning covers, but this one really takes the cake. And the language for The Kingdom of Back is just as luxurious and beautiful as the cover. I'm so glad I was able to read it when I did because it's pretty phenomenal for a debut historical fiction novel.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

These are the only books I need to read to complete all of my TBR Jar Challenges for the year. The reason I haven't devoured these yet is because I'm saving them for October (I already have a special spooky TBR planned and it includes The Chronicles of Alice duology.)

Okay! That's it for today!

As always, if you want to do this tag, you're certainly free to do so.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of reading and I'll see you all next week. I'll be starting The Henna Wars, by Adiba Jaigirdar this weekend. What are you reading?

Byeeee!
-Abi xxxxx