Mid-Year Book Freak-out Tag

Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of The CW Torch! It's been a few months since I've last posted anything on here. So I thought what would be a great way to come back then to reflect on what I've been reading during the first half of the year! One of my favorite tags on Booktube is the Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag because it's a fun way to reflect on the things you've been reading recently, and to anticipate of what's coming out for the second half of the year! So, because it's been a while since I've last updated you all, let's just get right into the tag!

*I will compile my first half of the year stats at the end of the blog!

1. Best book of the year so far: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I absolutely adored this novel, it was so beautifully written and the relationship between the two main characters had me melting. I've always loved Greek and Roman mythology retellings, but surprisingly haven't read a lot of them recently. Reading this book has made me definitely want to read more, and perhaps not solely Greek and Roman but any book that has any sort of Mythological retelling to them.

2. Best Sequel of 2021: The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty

It comes to much surprise of my own that this book made my top sequel of 2021, I haven't read that many sequels this year, but that's not why this book made it here on this list. I think the storytelling and the world of this book vastly improved from the first novel. I began to enjoy the characters more and the world was so rich and beautifully crafted, that I became more invested in the politics. It's more of a surprise that this book made it on this list, because I didn't love the first book like everyone else seemed to. Reading the second book was going to be the series’ last chance if I didn't enjoy it, and I'm so glad that I gave it a chance. I would highly recommend listening to the audio-book as that enhanced my experience even more when reading.

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

So far, I've enjoyed every book I've read by this author, from the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to Daisy Jones and The Six. She has become an auto-buy author for me and while I haven't bought Malibu Rising yet, I'm excited to pick it up when I can. As I've heard there are some character mentions of those two books that are also in Malibu Rising. Now, the premise of this book hasn't excited me as the other two books did, but usually her synopsis' tend to be extremely vague, making her books come out more surprising than expected. Which is what I love about this author, and why I can't wait to read this book!

4. Most anticipated release of the second half of the year: Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Another author who has snuck up on me as a favorite author, even though I've only read two books by him. Which makes me even more excited for this new series by him coming out in September. I quickly fell in love with the Nevernight series, despite again not liking the first book of this series, but falling head over heels of the second book in the series. His writing took some time getting used to, but I feel that it would match perfectly with the premise of Empire of the Vampire. It reminds me a lot of Interview with a Vampire, which is one of my favorite books of all time. But knowing Jay Kristoff and his writing style it will be much more dark and gruesome than Interview with a Vampire.

5. Biggest Disappointment: The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

I was very surprised with how disappointing this book was to me. It was one I was really anticipating because so many people adored it. It seemed so wholesome and whimsical which are the books I tend to love, but for some reason I just didn't enjoy this book as everyone else did. I think a lot of it did with the fact that I didn't gel with the author's writing style. I felt it to be too descriptive without a lot happening, and I didn't really care for the characters which was the most surprising part for me. Since most people loved the characters from this novel, and that was a lot of what the hype surrounded. But, I couldn't get past the author's writing style, as it really just wasn't for me, and I was hoping to like this story.

6. Biggest Surprise: The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

I've been on a contemporary kick recently, which really isn't a genre I read or enjoy that often. But I feel that I'm finally grasping what types of contemporaries I seem to enjoy the most. One of those was The Black Flamingo which is a coming of age story of a young gay British man who from the time he was in High School to College is figuring out his identity. It was written in verse and I seem to enjoy books written in verse, considering one of my newest favorite author's, Elizabeth Acevedo, writes a lot in verse. It makes the audiobooks more immersive to me and makes me want to listen to them more.

7. Favorite new author: Madeline Miller

I've only read one book of hers so far, but because of how much I loved The Song of Achilles, I want to read her second book, Circe, right away.

8. Newest Fictional Crush: N/A

I tend to not crush on fictional characters in books, so I don't have an answer for this one.

9. Newest favorite character: Kellen From Spellslinger

I absolutely adored this character from the first book in the Spellslinger series. He is the main character in this book. At first he is somewhat unlikable, but I enjoyed his wit and humor throughout the book. I found myself rooting for him by the end of the first book as we learned more about him.

10. Book that made you cry: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I don't cry very often in books, and I didn't actually cry when reading this book. But I felt very heavy with emotions at the end of the book, so I think this one can count for a book that made me cry.

11. Book that made you happy: N/A

I don't have an answer for this book, because a lot of the books I read are very dark, heavy, and emotional books. Even the contemporaries I've read this year dealt with some difficult topics. So I couldn't figure out a book to chose for this one either.

12. Most beautiful book you've hauled this year: Shadow and Bone- The Collector's Edition by Leigh Bardugo

I’ve already read this book a while ago and actually never had a physical copy since I read it as an e-book. I've wanted this collector's edition ever since I saw it on someone's booktube channel, so it was definitely a treat yourself kind of buy for me!

13. What Books do you need to read by the end of the year?

There are a lot of books I need to read by the end of the year, as I am in the middle of a lot of series. I definitely want to get through most of those series, especially the trilogies that I can easily complete. But here are just a few that will be at the top of my list to finish this year.

Darkdawn (Nevernight Chronicles #3) by Jay Kristoff

Empire of Gold (The Daevbad Trilogy #3) by S.A. Chakraborty

The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth Trilogy #2) by N.K. Jemisin

A Court of Wings and Ruin (ACOTAR #3) by Sarah J. Maas

Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #3) by Lani Taylor

First-Half stats

- Total books read: 25

- Top Genre: Fantasy (11 books)

- Top star rating: 4 (13 books)

- Top Age Category: Young Adult (14)

Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed, and look forward to some upcoming reading/moving vlogs as I’ll be heading down to SoCal sooner than you know it! Happy Reading!

Chynna at The CW Torch