mid year freak out tag 😱 best and worst books so far + books i'm most excited to read!

Hello everybody, welcome back to my channel. Who is ready to freak out? It is time for the Midyear Freakout Tag, which I do every year. It's a booktube staple. I love doing it and it basically is looking back on how my reading has gone in the first half of the year. We're almost halfway through the year. We're like a week and a bit away from being halfway through the year. I'm getting older. I don't know if I can, if I want all this drama all the time, and does that feel good? No, because I've barely read anything. I think I've read like 30 something books, which is a lot less than I read usually. As we get into, I haven't had many five stars, I haven't had many five stars, but we're going to get into all of that. There's a set number of questions. It's a tag. It's old school booktube. Scully is now in this room with me. So if you hear cat noises or she's like bumping, she's currently playing with the tripod. I don't know if you can hear that on the microphone. It might be like reverberating upwards. Apologies if it is. She might be running around. She's kind of in her hyper moment. Anyways, without further ado, should we just dive straight in into the mid-year freakout tag? I feel like we should just get straight into it. Okay. Question number one is best book you've read so far in 2026. And I have only had two five stars this year too. Two five stars. That's four. Two. This is the worst. This is the worst. This is the worst. Yeah. It's pretty devastating. I can't remember the last time I had this little five stars, but I fear I am just becoming pickier in my old age. Every year that goes on, I get pickier as to what constitutes a five star or just like my reading standards are just so... I've read too much, I fear. I've read too many books. I don't think I'm meant to read this many books. I'm not going to lie. It's actually a really hard choice between the two as to what is my best book of the year, because they're both really, really strong, but also I don't feel like either of them is my best book of the year. I feel as though we should get some higher books on the list. My goal before the end of the year is just like, please, please, please, can I get eight more five stars before the end of the year so I can actually have a top 10 of five stars? I don't think I've ever had a top 10 that had some 4.5s in it. Not Deedus, Scully's playing over there. So yeah, I'd really like, I'd really like eight more five stars, but I think what I'm going to go for, for my favourite, again, it's very close, but I think I'm going to go with Jane Austen's Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney, The Woman Writers Who Shaped a Legend. This is a non-fiction book about women, the women writers that shaped Jane Austen, the women writers that she would have been reading at the time that were really successful at the time she was alive, but have kind of been lost to history, have kind of been forgotten about. Also guys, it's like 33 degrees today when I'm filming this, so just like, if you see me sweating, I don't want to mention it, I don't want it to be commented on, I want you to pretend you don't see it. Okay, anyways, basically I think this one is maybe like eight or ten women writers, nine. Rebecca Romney has a really great structure in this book where she examines these women's personal lives, the plots of their books, so you kind of learn what their book's about, her review of those books, her journey as a rare book collector, finding and sourcing those books, so each chapter has this amazing depth in it, and she flits between the topics in it in such an incredible way. I loved this, and listen, of course I love Janie, I love Janie, Janie's my girl, as you guys know, I'm a Jane Austen lover. I'd really like to, at some point this year, like go to some sort of Jane Austen site in the UK. I feel like I don't go to enough like bookish sites, author sites in the UK. This was just fascinating, it was incredibly well written, I would really love to read from some of these women because, again, it's just so interesting how it was much more common in Jane Austen's period for women to be, don't attack the tripod, she's attacking the tripod, isn't she? And I know you can hear that. Yeah, it was just so interesting how, you know, being a woman writer was much more accepted at this time, and then I think our Jane Austen's period, there's a period where it's not accepted, and a lot of these women were lost to history, so she's playing with a particularly noisy toy. This is just a book that I think if you love learning about women, women lost to history like I do, that's like my favourite kind of non-fiction, I would really recommend picking this up. The next question is worst book you've read so far this year, and I can't tell you the worst book, I've only had one two star and one 2.5 star, so although I haven't had super high, like loads of... Scully, Scully, my goodness, girl. Not a good thing. Although I haven't had loads of like five stars, I also haven't had a lot of low ratings, I don't know why I'm holding this up yet, you're not supposed to know. But yeah, I've had a two star, but it's for a video project that you haven't seen yet and won't see for quite some time. Apologies, I'm not going to stop her playing, she's having fun, babe. I just figured, Scully, if they're hearing you, they should probably see you. It's Scully. Are you my good girl? Say hello. Oh, Dida wants to come in, it's not happening. So the book I gave 2.5 was actually probably my most disappointing book of the year as well, it's And The Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich. This had been on my TBR for years and years and years and years, and I was still convinced it was a book I was going to love. There's some books that have been on my TBR for a long time, where I'm I don't know about that anymore, you know? There's some I'm just holding on to out of fear of letting go. This was one I believed, I'm going to pick this up and love it. Like, when I finally get around to this, I'm going to pick it up and love it. I did not. The plot of this is two girls arrive at their aunt's home, it's a horror, things start going wrong from the jump, things are also very weird and off kilter, and the trees are creeping in, and it's written in lots of different ways. Like, there's some narrative parts, there's some letter parts, there's some parts where the typography is bigger or smaller or whatever, and I just, this was a deeply horrible reading experience. And I get that, like, that is kind of the point, but I hated every second of reading it. I hated it. I felt like I was going insane, and I guess some of that is a testament, right, to the book. And the ending to this is diabolical. I told some of my patrons, I'm so sorry about the noise, it is what it is. I told some of my patrons about what this plot twist is recently, and they were gooped and gagged. They couldn't believe what the ending of this is. It's the kind of ending I wrote in year five when I wanted... Don't take that into your litter tray. She just took the really noisy toy into her litter tray. Are you going to do a poop with the noisy toy? Okay babe, whatever floats your boat. Yeah, it was the kind of ending I wrote when I was in year five wanting to create a crazy ending rather than actually being a good ending. So, very disappointing book. Next question is best sequel. This cat is going crazy, and I fear I'm overheating. I'm, oh my god, I'm, I'm so oversimulated right now. I'm trying to talk to you, and she's playing with the toy, and I am, I am so hot. Next question is best sequel you read this year. I don't need to say anything. The two Lady Hardcastle books I read, I read, I think I gave both of these 4.5 stars. I loved them, I had so much fun with them. I do nothing but speak about Lady Hardcastle on this channel, so let me, I don't need to give you guys the spiel. I feel like you're watching this video, you understand, but Lady Hardcastle and Flo, Best Mates, Edwardian England, Solving Murder Mysteries. I don't know what T.E. Kinsey puts in these, but the source that these series have got is insane. Like, it just, it's so simple yet so effective. I love it. I love the formula of the books. I love the banter. This last one in particular, Mud on the Rocks, had a really interesting, it was the first closed, isolated murder mystery, where characters are trapped somewhere, and you know the murderer has trapped everyone, and I thought it was a really good take on that. So, loved it. Next question is worst sequel you've read. I don't think I've read a ton of bad sequels, if I'm honest. This cat's going crudder. I don't think I've read a ton of bad sequels. Probably the most disappointing, sadly, to a series that I've loved was the, was Briggans and Breadknives, sadly. I think I gave it maybe a 3.5, but I love the rest in that series. It's the series to Legends and Lattes and Bookshops and Bone Dust, and it just didn't have the, like, special magic that the rest of that series has to me. It felt quite lacklustre. I didn't love the characters. It didn't, it didn't come alive for me in the way, Legends and Lattes and Bookshops and Bone Dust are five star plus for me, and that was quite a disappointing note. My brother's got it, hence why I'm not holding it up, but, um, because he really likes the series too. But yeah, it was, it was, it was fine. It was fine. New release you haven't read yet, but want to. Okay, I have two answers for this, neither of which I own, because I think I've read all of my 2026 releases that I own. Her Last Breath by Taylor Adams. I love that man. I love Taylor Adams. I love No Exit. It's, it's right here. I love her last word. I love Taylor Adams. And I've heard incredible things about Her Last Breath. I believe it's like a caving thriller, like characters are going caving and they meet, it's like two girls, they meet this guy in the caves and like that's scary as ****. And like one of them is in hospital afterwards telling the story of what's happened. I think Taylor Adams is the master of like a suspense, crazy action thriller on the edge of your seat. I love him. I love Taylor Adams. And then The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine motherfucking Arden. Katherine motherfucking Arden. You guys already know. When I said I'm going on a book buying ban for summer, loads of you were like, Megan, I fear you need to break it. Like you're allowed to get The Unicorn Hunters. And if it's what the people want, I feel like I have to give it to them. What can I say? I love Katherine Arden. And just like, I've been waiting a long time for The Unicorn Hunters. Since she like first, this cat is jumping up in the air. You have no idea what she's doing. Guys, I have to film this now because I'm about to take Dita out to a spa day to make her happier because these two need to get along. We've been having a little bit of issues. They were separating them for two weeks. Okay. And starting again. Anyways, she's very happy though, as you can hear. Since Katherine Arden posted like the first teasers of the vibe on her Instagram, the medieval unicorn vibe, I've been locked in. You don't understand. This is like one of my most anticipated releases like ever. The obsession that I got with it was, was borderline unhealthy. I don't know how I'm going to integrate in society after this. I love Katherine Arden. I give her five stars. Warm Hands of Ghosts, Very Enlightened Girl. Like, oh my God, it's, she's incredible. So I do need to get my hands on The Unicorn Hunters at some point and read that because I think that could be my favourite book of the year. If I had to predict now what my favourite book of the year is going to be, I think that's an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly strong contender. Most anticipated release for second half of the year. Um, I'll be doing a video for this at some point in July. My most anticipated releases for the second half of the year. I quickly, I feel like Heartstopper volume six, you know, the final in the Heartstopper series. I can't wait. I love the Heartstopper graphic novel series and We Solve Murders number two. What is it called? We something, something. I don't know. Rich Lossman's next book. My man, Rich Lossman. Whoa. Scully likes Rich Lossman. Yeah. I mean, I love Rich Lossman. He's five star, five star, five star every time. My mum has currently got books four and five in Thursday Murder Club. You might be wondering where they are. She's got them. I love that man. So yeah, I'll be doing a whole video because I've got a lot of anticipated releases. I mean, I should be reading them. I should just be reading the TV but I have a list of a lot of them. So that will be coming. Biggest surprise of the year. Have I had a surprise? I don't know if anything shocked, gooped or gagged me. I feel like I, I feel like I kind of expected to enjoy everything that I did enjoy. Let me have a look at the spreadsheet. Do you know what I'll say to biggest surprise? One of the only two books I read in January when January was crazy, The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang. I love this, especially as someone who has been struggling with fantasy in recent years. I know I just said The Unicorn Hunters was going to be my favourite for the year, but like that's Catherine Arden. That's something different. I have struggled with fantasy in general, but this was like an incredible work of fiction. This is, you're in a mountainside, a small town on the edge of the Kaigenese empire. And it's really a family story. You're mainly following a mother and son, but also you're following the whole village and the whole community as, uh, what do we know? I think it's like war kind of begins or like a battle kind of begins. And I loved this. I loved the structure of this. The real like high point of the action is midway through this book. It's like 600 pages. And then the entire second half of the book is following the aftermath of this battle, of this war, which I feel like we don't see a lot. Often like a movie or a book ends on the war, ends on the battle. But we really spend a lot of time with these characters to see the ramifications of what happened, the long lasting ramifications. And I thought it was incredibly well written. I think this is a really special book. I think it's the kind of book that can only come from like self-publishing. I feel like traditional publishing would have tried to like tame down some of the more kooky structural elements of this, but I think that's what makes it really special. So really enjoyed it. Favorite new author, debut or new to you? I'll shout out my other, um, my other five star of the year, The Names by Florence Knapp. I read this recently. It is a debut novel. Basically what you need to know is you're following the life of this boy if he'd been given three different names and like the ramifications of that one choice, giving him a different name, uh, have. This is such a distinguished, developed debut. Whoa, three Ds, you know what I mean? It's an incredible debut. Incredible. Like the level of accomplishment, the level of maturity in the writing, I don't know if I've ever seen from a debut. It is incredible. Like I say, this and, this and the Jane Austen book are probably neck and neck really. I mean, they're very, I'm spitting hairs. On another day I would have said this was my favorite and that was like the biggest surprise or whatever. But I just cannot wait to see what Florence Knapp writes in the future. Like if this is her debut, I cannot wait to see where it goes. But this is, this also feels like lightning in a bottle, like a magic idea that only comes along once in a life. Like honestly, the, the depth of this book, the Easter eggs, the layering of like these butterfly effects is truly incredible. So I loved it. I thought the writing was incredible. And if this is where she starts, I can't wait to see where she goes. I'm going to skip the question newest fictional crush because that does not happen to me. Push me up against the wall. Give me a kiss. Then I might get excited. And also I have not cried at a book yet this year. I love a cry. I haven't cried at a book, which like, come on, it's not hard. Step it up guys. But book that made you happy. I am going to go with Gumshoe by Brenna Thumbler. I love this. This made me so happy. You've learned this young girl who loves post and like really wants to be a post woman when she grows up, but she accidentally thinks that she upsets the town's postman. And so she goes on the run with this group of runaways who are like trying to fight against Toogum Tilly, who is stealing the town's mail. And it is just like, firstly, the most beautiful, most beautiful illustrations. Like I loved the reading experience of this and it just made me, it just made me happy. It's silly and funny in a way that a kid's book should be. It has like, no, um, a lack of like real world rules in a way that a kid's book should have. I loved it. We need to speed up because I need to go take Deidre to her spa appointment. We're running late. I just have to stop for five minutes, not five minutes, like two, so that Scully could go to the toilet. So the last two questions are pretty simple. Most beautiful book I bought this year was, I did buy a few, I'll come in close shall I, of my Agatha Christie, oh the Berger at the I just love the Agatha Christie books that I collect. These are the only thing I collect and they had a sale on, they had a 50% off sale on HarperCollins website, which they do occasionally, and I did get five. So these are the most beautiful books that I bought. I love them so much. They are just, they are the only thing I collect, but I think they are so beautiful. So that's definitely the answer to that question. And then the last question is any books you need to read for the end of the year? Everything on those shelves, basically. The TBR, we are getting the TBR down. I, if I could get the TBR, I don't think I'm going to get it below 200 this year, but I would love that. Imagine if I did. I think if I unhauled quite a few, I maybe could. So watch this space, because like I say, this summer, a lot of TBR videos are coming, a lot of really exciting TBR 200 videos are coming. I'm currently maybe reading the oldest books on my TBR, which is going to be really fun. But yeah, I'm getting that there. I've got to get digital spa. Scully's going crazy. I'm going to see you soon. Love you guys so much. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.