Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag 2021

1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2021

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
I was super hesitant to read this, I really wasn’t a fan of the author’s first book. This has entirely changed my mind. I loved every moment!
Check out my review here.

2. Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2021

I haven’t read a lot of sequels this year… I’ll go with Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. It was SO cute. It was such an enjoyable experience. Check out my review here.

3. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.

Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson
I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!! The ending to Starsight almost killed me. Biggest cliffhanger ever. I am so excited to get back to this world and characters!
My reviews for Skyward and Starsight

5. Biggest disappointment.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Boy, oh boy, did this disappoint. I really cannot understand the hype around this book. The ideas and concepts – amazing. The execution – not good. I didn’t enjoy it at all. Fell completely flat for me.
Full review here.

6. Biggest surprise.

The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
This was just so good. The premise sounded interesting, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. Review here.

7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Elizabeth Lim
After reading Spin the Dawn, I need to read everything else by Elizabeth Lim. I LOVED it!

8. Newest fictional crush.

Nathaniel from Sorcery of Thorns. *swoon*

9. Newest favourite character.

Jordan and Declan from The Dreamer Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater
I don’t want to spoil the books, so I won’t say too much. I just loved Jordan and Declan!! Declan was a huge surprise, I didn’t like him in TRC.

10. Book that made you cry.

I haven’t had an emotional read this year yet…

11. Book that made you happy.

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

12. Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
The UK paperback of this, my goodness. I am obsessed.

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

SO MANY!!
To name a few:
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
Link me if you do this tag, they’re my favourite to read!

Book Review: Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater (Spoiler free)

*Mild spoilers for Call Down the Hawk
If you’ve not read it, check out my review here!

Synopsis:

The stakes have never been higher as it seems like either the end of the world or the end of dreamers approaches.

Do the dreamers need the ley lines to save the world . . . or will their actions end up dooming the world? As Ronan, Hennessy, and Bryde try to make dreamers more powerful, the Moderators are closing in, sure that this power will bring about disaster. In the remarkable second book of The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater pushes her characters to their limits – and shows what happens to them and others when they start to break.

My thoughts:

I love Ronan, always have since TRC. I now love all the Lynch brothers.

This book was kind of a filler book. Am I mad? No? Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is just so lovely, dreamy, if you will. It’s just nice to read, so while this book was slow, so very slow, it wasn’t painful. It was flowery and metaphorical, as you would expect a Stiefvater book to be. Emotional, funny, witty – just everything. As I was reading I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I wish my writing was this magical’.

The plot – pretty slow.
A lot of filler, not a lot going on, however, not boring. I still enjoyed the story, I’m not typically a fan of a slower pace but Maggie Stiefvater always makes it work for me. It did pick up towards the end and holy shit, the twists. I did not expect some of the twists and turns. It was seriously good. Mind blown.
THE ENDING – what was that how am I supposed to wait a year for the next one…
I felt empty after finishing. Completely empty.

The characters are everything. As with Call Down the Hawk and TRC, it’s very character driven, if you don’t like the characters you won’t enjoy it at all.

Ronan – Such interesting character development, I really didn’t think Ronan would be the way he is in this one. So different from TRC and CDTH. I was very surprised. He’s just as entertaining as always, but a bit more broken. I find Ronan very relatable, I know a lot of people don’t. I can see Maggie Stiefvater has woven in her own experience with chronic illness into Ronan and his dreaming and feelings.

Declan – Who would’ve thought I’d end up loving Declan…
I am so invested in him and Jordan, I don’t even know how to put it into words. I ship them. I said in my review of CDTH I was interested to see where his story would go, I was talking about him and Jordan. They’re amazing. hey didn’t disappoint. It has been so great to learn more about Declan as a character and this book only made me love him more.

Hennessy – I’m not overly keen on Hennessy for the most part. I don’t hate her nor do I love her. I do find her interesting though. She’s not a super likeable character, maybe she’s supposed to be like that.

Jordan – I feel like Jordan got all the best parts of Hennessy. It was nice to see her character development, from feeling like she was stuck with Hennessy to being more independent and claiming her own identity. I also like the bonding between her and Matthew about being dreams, that was sweet to see. Like I already said, her and Declan *chef kiss*

Farooq-Lane – Still meh. Still my least favourite storyline.

Matthew – Bless him. Such a sweetheart!!! I just want to hug him.

BRYDE – The driving factor of this book. After the ending of CDTH I knew I just had to pick up Mister Impossible because ~Bryde~
I had so many theories about him – they were all wrong. I did see some hinting in this book to his origin. But I got it wrong. However, all my questions were answered and now I have new ones.

Rating: 3.75-4 Stars

Book Review: Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

“You are made of dreams and this world is not for you.”

Synopsis:

Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.

Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer… and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed…

My thoughts:

I was super excited to get back into this world and be reunited with these characters!! I absolutely loved The Raven Cycle, I don’t know why I put off reading this for so long. I even pre-ordered it… Alas, in hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t read it when it first came out because now I already have the sequel in my hands instead of waiting.

Anyway onto the plot –
It was a slow start. Not going to lie, at first I was think oh no, I’m not going to like this one. It did pick up and I was soon invested. I started it when I was editing my final assignment for university, so I read around 100 pages over 3 days. Once my assignment was done, I binged the last 360ish pages in an evening! I was addicted. I became so invested in Ronan again and the new characters. The plot was weird, sometimes I stopped and I was thought I have no idea where this is going (but in a fun way). I love Maggie Stiefvater’s weird and wonderful stories.

The writing style – As always, beautiful. Magical and amazing. I wish I could write as amazingly as Maggie Stiefvater. I just adore her writing so much. I had forgotten what a joy her writing is, it has been ages since I’d read anything by her.

Characters:
Ronan – Love him. Always have. He’s such a mood; so grumpy and angry. He’s such a complicated character and so much more than he lets on.

Adam – Having Ronan & Adam together made me miss the Gangsey so much. He’s not in it much, obviously, he’s away at college. It was nice to have a glimpse and see some Pynch. *my heart*

Declan – It was nice to see more of him. I didn’t expect to like him much, but I did. I enjoyed getting to see him more and get to know him. I’m looking forward to reading more of him and a certain storyline in the next one.

Matthew – Again, nice to see more of him. He’s such a sweetheart. It’s lovely to see how the Lynch brothers work and how both Declan and Ronan adore Matthew.

The new characters

Jordan Hennessy – I loved this new character. I didn’t know what to expect really. I did think how am I going to take to these new characters. I actually really like her. I won’t say much as it will spoil.

Farooq-Lane – The character + storyline I liked the least. I understand it’s an important part of the story, of course. But meh. I didn’t take to her much. Every time it was her chapter I was like ugh, give me Ronan or Hennessy!!

Bryde – Mysterious. So interesting. I was dying (and still am) to know who he is…

May Wrap Up | 2021

Hello! Happy June!
This year is seriously flying by, it’s scary!!

May was a super busy month for me, I had my final finals! I am officially done with university and I couldn’t be happier. Since I was busy writing essays and assignments, I didn’t actually pick up a book until almost half way through the month. All things considered, 3 books and a short audiobook isn’t a bad total!

1) Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

Rating: 5 Stars // Review here

2) Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 4 Stars / Review coming soon

3) Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 3.75 Stars // Review coming soon

4) The Story of Antigone by Ali Smith

Rating: 3 Stars

What did you read in May? Any new faves?