It’s July, which means it’s time for me to post my mid-year freak out tag answers! This is such a fun tag to do every year, as I love looking back on my reads for the first half of the year and looking forward to the rest of the year. From January to June I read a total of 87 books, and most of these categories were really easy to fill out, and some categories I didn’t really have answers for, so I decided to forgo those this time around.
Let’s get to the tag!
There’s one book that appears in several categories, so we’ll start with there, especially since one of the categories that this book falls into is best book I’ve read so far this year. It also wins best sequel and is one of the books that made me cry.
I had been so looking forward to reading The Rest is Silence by Yves Donlon, the sequel to Smile and Be a Villain and it did not disappoint! I read this in April, as I always try to read some Shakespeare related books for April which is his birth/death month, and it was my first (and so far only) new 5 star read of the year! This duology is kind of everything that I want in a retelling — it pays homage to the original work in a beautiful, reverent way, the characterization is familiar yet they are distinctive to this version of the story, and it’s an inventive and creative retelling. I wrote a full review, which you can read here, but all I can say is, if you’re a fan of Hamlet and haven’t read this duology, you must read it!
I started writing about why I loved Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry and then I realized that I was just writing a full review instead of a little blurb and went, “I should probably just write a full review…” So I started doing that (and will post it next week), but I will talk a little bit about it here, because Great Big Beautiful Life gets the award for book that made me cry.
My emotional investment really snuck up on me. Of course, I wanted to keep reading and find out the truth and see how everything came together, but I was really surprised at just how emotionally invested in these characters and their stories I became. I’m pretty sure I was bawling for the last 50 pages or so; all of my emotions and feelings towards the characters just hit me like a tidal wave and I couldn’t hold it in. I love books that can sneak up on me in this way, and I know that because of those feelings and this experience, Great Big Beautiful Life is going to stick with me for a long time.
I love picking up a book and being surprised by it. Whether that be because of a plot twist, the characters, the writing, or my enjoyment of it, it’s fun to be surprised by a book. In the first half of the year, I have 3 books that really (pleasantly!) surprised me!
I wrote about both The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark and The Spellshop Sarah Beth Durst in my Winterween Wrap Up, so I don’t want to go into too much detail here. But, my favorite thing about The Ghostwriter was the dual timeline aspect and how everything tied together. It was another book that surprised me with my emotional response to it; I was incredibly invested. The Spellshop felt like a warm hug and I was surprised by how comforting I found this story. I loved the world and the characters; I’m looking forward to reading more from Sarah Beth Durst and this series.
I’ve heard a lot of people saying great things about The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, so I asked for it for Christmas, and when I finally got around to reading it in May, I had a fabulous time! I love this combo of mystery and fantasy, it really worked for me, and I think what surprised me the most was how funny the book was! It really had me laughing out loud! I’ve started my read of A Drop of Corruption and I’m loving being back in this universe.
Well, we talked about a positive, so now it’s time to talk about some negatives. Of course, when I pick up a book, I’m picking it up with the hope/assumption that I’m going to love it, however, that’s not always the case. I’ve had a number of books this year that I thought were fine or just okay, but there were a few that I found pretty disappointing.
Of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith sounded like a historical mystery that would really work for me, and unfortunately, it was just not for me. I had a hard time focusing on the story and I couldn’t connect with the story or the characters. I did like how the two cases were linked, and I think there was some interesting exploration of sexism and misogyny in the way the women were treated and how that affected the investigations and perception of the female characters throughout the story, but this definitely isn’t one I’d return to or continue in the series. Really, this one was disappointing because I think it had the potential to be very successful for me, but it wasn’t.
Stage Blood by Charles Ludlam was one of the plays that I read for my 30 Plays in 30 Days readathon, which I’ll be sharing a recap of later this month, so I won’t go too into detail here, but god I hated this play. I don’t say that often, but I really hated this one and couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Audition: A Novel by Katie Kitamura was like an unappetizing word salad. The overall concept I was a fan of, but in execution I felt like it gave us nothing. It just read so dry and boring. It was 196 pages and it took me 4 days to read. That tells you everything you need to know. I was not a fan.
Now to more fun categories! Let’s talk about my pick for book that made me happy. There have been a lot of reads so far this year that have made me happy, but this one was pretty easy to pick: The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop. If you don’t know, Gilmore Girls is my favorite show — I vividly remember watching the pilot with my sister when I was 7 and then after that I watched it every week with my mom and my sister, it was our thing. It’s my ultimate comfort show; I have so many monologues from the show memorized, and I always reach for it when I need a pick me up.
I’ve been looking forward to reading Kelly Bishop’s memoir since it came out, and I have had it since its release, but I don’t gravitate towards non-fiction a whole lot, even when it’s a book that I’m really excited for, so it just took me a while to get to it, but I think I read it at the perfect time. I knew a bit about Kelly Bishop’s Broadway career, so of course I was really excited to learn more about it. The sections about the creation of A Chorus Line was without a doubt my favorite part of the book. I think I could’ve read an entire book just about that from her. I loved learning more about how A Chorus Line came to be, and I had no idea that my favorite song in the musical, At The Ballet, was actually inspired by Kelly’s life.
This was a fantastic memoir and really brought me so much joy. I loved learning more about Kelly’s life and career, and it’s without a doubt one of my favorite memoirs I’ve read!
The category of prettiest book bought was a really easy one. The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin is completely stunning! The cover has such a gorgeous illustration and the colors leap off the page. The hardback is just as stunning with my favorite color combo with lavender and light blue and the illustrations on the hardback. I literally gasped when I first took the dust jacket off. And the end papers are gorgeous as well.
I really enjoyed The Sun and the Starmaker as well! I loved the atmosphere and the lore of the village, I enjoyed following the characters and I thought it was a lovely fantasy! Knowing that Rachel Griffin wrote this while she was in recovery from her traumatic brain injury (she shared this story on her Instagram) made it an extra emotional read.
As for a new release I haven’t read yet but want to, I mean, I could’ve put a ton of books here, but I went with 5 that I’ve gotten physical copies of this year and am hoping on reading either this month or in the next coming months, so I went with Clara & the Devil, Vol. 1 by Olivie Blake and Little Chmura, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, A Stage Set for Villains by Shannan J. Spann, Aphrodite in Pieces by Lauren J.A. Bear and Vile Lady Villains by Danai Christopoulou.
Clara & the Devil, Vol. 1 was one that I had on my radar for a while (as I do with all Olivie Blake Books), but the rest were ones that either caught my eye in the bookstore or ones that I added to my tbr this year.
Because I really can’t stop at just one choice per category to save my life, of course I’ve got 2 books for most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
Last year I fell in love with Emily St. James Mandel’s writing, so obviously I can’t wait to read Exit Party. I absolutely love her writing style and her plots are always so interesting and well executed. I can’t wait to read this one.
I have an ARC of Thoughts Be Bloody by Auden Patrick and I am SO excited! It’s a queer Shakespeare retelling, literally tell me less! I’m really really looking forward to this one and am planning on reading it when I take some time off work in August so that I can do nothing but read this ARC 🤣
As for the category of books I need to read by the end of the year, it’s all the books on my 26 in 2026 that I haven’t read yet! I’ve read 12/26 so far, so the 14 that I still need to read are
- Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop
- Promise Me Sunshine
- The Glass Hotel
- Katabasis
- Wrong Place Wrong Time
- Marple
- The Takeover
- House of Leaves
- Parable of the Sower
- The Memory Police
- The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg
- Musical Theatre Script and Song Analysis Through the Ages
- How Sondheim Can Change Your Life
- Blue Sisters
Will I actually read all 14? Honestly, who knows, but I will try to read as many of them as I can!
It’s always so fun to look back on what’s been read during the first half of the year and trying to fit them into these categories. I’d love to know what books would fall into these categories for you, so let me know in the comments!
Until next time 💜
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