It’s been so long since I last made a list for Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s list is about those things that make a book an instant-read, like waving a sweet bookish bone in front of us.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish
Now, on with the list, which is actually a top seven!
1 A beautiful title + beautiful cover combination
It’s the one I’m sure 99.9% of bookworms share. And you really can’t blame us for it. They keep making pretty covers, and we keep getting those books because they look good on the shelves.
And what did you say it was about?
No idea.
When I’m looking for new books to read at the bookstore, I search by title and cover. I don’t stop to pick up anything and read the synopsis if I haven’t fallen in love with the outside first.
2 Impossible to resist soulmate plot
Shallow but important tendencies aside, give me a good ol’ soulmates romance plot and I’ll be mush. There’s just something deeply satisfying in knowing there’s a happy ending waiting in the end.
3 Hate to love plots
Another guilty pleasure of mine. Not necesarily with the bad boy package though. Two people can hate each other at first, and one of them doesn’t have to be a complete jerk. I indulge in those one from time to time, but what I really liked from them all along was the fact that eventually, the dislike becomes affection and desire to make each other happy.
4 Worlds based on real life regions
Fantasy settings that have elements from real life cultures and countries are the best. I do love the run of the mill medieval setting, but we already know that, and our world has so many interesting and important traditions and bits of culture that are being ignored!
5 Unique magical species that don’t sound corny and made-up (even though they obviously are)
Fantasy is all about imagination so when authors come up with their new species, creatures, magic systems… It’s all good and well. It’s perfect. Except when it’s painfully obvious it’s all a pile of gibberish they came up with while they were drunk or something. Although that’s perfectly acceptable too.
When on the spot, these new fantasy elements sound realistic, I’m sold, because that’s got to be damn hard, convincing people to suspend their belief and be with your for a second.
6 It’s a standalone
I love series. But standalones are way better sometimes, and if a, let’s say fantasy book is floating around and said to be only one, it’s enough to get my feathers all ruffled up. All the magic, less the time to invest before I get to the ending.
This can be good and bad because if the book is awesome, maybe I’ll want more of the story. But be that as it may, I do prefer having the story split into as few books as possible.
7 People whose taste I trust have read and loved it
Lately, a lot of the gems I’ve read have come from recommendations of friends, or just by lurking in their Goodreads profiles and checking out their 5-star reviews. A five star from those few select people and you can bet I’ll be reading that book in the foreseeable future.
I’m not sure why but I totally left off covers! Lol! Of course we pick books by their covers and I love that you picked cover and title combos… it’s all about the marketing! And hate to love plots… I don’t love all of these but I agree there is something deeply satisfying about them when done well. Such a great list!
Thank you! And yes! With those hate to love plots, I like seeing the whole thing play out, and how little by little the two people get closer and start changing their views of one another. But yeah, it can be tricky. Thank you for stopping by!
Standalones definitely work for me, too. I love series books, but when I see a book that looks awesome is the first in the series, I hesitate. Will I remember to read the rest of the series? How LONG is the series going to be? Am I going to like the first one enough to invest my time in the next books? So many things to consider! I also definitely go for books that other people love, especially bloggers I love!
Yeah, the wait is definitely a big problem. If the series is already out, then I’m all for a binge read, but if it’s just the first book, I’ll be more cautious except if I really, really like how it sounds. Ironically, the books I feel more CRAZY about that are part of a series, I’m even willing to wait for the series to be out in order to read it properly.