Wait.. Why are we freaking out?
I have no earthly idea how it’s July already but that’s how it goes, isn’t it? Time flies.
Last year I came across this tag and really enjoyed doing it so I figured, here we are again anyway, we might as well have fun with it!
I don’t know how your reading has gone this year, hopefully well, but mine has been a bit.. slow. A lot has happened and it’s interfered with my ability to just sit down and read. (I don’t think non-readers understand how stressful it is for readers when they can’t sit down and get out of their heads for a while.) I’m determined to carve out more time for this last half of the year (wish me luck!) but, until then, I’ll just share with you some of the books that have made an impact so far.
I originally stumbled upon this tag @ Paperbacks and Planners and I would like to say Thank you! for sharing it with everyone.
Happy Reading!
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Best book you’ve read so far in 2022:
The Clackity by Lora Senf
Publication date: June 28, 2022
My Review
Reminiscent of Doll Bones, this deliciously eerie middle grade novel tells the story of a girl who must enter a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences and rescue her aunt.
Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022:
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seaman McGuire
Book 2 of 8: Wayward Children
Seanan McGuire returns to her popular Wayward Children series with Down Among the Sticks and Bones—a truly standalone story suitable for adult and young adult readers of urban fantasy, and the follow-up to the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List book Every Heart a Doorway
New release you haven’t read yet, but want to:
Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Publication date: September 6, 2022
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.
Biggest disappointment:
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake
Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. One impossible explanation. In this edge-of-your-seat mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake, the truth is as hard to believe as it is to find.
Biggest surprise:
Verity by Colleen Hoover
Whose truth is the lie? Stay up all night reading the sensational psychological thriller that has readers obsessed, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us.
Favourite new author (debut or new to you):
Rachel Harrison
Stuart Neville
Lora Senf
Margarita Montimore
Newest fictional crush:
The kind of books I read don’t generally lean towards ‘crush-worthy’ characters.. something about most of them being serial killers and all.
Damn those standards of mine.
Newest favourite character:
Evie, the main character in ‘The Clackity’
by Lora Senf
(I rarely repeat books in one tag.. but I’m making an exception this time.)
Book that made you cry:
I avoid those.
I don’t enjoy crying in the first place but for a story to actually have me crying means it usually involves kids or animals being mistreated.. and that’s not really what I look for in my books.
Book that made you happy:
Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore
Publication date: July 5, 2022
My Review
From Margarita Montimore, the author of GMA Book Club pick and national bestseller Oona Out of Order, Acts of Violet is a dazzling and twisty new novel about a famous magician who disappears, leaving her sister to figure out what really happened.
What books do you need to read by the end of the year:
The Diviners by Libba Bray
(I will read you. I will. I’m just letting the anticipation build but you just wait..)
The Neighbor’s Cat by J.S. Ellis
The First Time I Died by Jo MacGregor
Favourite book to movie adaptation you’ve seen this year:
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
(I had to re-watch this because I loved it so much and not just because of Emilia Clarke, who is reason enough to watch anything.)
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, discover the love story that captured over 20 million hearts in Me Before You, After You, and Still Me.
What do you think?
Have you read any of these? Are you hoping to?
Thank you for taking a moment to check out my Mid-year Freak Out, if you’ve taken part in this tag.. do leave a link in the comments below, I would love to stop by and check it out!
Take care, be well, and let’s all enjoy the last half of 2022.
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You are so right about the stress caused by not being able to read! LOL! I loved Verity as well.
Some people have video games, art, music.. We have our books.
Glad to hear it! It seems like Verity’s a love/hate kind of read.
So many great book recs. Thanks for sharing! I’m excited to try The Clackity and Fairy Tale (I used to be obsessed with parallel universes). I also heard good things about Nettle and Bone, so I hope you enjoy!
Thank you, I’m glad you like them! I’m also a pretty big fan of parallel universes and other plains of existence. They’re so fascinating.
And I’m so psyched about Nettle and Bone that I’m actually worried it might not live up to expectation.😅
Yay, kindred spirits! They really are quite riveting in theory. I hope that read is amazing. 🙂
Yeah I have heard some mixed things about that author in particular, but not enough to dissuade me from trying them out sometime. I’ve just got a horrendous backlog lol
We do seem to like a lot of the same things in books so I would honestly be more surprised if you don’t enjoy it. No pressure! 😋
And I’ve heard plenty of mixed feelings about Kingfisher but I personally loved The Twisted Ones. I don’t think I’ve ever come across such a delightful mixture of creepy and hilarious.. I can’t wait to see if that continues in her other books!
Stay safe!
Haha, I’m sure I’ll enjoy the adventure. ☺️
Oh wow, thats a good mix, horror and comedy. Hard to pull off but if you do it can be fantastic. I hope they make it work!
It’s just nice to read.. even the disappointing ones teach us something new. 😋
And you’re not kidding! I was so impressed. Humor is Not something you see in horror often.
True! I’ve been having a bunch of 3 star reads lately, but I don’t regret giving them a try. I’ve also heard even more good things about Kingfisher since we last talked haha. Someone’s popular!
Right? Yeah, I tend to veer away from the humor, only inserting it where it makes sense with the characters and even then, I just feel lame. I tend to make a lot of dad jokes lol.
I’ve had more ‘meh’ reads this year than 5 stars ones.. but I feel like that’s how it usually goes.
Lol. Dad jokes are pretty great. 😂
I don’t usually care for humor in horror but Kingfisher does it in a way that’s really entertaining. I highly recommend checking out ‘The Twisted Ones’ if you get a chance, I think you’d enjoy it.
Yeah, I think that’s relatively normal for a bigtime reader.
Haha, thank you!
Okay, that was the one on my TBR actually. I’m reading this one called Tales from the Gas Station and the MC is a very reluctant hero with a lot of wit and sarcasm, so the humor is really working for me. Very dry haha.
That’s great! It’s so worth it!
And Tales from the Gas Station is definitely another one I’ll have to keep an eye out for. I have no idea where you find these crazy books but I love it.
Actually, a friend gave me Tales from the Gas Station for my birthday. I will say that the novelty of how it is written is wearing off on me, but I’m still enjoying the book.
Honestly finding a book is sometimes just dumb luck for me.
Books from friends are some of the best and worst reads. How did you feel about the book altogether?
And it does feel like that, doesn’t it?
I actually did a review not too long ago on it, but the gist is that it started off strong, but it kinda went surreal off the wall horror and got too confusing with not enough answers as to what was really going on. I ended up giving it a 3 (meh) and I’m not gonna continue the series. 🙁
Oh totally. Sometimes a book has to almost literally smack you in the face for you to find it lol!
Yikes.. It’s so frustrating when you get hooked in the beginning and it just leaves you hanging. Shame.
I tend to like the quiet books you trip over instead. Everyone will stop for something if it’s loud enough.. but the quiet ones take you by surprise.
Right, it was so weird because I did truly enjoy the first parts only for it to fizzle out. 🙁
Oh totally, especially hidden indie gems. They can really surprise you.
Hope Diviners goes well for you. I think it’s a great series.
Thanks! I can’t for the life of me figure out what my deal is with that book. I should just read it but nooo.. Years later and we’re still in the world’s most pointless staring contest.
Lol!