This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is Reasons I Love Reading, but I don’t think I have ten concrete reasons so instead I’m going to just post my Mid-Year Freak Out Tag instead.
Total books read in 2021 so far
This isn’t officially one of the questions for the tag, but Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits included it in her post, and I like the idea of including it so I can look back and see where I was at the midpoint of the year. As of the end of June 2021, I’ve read 108 amount of novels this year, 142 total if I include graphic novels, manga, and picture books. My goal is to read 200 novels and 250 books.
Best book you read in 2021 so far
This is always a hard one to choose. I’ve read a lot of books I love this year, and I don’t want to count rereads for this because it’s not fair. So I think I’m going to go with Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo. It was pretty much everything I wanted for a conclusion to the Grishaverse (for now) and had such awesome moments (and sad moments). Plus, Nikolai is my favorite so it was great.
Best sequel you’ve read so far
Other than Rule of Wolves, there have been several other great sequels so far this year. My favorite is Flamefall by Rosaria Munda. It just expanded the world of Fireborne and included an amazing new character and just broke my heart and stitched it back together and ravaged it again. Basically, it was so good. Plus, dragons.
Bone Crier’s Dawn by Kathryn Purdie and Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery by Ally Carter were great sequels too.
New release(s) you haven’t read, but want to
I’ve been keeping up with a lot of the new releases I wanted to read this year, but there are a couple I’m going to wait to read until the entire series is out because I’m tired of waiting months/years between releases. I usually don’t remember and I don’t always have time to reread everything. So these couple I’ll read someday: Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater, The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman, The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, Gilded Serpents by Danielle Jensen, and Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard.
Most anticipated release(s) for 2nd half of year
I probably have too many, but these are my most anticipated: Suns Will Rise by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, Dark Waters by Katherine Arden, Gilded by Marissa Meyer, and Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.
Biggest disappointment
There have been several disappointments this year, but the biggest one is probably Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas. People raved about their first novel so I expected a lot from this Peter Pan retelling. I should have listened to my instinct and not bothered because I apparently cannot find many Peter Pan retellings I like. This one isn’t the worst I’ve read, but I could not stand the writing style at all and the characters felt super one-dimensional. *sigh*
Biggest surprise
Dearest Josephine by Caroline George is probably my biggest surprise because usually I hate epistolary type novels because I never feel like I can connect to the characters. But Caroline George did a fantastic job making Josie and her friends come across as real people with great personalities I could connect with.
Favorite new author
Alwyn Hamilton. To get through my owned TBR, I read Rebel of the Sands and then I kept going. I consumed that trilogy and basically decided I will read whatever Alwyn publishes in the future.
Newest favorite character
Griff from Flamefall by Rosaria Munda. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with his character after one chapter.
Book that made you happy
I Speak Boy by Jessica Brody is just a cute modern adaptation of Emma set in middle school. It was just so fun and pure and made me laugh a lot. Jessica did a great job making it a retelling and also its own story.
Book that made you cry
Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee. I’m pretty sure all of Stacey Lee’s books make me want to sob violently into a pillow, but Outrun the Moon really pulled at my heartstrings. It was so powerful and moving and heartbreaking.
Most beautiful book you’ve gotten so far this year
A friend of mine got me Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsey Eagar as a Christmas-birthday-all-the-holidays gift and while there are a lot of beautiful books I’ve bought this year, I think this one is my favorite.
What books do you need to read by year end?
I’m not sure I *need* to read anything in particular by the end of the year, but I would like to read half of my owned TBR (which I’m not doing too great at yet) and get through a good chunk of Star Wars audiobooks. I really just have to read enough books to complete my reading goal!
Keeper of the Wood Between Worlds 
This is a fun look back at the year! I hope you get to the books you “need” to read by year’s end. 😉
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