My Best and Worst Books of 2026 So Far 📚 Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag

And especially considering I really enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes book and then this one comes along.

I did absolutely love Blood on Her Tongue by the same author I read that last year.

But, just know that I'm disappointed by this one, okay, I'm so disappointed by this one. This was another one that was described to be quite like Scream. But, did I think it was written well enough for it to be even remotely considered to be anything like Scream?

Definitely issues with the world building. But I was so entertained. This was like one of the most entertaining books I've read this year.

It is a mystery series. Ernest Cunningham is a writer and this has again like such great humor and this one is so theatrical though like it can get a little bit bonkers and maybe a little bit unrealistic but one thing I love about this kind of murder mystery series is the ridiculous side of it as well and just how bonkers it can get.

Frieren volume 11 I gave five stars. This is the first Frieren volume that I've given a five star

It could have easily been boring, but I don't think it's boring. I was locked in the entire time. It's so good.

I don't think it's the best written romance I've ever read. But it is gay and I just love Shane and Ilya as characters. I love their romance.

And I wasn't quite sure where the plot would go. I didn't find it predictable, which is great. The ending shocked me.

I really enjoyed the kind of exploration into environmental impact that this one had and just kind of like the dystopian sort of take on it as well. But there were so many things I didn't like.

And again, very hard for me to cry and Theodora's Tea Shop did come close as well, but another one that made me come close. I think it's Role Model by Rachel Reid.

This godamn book, the ending, the cliffhanger!Five stars. My favourite Dungeon Crawler Carl book so far.

you know what maybe I should have said the long game for this because I believe actually it's more in depth in the long game and you get a certain character's perspective on something oh god okay yeah it's either this all the long game. I can't remember now. But yeah, I beautiful.

I loved the sort of twists in this one. I love the way it was written too. You have a little bit of the current modern-day humor mixed in with the historical and you do get like the POV and timeline shifts that I really enjoyed as well.

I hated the mystery in this, hated that Sherlock Holmes is kind of like sidelined in this. Hated like the flashbacks and all of that. Hated the problematic elements of it, too.

Itgot very emotional and there was some characters who I just absolutely fell in love with and I wanted to protect myself and it just it tugged at my heartstrings. It tugged at my heartstrings.

And oh my god, like it's just so sweet and there was just like so much to love about this like so much to love about this. The love story, the setting, just beautiful illustrations, beautiful.