You are currently viewing Time for the Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag 2023

Time for the Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag 2023

Can you believe we’re over half way through the year?

Welcome!

I originally came across this tag Paperbacks and Planners and I enjoyed it so much that it’s now one I do each year to catch up on, keep track of, and share some of the year’s bookish fun—and this year is no different.

But before we dive in, can I just say how completely mind-blowing it is that we’re this far into 2023 already.. Wasn’t it just Christmas?
I want to be more surprised but it seems like every year gets shorter and shorter.

Time to get serious and start fitting in those Must Reads before the holidays are upon us.
Until then—let’s check out some of the best, worst, and most anticipated books I’ve had the pleasure of picking up so far.

Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

Best book you’ve read so far in 2023:

These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall

Helen Vaughan doesn’t know why she and her mother left their ancestral home at Harrowstone Hall, called Harrow, or why they haven’t spoken to their extended family since. So when her grandfather dies, she’s shocked to learn that he has left everything—the house, the grounds, and the money—to her. The inheritance comes with one condition: she must stay on the grounds of Harrow for one full year, or she’ll be left with nothing.

There is more at stake than money. For as long as she can remember, Harrow has haunted Helen’s dreams—and now those dreams have become a waking nightmare. Helen knows that if she is going to survive the year, she needs to uncover the secrets of Harrow. Why is the house built like a labyrinth? What is digging the holes that appear in the woods each night?And why does the house itself seem to be making her sick?

With each twisted revelation, Helen questions what she knows about Harrow, her family, and even herself. She no longer wonders if she wants to leave…but if she can.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2022:

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

Having survived sinister scarecrows and the malevolent smiling man in Small Spaces, newly minted best friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian are ready to spend a relaxing winter break skiing together with their parents at Mount Hemlock Resort. But when a snowstorm sets in, causing the power to flicker out and the cold to creep closer and closer, the three are forced to settle for hot chocolate and board games by the fire.

Ollie, Coco, and Brian are determined to make the best of being snowed in, but odd things keep happening. Coco is convinced she has seen a ghost, and Ollie is having nightmares about frostbitten girls pleading for help. Then Mr. Voland, a mysterious ghost hunter, arrives in the midst of the storm to investigate the hauntings at Hemlock Lodge. Ollie, Coco, and Brian want to trust him, but Ollie’s watch, which once saved them from the smiling man, has a new cautionary message: BEWARE.

With Mr. Voland’s help, Ollie, Coco, and Brian reach out to the dead voices at Mount Hemlock. Maybe the ghosts need their help–or maybe not all ghosts can or should be trusted.

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

The Will of the Many by James Islington

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Publication date: August 15, 2023
Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Publication date: September 12, 2023
The Nighthouse Keeper by Lora Senf
Publication date: October 17, 2023

Biggest disappointment:

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie

When I think about what I actually did, I feel somewhat sad that nobody will ever know about the complex operation that I undertook. Getting away with it is highly preferable, of course, but perhaps when I’m long gone, someone will open an old safe and find this confession. The public would reel. After all, almost nobody else in the world can possibly understand how someone, by the tender age of 28, can have calmly killed six members of her family. And then happily got on with the rest of her life, never to regret a thing.

When Grace Bernard discovers her absentee millionaire father has rejected her dying mother’s pleas for help, she vows revenge and coldly sets out to get her retribution—by killing them all, one by one. Compulsively readable, Bella Mackie’s debut novel is driven by a captivating first-person narrator who talks of “self-care” and social media while calmly walking the reader through her increasingly baroque acts of murder. But then, Grace is imprisoned for a murder she didn’t commit.

Biggest surprise:

Vicious by V. E. Schwab

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

Favourite new author (debut or new to you):

D. Wallace Peach
Kate Alice Marshall

Nicholas Binge
Hayley Chewins

Newest fictional crush:

Hmm.. I don’t really have a fictional one—I’m more likely to crush on the authors.
Is that weird?

Newest favourite character:

I’m not sure I can really say that I have a favorite so far, however, there are those I enjoyed following. There’s an array of interesting, endearing, and entertaining characters in in the popular manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge.

In Taisho-era Japan, kindhearted Tanjiro Kamado makes a living selling charcoal. But his peaceful life is shattered when a demon slaughters his entire family. His little sister Nezuko is the only survivor, but she has been transformed into a demon herself! Tanjiro sets out on a dangerous journey to find a way to return his sister to normal and destroy the demon who ruined his life.

Learning to destroy demons won’t be easy, and Tanjiro barely knows where to start. The surprise appearance of another boy named Giyu, who seems to know what’s going on, might provide some answers—but only if Tanjiro can stop Giyu from killing his sister first!

Book that made you cry:

I don’t know about cry but one that did tug especially hard on the old heart strings was The Sisters of Straygarden Place by Hayley Chewins.

The grass grew taller than the house itself, surrounding it on all sides. It stuffed the keyholes and scraped against the roof. It shook the walls and made paintings shiver.

Seven years ago, the Ballastian sisters’ parents left them in the magical Straygarden Place, a house surrounded by tall silver grass and floating trees. They left behind a warning saying never to leave the house or go into the grass. “Wait for us,” the note read. “Sleep darkly.”

Ever since then, the house itself has taken care of Winnow, Mayhap, and Pavonine—feeding them, clothing them, even keeping them company—while the girls have waited and grown up and played a guessing game: Think of an animal, think of a place. Think of a person, think of a face. 

Until one day, when the eldest, fourteen-year-old Winnow, does the unthinkable and goes outside into the grass, and everything twelve-year-old Mayhap thought she knew about her home, her family, and even herself starts to unravel.

With luscious, vivid prose, poet and author Hayley Chewins transports readers to a house where beloved little dogs crawl into their owners’ minds to sleep, sick girls turn silver, and anything can be stolen—even laughter and silence.

Book that made you happy:

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher isn’t just a killer horror novel, it’s also one you’ll laugh your way through.

Pray they are hungry.

Kara finds the words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring this peculiar area—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more one fears them, the stronger they become.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year:

For starters? Because that list is ridiculous at this point..
Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo

The House at the End of the World by Dean Koontz

Favourite book to movie adaptation you’ve seen this year:

IT by Stephen King (2017 remake)

I didn’t find the remake or Chapter Two nearly as messed up as the first IT but, I admit, they did a damn good job.

Well, that’s that for now..
Thank you for stopping by and checking out my post, I hope you enjoyed the selection!
Have you done this tag? Leave a link to it or comment below and I’ll check it out, I’d love to see what books you chose.

What has been your favorite read so far?

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Yolanda @ Past Midnight

    I have These Fleeting Shadows on my TBR, glad to know it’s a good read! Hope you have a great second half of 2023!

  2. Athena (OneReadingNurse)

    Oh man I’ve got to read Hell Bent too, I was so excited for it and 🤷‍♀️

  3. Zainab

    Ahh you’ve read such a diverse range of books this half of the year – I haven’t read any of them, but I’m looking forward to see what you’re reading next! What is next on your TBR?

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