Here we are, halfway through 2021, and you all know what that means! It's time to check in with my reading for the year! As promised, we're renaming this because, let's be real, "Book Freakout" is not accurate. From here on out, these posts will be the Mid-Year (or End-of-Year) Book CELEBRATIONS! Because what are they, really, but a space for me to recognize and rejoice in all the awesome stories I've enjoyed?

As always, we're going to start the party with some statistics and updates on my reading goals. Thus far, I've read 44 books and 15.5K pages this year, which puts me a bit ahead of schedule for completing my overall goal of reading 75 books this year. It also puts me behind what I had read around this time last year (by about 14 books and 4K pages), but I have, y'know, a job this year. On the upside, I've liked most of what I've read; my average rating is 4.2 stars. As for my more specific reading goals:

• Towards my goal of 12 books written or published before 1975, I have read . . . 1 book. Wow. That's even worse than I thought — I expected that The Last Unicorn, at least, would have fallen into the "older books" zone, but it was published in 1986. That means the only book I've read that was published before 1975 is The Two Towers. (On the upside, I'm currently rereading Return of the King, so I'm about to have two books for this goal!)
• I've read 4 books outside the speculative fiction genres . . . sort of, at least? Three (the Jenny Lawson memoirs) definitely count. One (Isle of Swords) is . . . I think technically historical adventure fiction? But I can't remember for sure if there's any elements that would edge it over into historical fantasy.
• As for my goal of 1 epic-length Tolkien or Jordan novel every 2 months, I've read . . . again, one book. I briefly misremembered this goal as "one epic-length fantasy every 2 months," and if that were the case, I'd be doing great with my Sanderson reread. But nope. I even specifically said "non-Sanderson" in my original version of the goal.
• Finally, I have not been keeping up at all with my goal of tracking my reads in more detail. I meant to make a spreadsheet, and then I just . . . forgot. I went back and made a spreadsheet this past week of my reads thus far this year, though, so we'll try to do it for July and see how it goes. (Technically, my goal was only to do it for one month, so I haven't failed yet!)

And now, with those statistics out of the way, let's get on with the celebration proper!

2021 Mid-Year Book Celebration!

1. Best book you've read so far in 2021:

It's a tie, but not between the books you're thinking it will be.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

The Werewolf of Whitechapel by Suzannah Rowntree

There is absolutely no way I can pick between these two. They're both magnificent urban fantasy adventures — one modern-ish, one historical. Neverwhere is probably one of the best showcases of Gaiman's magical writing style I've encountered, and it has mythical and fairy-tale vibes that can't be beat. On the other hand, The Werewolf of Whitechapel is a fantasy-mystery with a storytelling voice I just love and a heroine I couldn't dislike if I tried. Not that I'd want to try.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2021:

And here are the books you thought would be the answer to question one — another tie between two amazing books —

Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Again, I can't choose between these. Rhythm was epic and explosive and heavy — literally and figuratively. Like Words of Radiance, it had some of the deepest darkness and most brilliant triumphs in the series to date. But Return was all I could've wanted from the conclusion to one of my favorite series — and then some.

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to:

Literally almost anything from my last two new-releases posts, ha! I've been mood reading a lot, and I've been playing catch-up since, I don't know, probably since 2015 to be honest.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

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

Mine.

But also . . .

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Margaret Rogerson is one of my favorite authors, and the blurb for her next book reminds me of Abhorsen, which I also love, and I am SO PSYCHED. (It's also going to be a nomance! Which is FABULOUS.) I may or may not have joined the OwlCrate mailing list solely so I could order the special signed edition. I have no regrets.

5. Biggest disappointment:

The Unicorn Anthology

I don't DNF books very often, but this anthology just made me sad and angry, and it was full of stories by people who really wanted to be writing Literary Fiction but were, for some reason, writing fantasy — and so, to spite the fantasy crowd, they filled their stories with the same sort of misery that permeates the worst of literary fiction.

As for books I actually finished, The Last Unicorn probably takes the spot. I'm glad I read it once, but I really do not want to repeat the experience.

6. Biggest surprise:

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

I read this book because I heard it had Kaz Brekker in it. I didn't even enjoy the Kaz Brekker bit that much. But the rest of it, I enjoyed far more than I expected based on the previous book. Less angst, more clever, desperate people being clever.

7. Favorite new-to-you author:

S.D. Smith, author of the Green Ember series

Other than Redwall, I generally haven't been one for the fantasy subgenre I like to refer to as "small creatures with swords." (That might be its actual name? I don't know.) But this series kept popping up on my radar, and I knew the author was associated with Andrew Peterson, so I figured I would give it a try . . . and storms, did I make the right choice.

8. Newest fictional ship:

• This isn't new, but my appreciation for Gen/Irene, Helen/Sophos, and Adolin/Shallan has been renewed and lifted to greater levels than ever. Relationship goals, all of them. Some of them shouldn't be relationship goals, maybe. (Looking at you, Gen/Irene.) But they are anyway, and they're beautiful.
• In terms of new ships, Lois and Chaiman are the sweetest and I shipped them before I was even certain there was any hope in shipping them.
• Sharp/Short from the Miss Sharp's Monsters series also gets a shoutout. They're an excellent match.

Yeah. There's not a lot to mention here. Most of the new books I've read haven't been romance-heavy, and I like it that way. (Also, I reread a lot this year.)

9. Newest favorite character:

Again, this year has had a lot of rereading, so I've spent a fair amount of time just renewing my appreciation for old favorite characters. That said, there are a few new faces on that list . . .

• Miss Sharp (Miss Sharp's Monsters) is whip-smart, stubbornly protective, and brave and loyal to a fault — not to mention quite witty. She's the best part of the series that bears her name — though I love many of her companions, allies, and sometimes enemies as well, particularly May, Inspector Short, and Grand Duke Vasily.
• The Marquis (Neverwhere) is a magnificent character, catlike in all the ways that matter most. Any scene he happens to be in is a good one, and the short story he had all to himself was just as good as the full novel I met him in.
• And from the Green Ember books, we have Helmer (grumpy, but heroic; I initially liked him out of spite for another character and then was pleased when my choice proved well-made), Picket (despite some initial frustrations and misgivings), Smalls (SMALLS!), and probably Weezie as well — I haven't known her quite long enough to be certain, but I very much like her in the half a book I can go off of.

10. A book that made you cry:

Rhythm of War didn't actually make me cry, but it did cause other distressed noises more than a few times, so I'd say that counts.

11. A book that made you happy:

Can I say The Werewolf of Whitechapel again? No? I have to talk about something else? Fine.

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo was a very cool collection of in-world myths, fairy tales, and legends. I very much enjoyed it, dark though it was at times. Part of me wants to try to do something similar for some of my worlds, but we'll see.

12. Favorite book to film adaptation you've seen this year:

Fellowship of the Ring. Yes, it's a rewatch. I'm counting it because otherwise I have nothing to count.

13. Favorite post you've done so far this year:

I've been blogging a little less this year, but I still have a few posts that I really enjoyed writing and whose end result I'm pleased with.

• "Old Years' Memories; New Years' Visions" — My annual New Year's short story chronicling the adventures of Carrie and Tamison! This one may be my favorite in the series so far, in no small part due to how many references I got to make to all the books I've written and am going to write.
• Giving Fanfic Some Credit — I'd been thinking about writing this post for at least a year before I finally wrote it, and I really enjoyed being able to celebrate fanfiction, which is a large part of what's gotten me into more than one fandom.
• Some Thoughts on Spoilers — I have strong-ish opinions about spoilers, and they run in the opposite direction to everyone else's strong opinions. Or so it seems sometimes.

14. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year:

Behold: Spindle. It's beautiful, and it's mine, and I got so excited when I found it.

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

Heh. All of them. (But I do have four months free of Kindle Unlimited, and I want to make the most of it, so . . . probably allllllll the indie fantasy/spec fic that I've been holding off on because I don't like buying ebooks unless I know they'll be good.)

What about you? What were your favorite reads of the year? Biggest surprises (for good or ill)? Are you caught up on 2021 releases, or are you just as behind as I am? And, if you're a fellow Margaret Rogerson fan, how excited are you for Vespertine? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 Hey'a, everyone! So, after winter's rather underwhelming release lineup, this spring's list looks amazing — though, honestly, it would look amazing compared to just about any release lineup. While we don't have long-anticipated releases on the level of Return of the Thief, we have some reads on this list that I already know are amazing and a lot of others that I have high hopes for. And when I say "a lot," I really mean a lot. When I made my original list of all the books releasing this spring that I was interested in, there were over 20 books on it. Even after I cut the ones I was less enthusiastic about or that I was uncomfortable with based on early reviews or other newly-released information, I had a solid seventeen titles that I wanted to feature in my release posts. So, this list is going to take a little time to get through . . . but trust me, it's worth it.

Spring 2021 Reads

1. The Bright and the Pale by Jessica Rubinowski (March 2). I want to start by stating that I really like this cover. The colors, the art style, the little bits of northern lights in the sky, the typeface and the little icicles on the word pale . . . it's just very pretty. The story sounds like it has a great deal of potential too; it's Russian-inspired fantasy, and some of the reviews suggest it has that edge of creepiness that can make for a really enjoyable tale.

2. Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S. Olsen (March 9). So this is a genderbent Phantom of the Opera retelling told from the perspective of the Phantom equivalent, and while I'm not a huge Phantom fan (mostly because I think Christine Daae is largely an idiot), this does sound pretty cool? The idea of memory magic has a lot of potential, and it sounds like the romantic relationships might be handled a bit better. We'll see.

3. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (March 16). Obviously I don't usually go in for contemporary. But I love a good mystery, and I'm still trying to read more books outside speculative fiction, so we're going to give this a try. It does sound pretty exciting.

4. The Seventh Raven by David Elliott (March 16). There are not enough Six Ravens/Wild Swans retellings out there — I only know of one other, and that one was . . . disappointing, to say the least. So I have very high hopes for The Seventh Raven! I'm hoping for a good focus on family ties and sibling relationships and all that sort of thing. The book is also written in verse instead of prose, which will be quite different from my usual fare.

5. Wingfeather Tales by Andrew Peterson and friends (March 23). I shared my thoughts on this anthology last week, but to sum up: if you read the Wingfeather Saga when it re-released last year (or in general) and you want more tales from Aerwiar, this book is just the thing to satisfy that appetite. There's something in this anthology for everyone, and the stories range from an Arabian-Nights-esque adventure in "The Prince of Yorsha Doon" to a high-seas look at a favorite Wingfeather character's past in "From the Deeps of the Dragon King" to a heartbreakingly raw and beautiful journey in "The Places Beyond the Maps." (And there's a Florid Sword comic! Which is awesome.)

6. The Werewolf of Whitechapel by Suzannah Rowntree (March 25). THIS BOOK, Y'ALL. There isn't a single book on this list I'm more excited about than The Werewolf of Whitechapel. I signed up for an eARC of it and read it earlier this week, and oh my pumpernickel. It's one of my favorite books I've read this year. It reminds me a lot of W.R. Gingell's Masque — which, you may recall, I utterly adore and read twice in a single year — but set in a fantastical alternate-history England, in which mythological monsters hold the thrones of Europe. And it's SO GOOD. And I need EVERYONE ELSE to buy it and read it AT ONCE so y'all can experience the AWESOMENESS and appreciate Miss Sharp with me.

7. Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo (March 30). On one hand, I was kind of meh about King of Scars — which is tragic, given how much I loved Nikolai in the original Grisha trilogy and Nina in the Six of Crows duology. (In all fairness, Nikolai's character is of the type that often works best when seen from a POV other than his own.) On the other hand . . . maybe the second book will be better since I won't have such high expectations? And I do want to see how things end.

8. Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson (April 6). I read Jenny's other two books over the last couple months, and while I didn't love them, they have a certain mad charm to them. So, I'm looking forward to reading Broken (and I hope I enjoy it, because I won a copy off Goodreads and it would therefore be a shame if I end up disliking it). If nothing else, her books are always an interesting shift from my usual speculative fiction fare.

9. The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman (April 6). Here's a little sci-fi to liven up the list! Though apparently this is actually a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, which just makes it even better. And we've got an evil AI, which always makes for an interesting story . . . though it also means I'll end up comparing however they portray AI to what we talked about when I took a class on the philosophy of AI, so there's that.

10. A Thieving Curse by Selina R. Gonzalez (April 7). I am always immensely fond of Beauty and the Beast retellings, and dragons, of course, just make everything better! So, of course, I'm very excited to have discovered this book in time to feature it. There's also a preorder campaign with some pretty nice book swag, for anyone who's inclined to order the book early! (I'm torn between that and saving my money for a Werewolf of Whitechapel paperback, personally.) Also, can we take a moment to appreciate that beautiful cover art?

 11. Love and Memory by Kendra E. Ardnek (April 19). It's been a while since Kendra's brought us back to Rizkaland, but the wait is very nearly over! One of Kendra's greatest strengths as a writer is that she's often willing and eager to ask "What happens next?" where other authors might write "Happily Ever After" (or "Unhappily Ever After," as the case may be) and be done with it. That's one of the things I love about her Bookania Quests, and I'm immensely excited to see her do it again in Love and Memory. Petra, Reuben, Andrew, and Clara may be home from Rizkaland . . . but now they have to figure out how to pick up the pieces of their lives, and, well . . . let's just say it's a struggle.

12. Invading Hell by Bryan Davis (April 16/May 15). This is the second book in the Oculus Gate series, the first of which released last summer. (I posted my thoughts on that book, Heaven Came Down, as a Friday 5s post, if you want to read them.) While I had mixed feelings about the end of book 1, I'm excited to see some of my favorite characters (by which I mostly mean Leo and Iona) again. And, hey, you know when you pick up a Bryan Davis that it's guaranteed to be out of the ordinary.

13. Luck of the Titanic by Stacy Lee (May 4). I feel like this is going to be a tragedy on some level. I get the impression that most Titanic stories are. (I only have two data points to draw from, though, so I could be wrong.) It sounds like it has a lot of potential, though, and it's a sibling story, so I'm looking forward to that.

14. Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa (May 11). Nomance! Non-European fantasy! Conspiracies! Secrets! Lore! And also a main character who's described as a "scholar," which I hope means he'll have some delightful moments of "The thing I learned about . . . the thing I studied . . . it's real and now and right in front of me oh this is so cool." I would also accept some moments of "Danger? What danger? This is an unprecedented research opportunity!" (Side note: I think I may've just realized another reason I really like the Stormlight Archives.)

15. The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman (May 15). Something about this book's blurb is giving me Knight and Rogue-but-way-darker vibes, and I'm here for it. I really hope we get a delightful friendship between the main characters; any kind of positive relationship between the straight-laced, honorable noble warrior and the clever, sneaky, live-by-my-wits-and-my-speed rogue tends to be so much fun to read. Also, apparently there's a kraken. Or multiple kraken. And I'm so here for that too.

16. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green (May 16). For those unaware, The Anthropocene Reviewed was originally a podcast created by John Green, in which he reviews parts of the world and society on a five-star scale. He covers everything from Canada Geese to Diet Dr. Pepper to pineapple on pizza to plague in a gentle, meditative fashion, discussing the history of the thing and how it impacts and reflects aspects of the world as a whole. I've only listened to a small portion of it (I'm not a big podcast person, unlike . . . basically the rest of the world, it seems like), but I enjoyed what I did listen to. I'm looking forward to seeing what I love translated into my favorite form of media.

17. The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis (May 18). This is a historical urban fantasy with maybe a hint of mystery? It sounds like it might be a mystery, and we all know I hope it's a mystery. Early reviews are coming in mixed, but the blurb sounds good. And it sounds like we may be getting some science and magic mixing, which I almost always enjoy.

What book releases are you excited for this spring? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 Hello, friends! As you read this, I have made it through my first two weeks of full-time work! But this post is not about that! Instead, is about something much more relaxing: winter anytime reads! This is the sequel to Summer Anytime Reads (which I did a few years ago) and Autumnal Anytime Reads (which I did three months ago), and it was much easier to write than either of them. There are a lot of books out there with a wintery vibe, even when you eliminate the Christmas ones. (And there's going to be quite a few more once the next few Arista Challenges happen!) ANYWAY. These books range from stories perfect for curling up with by a nice fire to books that reflect and redeem the darkness and coldness of these months, and they actually include some of my favorite books in the world . . . though, on a moment's reflection, that could be said for both of the previous posts in the series too. Apparently, the books I love best span all seasons. So, without further ado, let's go!

 

Winter Anytime Reads

1. Sabriel by Garth Nix. I mean, it takes place largely in winter, and the major magic used in the book has a tendency to produce frost. So there's that. But, as a book very concerned with death and a season of dying and trying not to die, it's a thematically wintery book too. And it has the sense of rising a challenge and triumphing over death that you really need in this season. Also, it has a cat and one of the better father-daughter relationships in fiction (even if a lot of that relationship is shown in the way Sabriel thinks of and acts towards her father and how he acts towards her), both of which are much appreciated in this very dreary time of year.
   
2. If you liked Sabriel, try: The rest of the Abhorsen series (for more of everything you loved in Sabriel — the series as a whole sits on the border between winter and spring reads) or Hexwood (for fantasy with an . . . unusual take on usual tropes, we'll say).
3. Jackaby by William Ritter. You can interpret this as either the whole series or just the first book and it'll be true. It starts in winter, and it might be winter again by the time the series ends — I don't recall for sure — but while Jackaby is an excellent read any time of year, it's especially delicious in this particular season. It starts off with a murder mystery (excellent for reading under blankets and by fires), and it's quick and enthralling and will make you forget how cold it is.
   If you liked Jackaby, try: The Invisible Library (for fantasy mystery featuring lots of influence of legends and fantastic lore, among other stories) or Seraphina (also for more fantasy mystery, albeit with more dragons and fewer other fantasy beings).
4. Illusionarium by Heather Dixon. All of Heather Dixon's books are actually excellent winter reads, but Illusionarium is the only one I don't associate with Christmas more than winter in general. Actually, I'd call Illusionarium a February sort of book. Steampunk is often a little dark, and the worlds in which this particular story takes place have been dark and cold and dying for a very long time, and it's ripe for renewal and rebirth. And the ending of the story is full of exactly the kind of hopefulness and warmth-despite-chill that you need during the coldest month of the year.
   If you liked Illusionarium, try: Entwined and The Enchanted Sonata (for more of Heather Dixon's delightful storytelling style and happy, hopeful endings), or Halayda (for steampunk stories of renewal).
5. Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. Arguably the darkest book or series on this list, I don't think this should be much of a surprise. Again, the first book is wintery in setting, but both books are winter-appropriate in the darkness and intensity of the stories they tell. Also, I feel like the mixture of humor and darkness and snarky levity is very fitting for these months.
   If you liked Six of Crows, try: Mistborn (for fantasy heists and non-standard fantasy settings) or the Shadow and Bone trilogy (for more of Bardugo's writing and world — this is arguably more wintery than Six of Crows, but I like Crows better).
6. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. It wouldn't be a winter reads list without a retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." Jessica Day George's take on the tale is my favorite — it's short and sweet and satisfying, and I very much love the Lass's relationship with Hans Peter, her oldest brother. I also love the why the author gave for the whole situation, arguably the most important part of any fairytale retelling.
   If you liked Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, try: East by Edith Pattou (for another great retelling of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon") or Beauty by Robin McKinley (for a wintery Beauty and the Beast retelling).

What are your favorite wintery reads? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

End-of-Year Book Freakout 2019!

Here we are again: the end of another year and another six months of books to recap (counting from the time of my mid-year book freakout)! I actually am freaking out a little in this post, 'cause I've read some amazing books in the last six months. But we'll get to that in a minute.

A few quick stats before we get started: I have read a total of 130 books and 38,656 pages this year, plus a little bit because I have a few reading days left in the year. (For those of you concerned: I'm finishing out the year with assorted rereads, namely the Six of Crows duology and the Illuminae Files and maybe the Reckoners trilogy, so there's no risk of my discovering something amazing and then regretting the fact that I couldn't include it in this post.) That's significantly up from last year's count, which was 107 books and 33,968 pages. My average rating, on the other hand, is down from last year, only 3.7 versus 4.1. Apparently, I read better books last year. Oh well. About 31 of this year's books were in this half of the year, which is only about a third of what I read in the first six months — though that does make sense, since the second half of the year contains two low-reading months (July and November) and fall semester kind of killed me.

1. Best book you've read in the second half of 2018:

Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

I read this book shortly after Christmas break started, and I haven't entirely stopped screaming about it since. Not internally, at least. It's like someone crossed The Invisible Library with Howl's Moving Castle and then added a dash of the Abhorsen Chronicles to round it all out. It's amazing. It's got a stubborn, fierce, indomitable apprentice librarian and a dashing, disreputable, snarky sorcerer and magical books and equally magical libraries and high stakes and action and romance and just so much awesomeness. I'm probably going to end up rereading it sometime early next year; it's just that amazing. If you haven't read it yet, go grab it now.

A few runners-up, though none of them come anywhere near the amazingness that is Sorcery of Thorns:

Death Be Not Proud by Suzannah Rowntree

It's a non-magical murder mystery retelling of Snow White set in Jazz Age New Zealand. And Suzannah has managed to figure out Megan Whalen Turner's method of keeping secrets from you even when you're really close in character's heads, and she does it to excellent effect here.

What If? by Randall Munroe

This is nonfiction, but it's really fun nonfiction! Basically, the author/artist of xkcd answers all kinds of weird science-ish questions in serious (though snarky) ways. There's a lot of explosions and things lighting on fire. It's awesome.

2. Best sequel you've read in the second half of 2019:
I honestly didn't read a lot of sequels to things this half of 2019. On the upside, that means it's not as hard to choose a book in this category.

Prince of Stars, Son of Fate by H.L. Burke

I quite enjoyed both books in this duology, but I may have liked this one a little more. It's hard to say. I like the relationships and the world, and Arynne and Kay are both pretty great characters. 

3. New release you haven't read yet but want to:

 

The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman

I honestly didn't realize this was out until a week or two after its release, which is tragic because I'm intensely excited for more Invisible Library. It's got Irene and Kai and a heist and Fae/dragon partnerships; what more could I want?

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

Lower on the priority list, but I do want to read this sooner rather than later. Though maybe later would be better, given what some reviewers have said about the ending cliffhanger . . .  

4. Most anticipated release for next year: 
Oddly enough, this was my most anticipated read for this year too:

Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

Come on. I want more Eugenides. If this gets put off another year, I'll . . . well, I probably will end up being too distracted by other books to notice, but eventually, I'll realize it and be sad. Y'know how it is.

Also releasing next year: Stormlight Archive #4 by Brandon Sanderson! It has a release date! And a tentative title! (Rhythms of War, if you hadn't heard.) Though not a cover. But it's coming out November 17 of next year, and I can't WAIT. The only reason it's not my top most anticipated read is that technically I've been waiting for Return of the Thief longer. 

5. Biggest disappointment:

Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien

Ugh. I hoped that this would be a fun contemporary-fantasy with an Asian setting, and it was all of that . . . except for the fun bit. I actually ended up DNFing it because I disliked the main character so much. Life is too short for arrogant annoyances like this one.

6. Biggest surprise:

 Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

So, I finally decided to get with the times and read the rest of the Grishaverse books (the ones that aren't Six of Crows, mostly so I could read King of Scars) . . . but Shadow and Bone did not thrill me, so I was honestly expecting a succession of meh books until I got to my Crows reread. But then Siege and Storm ended up being really good? And, yeah, it was mostly because of one character, but it still counts.

7. Favorite new-to-you author:

Haven't really got one, but I did finally read a full-length novel by C.M. Banschbach (Oath of the Outcast, if anyone is wondering), and it was pretty good, so . . . does that count?

 

8. Newest fictional crush/ship:

Ok, so if we're being 100% honest, I am crushing a little bit on Nikolai from the Grishaverse books. Not, like, hardcore, but . . . y'know. If he were real and asked me out, I would seriously consider saying yes. (The answer would probably depend on where he was in his character arc, to be completely honest.)

 

Also, ships. Glorious ships. I don't have a ton of new ones, but I have one that I'm really enthusiastic about, and that is —

• Elisabeth and Nathaniel (Sorcery of Thorns). They remind me of Sophie and Howl in all the best possible ways, and they compliment and play off each other really well, and they have each others' backs and protect each other and . . . oh, stars. I love them, ok? I love them so much.
• Kay and Arynne (Ice and Fate duology). I normally get really annoyed by the whole forbidden love/betrothed to one person but fell in love with someone else drama, but it works really well with these two. They've got a good dynamic overall.
• Alina and Mal (Shadow and Bone trilogy). Ok, I have gotten the impression that this ship was not a favorite with a lot of readers, but I liked it. Yes, Alina and Mal had some communication issues, but no more than any other standard YA couple. And I really wanted the childhood best friend to win for once in the romance.

9. Newest favorite character(s):
I feel like I'm probably going to repeat myself a bunch here, but let's go anyway, 'cause I want to yell about Sorcery of Thorns more.

• Elisabeth (Sorcery of Thorns). Elisabeth is magnificent. She's blunt and straightforward and 100% ready to fight whatever the heck she has to in order to save the world, and she's also quite brilliant about figuring out the best way to go about things . . . but she's also very human? Basically, I would like to be her, please and thank you very much.
• Also, Nathaniel (Sorcery of Thorns). Nathaniel may be my new favorite magic disaster boi.  He's sassy and brilliant and pretends he doesn't care but clearly does. And he reminds me of Howl from Howl's Moving Castle. Obviously, I love him immensely. And he manages to have angst without being annoyingly angsty, which is nice.
• While we're on the topic, Silas (Sorcery of Thorns, where else?) is pretty great as well. He's . . . complicated? But he reminds me of a cross between Calcifer, Mogget, and Alfred Pennyworth, he's a magnificent balance of "actually super dangerous and probably a bit evil if not kept under tight control" and "secretly intensely noble," which is great. 
• We also have to mention Sturmhound (Shadow and Bone trilogy). I love this man. He's snarky and clever and cocky in a fun way, and he has a knack for brilliant, dramatic, perfectly-timed entrances, and he's astonishingly practical and straightforward. But he's also noble and brave and reasonably sacrificial and just generally excellent. Also, did I mention he's the captain of multiple (flying!) privateer ships? Basically, he's a stellar example of one of my favorite archetypes, and I love him.
• Moving on to some books that I haven't yelled about yet: Hesina (Descendent of the Crane) is a lovely protagonist, even if her POV sometimes feels a little detached. She's a princess trying to uncover the truth of her father's death and trying to do what's best for her people . . . and she struggles so much, but she's trying so hard, and I just appreciate her, ok?

10. A book that made you cry:

 Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Hello, yes, we were just talking about this! This book is very good if you like political fantasy-mystery, which I do. And it's got a lot of interesting family dynamics and motivations, which I appreciate. And it's just generally excellent until you get to the end, in which the author basically shatters your expectations and breaks your (and Hesina's) heart . . . at which point it's still good, but it hurts. 

11. A book that made you happy:

 

The Game by Diana Wynne Jones

This is a clever, short novella that's really hard to talk about without spoilers, but it's delightful and has an excellent twist on some mythological stuff. Also, more family stuff. It's lovely.

12. Favorite reread this half of the year

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

Did I just read this for the first time in January? Yes. Did that stop me from rereading it over Thanksgiving break? No. Do I have regrets? Only the fact that I stayed up too late basically every night of break because I was reading it, but otherwise, no. Captain Grimm and Gwendolyn and the Spire are worth it.

I may also have reread Spindle and Masque, despite the fact that I just read them for the first time last February . . . they're good books, ok? And they're excellent de-stressors, which is what I needed, and Howl was back in Virginia, and I'm saving The Beast of Talesend for when I catch up on all the Afterverse books at once.

13. Favorite post(s) you've done this half of the year:

Probably my post on what happens when an AI tries to do my job. But I also had a lot of fun with my posts about books I'd give to the Mechanical Heart characters, AUs I wish were real, and magic powers I want for mundane reasons.

14. Most beautiful book you've bought/received this half of the year:

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

My parents got me this for Christmas, and I'm quite excited to read it. The cover is more gorgeous in person, but it has this nice texture and debossing and it's just really well done. And given that it's Andrew Peterson, I'm pretty sure the content will be just as beautiful as the outside.

15. Any other books you want to babble about for any other reason?
As per the usual, I'm taking a moment to mention the books that I wanted to read this year but which got pushed aside by other books:

• Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean. This is the second year that this book has been on this list. I actually won an ARC of this from Emma over at Awkwordly Emma, which makes me feel even worse. The main reason for the holdup is the Blood in the Snow sequel — any time I'm starting to write or really involved in writing something in a more specific subgenre, I get caught in this weird tension between "I want to read other books in this subgenre so I can see how those authors did things" and "I don't want to read any other books in this subgenre because I'm worried I'll pull too much from those books," and the latter almost always wins.
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigit Kemmerer. This one moved up several spots on my TBR list because of the cover — I absolutely love it and I used it a lot in one of my graphic design projects this past semester. Unfortunately, that same project didn't leave me any time to actually read the book.
• The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen. Again with the problem of reading the subgenre I'm writing. This one probably would've been better, since it's based in Mongolia instead of China, Korea, or Japan, but . . . yeah.
• The Faraway Castle books by J.M. Stengl. I actually own the first four of these now — I heard that book 4 is a King Thrushbeard retelling, and that pushed them up the priority list a bit. Not enough for me to actually have set aside time to read them, though.

What were your favorite 2019 reads? Any favorite rereads? Or major disappointments? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)