(This was way late compared to when Adalynn tagged me, but oh well.)

Y’all, I am so excited to do this tag. It’s fall themed and it’s book themed and I get to rant about what I love in books. So yeah, it’s pretty awesome. I was tagged by the lovely Adalynn LeBrun at The Humorous Bookworm (which I cannot recommend highly enough, I love her blog so much, it makes me laugh all the time!)

Anywaysies. So here’s what’s going on:

THE OUTLINE:

1. Link back to who tagged you. (Thanks so much, Adalynn!)
2. Share the Graphic below on your blog. (Done!)
3. Share the Outline on your post. (Doing that right now.)
4. Share a detail you love about the season of summer into fall. (The aesthetics, the jeans and sweaters, the beanies, and just the vibes. Also the leaves???)
5. List at least 7 random/ specific things YOU love to read about in books, big or small. (I’ll get there in a second!)
6. Tag 7 people who would enjoy taking part/whose answers you are curious to read! (Like I said, I’ll get there in a second!)

So here is what I absolutely love to read about in books!

My Thoughts:

Side note: we do not judge my depressing reading habits, okay?

~ When a main or side character dies.

Example: Finnick in the Hunger Games. He’s at the top of my list for book boyfriends and he died and I hated it but I’m so glad he died.

Why? Because it’s realistic, it’s like real life, it’s SAD. Give all the sad books to me please. Will I be devastated and demand why they had to die? Yes, but I would rather them die than have them end up living happily ever after.

~ Friends-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovers.

And I don’t just mean enemies but also when the guy secretly likes the girl and she has no idea and he’s kinda mean to her because of some trauma or she reminds him of his sister who died or whatever.

I love that cliché type of stuff, it’s too good. (Except for Salt to the Sea—that is not cliché, that is a freaking masterpiece, and Ruta Sepetys did the best job of writing enemies-to-lovers.)

~ Addressing mental health in a very straight-to-the-point way.

No, not by fluffing it up and then making everything good in the end. I want to feel all the pain and I want to cry and I want to be very hurt in the end.

And I don’t want this to come across as insensitive. I’m not saying that I support these things, but rather that I support the active, harsh writing of them. It’s real life guys, we need to be aware of these things and sometimes showing it in fiction is the best way to do that.

~ An unreliable narrator.

Probably my favorite kind of narrator. Gary D. Schmidt, E. Lockhart, and Ruta Sepetys all do phenomenal jobs with this—I seriously do not know how they do it but it’s amazing. If it drives me to insanity because there was a huge plot twist that connects to that teeny tiny detail I totally forgot about, then give it to me.

~ The sweet and simple romance.

Adalynn mentioned this in her post and I absolutely agree. When hand-holding and forehead kisses are how they show love to each other on a regular basis?! Or just simple dates like going on a walk?? This stuff is a hundred times much better than all the make-out scenes. (Is it just me or do those just not seem like, actually romantic???)

~ The narrator who hates everyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the sweet narrator but not nearly as much as the sassy, sarcastic, annoyed narrator who has a sensitive heart deep down inside. Again, Gary D. Schmidt—this is his writing style and I love his books because of that.

~ Guy bestie who is just a guy bestie.

This one is crazy rare. In the end, the guy best friend always ends up being the love interest, but if you look at Harry and Hermione in Harry Potter, they’re like, best friends. And they’re just friends, nothing more! I cherish those relationships in books because again, it’s just realistic. (I mean yeah, in a lot of guy-girl friendships, one falls for the other, but not all the time. It’s real life, y’all, don’t be sad when your life doesn’t end up like a book.)

~ When a guy gives the girl his sweatshirt or jacket.

(Am I kind of stealing this from Adalynn? Yes I am, and shamelessly. But is she so right? Absolutely.)

Ok, like she said, the chivalry is just amazing and adorable. But like, can we normalize guys offering their hoodies or sweatshirts to girls??? I feel like too many guys let girls just sit there, freezing. And I don’t mean this just romantically (although that’s definitely the perfect example)—when a guy gives his sister a hoodie, that’s just as sweet and genuine. LET’S NORMALIZE THIS, PEOPLE!

Tags:

Alright, here are my tags for this challenge! No pressure to participate! (But if you don’t, you’ll be declared boring. Kidding, kidding!)

1. Zeva at My Learning Journey
2. Lola Mae at Lola Mae Writes
3. Eliyah Mai at Eliyah Mai Creates
4. Maya at Rivers of Words (I think Adalynn already tagged you though…but it’s okay XD)
5. Serenity at Serenity Helzerman
6. Hope Elizabeth at Flame and Hope Elizabeth (Ikr, she has two blogs! She’s fancy like that!)
7. Ail Timmer at Sagas and Stories

Well, that’s all I got! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I’d love to hear your thoughts—are you a fan of when characters die? Do you like enemies-to-lovers or friends-to-lovers? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading!
~Willow