Midyear Book Freak Out Archives - Proud Book Reviews

I discovered this tag last year and the lovely ladies over at The Book Duchesses reminded me it’s time to do this one again. If I’ve reviewed the book the cover will link to the review while you’ll also find links to the series pages for quite a few of them as well. Just in case you’d like to check out my reviews for the rest of the series!

Best book you’ve read so far

This book was so great. So many great characters and such a great story. Camilla did do well with this one that I decided I needed to go back and buy the first few books I haven’t read yet. Reviews for those will be coming once I’ve read them!

Best sequel you’ve read so far

It was a long two year wait for this one but man it was worth it! Sean definitely knows how to write suspense and thriller! The Circle-A Killings title didn’t make sense to me until I read it. But it fits perfectly and such a great follow up!

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to

I totally forgot this one was coming out until I saw someone’s review of it! It’s one both my partner and I want to read. Maybe we’ll read it this yr. Maybe not?

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

Definitely Our Time! I haven’t even read the second or third book but I’m already looking forward to this one!

Biggest disappointment

I was really disappointed with this one. I loved Kristin’s books last yr, but Rise of Gaia just didn’t do it for me.

Biggest surprise

I’m not really a fan of YA but Devri Walls totally surprised me with Venators! To me it read more like a NA rather than YA which explains why I liked it.

I’ve already read the sequel and the third book is coming out shortly so hopefully I’ll get to read that one this yr too.

Favourite new author (debut or new to you)

I had quite a few new authors this year, but DL Orton tops the cake. So much so I’m planning to read the next 3 books in the series this year!

But I also wanted to give Darryl A. Woods and Devri Walls shout out’s coz I really enjoyed their books!

Newest fictional crush

Jamie Carter from If I Never Met You. He’s what my partner would say is a guy that has “just the right amount of ass hole”. That guy that is nice, friendly, caring etc but at the same time not 100% PC in a way that makes him amazing.

Newest favourite character

This one was so hard!!! I like characters for different reasons. I decided to go with When Adam Met Evie because it’s set in Australia, reminded me so much of our beautiful country and at the same time stayed down to earth.

With everything Adam has going on in his life, he still managed to make his own decisions and do what was best for him. To me, that says a lot about his strength of character.

Book that made you cry

The whole Lisa Miller and AJ Williams series made me cry. Although I read Lisa’s trilogy last year and AJ’s this year so I guess his is the one I’m putting here.

Favourite book to film adaptation you’ve seen this year

I’m not sure I can count Lord of the Rings so I’m going with this. But we also re-watched LOTR a few weeks ago and I do love those movies.

Favourite review you’ve written this year

I loved Of Night and Dark Obscurity and I’m really happy with how I was able to write about it without ruining the story. Because that would’ve been too easy to do!

I might also be super proud of the banner I made for it! I mean, look at how pretty this is! This book’s cover is just amazing and made it so easy to make a pretty banner!

Most beautiful book you’ve bought or received this year

I don’t really buy many physical books so I don’t see many pretty covers. But I did buy this so I could read and review it (eventually) and it is pretty nice.

What book(s) do you need to read by the end of this year

OMG! So many! I’ve committed to the Aussie Author Challenges and I still need to read:

The Alchemist’s Key
Stray
Thief’s Magic
Ballarat Character Vol 1
The Landing
The Time Traveller’s Wife
Altered Carbon (need to finish it, I’m about halfway through)
Thirty-Eight Reasons
And an unknown book that has a main character who’s name starts with “U” (I need help with this one, any suggestions please give them to me!!!)

So I might have totally forgotten how difficult this is! For some of them I felt like I had too many choices, while for others I didn’t have enough!

I hope you had fun playing along with me!

I saw this type of post over on Anna’s Scones and Tomes blog and loved it. I thought it was a great way to review what you’ve read so far along with some other fun bookish themes. Since I loved it I figured I’d steal it and Anna was happy to let me thank fully!

Best book I’ve read?

So this was a bit of a tough decision, but I’m going to have to say The Wrong kind of Love by Lexi Ryan since my other one is already getting mention elsewhere hehehe. I got this one on NetGalley and I absolutely loved it. Enough to go and buy the rest of the series immediately!

Best sequel I’ve read?

Legends of Persia, Son of the Moon and Storms of Babylon definitely need to go here. I’ve LOVED this whole series and I honestly can’t wait to get more! Seriously! Go and read my reviews of the series then go and get them yourself!

What new release I haven’t read yet but want to?

Crazy for Your Love is the latest book in the series I mentioned before by Lexi Ryan. I’ve yet to buy and read this due to my ridiculous reading commitments this winter (northern hemisphere’s summer) so I’ll see how I go with getting around to that one!

What is my most anticipated new release for the second half of 2019?

There’s a few books I’m hoping are coming out later this year including:

If it’s Only Love by Lexi Ryan
A new series by A Gavazzoni
The sequel to The Concordat by Sean Heary

Biggest disappointment I’ve read?

The sequel to An Unconventional Affair, An Unconventional Affair: A Risk Worth Sharing. I’d been looking forward to this since I’d finished the first book and this one just really let me down. It wasn’t what I was expecting it to be and it felt like some of the character moves were made just to tick inclusion boxes rather than to add to the story in a meaningful way.

Biggest surprise I’ve read?

Probably After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward. Given it’s a Young Adult novel I expected it to be teenier and it actually wasn’t. It was deep, well thought out, complex and so relevant to so many environmental things going on at the moment.

You can also check out my interview with Kristin and my review of the sequel Burden of Truth.

Favourite new author I’ve read?

I’d have to say either Lexi Ryan or Kristin Ward. Both their books blew me away and had me grasping for more. While Zoe Ashwood was VERY close behind them!

Newest fictional crush I’ve read?

O this is easy! Seth from The Wedding Planner by Eve Devon! I just loved his kinda cocky but genuinely nice personality. It reminds me of my partner, but he sounds like he has a way better package than my man. Not that I’m complaining about my guy! My guy has a good 10 years on Seth so good luck to Seth holding onto that body when he’s almost 40!

Newest favourite character I’ve read?

My newest would probably be Maddie from The Secret Cove in Croatia by Julie Caplin. She’s so comfortable in her skin (even though it’s not the so-called perfect size), she can have fun and she doesn’t pretend to be anything or anyone other than who she is. That kind of self-acceptance is something we should all strive for, I think.

Book that made me cry reading it?

So, I’m not really a crier. Like, the Notebook didn’t make me cry even in that final scene where they die together and then you see the mouse/rat. But if anything, it was probably Probably The Best Kiss In The World by Pernille Hughes got the closest.

Book that made me happy reading it?

Spring Skies over Bluebell Castle by Sarah Bennett. Not only was it set in spring with all the flowers coming alive, relationships blossoming etc. It was just such a great feel good book, even with the obvious romantic blunder along the way.

Favourite book to movie adaption I saw?

So, I haven’t read the book yet, but it is on my TBR list, but Crazy Rich Asians. I didn’t actually get around to watching that until this year and I loved it. Like all my Asian friends (although most of them are Vietnamese…) loved this movie and wouldn’t stop raving about it that I had to keep reminding them not to spoil it for me. But yes, I did love this one and I can’t wait to (eventually) get around to reading it to see how it differs.

Favourite review I’ve written this year?

Depending on how you interpret this it could be either An Impossible Thing Called Love by Belinda Missen (she’s an Aussie and I wasn’t expecting that) for a few reasons or To the Stars and Back by Camilla Isley. Belinda’s was great from a personal perspective, while Camilla’s was so fun to write since I got a bit carried away with the puns and edited some of them out so it wasn’t too punny.

Most beautiful book I’ve bought?

O wow… Ok now this is going to be hard! Let me just go and check my bookself…So I’ve bought the Game of Thrones series (all nice covers) and had 7 books arrive from book boxes. None of them really jump out at me as being “pretty” or “beautiful” like I’ve seen with some books. But I’m leaning towards The Scoundrel in Her Bed by Lorraine Heath from my Swept Away book box.

What books do I need to read by the end of the year?

Fire and Blood, I started it to learn more about the Westerosi history so that it’d go well with my analysis of the TV show compared to the books (coming at some point in time in the future…hopefully before the next book comes out) and I really want to read the other sequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Well that’s my reading year so far. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what I’ve been up to so far this year. I’ve love to hear what your reading year has been like so please comment below!

Tag: Midyear Book Freak Out

Mid-Year Freak Out Tag – the 2020 edition