Mid-Year Freakout Book Tag 2021

Hi friends! It’s time for the mid-year freakout book tag!

My goal for this year is 100 books and I’m happy to see I’m on track! So far I’ve read 21,770 pages over 79 books with a mix of physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks.

The mid-year freakout tag was originally created by ReadLikeWildFire and Earl Grey Books but I’ve modified it a little for my own take. Let’s get to the books!

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Best Books I’ve Read So Far

I’ve read so many awesome books this year but I’m gonna shout out John Fram’s The Bright Lands and S.A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears because they are excellent and didn’t leave my mind for a long time after I was done!

Best Sequel I’ve Read So Far

I really enjoyed the second installment of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dreamer Trilogy, Mister Impossible, and the latest in the Heartstopper graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper Vol 4.

New Releases I Haven’t Read But Want To

The Nameless Ones, the latest book in the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly is out now in the UK and I’m dying to get my hands on it! I also really want to read P.J. Vernon’s psychological thriller Bath Haus, which has gotten rave reviews.

Most Anticipated Releases for The Second Half of the Year

I’m super excited for My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (out on 31 August) and Cackle by Rachel Harrison (out on 5 October), whose debut The Return was one of my favourite books from last year.

Biggest Surprise

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved Kate Alice Marshall’s Rules For Vanishing, a YA-horror about folklore and a missing sister. I also enjoyed the haunted house horror Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims, the creator of The Magnus Archives podcast.

Biggest Disappointment

After really enjoying Alex Michaelides’s debut The Silent Patient, I was looking forward to The Maidens but it didn’t live up to my expectations. I also heard good things about Aimee Molloy’s Goodnight Beautiful but I felt that it’s a knockoff of a Stephen King book.

Newest Favourite Characters

I met plenty of awesome characters this year but Millie Sparks from The Cut by Chris Brookmyre and Maud Lovell from The Asylum by Karen Coles are standouts – women who have faced adversity but fought to survive and get the freedom to live the lives they deserve.

Books That Made Me Happy

I was stuck on this category because I haven’t read a lot of happy books! That said, The Cut (a comedy-mystery) and Christopher Barzak’s Wonders of the Invisible World (a YA fantasy) both left me feeling happy after I was done.

Books That Made Me Cry

I don’t often cry reading books but I got really emotional reading The Asylum (about a woman being forcibly placed in an asylum) and Will Dean’s The Last Thing To Burn (about a woman trapped by her husband).

Favourite Posts I’ve Done This Year

I talked about bad reviews in Bad Reviews and Why They Matter, and I made a couple of reading lists – LGBTQ+ Horror Books and Indie Horror Books By Women.

Most Beautiful Book I’ve Bought This Year

I found a hardcover edition of Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu and I love it! It’s shiny and the cover is beautiful.

Books I Need To Read By The End of the Year

Too many to count! But the ones I’m excited for include Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan, The House of Dust by Noah Broyles, and Chasing The Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar.

That’s my 2021 mid-year freakout tag! Have you done this tag yet? Let me know your thoughts!

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