Hello, everyone. My name is Olivia, and today we're going to do the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag
and I don't think I've ever done this tag before, but I love watching other creators do this. So I'm
very excited to answer all these questions and tell you a little bit about my reading
journey in 2021 and how ~terrible~ it is. And I am filming this tag specifically for Myonna because
I know that she loves these tags and she loves watching them. And I wasn't going to film this,
but a lot of people seem to enjoy it, so I'm doing it for her and all of you Mid-Year Book Freakout
Tag fans. So let's get right into it. So question number one is, “What is the best book that you've
read so far in 2021? ”And this is like my singular five-star read. I'm getting very picky with
giving out five-star books because they have to really affect me and move me and leave a lasting
impression on me. I've been very stingy with that five-star rating, so this one is one of the rare
few books I have given five stars and it is The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali. I like reading
a blurb on the back of the book to really describe it and sum up the book in a very simple way so it
says that, “Marjan Kamali weaves a powerful, heartbreaking story of star-crossed lovers and
Iran's political upheavals a layered, historical saga of a country struggling towards democracy
and an intimate meditation on a love from which we never recover.” This book is just one of the most
lyrical and beautiful historical fictions that I've ever read. It left such a lasting impression
on me and I am just obsessed with this story and I want everyone and their mother to read it because,
even if you aren't a fan of historical fiction, I feel like if you're a fan of Evelyn Hugo or
A Little Life in the way that you follow a main character over the span of their entire lifetime,
you would absolutely love The Stationery Shop. It's very similar in that vein and the way that
it's written and it is just such a heartbreaking yet beautiful and bittersweet story that I just
fell in love with. And the audiobook is also fantastic. I listened to it on audiobook
loved it so much that I needed a copy for myself because this is definitely a book that I could
see myself rereading as I get older because it's so good. “Best sequel that you've read
so far in 2021?” And I have to show probably a book that everyone else is going to show
and it is Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. Talia Hibbert's Brown Girl series
is one of my favorite romance series that I've ever read. It is just so bright and warm and just
puts a smile onto my face and every single book in that series has really brightened my reading year
because I always gravitate towards them when I'm in a reading slump or I need something that I know
is going to be a good read. Because I'm really struggling with these three-star reads and Act
Your Age, Eve Brown was so wonderful and funny and cute, and it's just such a great romance to read.
So, I would highly recommend this. If you have not heard about the Brown Sister series before,
it follows three different sisters and each of them get their own novel so they each have their
own love story, and it is just adorable and cute. “What is a new release that you haven't read yet
but want to?” So I have a lot of new releases on my TBR, thanks to publishers, but there's one book
that I keep on looking at on my physical TBR that I keep on saying, “I'm going to read you soon,”
but I never seem to get to it and it is Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. This is a retelling of Ariadne and
the Minotaur, and I have no idea what this story is about because I never read about the Minotaur
besides Percy Jackson. So I have no idea what I'm going into with this book, but all I know
is that it's a Greek mythological retelling and I seem to always give those five stars because
I just love how intricate they are. I love how they're full of action and tragedy, and it's just
such a good time all around. So this is a book that I keep on looking at but I have not read yet.
The next question is, “What is the biggest disappointment of 2021?” And I just have to show
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. This book disappointed me on all levels except the writing
style. I thought the writing style was gorgeous, but the plot, the characters, the overall pacing
of the novel was just not it. I spoke in length about this novel in one of my Books and Brews
episodes that is a series on my channel where I pick five books to talk about that I recently read
while I drink a cup of coffee. So if you want to see me rant about this book and how much I
don't like it, please go watch that video because I am not wasting my time and energy even thinking
about this book. I thought it was one of the biggest disappointments that I've read in years.
Question number six is, “Biggest surprise?” And I do want to highlight a non-fiction and it is
Crying in H-Mart. This was such a profound and moving nonfiction. And I'm getting very much into
non-fiction. I'm trying to read it more often. This was just one of those nonfictions where you
just feel completely connected to the author and the story that they are telling of their life.
It deals a lot with her relationship with her mother and grief and it was just such a moving
nonfiction that so many people are talking about and it's getting a lot of buzz, which makes me
really happy because the title quickly pulled me in, the cover pulled me in, and the experience
that was shared was just something that I will never forget because it was so well written,
so moving, and I think a lot of people will get a lot out of it. Question number seven is,
“Favorite new author?” And I want to highlight two, and I've only read one book by each of
them this year but they are an author that I now have my eyes on and whenever they release
something new, I'm definitely going to try it out because these two novels were just so fantastic.
And one author that I want to highlight is Brit Bennett, who wrote The Vanishing Half, which is
a historical fiction dealing with privilege, class, race. It was just such a phenomenal read
that has taken the book world by storm. I feel like everyone I know has read it and enjoyed it,
so Brit Bennett is now an author that I'm keeping my eye out for and I definitely
want to read her backlist novels because her writing style was amazing. Her characterization
was phenomenal. Everything about that book was perfect, and I greatly enjoyed it. Another
author that is now on my radar is Susanna Clarke. I read Piranesi by her, and I know that she wrote
something-- Dr. Strange. Not Doctor Strange. Something Strange. It's like that thousand-page
novel that I'm intimidated by, but now I'm intrigued by it because so many people told me,
while the book is very big, once you get into it you don't realize that it's a thousand pages
or nearly a thousand pages. I really enjoyed her writing style and how atmospheric it was and how
she had a very unique type of story to tell and I feel like that thousand-page novel will be a
really good read. So I don't know if I'm going to read it soon, but it's definitely a book that is
now on my radar. And now I'm very much interested in Susanna Clarke's writing, and if she has a lot
more books on her backlist because I feel like I definitely want to check them out. Question number
eight is, “Newest fictional crush?” I feel like I used to have so many crushes, back then when I was
younger, as a reader, and I haven't been reading a lot of romance novels this year and usually,
those are my crushes, but I do want to highlight August and Jane from One Last Stop. I love both
of them because their personalities are just so amazing. Jane is just so cool. She's tough. She
knows what she wants in life, and I love that about her and I just love her aesthetic and the
way it's described. And then I love August because August reminds me so much of me,
so I just love the both of them and I love them both together. So those are two characters that
I always think about. Question number nine is, “Newest favorite character?” And I love Eve Brown
and Roya. They're both very different characters, but let me talk about Roya first. Roya is such a
strong character. She has been through so much in this story, and I just loved her
resilience and I loved just seeing her grow as a character because you get to follow her over a
long course of time, obviously, so you really get to witness her growing from a teen into an adult
and how she carries herself. She's just a new character that just felt so real to me,
and I feel like she's a friend to me. So that's what I love about her. And Eve Brown, on the other
hand, is just so fun and bright and confident, and I love the way that she carries herself. She's not
afraid to make a lasting impression on people. She has a very Leo type of energy to me because
when she walks into the room, everyone is staring at her and she doesn't care and she doesn't care
about flaunting her personality and truly being herself. And she's just an inspiration to me
because she's just absolutely adorable. Question number 10 is, “A book that made you cry.” And I
have not cried while reading a book in two years. I've kept track and I looked at the last book that
made me sob, and I read that two years ago. I have not read a book that's sad enough to make me cry,
so I can't answer this question because nothing has even brought tears to my eyes this year.
There hasn't been anything sad enough to bring tears to my eyes or even make me cry, so
nothing for me. Question number 11 is, “A book that made you happy.” And a book that brought
the biggest smile onto my face is Kiki's Delivery Service. I had no idea that the movie was first
based off of a book, and I listened to the book on audiobook and absolutely loved it. It has the same
style as in the movie where it is just whimsical and beautiful, and it just brings such a smile
onto my face because Kiki's Delivery Service is my favorite Studio Ghibli film. It was the
first one that I saw. I loved listening to Kiki's Delivery Service because it's just a very simple,
very happy, and light story. There's not a lot of drama. There's not a lot of action happening.
It's just following a teenage witch as she runs this cute business in a town and is trying to
make a home for herself with her magical cat Gigi. Question number 12 is, “What is the most beautiful
book that you've bought or received so far this year?” And I have two and one is Summer by Ali
Smith. I think this sunset is just beautiful. I love the watercolor effect, and I love how simple
this cover is. It just speaks for itself, and then I have Hamnet. Hamnet is beautiful. I wanted the
Waterstones UK edition of Hamnet so badly. The one with the red cover with the same design,
and it was too expensive to ship over to the United States, but I found out that Hamnet was
getting a paperback edition that was very similar to the UK edition, so I got this as soon as the
publisher let me know about it and it is stunning. I love it. I just love typography on book covers.
That's like my thing. If you have beautiful typography on your book cover, I'm probably going
to pick up your book. And question 13 is, “What books do you need to read by the end of the year?”
So, so many. I think I have 30 books left on my TBR, on my physical TBR, and I've read 38 books
so far this year. So if I keep up the speed, I could read my entire TBR, if I wanted to,
and I want to. I want to so badly. I think it would be so satisfying to read my entire TBR
because I have a generally small one. But three books from that physical TBR that I want to
highlight are For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten. This is a Red Riding Hood, adult fantasy retelling,
and I am so excited for it. I'm such a sucker for Red Riding Hood retellings. The moment I hear of
one, I add it to my TBR because I can never get enough of them. Another book on my TBR that I want
to read is Anna K Away. This is the sequel to Anna K, which is a YA contemporary, retelling of Anna
Karenina. Anna K. was one of my favorite reads of 2020, and I cannot wait to get to the sequel. It's
very small, so I feel like I could read it very quickly, and I just want to know what's going to
happen next. And a chunky book that I want to read is Plain Bad Heroines. This is a dark academia,
sapphic novel that I just want to pick up as soon as possible. I have it on audiobook but
I do know there are footnotes in the novel, so I feel like it would be better to read it
physically. But it's very big, so that's why I haven't read it yet. And we all know that I do not
mesh well with long books, but I do want to read it. I want to read it by the end of this year,
and we match. Look at that. Love it. So that is the Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag. I
had so much fun doing this. I have never done it before, and I love watching other people do it,
so I'm glad I was able to participate myself. I never really tag people at the end of tag videos,
but I do want to tag a couple people today. I want to tag Hannah. I think she would enjoy doing
it. I want to tag Ariel. I think that her answers would be really interesting to hear about because
I just love when she does tag videos, and I also want to tag Jenna because I think jenna has read
100 books already this year. Or maybe 90 books already this year. She's just on a roll when it
comes to reading, and I'm just obsessed with that. My reading speed has slowed down it significantly,
and I haven't been reading the best books this year. A lot of them have been three star reads,
and I just haven't found a five-star reads this year, which really upsets me but it's fine. But
jenna just inspires me to read as much as possible because she is just getting those books done.
And I wish I was like her, so I'm going to tag her because I would love to hear her answers.
So if you've made it this far in the video, leave a red heart emoji down below to match my outfit.
And thank you so much for watching. If you want to connect with me anywhere else, be sure to check
out my social media links linked down below, and I will see you in another video very soon.
bye~