Mid Year Freakout Tag 2022

Hello everyone, welcome back! It’s almost been around two weeks since I last posted, because exams, but now, I’m grateful to say that I’m well and back! I’ll be honest, my June went completely opposite of what I expected it to go. I had a list of books I wanted to read but barely made progress on the few that I’d started.

Hopefully that will now change and I’ll have more posts around, but for now, enjoy my freakout tag!

best book you’ve read this year

Okay, I think this one’s definitely gonna be Babel by R. F. Kuang. The atmosphere, the silver workings, the themes—and must I say the exploration of racism and colonialism! The author really said this book is heavy, because boy is so filled with little footnotes and hard, uncomfortable little things you just can’t keep out of your head. I enjoyed (and sometimes despised) the entire book and make sure to go pre-order it right now!

best sequel you’ve read so far

Frankly, I haven’t read much sequels this year, but I’m yet to. One of them, which I loved was The Tiger Comes Down the Hill by Nghi Vo. The Singing Hills Cycle is one of the first novellas I’ve read and while not really being immersed in it’s first book—The Empress of Salt and Fortune—I’m so glad to say that it’s sequel is tons better and I loved every part of the gorgeous and lyrical sapphic tale!

a new release you want to read

On board with the last question, my answer for this would be Siren Queen by Nghi Vo! I’ve read so many gushing reviews about the book and I can’t wait to pick up this book, because the author’s prose is so beautiful! Another book that I’m excited to read is The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim which released a couple weeks ago! I’ve recently rediscovered my love for middle grade fantasy thanks to some of my recent reads, and so stoked to dive into this!

anticipated releases for the second half of 2022

Not counting the ARCs I recieved for a good number of my anticipated releases this year, I’m really looking forward to A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar (sapphic heist on the Titanic!!!) , Strike the Zither by Joan He and Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo! I’m super excited for all of these books and I hope you are too, because they’re all so intriguing!

most disappointing books

Are disappointments really disappointments if you saw them coming? If yes, I would gladly nominate The Mortal Instruments here because I loathed it that much..

Anyway, since we’re talking about actual disappointments, my most disappointing read of this year was The Cruel Prince by Holly Black—there were so many people talking about this and I went in expecting to like it as much as they did, but nope! I do see where y’all are coming from, but I think I’ve just branched out of the cliché YA Fantasy books. But to be frank, the worst book of the year award goes to Stuck With You by Ali Hazelwood—atleast it was short!

A surprise you did not see coming

Clearly Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom! This book was all the feels! I wish younger me had read this book because it’s everything she would have wanted! Found family trope? Check. South Indian myths and folklore? Check. Neurodivergent main character? Check. Mouth watering Dosas? Check! Honestly though, this book—along with Babel—made it into my new favorites this year and that’s not easy!!

new favourite author

Sangu Mandanna and R. F. Kuang! I’ve recently discovered their books and they’re so awesome, go check them out!! (I really should stop giving the same answers to two questions in a row lmao)

books that made you cry

Babel and The Burning God. Such a pain to get through some hard parts. 💔 There were also some other books where I teared up for silly things and some others that hit really close to home, but off the top of my head, these are the ones!

favorite tv show you’ve watched

I’ve actually changed this up a little; it’s originally supposed to be favourite book to movie adaptation, but since I’m not very big on those stuff (except Heartstopper, but everyone by now knows about it, haha), so I decided to just highlight the best show I’ve watched recently and it’s none other than Miss Marvel! 🥺💖 The representation really made my brown heart go djdhshgxbcjdjdhcgd and I really hope this show is going to be success because ahhh!!

So, I guess that’s all for this week! I’ll be back next week with another blog post, so make sure to stay tuned! What are some of your reading goals and how was your year so far? Feel free to share in the comments below!

THANK YOU FOR READING!