I saw this prompt for a Mid-Year Book Round-Up (Freak Out) on Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs’ blog a few weeks ago but also saw another version online where the blogger listed more than one book for certain questions so I decided to combine the two.

Best Book (s) You’ve Read In 2024

Little Women by Lousia Mae Alcott and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

I know. I know. I went for the classics, but I had never read either of them and ended up loving them both. I started Little Women in December but finished it in 2024, so I am counting it for 2024. I listened to Around the World in 80 Days and maybe it was the narrator that made it so interesting for me, but I really did enjoy it.

Best Sequel You’ve Read In 2024

The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes

My daughter and I loved this middle-grade book and, I think, it was the only sequel I read all year so far. It was such a cute book, following the adventures of – well, the middle Moffat, Jane. Her adventures with the Oldest Inhabitant (a 99-year-old Civil War vet) was the cutest part of the book to me. It was also cool that we read the chapter about the Eclipse at the same time the eclipse was happening.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

There are a lot of these (and you can read more of mine here) but for now, I will go with Tracking Tilly by Janice Thompson and I haven’t read it because it actually doesn’t release until August 1.

This one is a mystery that seems pretty cozy so I am looking forward to it.

Here is the description:

Who Stole Tilly from the Auction Block? Breathe in the nostalgia of everything old red truck in book one of a new cozy mystery series. The Hadley family ranch is struggling, so RaeLyn, her parents, and brothers decide to turn the old barn into an antique store. The only thing missing to go with the marketing of the store is Grandpa’s old red truck, Tilly, that was sold several years ago. Now coming back up on the auction block, Tilly would need a lot of work, but RaeLyn is sure it will be worth it—if only she can beat out other bidders and find out who stole Tilly after the auction ends. Hadley finds herself in the role of amateur sleuth, and the outcome could make or break the new family venture.

Biggest disappointment.

I have two for this one:

Hell is Empty: A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

I’ve enjoyed almost all of the Walt Longmire series I’ve read so far but this one was ridiculous and predictable and I was terribly disappointed in it. My husband has suggested I read more books in the series because the rest of them were very good, so I will.

Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jaime Jo Wright

This was my first time trying this author and not only was the book repetitive (the woman grew up in a house of death by a cemetery full of death and death was all around her. Yes, got it. Stop repeating it every chapter) but it was extremely, extremely disturbing to me and I didn’t feel it should have been listed under Christian Fiction.

Biggest surprise.

I picked up How To Plan Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin on Netgalley and wasn’t sure what I would think of it but ended up really enjoying it and getting swept up in the twists and turns of this mystery.

Favorite new author. (Debut or new to you)

Isabella Alan would probably be a new favorite for me. Her real name is Amanda Flowers but she writes as Isabella Alan as well and I really enjoyed her book Murder Plainly Read and plan to read more books by her later this year.

Newest fictional crush.

Theo Goodnight in Sharon Peterson’s The Fast Lane. He’s so swoony and sweet and funny and (a small spoiler here!) writes romances that I actually wouldn’t read but we’ll just go back to him being sweet and funny and dreamy.

Here is a little snippet of the book with Theo in it:

Bracing a hand on the table, he leaned close. “I’m beginning to think you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

My breath caught at the low, gravelly sound of his voice.

He shifted closer, his mouth stopping an inch from my ear. His warm breath on my skin sent a zing of awareness through me. “And I’m definitely not your brother.”

Swoon.

This is a clean romance by the way, so there is a bit of steam, small level of spice but no open door scenes or even medium spice.

Newest favorite character.

I know he isn’t new to others, but he’s new to me: Hercule Poirot. I’ve watched him on TV in the shows, but never realized how savage he was – even more so in the books than the show. The way he slams Hastings, putting him in his place, is just so funny.

From Lord Edgware Dies:

“I have noticed that when we work on a case together, you are always urging me on to physical action, Hastings. You wish me to measure footprints, to analyse cigarette ash, to prostrate myself on my stomach for the examination of detail. You never realize that by lying back in an armchair with the eyes closed one can come nearer to the solution of any problem. One sees then with the eyes of the mind.”

“I don’t,” I said. “When I lie back in an armchair with my eyes closed one thing happens to me and one thing only!”

“I have noticed it!” said Poirot. “It is strange. At such moments the brain should be working feverishly, not sinking into sluggish repose. The mental activity, it is so interesting, so stimulating! The employment of the little grey cells is a mental pleasure. They and they only can be trusted to lead one through fog to the truth…”

Book that made you cry.

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen. ‘

So much of this book was just so sweet and touching. It’s the story of a family who travels to the mother’s grandmother’s former home in the Pennsylvania countryside to try to help the father overcome PTSD. While there they meet a lovely couple, help the couple make maple syrup, meet a man who they thought was weird, but was actually sweet and just grow together as a family. Maybe it is because I am from Pennsylvania that it gave me sentimental feelings, I don’t know, but it really had me teary-eyed.

Book(s) that made you happy.

I’m picking two for this one:

The Cat Who Talked To Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun.

This book didn’t make me happy because a side character in the series I’ve been reading since high school was tragically murdered, but because I saw so much more of the main character, Jim Qwilleran’s, personality in this book. There were funny moments and touching moments and it was just such a departure from the other books in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed it.  

Murder In An Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor

This one was just a fun ride and I really enjoyed learning about Irish culture while also being taken on a journey through an interesting mystery. Plus, I fell in love with the characters.

What books do you want to read by the end of the year?

Here are a list of books I want to read by the end of the year:

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery (already reading it)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (because I’ve never read it

Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker (I’ve heard a lot about this one and have it on my Kindle and Audible right now so I am looking forward to it)

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kipp by Sara Brunsvold (I started this one but it got a bit heavy for me so I would like to finish it)

An Old Fashioned Girl by Louise Mae Alcott

The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

Are any of these books on your mid-year round-up? Any of them you want to read? Let me know.