 on this video might be a little weird, but it's literally a balancing act every single time I have to film with my phone. So we're gonna have to go with it. Hey fellow reading warriors and welcome back and welcome to my mid-year freakout tag video. Yes, this video is going up late because I am filming it late because my computer is still hating me for trying to edit videos. I don't know why I'm trying to work on it, so I'm trying to get that figured out. So most of my videos right now are going up later than I want them to, and it's not because I'm lazy, not because I don't want to. It's technical troubles, and I'm not very good with technology because I prefer reading books rather than doing things with technology. So anyway, now I'm just gonna go get right into the video and try and make it short as possible and easiest on the computer. So for the mid-year book freakout tag, I'm really excited for my first time doing this. I didn't do it last year, and I'm really excited to answer these questions and just kind of reflect of all the books that I've already read. I've read 48 out of 50 books according to Goodreads, but I know that I finished more books than that, that I just haven't recorded on Goodreads, so I've officially finished my goal, but I kind of wanted to finish my goal for the first half of the year and then try and read another 50 books by the end, so hopefully I can read a hundred books. That's the true goal, but Goodreads will say otherwise. So the first question is, what is the best book you've read in 2020 so far? And so for that, I went through all my five star ratings, and the one that just immediately came to mind and always has been coming to mind is An Unkindness of Magicians by Cat Howard. I read this for a readathon, and I still really enjoy it, and I still think this is one of the best books I've read in 2020 so far. I like the characters, I like the plot, I like the magic, I love the description. It's just one of my favorites. Next is Best Sequel you've read in 2020. This one I also read in a readathon, and I would say it's Thunderhead by Neil Shusterman. It's the second in the Ark of the Psych Trilogy. I'm about to read the third one. I'm just, it's so big, but I love this one because it furthered my love for the characters while introducing new elements, without it being a whole new book or series, or it being a repeat of the first book. And normally I really don't like sequels or second books in series, because I feel that they either repeat the first one or they're just too sidetracked from the whole plot. But I didn't have either issue with this one, and I really enjoyed it. Another one is a new release that has already come out that I have not read but want to read, and that was actually a book that I was just given by a friend of mine that came out this year, and I was like, oh my word, yes I should read this, and that's My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodie Ashton, and Jody Meadows. I've been hearing a lot about the Jane books. They've been writing books about different genes in history, and as I really started to get into historical fiction this past year, really January, I've been like, oh my word, I really want to read this. I think it would be fun and cool, so that's something that came out that I want to read but just haven't gotten to yet. Then number four is the most anticipated release for the second half of the year, and so obviously I don't have it, but that is Seasons of the Storm by Al Cosimano, and I am really intrigued by this one because it's so interesting because it's like, when people die, and then they have to become the seasons, and then, you know, the seasons progress by killing each other, and I'm just, oh that sounds so intriguing, plus the cover is gorgeous, so I'm really excited for that one. Also, yeah, I'm not really giving much of a descriptions of these books. Like I said, I'm trying to kind of keep the video short, and there are a lot of books and a lot of things I could say, and a lot of these I have already talked about in previous videos, so you can go ahead and find those. Number five was the biggest disappointment, and I struggled with this one because there are actually a few pretty disappointing books, but I'm actually gonna go with A Thousandth Floor by Catherine McGee. This one, it disappointed me with so many different aspects. The, just a whole overall message of the book was not even close to what I was hoping it would be, and then what it was just thoroughly disappointed me, and like the characters drove me nuts, and the fact that a lot of conflict stemmed from just people not talking to each other just, it disappoints me so much when books are like that, and this was kind of full of it, so I was like, yeah, this one disappointed me most. I mean, like it's still good writing, but, and like even with the catchphrase, the higher you are, the farther you fall, I totally took that to mean something completely different than what it does represent, and I was like, ugh, fine. Then the biggest surprise, number seven is the biggest surprise of 2020, and this one was Red, White, and Royal, Blue by Casey McQuiston. This one was a huge surprise to me because I don't normally like romance, and I tried reading romance for all of February, and this was a book that I read there, and oh my word, I loved it. I loved this contemporary romance, which is not what I generally enjoy reading, and like, ugh, like their relationship, it just, it was, it was a funny book, it was so sweet, I just, I don't know why, it really just like, ugh, it got me in the feels. So that was my biggest surprise, and it was a positive surprise, so like, yeah. Favorite new author, I struggled with this one because I haven't really been reading a bunch of new authors this year, but the one that I chose for this was Katie O'Neill because I read her book The T-Dragon Society, adorable by the way, and so I'm really excited to read some of her other graphic novel books like this. I just, you know, like, I just loved Katie O'Neill's creativity of what went into the book and the characters and just the style of everything. It was so sweet, and I look forward to reading more of her stuff. Number eight is your newest fictional crush. I don't crush on characters often. I really, and when I do, I don't crush very hard just because like, the love of my life is my fiancé, who I'm gonna marry, so I don't really crush on fictional characters much. So this one, yeah, this isn't something I don't think I'll be able to fulfill every year, but this year I do have a little fictional crush and, I mean, like, crush, like, favorite male character because I am straight, but honestly there are some main female characters that also are like, oh, girl. Point is I chose Cardin from the airfolk trilogy by Holly Black. I'm just holding up the cruel prints because I don't want to repeat books, but I will use this trilogy later on in the video, so I chose a different book for it. Yeah, after completing the trilogy, Cardin really grew on me, especially in the last book. I was like, oh my word, yes. So, yeah, he was just one of those characters where I was like, I'm not gonna like him. No, I refuse to let myself like him. Gosh, dang it, I like him. So, he fulfills, he's the best candidate to fulfill that one. Number nine is newest favorite character and this one, I had a hard time choosing one character, but all the characters I was choosing between was in one book and that was Invictus by Ryan Groudon. All the characters in here I love. Like, each character is so strong in themselves and they have, and just the way that she wrote them to have each of their own unique interests and clicks and just, you know, so I just loved all the characters in that book. So, I'm just saying, like, that little family makeshift crew family are my favorite characters because it's definitely one of them. I just have a hard time choosing which one. So, number 10 is a book that made you cry. No book has made me cry yet this year. I do not cry for books, movies, like any kind of like media thing like that. I just, I don't get as emotionally attached to the point where I'll cry. I will be very happy and I will laugh or I will get very angry and upset, but even if I feel sadness, I generally don't cry. So, that's gonna be a very hard one for me to ever fulfill because I just don't cry for books. I'm sorry. So, nothing on that one. Number 11 was a book that made me happy. This was a prompt for a read-a-thon that I did, but I'm not choosing the book that I read for that because it didn't make me as happy as this other one did and that was Every Heart of the Doorway by Shana McGuire. It made me happy. It was like, I don't know why I just felt it was such a charming, very creative book. I want to read the rest of the series but I just haven't gotten there yet and I just, again, I love the creativity. I love the main character. That one made me very happy and I would consider rereading it and then reading the rest of the series to continue making me happy. Almost to the end. Number 12 is the most beautiful book you bought this year. A lot of my really pretty books I bought last year. So, it's been, I don't have anything like exceptionally pretty that I bought this year. So, what I've decided to do for this one was The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. Here it is. The third one of the airfolk trilogy. It took me forever to buy this and I don't know why. Like when it first came out it was like, oh my word I need to buy it but then I was like, but money. But I did buy it and I'm very happy I did because I love the color and I love how there are different elements from the story on this cover. Like the snake is significant and this is significant and obviously the crown is significant but it just being broken in everything and like, oh, I don't know why but this just seems like a beautiful cover and honestly I love all the covers in the airfolk trilogy including the half novel 1.5 This Lost Sister by Holly Black. Yeah, those are just all beautiful books and they look so beautiful next to each other that I'm seriously reconsidering how my shelves are organized right now and just so that all the series are together because those just look beautiful all together. And then the last question, question number 13 is what books do you need to finish before the end of the year? And as you guys, if you've been watching my channel you know that my number one goal is to read all the books on my shelf that I haven't. So all the ones on my shelves that I have not read yet, those are what I need to read by the end of the year. And then also if you've been watching my channel then you know that I've been reading a different genre every month and so I have books for different genres to read. I have a lot of books of different genres to read by the end of the year because I'm trying to diversify my reading both genre-wise just to see where my true interests lie because so many people read fantasy and I do love fantasy but I'm sure that there are other genres that I do like. And the very first genre I tried in January historical fiction is one that I love so it's worked a little bit. And so that's what I'm gonna say for the last question is everything on my shelf plus whatever I'm reading to read new genres. So we're gonna just say that. And so that is the end of the tag. If you liked this video give it a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel for more content, share it with people, and be like hey I agree with her with this or no I don't. She's crazy. What are you doing? Feel free to like comment down below. Let me know if you've read any of these books. If you agree, if you disagree, I would love to hear your thoughts on that and I will see you guys in the next video. So happy reading!