Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag 2023

The Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag is a tag that we do every year and this is where we look at the first 6 months of reading for the year. This is a great way to look through what you have read so far in the year and the books that you have read and just doing a bit of reflection that is a great way to refresh your reading going into it. Many blogs and booktubers do this book tag, and honestly I have no clue where it originated from haha It’s been going on for years at this point.

Best Book You Have Read So Far This Year?

These were all superb and honestly it was so hard to focus on the favorites that I actually had because if you look at the number of just five star reads I had this year so far its been close to 70. (Yeah no one is more shocked than I am haha, I never have that many at this stage in the year). I would say that these are the creme de la creme of the year. Each one I can’t recommend enough. So if you haven’t read any of these, read them NOW haha

Best Sequel You Have Read So Far This Year?

All of these were so amazing, and to be honest I am lucky I could narrow it down to this much considering how much I have read so far this year. I really loved all of these books. Now I know Travis technically isn’t the sequel to Archer’s Voice, but I consider it to be haha And many of these books that I have listed were just as good if not BETTER than the first book in the series.

New Releases You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To

I tend to forget about the books that get released sometimes. There are so many romance releases every week especially as half my reading is self published works, so I can easily get behind on these. But these are some that I haven’t quite gotten to yet. I am still on the fence about Bewitched and Rejected Mate. Bewitched is to a be a trilogy and its a cliffhanger, so most likely I am waiting till all the books in the series are released. The Cate C Well…..I really don’t know what I think about this author if I am being honest. Her writing is just not very polished and I get baffled sometimes over how popular she is when there are way better authors out there that write shifter romance. Protege King, well that is part of a duet, so I am waiting on that one. I really have no excuse for the others haha but they are all on my Summer TBR so hopefully I will get to them soon here.

Most Anticipated Release of the 2nd Half of 2023

There are so many fun releases to look forward to for the rest of the year and this is only a short list. Its harder with self published authors though, so this is mostly just trad published authors.

Biggest Disappointment

These were all such saddening disappointments for me. I had such high hopes for all of these, but each of them were disappointing in some way. Its also saddening when you expect a book to be a true win and not be what others claim to be. This is where books are overrated and just didn’t quite meet my expectations. King of the Court was just not what I expected and is way overrated in my opinion. Its claimed to be one of the best basketball romances but I found it a bit boring and didn’t pull me into. Awaken Me Darkly, the heroine is so toxic and abusive of her man so yeah pass on that one haha Harmony Of Lies, was just disappointing on the lack of romance in it when the first book had such a heavier focus on it. Now the Sophie Lark, well, this is NOT a romance. Its a historical fantasy with a slight romantic element to it and nothing where that is concerned even happened until the last 70% of the story haha. So disappointing and the Lark fans will come for you if you say anything negative about it. Party Favors is just overrated of a FF romance. It was “meh”, but didn’t do anything for me.

Biggest Surprise

All of these books surprised me in how much I loved these. They were so much better than I had expected. And that is always so fun to discover those unexpected gems. Some of these I knew I would enjoy, and they were just way better than I expected them to be. Others I didn’t expect to enjoy that much and ended up falling in love deeply with them.

Favorite New Authors

These authors I have listed are authors that were books recommended personally to me and I just ended up wanting to devour their backlist! I don’t read new authors to me very often but when I do and I end up loving them, its always a great delight

Elisa Braden

This author was a surprise because everyone raves about her historical’s and I wasn’t sure about her. But yeah she is definitely worthy of the hype surrounding her books. Especially how her heroines are written. Not many recent published historical authors will write heroines that are aware of the hero’s mental health.

Ryan Michele

In this author, I was looking for some MC gritty authors, similar to the style in which Joanne Wylde. And this author I have quickly fell so hard for. I just can’t get enough of these books. They are just so entertaining, wild and fun to read.

Fiona Cole

This is an author I very recently discovered, but adored the way she writes erotic romance that have a more new adult themes that are so much more mature than I expected. I love maturity in New Adult type characters and this author really had me falling so hard for her writing style.

Onley James

This author has recently become very popular in the past year or so for MM romance and I can tell you that these are amazing books! I binged these all (if you call how I binge read….binge reading lol)

Minerva Spencer

This author I have been meaning to read and I have to say if you love historical romance, then you need to start reading this author. She just writes some wonderful historical reads. Her writing is engaging, well done characters and there is such a sense of adventure that has been missing in many recently released historical’s being published.

Jennifer Hartmann

I FINALLY read Still Beating and that book was a true gem and I honestly can’t wait to explore more of her works! Just fell in love so quickly with this one.

Olivia Cunning

This was an author I DNF’d years ago and honestly wasn’t sure if I would ever try again. But my reading tastes have definitely changed since then. And I read Rock Hard and fell in love with it.

Biggest Crush?

All of the male protagonists in these books instantly won my heart and more. If any of you have read these books, you know EXACTLY why I have them on my list. There is something about how the heroes were with their partners that just delivered 100% and I wish they were in real life, the type of heroes you want to marry haha If I had to choose out of these, it would most definitely be Ryan from The Right Move. With the focus on love languages and how he practically courts his girl in the most simplest of ways and how relatable it felt to real life just delivered completely for me.

Book(s) That Made You Cry

All of these really dig into the emotions and are highly provoking. Books that make me cry end up being some of the most memorable reads for me! I just love a tear jerker, although granted I feel like books are more emotional for me than they used to be (maybe as I get older I get more emotional haha) but I do love a book that can make me feel those intense emotions.

Books That Made You Happy

I loved all of these books and they really just made my heart so happy and positive and had a true vibe to the story that delivers a cheery nature.

Favorite Book to Film Adaptation Seen This Year?

There hasn’t been too many book to film adaptations this year, but this is the most recent one that I have seen. I really love what Passionflix has done with these here. And I really loved the first part. Now I have watched Queen Charlotte, its not a straight up adaptation though, but its related to the Bridgerton series and I do think its the best work that they have done so far even if its a bit more focused on race than I would have liked. But the chemistry in both of these adaptations are so beautifully well done and seriously I want to own them on DVD I loved them so much.

What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of the Year?

This is just a sampling of the books that I have planned before the end of the year! I am really hoping to do more into Steampunk this year. And That Karina Halle, I am hoping the audio will come out soon. I have heard its a bit slow at times, and I want to enjoy it fully and her audiobooks are done so good. So as much as I want to read it now, I think I want to wait until the audio is released and the author has confirmed she will be releasing an audio format but won’t be coming out soon unfortunately.

So tell me y’all….have you read any of the books I listed? What do you think of my 6 month recap of the year so far? Let me know in the comments below!