Mid Year Freak Out Tag! [ft. a lot of book stats]

Hello! June is coming to an end and with it and with it, the first half of the year. Things have been crazy for me, as I am sure they have been for everyone, and it has passed in a blur but let’s take a lot at how it has been so far and assess what I’ve read so far!

BOOKISH STATS

I have read a lot of books this year, more than I read in any given year. Case in point, I read a total of 65 books last year versus the 85 I’ve already read in just half a year this time around so it’s kind of crazy seeing this. Before going ahead, I also want to tell everyone how much you read doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy whatever you read! Do not feel like you have to compare how much you read to anyone else, despite it being a big thing in the bookish community because it doesn’t’t define your worst or place here. You’re always welcome, no matter how much you do or do not read.

Average Rating: 3.64
Most of the books I read very pretty good since I rated 47 of them 4 stars or above. However, I’m quite lenient with my ratings usually and even 3.5 stars aren’t that good in my book, so it’s been a pretty average year so far.

As expected, my most read genre is Fantasy. I also read a lot of romance which feels pretty on point considering that romances tend to cheer me up and my mental health hasn’t been so great so I’ve been reading a lot of them. I’m also glad to see I’ve branched into a lot of other genres since this is one my goals. Surely, I haven’t read many of them, but just them being there is an accomplishment in itself. I also read a lot of backlist books which I’m glad about since it’s easy to just get swept away with all the shiny, new releases that keep catching your eye!

Audiobooks are definitely the reason I’ve been able to up my reading game so much and if you’re starting out with them, you may want to check my guide post on them. They are the reason my reading has doubled – I’m practically always listening to one and I love them! My e-book count is also high, probably because most of my ARCs are read in that format.

A lot of my reads were new releases, which also makes sense since they’re very hard to resist and I read a lot of Arcs, which are, of course, new releases.

1. BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2021

If I really had to choose, you know I’m going with The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake because it has my heart. The plot, the character, the writing – all of it was fabulous and I’m actually going to be hosting a read along for it later this year – probably in August so stay tuned for more details about that! But, I rated a total of 9 books from the 85 I’ve read this year 5 stars you can see see them in My Favourite Books So Far post!

2. BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2021

A War Of Swallowed Stars! There is literally no competition here because this blows everything out of the water! I adore this series and this sequel which I have been waiting for 2 years to read definitely did not disappoint. I adored the ending as sad as I am that this series is over and I will never get to be in this world again.

3. NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO

There’s so many books I wanted to get to but it’s hard to since there are so many more of them and limited time for me to get to them but the top one is definitely The Unbroken by C L Clark. This is one of three books in the adult fantasy trifecta which is out that I haven’t read yet and I have devastated to say this. Adult fantasy and sapphics are my thing so I should’ve read this as soon as I bought it, which was pretty much around the releases date. But, anyway, I hope to get to it soon!

4. MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR

OMG there are so so many so let me show you my top 5:

5. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman. I had heard such great things about this book but I did not like it. At All. There is a thin line between being sympathetic for others and trying to save them and allowing for colonialism, and hence, supporting it and this book fell on the wrong side of that line. I also didn’t care much for the characters. The plot itself was interesting but it could’ve been better executed in my opinion.

6. BIGGEST SURPRISE

An Ember In The Ashes.
I’ve heard some mixed reviews about this book and I couldn’t get into it the first time I started (I didn’t think I tried too hard though) so I was nervous to pick it up, but it was amazing and I am in love with this series and also so so scared to read the last book, A Sky Beyond The Storm because I know Sabaa Tahir is going to rip my poor little heart into small pieces that can never be put back together.

7. NEW FAVOURITE AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)

Olivie Blake! I may have only read one of her books so far, but I am really looking forward to reading more of them soon and I am sure I will love them! I loved her writing style and how compelling the characters are and I am excited beyond belief.

8. UNDERRATED GEMS YOU’VE DISCOVERED RECENTLY

Shadow of the fox!
This doesn’t feel underrated to me because of how much Soph talks about it but it has less than 15k ratings on Goodreads and I am so sad about that because this series deserves the world! It took me on an adventure I will never forget with some amazing characters who I fell in love with, and then broke my heart at the end of the series.

9. REREADS THIS YEAR

I’ve only reread A Spark of White Fire and A House of Rage and Sorrow so I could read the final book in the trilogy – A War of Swallowed Stars. You all already know I afore this series and highly recommend it to everyone!

10. BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers.
Okay, so maybe I didn’t exactly cry but I got very eyed at times because of how hard some things hit me and how much I connected with Grace and what she was going through. It’s really different but also eerily similar what we were feeling and my heart was filled with too many emotions and I couldn’t help but shed a tear or two.

11. BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar. This book had South Asian faking dating sapphics and it made my South Asian sapphic heart very very happy. I adore this book and Hani and Ishu. I loved both of them, and how different they are and yet how well they fit together. This book was everything I wanted and I highly recommend it to everyone.

12. Favorite post you have done this year?

I have so many but the one that is closest to my heart has to be Why Queer Books Matter. I like to talk about diverse books in general and here, I discuss why representation matters. Yes, I’m only talking about queer representation specifically but I think it can be translated to representing any and all marginalised communities. It’s the emotions that remain the same and they are what I discussed in the post.

Other posts I liked writing:

My 3 Year Blogversary Post featuring a Q&A

4 Things That Changed Because of Being A Blogger

How My Reading Style Has Changed

Guide To Audiobooks

So that’s my mid year freak out tag! What books have you read from here? What’d you think about them? What books are you excited to read?

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