The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag | 2020

This is my 4th year doing this tag and it's a fun one. I like pausing mid-year to take a look back at what I've read in the last six months. Which books have been real stand-outs, which authors have knocked my socks off, and what books I'm looking forward to in the coming months. So let me pull up my GoodReads shelves for reference and we'll get started.

1. BEST BOOK YOU'VE READ SO FAR IN 2020

Always starts with the toughest question! And in years past I've always shared three or four (or five) books, never able to narrow it down to just one "best" book. But this year that's not a problem because there truly is one stand-out. Still by Kennedy Ryan was stunningly good. And even now is still my only 5 star read of the year so far. Kennedy Ryan wrote more than just a love story. She managed to interweave social issues, poetry, humor and heart and combined it all to make a story that was vast and rich and relevant. Still was smart and thought-provoking, beautiful and gritty - and completely unforgettable.

2. BEST SEQUEL YOU'VE READ SO FAR IN 2020

Another easy one! Armentrout kicked up the action and the intensity in Rage and Ruin and it was a wild ride. A paranormal/urban fantasy, a kick-ass heroine who was still vulnerable, a swoony heroes, lots of action, and plenty of humor and plot twists that blew my mind. And that ending!

3. A NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN'T READ YET BUT WANT TO

     

This question might as well be called Reader Hall of Shame. Because let's be real - those new releases keep cranking out every single Tuesday and maybe some of you speedy readers can keep up but I can't! I was beyond excited for a follow-up to K.A. Tucker's The Simple Wild and yet Wild at Heart released in February and I still haven't read it. Too many books and too little time... it's the story of my life.

4. MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF 2020

     

Easy-peasy. Colleen Hoover's Heart Bones (July 28) and The  Brightest Night by Jennifer L. Armentrout (October 20).

5. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

The Honey-Don't List wasn't a bad book by any means, and maybe it seems odd to give a book just over three stars and still consider it my biggest disappointment. But The Honey-Don't List wasn't at all what I expected or wanted and, frankly, I've just come to expect more from Christina Lauren.

6. BIGGEST SURPRISE

    

I had high hopes for both of these but I had no idea how much I would love them. Both We Own Tonight by Corinne Michaels and Cake by J. Bengtsson were huge surprise hits for me.

7. FAVORITE DEBUT OR NEW-TO-ME AUTHOR

     

I've read several new-to-me authors already this year but it's been Corinne Michaels and Devney Perry that have been the stand-outs. I've already read multiple books by both authors and I'm excited for more. 

8. NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

No real fictional crushes this year but for the sake of not leaving a category unanswered I'll go with Griffin from That Second Chance by Meghan Quinn.

9. NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER

Ryan Wesley and Jamie Canning are always two of my favorite characters ever. #Wesmie

10. A BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

  

How much time do you have? I cry in half the books I read. ;) But these three come to mind. Where the Lost Wander was a powerful and moving story. Those characters truly endured and their losses brought me to tears. Kennedy Ryan knows how to shred my emotions and she did it again in Still. I sobbed. And a loss in We Own Tonight, that was kind of inevitable but still sad, had me all teary.

11. A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

If I've said it once I've said it a hundred times: Lora Richardson writes the sweetest, most heartfelt, small town contemporary YA novels around. And Anticipating Spring was happy, feel-good reading at its finest.

12. FAVORITE BOOK-TO-MOVIE ADAPTATION

Ummm... *crickets.* I haven't even been to the theater this year, much less seen a book to movie adaptation. So I'm going to stick with my same answer as last year (and the year before that), Love, Simon, because I've re-watched it several times this year. :) 

13. FAVORITE POST YOU'VE DONE THIS YEAR

Gah! This is always such a tough question. But after browsing six months of posts *yawn* I do remember being happy with my reviews of both Where the Lost Wander and Still. 

14. MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU'VE BOUGHT THIS YEAR

  

I have some serious cover-love for all three of these: The Kiss Thief, All I Ask, and From Blood and Ash.

15. BOOKS YOU WANT TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR

   

   

Can I just say All The Books and leave it at that? No? Okay then, here's a teeny tiny sampling of the ones I really, reallllly want to read sooner rather than later.

What's the best book you've read so far in 2020?
What was your biggest surprise or disappointment?