Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2026 📚 Best Books, Biggest Disappointments & More

This book was gorgeous. It made me sobb multiple times and I recommended it to my mom who I don't think has ever read a horror novel to read for her own grief. I've recommended this to so many people.

I read and loved Bat Eater and Other Names for Corzang by Kylie Lee Baker in 2025 and I just loved it so much. It was one of my favorite books of the year. It's impeccable.

Also the book itself was pretty boring and repetitive and there were a lot of fight scenes and chases and things that I did not care about. I don't know. This was a big disappointment.

And although I really enjoyed all four of these and would recommend, I'm not actually going to review them or talk about them in this video because I feel like I've been talking for ages already.

Ironically, the only Catching Fire, which is the one I grabbed off my shelf, is the only book in the entire series that I didn't give five stars to. I gave this one four stars.

I have four picks for this. And although I really enjoyed all four of these and would recommend, I'm not actually going to review them or talk about them in this video because I feel like I've been talking for ages already.

So good, devastating, absolutely devastating, beautifully written, amazing character work, heartbreaking, gorgeous. Five million stars out of five.

The second book for me was a bit of a dud, not going to lie. I was pretty disappointed with it.

I really enjoyed this book and one of my favorite things about it was the development of the friendship between Liza and Elder.

Some of my favorite more literary horror novels of the last couple years, I think of Natural Beauty by Lingling Huang on my shelves back here.

And I had a couple qualms with 9inth House. It wasn't an absolutely perfect book for I had some issues with it, but I generally really enjoyed it.

It is strange and surreal and heartbreaking and beautiful and hopeful. It is very much a coming of age story and it has so much specificity to Taiwan and to Taipei more specifically. But it also has a universality to it.

It has very unusual structure. It is very flowing and lyrical and dreamlike and hazy. You feel like you're hallucinating.

And then the book that my husband bought me for Christmas is a Folio Society edition. I love folio editions of one of my favorite books, Pureessie by Susanna Clark.

Some of my favorite more literary horror novels of the last couple years, I think of Natural Beauty by Lingling Huang on my shelves back here. Great example, Rouge by Mona Aad.

I loved Candace, our protagonist, and there was a specific scene in this that made me break down and sob so hard that I stopped breathing. Five stars. Gorgeous.

Funny, heartwarming, made me smile, made me laugh. Also, it is also horror, scary at times. Some creepy imagery, but also just overall made me happy.

And although I really enjoyed all four of these and would recommend, I'm not actually going to review them or talk about them in this video because I feel like I've been talking for ages already.

I just thought it was incredible. It really it really touched me emotionally. The character work was so impeccable.

Loved this book so much. It's fantasy with a heavy romance component. Probably romantic fantasy.

I gave it four stars. I didn't think it was absolutely perfect, but one thing it did do was surprise me at almost every turn. It is such an unusual book.

The book itself is obviously beautiful, but I loved I loved getting to see but I loved getting to see illustrations as I read sketches and things really added to the experience.

I thought the way that it told Hey Mitch's story was so engrossing and it brought back all of the magic of the first Hunger Games book for me.

And it's just heartbreaking and beautiful. It is very sad and hard to read at times, but it was so beautifully written. The characterization was incredible.

It did so many things so well. I loved so many things about it. And yet, I was never allowed a moment of peace because the book has to abuse women constantly and explicitly on the page.

Very short, very poetic and lyrical, very interesting in the way it's written, interesting premise, engaging folklore, fairy tale feel to it. Incorporates music in a really lovely way.

It's so beautifully written. It's so atmospheric and tense and heavy and yet still has some levity and love and hope to it in moments.

This made me so emotional. This is gorgeous.

And although I really enjoyed all four of these and would recommend, I'm not actually going to review them or talk about them in this video because I feel like I've been talking for ages already.

This author is from Kenya and this is a satirical novel and quite long but very funny, very sharp in its commentary, very biting in its commentary and just so engaging and fun. The characters really jumped off the page.