Book Tag #1

I love book tags—they're some of my favorite videos to watch on BookTube.  But, since I don't have a YouTube channel (at least not yet) I thought...”Why not.  Let's make a book tag blog post.”

I'm sure this book tag prompt has been going on for a good long while, but I last watched it on >OhSoAbby's< YouTube channel.  It shouldn't have to be said that this is my opinion, and others are free to disagree, but the enjoyment of books is a very personal thing and let's all respect each other's book loves.  That said...

A popular book or series that you did not like.  I have two answers for this question, actually.  Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey.  Many readers claim that one is the fan-fic version of the other.  I've never cared to look into it, but so I've heard.  Regardless, I gave these books a chance, and sadly they did not do it for me.  I love paranormal romance—I love romance, period—but I wasn't able to connect with these characters or stories.  I'm not a fan of the controlling romantic “ideal” in Twilight, and the same goes for Fifty Shades..., plus, I don't like how the world of BDSM is portrayed in the latter.  But the films' Christian Grey is yummy, so I thank you, Jamie Dornan.

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A book/series that everyone seems to hate but that you love.  ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas.  Anything by Sarah J. Maas, really.  I know that no author's work is perfect—because they're human—and I've had issues with Maas' writing in the past (I'm looking at Hunt, madam), but I have noticed that there are some readers who seem to enjoy hating everything she writes.  I personally love her work, it's a huge guilty pleasure of mine and she's an instant-read author for me.  She just generally seems to attract as much negative attention as she does positive.  The reading community is apparently divided on her.

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Pick a love triangle in which you did not ship the OTP.  [POSSIBLE SPOILER ANSWER]  Mal and Alina from The Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.  It's a sweet couple, I guess.  And it wasn't as if I was horribly disappointed in the outcome of them ending up together.  But one of my favorite things about this trilogy is the Darkling, and the few moments that he and Alina shared that came even close to being considered intimate were full of ten times more chemistry than I felt between Alina and Mal.  The Darkling was complex, had a rich history, and a delightful possibility for a future.  I rooted hard for him.

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A popular book genre that you usually do not reach for.  Lately, romance.  I'll still read it, I still greatly enjoy it, but I don't reach out for books in this genre as much as I did in the past.  More than anything, I'm delightfully surprised if a book happens to have a romance, rather than be driven to read it because of that story-line unless the synopsis is radically intriguing. 

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A (popular) book character that you do not like.  Audrey Rose Wadsworth, from Kerri Maniscalco's Stalking Jack the Ripper series.  This young lady doesn't cut it.  She was tolerable (and know-it-all) in the first novel, then began to grow on me in Hunting Prince Dracula, but dropped back down again at break-neck speed after I read Escaping from Houdini. She became insufferable, thoughtless, and she's the main reason I keep putting off finishing the last book in the series.

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A popular author you can't get into.  James Patterson.  I've read a few books by Mr. Patterson, and it's not that they were bad (although I really did not enjoy Witch & Wizard), so much as the fact that I never want to go back for more.  I've never understood his popularity (probably the same way that many don't understand Maas', now that I think about it).

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A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing.  The love triangle.  I see it coming from a mile away, and it is exhausting to get through most of the time.  It's rare that an author writes a love triangle in a way that I will tolerate, let alone enjoy.  Because tied to that love triangle is usually the other trope that I dislike: the girl who thinks of herself as plain and unattractive/uninteresting, but more than one boy always falls for.  Shocking! 

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A popular book/series that you have no interest in reading.  The Selection series by Kiera Cass.  There's something almost intriguing to me about these books.  Almost.  The synopsis is nearly interesting enough that I want to pick up the first novel.  Nearly so.  But if I ever come even close to doing so, I quickly dismiss the idea and decide on another story.  It could be a series that I end up falling in love with, but there's just not enough pull in that premise to make me take the plunge.

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An adaptation that you preferred to the book.  The Great Gatsby, 2013.  Now that I am a “grown up,” I should give this book a second chance.  When I first read it in high school, it became one of the most boring novels that I'd ever had the misfortune of being forced to read by a teacher, so I got as far away from it as possible and never looked back.  The 2013 film adaptation was gorgeous, wild, exciting, colorful.  Everything one expects when Baz Luhrmann directs.  It made me consider picking up the book again to find out if my opinion of it has changed some seventeen+ years later.  Here's hoping.

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