TOP TEN TUESDAYS | Not by the Cover

Last time, I used this weekly tag to break up the monotony. Now, I have them two in a row. Oh lol.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday the ten things that make me pick up a book.

I will try not to make this solely about NA romance. I’m still quite picky when it comes to that genre while I’m pretty much open to anything else. Maybe not Christian fiction. I mean, after strictly reading fantasy and mystery, I managed to find myself up to the eyeballs in romance.

With so many books out there, we all somewhat have stuff that tickles our fancy. Something that makes us pick that one book over the 1500 others in the same pile. Something that we gravitate towards in the sea of different genres available. And here is my list:

(I figured I’ll put the romance related stuff first.)

1. Age gap romances.
   It’s not a guilty pleasure. I genuinely am trash for this trope. If a book features a significant age gap between the main characters, same sex or otherwise, I’m there. Most of my NA reads so far have age gaps and I have a couple more in my ever growing TBR list. I picked up Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas because of this.
2. Royal relationships.
   Or the “rich guy-poor girl” trope in general. What can I say, I grew up watching Taiwanese drama. 😉 I like it better when there’s a royal aspect in a relationship. Not exactly fairy tale vibes but more on the difference in social status.
3. M/M romance.
   Especially if it’s done well. I’ve read many in the past where it’s sensationalized and simply not written well and it turned me off from the subgenre for a while. However, I read how Sarina Bowen does M/M and I’m hooked all over again. Try listening to an M/M romance audio book. You’ll thank me later.
4. Taboo/forbidden relationships.
   Maybe romance, maybe not. This, I can call a guilty pleasure. I hesitate to admit this some times but I can’t lie… this trope makes me so curious. It started with Priest by Sierra Simone. I don’t have to tell you what that is about, right?
5. Adventure thrillers similar to Dan Brown and James Rollins.
   I read and loved all of Dan Brown’s work and same with James Rollins, although I have yet to read all his books. I met him last week and it was amazing. He’s been one of my favorite authors since 2011. Listening to the audio versions of these kinds of books is fun too. It’s like you’re on the adventure with them.
6. Japanese crime thrillers.
   The Japanese write the best crime novels. Keigo Higashino is definitely my favorite. It’s so subdued and very simple. And yet, they really give you a thrill. Some do shock like Confessions and Penance by Kanae Minato. You think you know what’s going on but one the very last page, they spring something huge. It either leaves you so very satisfied… or in tears!
7. True crime.
   I don’t read nearly enough true crime but I do love watching documentaries. I have one true crime novel to read for 2019. It’s slow going but I have the whole year to get through it. I admit, I watch more documentaries but I would also like to read more of this genre.
8. Holocaust/WWII.
   Non-fiction, YA, espionage, thriller… you name it. Yes, even documentaries. Although I didn’t quite enjoy The Diary of Anne Frank. Sorry.
9. Multi-format books.
   Think Illuminae and Night Film. They (literally) break up the blocks of text. And these types of books go by fast because the multimedia aspect takes up space and next thing you know, you’re halfway through the book.
10. If I liked the anime…
    I admit, this is how I find out most of my manga loves. If I liked the anime, I’ll check out the manga… not just to continue the story, but from the very beginning. One of the few mangas I read before the anime is Ten Count because… see #3. 😉 Same with Boku no Hero Academia for a bit until it became crazy popular in the West and the fans terrify me caught up with me and I kind of fell off the wagon. And quite frankly, I don’t want to catch up to the manga source materials yet. After all, volumes count as read count on GoodReads. LMAO.

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That’s my list. It looks more like favorite tropes but it’s not. What a book looks like is immaterial to me because I do most of my reading digitally or audibly. Maybe I should put on here something about the narrator? Then again, I can’t control that. If I can’t with the narrator, I can also read the book, no biggie.

I’m interested to see what’s on your list. 🙂