The 2024 Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag

This is my sixth year doing the Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag! The tag was created by Ely @ Earl Grey Books and Chami @ Read Like Wildfire.

I love doing this post, although it took me a while to put it together. It’s so hard to choose just one book for each prompt, so per usual, I’ve chosen three! Also, I didn’t want any repeats so I could shine a light on more of my favorites.

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# of Books Read So Far:

This is a screenshot of my Goodreads progress at the end of June, and I’m exactly where I was last year at this time, on track to read 100 books this year:-)

Best Books I’ve Read So Far This Year:

I have to say I’ve read some amazing books so far this year! It was hard to narrow it down to my top three, but that’s what I do, so here they are:

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins was one of my first reviews of 2024 and it’s STILL in the number one spot for the year. Yes, I loved it that much!

I expected to love Diavola by Jennifer Thorne, but I didn’t expect to LOVE it. This is an absolutely perfect horror story, read it!

Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart should not have been good enough to make it into my top three books, but Rob Hart surprised the hell out of me. This is a writer at the top of his game, .and even if you think “I don’t want to read a story about assassins,” you should check that statement at the door and read it anyway!

Best Sequels I’ve Read So Far This Year:

Stephen Graham Jones wrapped up his Indian Lake trilogy with the perfect ending. The Angel of Indian Lake brings Jade Daniels’ story to a stylish and bloody end.

Sequels are sometimes hard to get right, but Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett is a worthy sequel.

And another excellent sequel that was even better than the first book was First Light by Liz Kerin. This is a duology, so if you enjoy dark, emotional vampire tales, you can now binge it:-)

New Releases I Haven’t Read But Want To:

There are oh so many new releases I haven’t read yet, but here are three “over due” ARCs that I haven’t been able to get to: Heavenbreaker by Sara Wolf, The Hunter’s Gambit by Ciel Pierlot and Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2024:

Again, there are SO many upcoming releases I’m excited for, but these three are the ones I’m most excited for: So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison, I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones and Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye by Alex White.

Biggest Disappointments:

Three books I had high hopes for but just didn’t work:

I thought the characters in An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson were immature and over-the-top, and that ruined the story for me.

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher should have worked, because I loved the first book in the series. But this one just bored me.

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields just had too many debut author issues for me to enjoy it.

Biggest Surprises:

Surprises are the best, right? Here are three books that I went into without any expectations and was pleasantly surprised:

I had heard great things about Cynthia Pelayo’s books, but I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Forgotten Sisters. But wow, I loved it!

We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer was way creepier and weirder than I expected, and of course “creepy” and “weird” are my mojo:-)

The Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent was so much fun, a dark and emotional vampire story with a very well done romance.

Favorite New Author:

I’m so glad I read A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke, author of The Lighthouse Witches, a book I’ve wanted to try for a while. This book was amazing!

The Silverblood Promise is not only an excellent start to a new series, it’s (shockingly) a debut! I can’t wait for the next book in the series:-)

And I finally read my first Josh Malerman and loved it! Incidents Around the House was told in such a unique way.

New Favorite Characters:

I loved all of the characters in A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall, but my favorites were E. and Henerey. This is a wonderful story and the start to a new series.

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei is another book full of wonderful characters, but my favorite was definitely Auncle, the squid-like alien who is close friends with the main character Maya.

Lulabelle Rock wins the award for most unique character of 2024 so far! I had so much fun with Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf.

Books That Made Me Cry:

Now for the crying portion of our post. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is set during WWI and had some heartbreaking moments. But what a fantastic story!

The Redemption of Morgan Bright ventures into the terrors of psychiatric care and women’s reproduction rights, and it was chilling and extremely emotional.

The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Naylor was a tough read at times, due to the subject matter of elephant hunting. Proceed with caution!

Books That Made Me Happy:

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt made me happy and sad, but mostly happy. This was such a feel-good story:-)

Fiasco by Constance Fay is the second in a fun, action-and-romance-packed series, and it was a blast from start to finish!

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney was my second book by the author, and it was a great mystery that dealt with some emotional mother/daughter relationships.

Favorite Post I’ve Done This Year:

Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in a rut, posting the same types of posts all the time. So I can’t say I have a lot of “favorite” posts that I’ve written. But I love making lists, so here are a few I’ve done this year:

Horror A-Z

Summer of Horror 2024

Ten Upcoming Book Releases That Don’t Have Covers Yet

I loved doing this post and will probably do another one soon. Although out of the ten books listed, only two remain coverless, lol, so it’s very dated at this point.

Most Beautiful Book I’ve Bought This Year:

I had heard about My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris on social media, and because the sequel just came out, I wanted to snag the first book. this is a highly lauded graphic novel, and even though it’s a format I don’t usually read, I’m very curious about this. Let me know if you’ve read it!

Books I Need to Read By the End of the Year:

So many, but here is a small sampling.

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Have you done this tag? Let me know!