I did this tag last year and had a ton of fun with it. So, I guess it is time to make it an annual tradition! I’m still not quite sure where the tag originated, but I’ve seen it all over on a bunch of blogs. If you know where it came from, feel free to tag/link them in the comments. I can’t believe the year is already halfway over. Even more surprising, I can’t believe I already read 91 books in the first half of the year. That is only nine away from my goal for the entire year! So, I’ve got plenty of great options to choose from for this tag.
Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2022
I have to give this one to The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne. I absolutely devoured this monster of a book and loved the characters, setting, and action. I cannot recommend this series enough.
Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far In 2021
The Hunger of the Gods would probably take the win on this one too, but I hate giving the same answer twice in a row. So, I’m gonna switch it up. I’m going to go all the way back to the first book I finished this year, Of Darkness and Light by Ryan Cahill. It was a spectacular sequel that added a lot of depth to the story.
New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To
Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald just came out last week (I think), but I still haven’t had a chance to read my ARC yet. It has gotten great reviews and sounds like something I would love. So, I’m hoping to get to it sometime later in the week… maybe.
Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year
I cannot wait for the second phase of Star Wars: The High Republic. Path of Deceit by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland is the first book of the new phase, which will be releasing in November. It will have new characters and will be set even further in the past than phase one. Hopefully, it will answer some of the lingering mysteries from the first phase and provide much needed background on the central conflict. I’m very excited about it! 🙂
Biggest Disappointment
I wasn’t really excited about Veil to begin with because I didn’t like the first book in the duology that much. However, it was so bad it was even worse than I could have ever imagined, and that’s all I’m gonna say about that. lol.
Biggest Surprise
I loved this book so much. The magic system and political conspiracy completely sucked me in, but the surprise comes in at the ending. It completely blew me away because I never saw it coming.
Favorite New Author (Debut or New to You)
This was really hard to choose. Last year I picked it based on who I read the most. I haven’t really read multiple books by a new (to me) author this year. So, that method was out. Ultimately, I’ve settled on Trudie Skies because I loved the world they built and simply could not put The Thirteenth Hour down.
Newest Fictional Crush
Nora and Charlie from Book Lovers are my newest fictional crushes. They are both so grumpy and broken, and the chemistry they had was so tense and hot that I’d love to be thrown in the mix. lol.
Newest Favorite Character
This was almost impossible to choose because I’ve read so many great books with a lot of really memorable characters. However, as I was scrolling through the list of books I’ve read this year trying to figure it out, Vanja from Little Thieves just kept jumping out at me. I really enjoyed her prickly personality and her character growth over the course of the book.
A Book That Made You Cry
I don’t think anyone will be surprised to see that Adam Silvera holds this spot two years in a row. His books always leave me a sobbing, broken mess, and History Is All You Left Me was no different.
A Book That Made You Happy
So This Is Ever After is probably my newest comfort read. It was just so fluffy and funny that it put me in a great mood while reading.
The Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought So Far This Year
I bought this book specifically for the beautiful cover. It was an enjoyable enough read but not a favorite. However, the cover alone will keep it (and its sequel coming out soon) on my shelf for years to come.
Books You Need to Read By the End of the Year
I’m not even going to try to list them all. Let’s just say… all the books. lol.
Favorite Book to Movie Adaptation
The Heartstopper series on Netflix is probably one of my favorite adaptations ever. I cannot wait for season two!
Well, those are my picks. It’s been a great year of books so far. I’ve really enjoyed this tag! I tag anyone else who would like to complete it.
These are all fantastic picks! I am currently reading Book Lovers!
Thanks! I loved listening to that audiobook. I hope you’re enjoying it! 🙂
What a great idea for a post! I might borrow it.
Go for it! It is a lot of fun. I wish I knew where it came from. I saw a bunch of blogs doing it last year, but could never figure out who created the tag.
So many of my own favorites on here… but I’m excited to get to Of Darkness and Light and it’s nice to know you loved it…
It was really good. I really liked the first book in that series too, and Of Darkness and Light improved upon it in almost every way. So, I hope you love it too!
Thank you !! I hope so too… have you read The Exile yet?? I’ve heard it’s even better…
I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I have it on my Kindle. Hopefully I’ll get to it soon…
Awesome !!!
I loved Daughter of Redwinter and can’t wait to read the Brian McClelland Great tag!
Daughter of Redwinter is next up on my TBR, and I’m pretty excited about it! 🙂
Yay for almost reaching your reading goal! ✨ I’ve heard only great things about this John Gwynne series and I can’t wait to get to it. I just read his debut and will be continuing the series but I 100% get the hype! I loved The Thirteenth Hour and History Is All You Left Me also made me weepy but I feel like Silvera’s books tend to do that to me? 😂 Heartstopper is such a great adaptation and I can’t wait for more (I can’t believe I actually forgot about this series when doing this tag, lmao, why is my memory like this?)! I hope you continue to have great reads for the rest of the year!
Thanks! I can’t believe I’ve already read almost 100 books. Gwynne is definitely a great author. I haven’t read any of his other stuff, but I hope to get to it one day. I completely agree about Silvera. His books always make me sob. lol. How could you forget Heartstopper!?! J/k. I’m always afraid when writing posts like this that I will forget my actual favorites, especially when trying to pick from 90+ books. lol. So, I totally get it.
We definitely share some of the same answers!! Great choices for this! I love reading these.
Thanks! This is probably one of my favorite tags to do.
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