It’s the penultimate day of June June and that means we are half way through 2021! That means its time to do the mid-year book freak out tag!
While 2021 is still plagued with lockdown’s I am definitely more in my stride of working from home, splitting my time between hobbies etc., than I was last year and so far I have been flying through books! I am even suprised myself just how many I have completed. I have read some AMAXING books this year. In fact June has been an alround amazing month for books where so far all the books I have read have been above 4 stars!
THE STATS
Number of Books so far: 78
No of pages: 25,630
THE RATINGS:
5 Stars: 27
4.5 Stars: 11
4 Stars: 21
3.5 Stars: 6
3 Stars: 10
2.5 Stars: 1
2 Stars: 0
1 Star: 2
THE QUESTIONS
WHAT IS THE BEST BOOK THAT YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2021?

Library of the dead
T. L. Huchu
Edinburgh Nights #1
I loved the combination of a dystopian Edinburgh, especially the less well know areas of the city, and Zimbabwean music based magic. It also has such a fun and fast paced plot, that can get dark and gruesome at times as well as having a hidden library to explore!
Other Notable books (lots of 5 stars this year that I want to shout about):
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE SEQUEL OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR?


Network Effect / Fugitive Telemetry
Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries Books 5 and 6
My Reviews:
Network Effect
Fugitive Telemetry
I love The Murderbot books! So there was no doubt I was going to love these two. Network Effect is a full Novel in the Murderbot universe and it was amazing getting to spend so much time exploring and learning about Murderbot. Fugitive Telemetry continues on and took a more classic murder mystery style. I just loved both.
IS THERE A NEW RELEASE THAT YOU HAVEN’T READ YET BUT YOU’RE REALLY EXCITED TO?

The Jasmine Throne
Tasha Suri
The Burning Kingdom
I have the gorgeous Illumicrate copy of this sitting staring at me on my TBR shelf and I really need to carve out some time for it as I have been super excited to read it. Indian inspired, Sapphic ,epic fantasy, does more really need to be said. From the blurb it seems like it is going to have a dark and twisting plot. We all know i love a plot filled with devious political machinations.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR?

I have one of the incredibly shiny red foiled ARCs sitting on my shelf right now. It has my name in the acknowledgements, as I have known some curious details of this book since an email from Jay in April 2019! And I have started to read it (I have been pacing myself). But I also have a nice fancy copy (or two) on pre-order that I intend to re-read (yes all 720 pages)
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT SO FAR?

City of Fallen Angels
Cassandra Clare
The Mortal Instruments Book #4
I have been doing a buddy read following Clare’s suggested order (we are currently on hiatus due to work/school/health commitments) with Ellie and Erika (links in the review post) and I am actually enjoying the first three Mortal instruments series, I loved the infernal devices, but when jumped back into mortal instruments I just found this so disappointing.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SURPRISE SO FAR?

The Colours of Death
Patricia Marques
This kind of came out of nowhere for me. I sort of tripped over the eARC while browsing Netgalley one day and the blurb of sci-fi police procedural just called to me ( I do love a good police procedural), but it is so much more than the sum of those parts. It was a really interesting and detailed police procedural, the sci-fi elements were fascinating but it was also very character driven with a slow well paced plot that allowed the reader to really explore the life of the MC. I really liked it.
A BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY?

Instructions for Dancing
Nicola Yoon
Far from my usual genre of reading I don’t usually read contemporary romance. However I was invited to be part of the blog tour for this one and I am glad that I was because it was just so sweet and sad. I really enjoyed it.
A BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY?

Midnight Bargin
C. L Polk
I can’t really pinpoint what it was about this book that has really stuck with me but I really enjoyed reading it, and while it wasn’t a 5 star shining read but it really made me smile. It just had a really nice mix of romance, magic and women being kick ass sorcerors.
WHAT BOOKS DO YOU WANT TO READ BY THE END OF THE YEAR?
Here are just a few:
Well that is my mid year freak out. There is still a lot of time to read the rest of the year.
How has your 2021 reading year going so far? What has been your favourite read so far?
I would love to chat all things bookish with you! You can comment down below or find me on Twitter or Goodreads!
Happy Reading!
27 5* – amazing! Happy reading for the rest of the year 🙂
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I love this tag! I am so glad to see you enjoyed Library of the Dead so much. I bought it and was so excited to read it but then I saw lots of bad/middle of the road reviews and I ended up not starting it so it’s still just sitting on the shelf!
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Loved reading yout answers!! I also cannot wait for Empire fo the Vampire!
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