Mid-year Check In!
I saw my friend Kori do this on her bookstagram, so I thought I’d do the same thing here! If you want to see her post, you can find it here. Thanks for sharing that Kori ❤️. Here is a preview of some of the books that I’ll be talking about!
Best book so far this year
Honestly, how can any bookworm pick one single book? That’s just cruel. So instead I’ll list three! Burning Roses, Legendborn, and Honey Girl. I’ll talk about the latter two later in this post, so I’ll talk about Burning Roses for now. Oh man, this little novella had everything I could ever want. It’s fantasy! And a mix of retellings, including Chinese mythology and western fairytales! Sapphic characters! Older women main characters – that are mothers! And dang, just so much more. I really hope S.L. Huang write more books like this one.
Best sequel you’re read this year
This year I finally finished the Daevabad trilogy, which I have been meaning to do for a while. The Kingdom of Copper (the second book) totally blew me away. I was frustrated with the characters while reading, but it was an incredible sequel!! I’m definitely excited to see what S.A. Chakraborty writes next.
Most anticipated release for the rest of the year
I recently talked about my top ten anticipated releases here, but my top one has gotta be When Sorrows Come. It’s the 15th book in the October Daye series, and that’s one of my favorite series ever. I’m so dang excited for it!!!
Biggest disappointment
Honestly, the biggest disappointment for me was that Alecto the Ninth isn’t going to be published this year LOL. I just need it so badly!!!
Biggest surprise
This is half a surprise and half not. So I’ve said before that I don’t really read horror, because I’m a big baby. However!! This year I read my first(?) horror book. And I loved it!!! So that was a surprise to me. But it also wasn’t, because it’s a fantasy horror, and it’s also written by my queen Seanan McGuire. It’s a novella called In the Shadow of Spindrift House. It’s creepy but not in a terrifying way, more in a suspenseful way.
Favorite new author
I have two actually! Well maybe more, but I’m just going to talk about two right now haha. First, a debut author – Tracy Deonn. Her first book, Legendborn, came out last year in September but I didn’t get to it until this year. It’s an Arthurian retelling, set in the modern day and featuring a Black girl protagonist. It was AMAZING!!! You can see my full review for it here.
Secondly, an author who has published quite a lot, but is new to me – Aliette de Bodard. A few months ago, Tordotcom was nice enough to send me a review copy of one of her new releases, Fireheart Tiger. This novella was beautiful and sapphic and Vietnamese inspired and wow. My review for it is here. It made me immediately go buy three more of her books haha. I can’t wait to read all of her work!
Newest fictional crush
I don’t think I have any new fictional crushes this year!! I have read a lot of good books, but no new characters that I really fell in love with haha. Hopefully in the second half of the year!
Newest favorite character
Can I say a group of favorite characters instead? Of course I can, it’s my post and I can do whatever I want!!! Hahaha. Anyway, I really loved the group of characters in The Bone Maker. Can I get a “found familyyyyy”??!? Yes. I loved this one because we get to see the characters reunite 20 years after they had originally come together, and it’s really neat to see how their relationships have evolved. If you want to see my review, I’ve got it right here for ya.
Book that made you cry
Honey Girl. This book. Oh man. It was so good but dang, it really hit me hard. Evidence: my Goodreads review: “because im a woman trying to finish my astro phd and i deal with anxiety and depression…this book was a punch to the gut. in a good way. holy shit”. So yeah lol. If you want to read more of my thoughts on it, you can find my full review on the blog here!
Book that made you happy
This year has been pretty hard for me tbh, so I really appreciate all the authors putting out books that are just pure happiness. For me, one of these was Act Your Age, Eve Brown. All of the Brown Sisters books have been such a joy to read. If you like romance books, I highly recommend them! And if you don’t but want to try romance, there are no better books to start with. Eve Brown features a Black woman as the main character, and both main characters are autistic. I just loved it so much!! Definitely excited to check out Talia Hibbert’s other books.
Favorite book to film adaptation
I’m not sure how many I actually watched this year, but the only one I can remember is Shadow and Bone haha. I loved the show adaptation!! I thought it was really well done. I’ve watched it 2.5 times since it came out haha. Once myself, once with my mom, and then I started rewatching again myself and got halfway through lol. I’m so happy to hear it’s been renewed! The Dregs (or the Crows) are my favorite, I can’t wait to see more of them on screen.
Most beautiful book you’ve bought this year
If you follow my bookstagram, then you know I’m a sucker for stenciled edges. I got some beauuuutiful books with stenciled edges this year! This photo includes quite a few of my stenciled edges, but in particular the two I got this year are the ones that are second on the left (Sistersong) and second on the right (In the Ravenous Dark). I’m in love!!!
Have you read any of the books that I talked about? How has your reading gone this year? I’d love if you’d share an answer to one or more of the questions above!
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