Friday 12 June 2020

Mid-Year Book Freakout 2020

Over the years, since 2015, I have really loved doing this tag and taking a look back at the first half of the year. I don't think I did this last year, as I was in a bit of a blogging slump by this point in the year, so I'm excited to be doing it again this year. I can't find the original creators of this tag, I can only find an 'original' video from 2016, but as I did this on my blog in 2015 it must have been around before then. 2015 me was entirely unhelpful and didn't credit the creator. 

So far in 2020, I have read a total of 33 books. Of those, 19 were audiobooks, 9 were ebooks and 6 were physical books, although many were a combination of the three but only counted in one category. I've been reading a lot more adult books this year, so it is currently sitting equal at 16 Adult and 16 YA, with one NA. Unfortunately, I have only had two 5 star reads so far this year, with my most common rating being 3 stars. My most read genre so far has been Romance, but I have been reading from a variety of different genres.


1. Best Book You've Read So Far In 2020
As I said, I've only given out two 5 star ratings so far this year, which is disappointing. Those were both equally great non-fiction books, both relating to terror attacks. The Day The World Came To Town by Jim DeFede is about the aftermath of 9/11 and the planes that had to land in Newfoundland. What Makes Us Stronger by Freya Lewis is about her experience of the Manchester Arena attack and rebuilding her life following that.

2. Best Sequel You've Read So Far In 2020
Most of the sequels I've read have been 3 star reads but I did read, and love, One Of Us Is Next by Karen M McManus. This is the sequel to One Of Us Is Lying, and I actually enjoyed the sequel more than the first book. 

3. New Release You Haven't Read Yet But Want To
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. I've heard so many mixed things about the Hunger Games prequel, but I really want to read it and form my own opinions.

4. Most Anticipated Release For The Second Half Of The Year
This is obviously going to be Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer. I can't wait to relive my early teenage years.

5. Biggest Disappointment
It's definitely not the worst book I have read so far this year, but Roomies by Christina Lauren was a disappointment for me. I had heard so many amazing things about this author duo but found myself bored throughout this book and didn't find the relationship believable. Luckily, I picked up some other books by her that I enjoyed much more.

6. Biggest Surprise
I've Got You're Number by Sophie Kinsella. I haven't really enjoyed anything else I have read by this author, but picked this one up for my 'Reading The First Books Added To My Goodreads TBR' post and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it way more than I expected to.

7. Favourite New Author
I've read some really great books by new-to-me authors, but I don't feel as though I can call someone a favourite author if I've only read one book from them. I have read 3 Christina Lauren books so far this year and really enjoyed 2 of them, so I guess I'll go with them.

8. Newest Fictional Crush
I've kind of stopped having fictional crushes now, which is a bit sad. I really liked Ethan from The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren.

9. Newest Favourite Character
I loved Belinda from Never Greener by Ruth Jones so much! I want an entire book about her, she is amazing.

10. Book That Made You Cry
Both of the non-fiction books I mentioned in the first question made me cry, as well as Girl Made Of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake. That book was so heartbreaking to read.

11. Book That Made You Happy
Love, Life and the List by Kasie West. I love Kasie West and she always makes me happy, but this was the first YA contemporary romance I had read in a while and it reminded me of why I love them so much.

12. Favourite Book To Move Adaptation You've Seen So Far This Year
The only one I have seen is To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. I didn't love this as much as the first movie and, unlike the first one, I think I liked the book better for the second instalment.

13. Favourite Review/Post You've Done This Year
I haven't really done anything on my blog that I'm particularly proud of so far this year, I'm only really getting back into it. I did have a lot of fun with my Taylor Swift Songs As Books post.

14. Most Beautiful Book You've Bought So Far This Year
I've been doing a really good job of not buying a lot of books this year (physical books, let's not talk about ebooks), so I don't really have a lot to choose from. The cover of Meet Cute by Helena Hunting is pretty cute, I especially love the purple colour of the edition I have.

15. Books You Need To Read By The End Of 2020
My answer to this is the same ever year; all of them! I need to get through some of my owned TBR and I would love to finish some of the series I have been in the middle of for a while.

I've had a pretty decent reading year so far, but there are some changes I would like to make. I will be talking about those more in some upcoming posts. I definitely think the second half of 2020 is going to be a lot better in terms of reading, and hopefully in life in general, than the first half has been.

Sophie :)

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