Okay so I didn't know this was a thing but everyone's doing the mid-year book
tag so here we go. So yeah this is a tag I guess everyone does around this time
of year. I'm going to still maybe do my quarter wrap-up in a
couple weeks cuz I really do still want to go into my statistics but this seemed
like a fun list to go through and as I was like binging everyone else's I
really wanted to, also as a side note my cat's not been letting me sleep for
months, he's actually on the other side of this camera being freakin adorable
but she sent me this shirt, so it's like they want food and they sleep and then
they sleep and then they're up from like midnight to 6:00 in the morning which is
my life now. But it's okay, I love being a cat mom anyways and you got to see my
new mic. I got the idea from Jashanah cuz I wasn't liking any of the other
audio stuff, so if you're like I don't know a new booktuber like me this lapel
mic was 20 bucks and I'm currently liking the sound quality. I guess I don't
know if you guys like it but I feel better about it but let's get into these
questions. So what is my best book of the year? You guys if you've been watching my
channel for like more than a minute should already know the answer but it's
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin. I have a whole review up for this book, I adored
it. It was so fun. I also love her as an author, she's easily one of my top 2-3 authors
Her world-building, her character work, her plots, just her narrative
structure I love everything she does and this book is no exception
I just... I really liked it so yeah if you want more of the thoughts I do like
I said I have a review on it and I just I love it, it's just
hands-down such a great book. Alright so now number two is what is the best
sequel and I swear these won't all be N.K. Jemisin but The Broken Kingdom
was my favorite sequel of the year. This is the second book in the inheritance
trilogy. I do have a recommendation video for that trilogy I also talk about it a
lot. I love this trilogy I especially love this book, this book is probably my
favorite in it and it takes place after the events of the first book and you're
following a blind street artist and how her life changes after she meets a
stranger in a dumpster and it's wonderful and the narrative perspective
through a blind narrator is so well done and I just... I love it. I love the color of
this book, this is one of my favorite colors and so to have a book this color
like... I don't like the new covers that much so I... well I saw it on the
cheap I got the originals because I know I want to own these, so yeah my
favorite sequel. Alright now we're switching it up the next one is a new
release I want to get to and I recently got Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno
Garcia and I read Gods of Jade and Shadow by her I thought it was good but
not as good as I wanted it to be but this one is in a genre I'm not well read
in and a lot of my friends who have similar tastes to me have been really
liking it and I got this arc from a Goodreads giveaway which like never
happens and I love this cover so I've never been more pleased by a cover
before I think. I don't know just all the colors and I actually have no idea what
it's about because I know it's more like a gothic thriller and I mean I don't
like reading the backs of books for most of the things I read, why would that
change for a thriller? I feel like the least you know the better. Then
the next question is a new release you're excited for for the second half
the year and guys its Rhythm of War that's it, like I would like to pretend
that there are other things I'm more excited about like yes burning gods for
the poppy war is great but that's more like a four star series for me like the
Stormlight archive, that's like my Wheel of Time like for people who like are
obsessed with that. Like I will reread this series every time a new book comes
out until it's finished so it's like I'm always going to be hyped for that series to
an absurd degree. I am probably not going to read anything else when that book
comes out opening, at opening week? this isn't a movie but release day week it's
the Rhythm of War and I really really really want to see the new American
cover. Not that I really loved the covers I just want to see it and I want
to know what the what color it's gonna be for these, kinda want it to be purple
so we got blue red and yellow and I think purple would look nice not that I
have committed to getting the hardback yet because there's the new way of kings
Kickstarter editions and I've been, if you haven't noticed getting all of them
because I might not buy a lot of books but I guess when I do I like to be a
collector about it so I'm gonna get way of Kings for that and then it's like do
I need the hardbacks and the leather-bound? The logical answer is
probably no but we'll see what happens and so five is your biggest
disappointment you have. A few books that have disappointed me but I don't know
this is hard I wrote down a few things but none of them... uh I think of the
list I've put down here it's the Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and I do
have a review for this one I just... that ending man and I think it also
disappointed me because it's a long book and I spent most of my week reading a
book that had like no payoff in the ending for me, like I can see that book
having a good payoff for many other people. I don't think it's an objectively
bad book which is why I think it qualifies for being disappointing for me
if that makes sense. I just, I hate spending like five to seven days reading
something I don't like, that's just not, it's disappointing and so six though is
your greatest surprise and it's going to be two books. I know it's kind of
cheating but whatever, doing the Great alone by Kristen Hanna which is a
historical fiction, light thriller that I did not expect to love. I gave that five
stars. I like I rarely give anything outside of fantasy and scifi five stars
just like period. It's wonderful I mean I don't feel like I need to hype this book
up It's a book about a family that moves to
Alaska, the father has PTSD from the Vietnam War and it's about how this
family maneuvers this new life, this new start in Alaska but also the domestic
troubles within the household and it's really good I was very invested I really
liked connecting to the main character who was for part of the book 14 and the
other part 17 I thought she was a really smart teenager which I really like
appreciate so yeah and then I guess in a similar vein Catfishing on Catnet. I
just finished this book yesterday and I gave it five stars, I don't think I've
given another young adult this year five stars
They're usually four - four and a half stars for me but this one I really
really really loved this book yeah so this was... how to explain it? So you have a
girl and her mom and they're constantly moving around the country to get away
from their dad who was abusive so they're always running away from him
because he's now out of jail from stalker charges and things like that and
so the only way that she can have friends is on the website CatNet which
is run by an AI who's like doing this kind of in secret and the AI and this
girl becomes friends and gosh it's a wonderful story about friendship
and like it's, it's so good and it was way more gripping and intriguing and
mysterious and like not put downable than I expected. It was so good and like
at the end it was like maybe implying there could be a sequel and then I saw
there's going to be a sequel and I was legit excited so yeah that was a big
surprise for me. I was going to read it because I think I heard about it
first from Bree and she said it was really good and I was like cool I'll
read this and then I was reading it with Kayla and Reija and yeah both Kayla and I
had a great time we're still waiting for Reija to finish up to see her thoughts
but yeah I just also like it's about a website where you pay with cat pictures
to get online, like... cats. Anyways and now for the next one is a
new favorite author and I'm gonna have to go with the fabulous Dr. Karen Lord
ah stole my heart I have only read one book by her so maybe this is premature
but this is her debut book and I gave it 5 stars
and I bought it. This story was so good it was so satirical, it was a wonderful
comfy fairy tale, folklore story based off I don't know if it's specifically
Barbados but that's where she's from and it's definitely got Caribbean vibes and
Caribbean mythical creatures and it's about this woman, this human who has to
deal with the interference of these mythical creatures in her life and she
goes on this journey and it is wonderful and yeah I just love it and I love this
cover and I'm so excited to read more of her work. She also writes a lot of sci-fi
I know that unraveling is another book within this world but I'm excited to get
to so yeah she is...she's a new favorite for me and so fictional crush?
I haven't...fictional crushes are weird I haven't really had one in a long time
but if you had to tell me right now pick a fictional crush I guess I'm gonna go
with Geralt from The Witcher but I don't know if that has so much to do with the
books I've been reading in The Witcher series or the TV show but that's what
I'm gonna go with so yeah Geralt and I'll see ooh
now who is your favorite character alright we're gonna go back to the city
we became because it's basically almost anyone in this book but specifically
Bronca, frickin love Bronca. She represents the Bronx she is I don't know if she's
70 or just older than 70 but she's 70 year old lesbian Native American woman
running an art gallery in New York and I freaking love her and her energy but I
also like I said all the characters in this book are so amazing so yeah
now the next one is books that made me cry. So I'm not good at crying when I
read things or watch movies unless they hit very specific relatable points like
I don't know... what are things that have legit made me cry?
The end of Onward the movie made me cry and what's the movie that Disney
did, the movie that was probably not a good representation of what happened but
it was about Mary Poppins and like getting the rights to it and you kind of
get to delve into the creator of Mary Poppins like complicated relationship
with her father I cried at that movie I'm blanking on the name I will put an
image up by.... Saving Mr. Banks. I knew if I talked about it long enough I would get
there but yeah that movie someone needed to have warned me but in terms of books
the closest I've gotten this year is this is how you lose the time war, yes I
still have this copy but I think I can finally start returning library books
soon but yea this book I had to sit with it and I had to slow down and read it
out loud because it's about a love story that like it has to go through this
tragic moment and I had that part it just made me feel so I don't know cry
but I don't think a books made me cry ever
maybe so this is the closest this year so far. And book that made me happy and
that is check please vol 1 again go read check please this is your weekly
reminder that my channel sponsors you to go read check please it's so good and so
now we're on to 12 which is beautiful book so I think I'm first gonna go with
His Dark Materials because this was gifted to me by Thee Princess from castle
library and it was so sweet it's one of my favorite series of all times and I
have this beautiful Edition which I really like I even like it without the
cover a little bit like without the dust jacket so that's for sure one of them I
don't know I I like all the books I've shown you like
I think this is a beautiful cover I guess I really love the color on this
one I already told you Mexican gothic is objectively gorgeous
so I guess real talk if we were we're starting in January probably right but
in December I did get this book and it is objectively the prettiest thing that
I, one of the prettiest things I've owned like it is phenomenally gorgeous so this
is this is definitely up there but technically got that in December but I
got that like December 30 so don't know if it counts and now it's
asking me what I'm supposed to read for the end of the year I don't... so I do have
like my series TBR that I posted for my summer so that has some series that I'm
focusing on so obviously I'm focusing on those for the summer and presumably also
the fall because I cannot finish everything, I'm not that amazing but I
also want to read more like Karen Lord already mentioned that I want to read
all her things I want to also want to read more by or anything by Nalo
Hopkinson I have one of her books on my Kindle right now but I really want to
read her stuff cuz Njeri and Nikita really love her so I really want to read
those and of course I fell in love with Exhalation which somehow didn't make it
in this video but I love Exhalation by Ted Chiang and he has his first short
story collection stories of your life and others so I need to read that so I
guess those are things, obviously rhythm of war but that should be obvious if
you're here so yeah that's my mid-year book freak out and I no one else is
tagging other people so I guess I won't but I guess if you want to do it do it
comment down below a cat emoji if you just want me to know you're here or
comment on any of the books that I've read or if you didn't want to do this
video but want to tell me your answers to one of the prompts I'm good with that
and otherwise like if you liked it subscribe if you want to and I will see
you in the next one bye!
