Mid-Year Book Freak Out 2018! – With a quick look at my goals and some extra

We are already on the sixth day of July. We have already completed six months in 2018. The year is cut right in half and of course that means it is time for the Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag. I feel like this is just one of those tags you do every year whether or not you get tagged. Its like tradition. But I also totally got tagged by Norrie from Reading under the Blankie. Check our her answers here!

This is just such a nice way to reflect on the first half of the year really. As that is what we are doing here I decided that it would also be a good idea to take a very brief glance at my year goals before heading into the questions.

Quick Mid-Year Look at Goals

From 2018 (Reading) Goals

My reading challenge goal was 60 books for this year. I crushed that and am on my way to double that already. #oops
The next goal was to read 5 books by Dutch authors of my shelves. Reasonably on track here with 2 out of 5.
Then I tried to not let my physical tbr grow. I shall hang my head in shame.
I also wanted to finish or catch-up to 10 series. I have hit 10 series already, just not the ones I listed…
There were also 15 specific books I wanted to read this year. So far I am pretty on track here, maybe a tad behind.
I also was ready to read 5 classics. Crushed it.
For beat the backlist I was going to read 40 backlist books. Crushed it and upped to 80. Crushed that as well.

From TTT #125 – Low Pressure Goals for 2018

Hit a 1000 followers on WP for my blog.  But I am getting there!
Hit a 1000 followers on my bookstagram. So close! Like 7 away from it.
Hit a 100 150 followers on bloglovin’. Since I’ve gone over to Feedly I rarely look at bloglovin’ and as such this goal really isn’t that important anymore. It really wasn’t to begin with. Even so I hit a 100 really quickly in January and upped it to 150. Seeing as I am not active on bloglovin’ I’m still at 132.
Post reviews on a retail site for review copies at least. I am doing pretty decent with this one. I add in reviews elsewhere when I give my feedback on Netgalley.
I don’t have to review all the books I read. I review what I want.
Reread more books if I feel like it.
Read all the books gifted at Christmas 2017. Only two so far.
Read pre-orders within 2 months. Missed a few. #oops

Mid-Year Goodreads

Recently Goodreads shared in two blog posts the highest rated books on the first half year and the most read books of the first half year. I thought it would be interesting to see if I read any of the books and if I felt similar. I didn’t really want to make a whole post about it so I decided to add it in here.

Of the highest rated books I have only read one and that is Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli. I rated it 4,5 stars so I would say I do agree. I would however like to point out that while I enjoyed it I do agree with some of the critical reviews that have been surfacing regarding a scene where someone came out.

Other than that I have Children of Blood and Bone and The Cruel Prince on my tbr to read.  I am not surprised to see Circe or Iron Gold on the list. One that did surprise me was Senlin Ascends. I saw it first when browsing netgalley (or one of the sequels) but have never heard anyone talk about it.

With the most read books, again I have only read Leah on the Offbeat. Not a surprise to see it on there. I was surprised to see some more ya on this list. Besides Children of Blood and Bone, and The Cruel Prince I saw Thunderhead, The Hazelwood and Everless. I know The Hazelwood was a much talked about book but I didn’t get that impression with Everless.

The Freak Out

BEST BOOKS YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2018?

Not including rereads: The Fifth Season / Lake Silence / The Mad Ship / To Kill a Kingdom / The Empty Grave / Leah on the OffBeat / Bones and Bourbon / Spinning Silver

BEST SEQUEL OF 2018 SO FAR

The Empty Grave by Jonathan Stroud. It is the conclusion to Lockwood & Co.

NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT YOU WANT TO

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.

MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE OF THE SECOND HALF OF 2018?

Spinning Silver / Record of a Spaceborn Few / City of Ghosts / The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy / 9 From the Nine Worlds / Bright Ruin

 BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda. I still liked the book but I had higher expectations. Also The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer and The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green.

 BIGGEST SURPRISE

Bones and Bourbon by Dorian Graves. Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray.

FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR (DEBUT OR AUTHOR TO YOU)

Dorian Graves / Alexandra Christo / N.K. Jemisin

 NEWEST FICTIONAL CRUSH

I think I might have a secret crush on Brashen and Reyn (Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb)…shhh.

NEWEST FAVORITE CHARACTER

Surprisingly I have grown quite fond of Malta, something that I wasn’t expecting at the start of the Liveship Traders trilogy but if you want to see how to do character development, read Robin Hobb people. Wintrow from the same trilogy and family is also such a precious cinnamon roll.

BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY 

None. Never.

A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY 

Witchmark by C.L. Polk

 MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE BOUGHT OR RECEIVED THIS YEAR?

The fact that I could read and review Spinning Silver was just beautiful. Physical wise I would say the two editions of Alice in Wonderland (that I finally read) were gorgeous. But also the hardcover of The Amulet of Samarkand I got from La La in the Library <3, Tess of the Road and Murder on the Orient Express.

WHAT BOOKS DO YOU NEED TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

Look you ask this question every year and expect my answer to be different from ALL the books every time…

The Way of Kings / The Name of the Wind / Strange the Dreamer / The City of Brass / The Last Magician / Neverwhere…to name a few.