The 2023 Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag

The Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag was created by Ely @ Earl Grey Books and Chami @ Read like Wildfire, though I believe I first came across it on my friend Tammy’s blog, Books, Bones & Buffy. This is actually my third year doing this tag, after a gap of a couple years from 2021-2022 because I was slacking, but here’s to hoping that I can keep this feature a yearly thing again.

As you’ve probably noticed though, I’m not really a book tag person simply because there are too many reviews to write and too little time, but for this one I make an exception. Sometimes as life gets busy, I tend to lose track of checking in on my progress for reading challenges, but a tag like this is a good reminder that sometimes I’m not as far behind as I think I am and I could always use a shot of encouragement!

For instance, I am apparently chugging along quite nicely on my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge:

I always set a target of 100 each year, and was shocked to see that I was actually 17 books ahead. I feel pretty confident that I will reach my 2023 goal.

Best Book I’ve Read So Far

I’m making some wiggle room for multiple books in the other categories, but for this one there can only be one. And quite honestly, it was an easy decision. The top spot goes to The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan, and though we still have many months to go until the end of the year, I have a feeling it’s not going anywhere. I mean, it’s going to be really tough to beat.

Best Sequels I’ve Read So Far

Andrew Mayne never disappoints, but even he’s outdone himself with the fourth book of the Underwater Investigation Unit series. Then there are the sequels like Don’t Fear the Reaper and Hell Bent that blew me away, but whose predecessors I was actually kind of on the fence on, so those are always a nice surprise.

New Releases I Haven’t Read (But Want To)

For this category, I simply referred to my past “Most Anticipated Releases” posts and selected the top three books that I haven’t gotten to yet. I’m always trying to play catch-up, and Orbit likes to publish chonky books that tend to get set on the backburner.

Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of the Year

This was a tough category! There are probably a couple more books that deserve to be on here, but I have forced myself to narrow it down to three.

Biggest Disappointments

I had such high hopes for Nocturne, and I was so sad when we didn’t work out. But even more disappointing is when you pick up a book by a favorite author and it turns out to be a dud, which is what happened with Witch King by Martha Wells and Someone Is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong.

Biggest Surprises

Hands down, The Will of the Many by James Islington wins for hidden gem of the year. But then there are the surprises like The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, whose first book I wasn’t especially keen on so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. I also didn’t expect Justin Cronin to catch lightning in a bottle twice after the massive success of his Passage trilogy, but The Ferryman was surprisingly good–and it’s such a different genre too!

Favorite New Authors

What Lies in the Woods was my first book by Kate Alice Marshall, but she’s written a bunch of YA before her adult thriller debut. Likewise, this year also saw my first foray into work of Heather Fawcett with her brilliant Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. And I’ve had several of Craig DiLouie’s books sitting on my shelves for years, but this year I finally read him for the first time with Episode Thirteen. Can you believe it’s taken me this long?

Favorite Characters

I loved: Sam from A House with Good Bones for her humorous voice, Livira from The Book That Wouldn’t Burn for her intelligence and pure moxy, and Tress from Tress of the Emerald Sea for being the sweetest and kindest protagonist you’ll ever meet.

Least Favorite Characters

On the other end of the spectrum, How to Sell a Haunted House was a great book but the siblings at the center of it, Louise and Mark, were both real pieces of work. And then you have What the Neighbors Saw, which took unlikeable characters in thrillers to a whole other level. Finally, we have The Splinter in the Sky which is a book I recently finished so I don’t even have a review up yet, but the protagonist grated on me so hard, she singlehandedly made reading this one a struggle.

Book That Made Me Cry

I rarely cry when reading books. Doesn’t mean it never happens, but when it does, it just means the book is very special. Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee didn’t make me cry technically, but the ending definitely packed an emotional punch. And it was an amazing book.

Book That Made Me Happy

Oh, how The Road to Roswell Made by Connie Willis made me laugh and laugh and laugh. If reading about a bunch of weirdos going on a road trip across the southwest with a tumbleweed-looking alien in a massive RV called the “Western trail wagon” doesn’t make you happy, then you have no soul.

Favorite Movie and TV Show

This section was supposed to be “Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation” but seeing as I don’t watch that many movies in the first place (who has the time when there are piles of books to get to) or the fact that I actually go out of my way to avoid watching adaptations in general (less chance to be disappointed that way), I will leave you with my favorite movie and favorite TV series that I’ve watched this year so far.

Favorite Post

My posts generally fall into three categories: review posts, feature posts, and update posts. So yeah, pretty boring. This is the first post I’ve done that actually counts as being somewhat different and fun and special, so I guess my favorite post so far this year would be…this one? LOL

Books I Need to Read By the End of the Year

Too many to list! But if you’re curious to see the 2023 must-reads I’ve got my eye on, you can always check out my “Most Anticipated” posts for the first three quarters of the year. Here’s the one from January to March, the one from April to June, and the one from July to September. Shocker, but I’ve actually gotten to most of them. Overall, it’s been a fun and productive first half of 2023 in terms of reading a lot of great books, and I’m happy I got to feature a lot of them today.