Mid Year Book Tag!

I’ve read over 200 books so far in 2022, so it’s a great time to check in at the halfway mark with this tag and recap some of my favourites!

Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2021

I think this is between Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher (which I reviewed here) and Which Way? by Theodora Benson (review here). Two very different books! The former was pure fun, and the latter was just one that really got stuck in my brain.

Best Sequel of 2020 so far

A Mirror Mended by Alix E Harrow is such a fabulous, entertaining book – my review of both books in the series is here!

Twenty Questions Book Tag!

I was tagged to answer these twenty questions a good while back by Judith at Dead Good Book Reviews, who is not only an excellent booktuber but also one of my real life best friends – you should check her out! I’m not usually much for tags, but I like these questions a lot, and it’s been a long time since I’ve answered any bookish questions, so here we go…

1. How many books is too many books in a book series?
I can already see so many of my answers to this being “it depends”, but let’s start as we mean to go on: it depends! Some series can stand to be longer, and some need to be shorter as they have more focused plots to tell. I like everything from standalones to trilogies to super-long series! Some of my favourite series have upwards of a dozen books: Lindsey Davis’ Falco books have 20 (and then a spin-off series that’s already up to 9 books and still going!), while The Chronicles of St Mary’s by Jodi Taylor is up to 12, and I think there are more planned. If the series is good and the structure suits more adventures, then I’m happy for it to keep going.

2. How do you feel about cliffhangers?

Mid-Year Book Tag!

I’ve read a lot of books in the first half of the year – 233 to be precise – so I thought that this tag would be a great way to look back on some of the highlights of 2021 so far!

Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2020

Half a Soul has got to be up there, despite being literally the first book I read this year. I’m always down for Regency fantasy romance and this is an exceptionally fun one with a very swoonworthy hero! I also adored Winter’s Orbit, which is a marvellous sci-fi romance with an arranged marriage, great character work, and a bunch of politics – like court fantasy in space. My review is here if you want more of my thoughts!

Best Sequel of 2020 so far

Master Artificer was a fabulous sequel that really expanded the world of the first book – my review has more detail, but be warned, it’s hard to avoid spoilers for book one! Dead Man in a Ditch was also a brilliant follow-up to a book I loved, and Voidbreaker was one of the best final books in a trilogy I’ve read in a long time!

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want to

Oh goodness, most of them! I’m so very behind on my 2021 releases. I’m looking forward to The Jasmine Throne very much, and The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels.

Most Anticipated Release of the Second Half of 2020

I am desperate to read The Last Graduate! I adored A Deadly Education and that cliffhanger left me on tenterhooks!

Biggest Disappointment

For the Wolf. I wanted dark and luxurious fairy tale romance, but what I got was a lot of overblown teen angst. My review has more details but I was so let down!

Biggest surprise

I didn’t expect to have as much fun with Serpent and Dove as I did! I’m a bit worn out on enemies-to-lovers YA, but this is quite a romp. Not perfect, but very enjoyable.

Favourite New Author

Sarah Pinsker. I love her brand of eerily believable speculative fiction – I’ve read and reviewed both A Song for a New Day and We Are Satellites in the first half of this year and they were both stunning.

Newest Fictional Crush

I loved Half a Soul‘s Elias Wilder, the Lord Sorcier, and Leander Fabian from Stephanie Burgis’s Good Neighbours series. Both go straight on my list of Hot Wizard Boyfriends.

Newest Favourite Character

My most recent favourite is Wendy from Wendy, Darling. The book is a fantastic take on what might happen after Neverland, and I loved adult Wendy’s resilience and heart.

Book That Made You Cry

The Midnight Bargain made me cry happy tears, but I can’t tell you why!

Book That Made You Happy?

So many, but it’s hard to top the sense of joy and comfort I had from discovering that the book of Kiki’s Delivery Service is even better than the film. It’s so cosy and wonderful.

Favourite Book to Movie Adaptation You’ve Seen This Year? 

I don’t think I’ve seen any! I actually really tend to dislike adaptations – no matter how good they are, they’ll never look exactly like I imagined things, and some things will inevitably be changed, and so they’re always disappointing to me!

Favourite Review You’ve Written This Year? 

I don’t really think I have a favourite of my reviews – once I’ve written them, I mostly forget about them…

Most Beautiful Book You Bought or Received So Far This Year? 

It would be hard to beat Botanical Curses and Poisons by Fez Inkwright!

What Books Do You Need to Read by the End of the Year?

Uh, all of them! The TBR is at 420 and counting, and I’d like to get it down even further, so I’ve got my work cut out for me!

Book Tag – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

Something a little unusual for me today… If you follow me on Twitter, it’ll be no surprise to you that I’m pretty much obsessed with the Niffler from the Fantastic Beasts movies, so when Jacqueline the Pufflehuffle Kitteh tagged me to do her Fantastic Beasts book tag, I was so excited!

Tag: Out Of This World Blogger

I was nominated for the Out of This World Blogger Award by Teagan at Fiction No Chaser, which is one of my favourite book blogs. The award was created by the awesome Kaleena at Reader Voracious Blog. She created this award to recognize exceptional bloggers that are engaged in the community and publish excellent content.

(I don’t read a lot of hard sci-fi, so here are some books with spacy titles!)

My First Tag: Bookish Naughty or Nice

I was tagged to answer these questions by the lovely Ash of For The Love of Books – the tag was originally created by Jenn at Jenniely.com!