With half the year behind us, I wanted to share my most notable reads of the year so far inspired by The Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag originally created by earl grey books.
The Numbers: 25 novels, 12 novellas and 2 collection of short stories. Also 10 5-star AND 10 4-star books (excluding novellas).
1. Favorite Book Read With the Most Ratings: The Diamond Eye, Kate Quinn
The Diamond Eye has more that 220,000 ratings on Goodreads, and was my Favorite Book of May. It tells the story of Mila Pavlichenko, a real-life female Russian sniper during World War II, and Quinn captures every imaginable detail of Mila’s life before and during the war. We see her marriage, family life, and the ordinary world she inhabited before everything changed.
2. Favorite Book Read Fewest Ratings: Jamaica Road, Lisa Smith
Jamaica Road has a little under 900 ratings on Goodreads, and this book deserves to be on everyone’s radar because it is so good! This is the story of 2 teenagers who meet in high school in South London. They are both minorities, both Jamaican – although 1 is British born and the other is newly arrived.
Their lives intertwine in many ways, separate and come back together. It’s told with so much heart but also has complex themes as part of their stories – immigration, legal and otherwise, racism, family dynamics, the sense of pride and place in South London and in being Jamaican.
3. Fist 5-star Book: Someone Birthed Them Broken, Ama Asantewa Diaka
My frst 5-star read was actually Jamaica Road, which I mentioned above, but the next one was Someone Birthed Them Broken. It’s a wonderful collection of 13 short stories set in Ghana. The main characters in each story are all loosely connected to each other. They are young and navigating the complexities of life and relationships – with parents, siblings, friends, heartreak, infidelity, sexuality and complicated decisions.
The themes are sometimes heavy and sometimes funny and beautiful. You really get to connect with them throughout the stories as the author beautifully captures the full essence of each. The stories all also ooze the richness and contradictions of Ghanian life.
4. Most Recent 5-star Book: A Box Full of Darkness, Simone St. James
A Box Full of Darkness is such a well written, atmospheric, creepy horror book from St. James. 3 siblings return to their childhood home of Fell, NY, drawn by a message from their long dead younger brother. The town where they grew up is a place where a lot of disturbing things happen – and this was the setting for another of St. James’s books – The Sun Down Motel (another must read).
The buildup in this novel was just exquisite. I love how the author took the time with the story, teasing it out and drawing out the anticipation. This was done really well – I felt the pacing was spot on and it never lulled, nor was there too much detail to bog down the story. I stayed up well into the night reading, not wanting to put this book down until I got to the end.
5. Best Sequel Read So Far: Brigands and Breadknives, Travis Baldree
Brigands & Breadknives is the 3rd book in the Legends & Lattes series, but you can jump in here without missing out … although I also loved the other 2 books and recommend them as well.
This story follows Fern, who has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, she is just craving something different – and boy does she ever find it – as one night, after drinking her sorrows away, she falls asleep in a wagon and wakes far from home in the company of a legendary warrior and an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware. Cue the action, near death experiences and strong friendships forged along their journey.
6. Favorite Book by a Newly Discovered Author: The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother), Rabih Alameddine
This book is just incredibly written and I loved it all. It’s the story of Raja, a 63 year old philosophy teacher. It’s the story of his life, as he tells it. He’s snarky and grumpy as hell and so his World as he sees it, is filled with drama … caused by other people of course, never him … but caused mainly by his mother, who lives with him.
I loved his attitude and his wit, and all the characters in his orbit. But The True True Story of Raja the Gullible also is a history lesson. It’s set in Lebanon, and there is a lot that happened there during his lifetime, and we get to experience it as he lives through it. The author doesn’t brush these events aside or glamorize it, but he treats it with care and brings us through some of the atrocities.
7. Fave Book by an Author I’ve Read Before: The Death of Vivek Oji, Akwaeke Emezi
This book got me in the best way possible! It is rich is detail, in stories about the characters and their lives while also being plot driven. From the beginning we know that Vivek died, and we meet all the people that played an important part in his life from birth – his parents, his grandmother, his parents friends and his friends. He grew up in Nigeria and the book also gives us a wonderful sense of place with details about the culture. The book hones in on identity & emotional well being, family dynamics, culture. Brilliantly written, and despite there being a lot of characters, you got a good sense of each of them. Definitely recommend The Death of Vivek Oji – it didn’t get me to tears, but I was close.
The book I’ve read before by Akwaeke Emezi is Pet, about a creature that escapes from an artist’s canvas, whose talent is sniffing out monsters in a world that claims they don’t exist anymore. But the “monsters” are really evils in the World. This book was such a good read.
8. Favorite Book Released This Year: Kin, Tayari Jones
Tayari Jones knows how to tell a story! I got caught up reading about the lives of cradle friends Vernice and Annie, 2 motherless girls growing up in the small town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Told from alternating points of view, we get to see both girls grow up together, apart and back together again. They never leave each other in thoughts, but their lives diverge as they both take different paths when they get older. I love how Jones captured their similarities and differences, their Worlds and their families and friends as she led us on their journeys. BUT if there was ever a book begging for an epilogue – this is it! The ending felt a bit abrupt to me – and I wanted more dammit.
9. Biggest Disappointment: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones
My disappointment isn’t in the book, because I haven’t read it yet, but … I have attempted to, twice, and each time I give up after a few chapters. BUT, it has won at least 2 awards this year (so far) – a Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement in a Novel AND a Nebula Award for Best Novel – so I’m going to try again.
10. Biggest Surprise So Far This Year
Not a book, but I’m most surprised at how many novellas I’ve read so far and how much I’ve loved incorporating them into my reading life. It started with me putting together a list of The 15 Novellas Nominated for 2026 Locus, Nebula and Hugo Awards, and trying to read them all.
11. Biggest Book: King Sorrow, Joe Hill
At 896 pages, you know Joe Hill took his time with the story of King Sorrow. It’s about how a chance encounter, and an attempt to do the right thing puts Arthur on a path with someone who makes their life a living hell. He gets desperate and he and his friends make contact with King Sorrow, a dragon, who is a master manipulator.
We follow their lives through adulthood into middle age, and the impact their deal has on them all through the years. Yes – there be dragons, … or a dragon, King Sorrow to be exact, but this story is ultimately about friendship, choices, guilt, ambition, love, and the lingering consequences of the things we intentionally and unintentionally summon into our lives.
12. New Release I Haven’t Read Yet But Want To: Love by the Book, Jessica George
I loved Jessica George’s debut novel Maame, so I’m looking forward to her sophomore book which is about female friendship.
13. Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year: Queenie Is Working On It, Candace Carty-Williams
I absolutely loved Queenie and I’m so excited to see that there’s a follow-up coming to the US in September.
— Have you read any of the books mentioned above? What are some of your favorite books read so far this year?
