Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book

I love taking a step back and analyzing my reading and learning what I like in my books so I can get a better idea of which books to give my time to. That is why I loved this week’s TTT topic!

They are written by my auto-buy authors (Tiffany D. Jackson, Alice Hoffman, Becky Chambers, etc.)

There are a few authors whose books I will read/preorder without having read the synopsis or knowing anything about the books. Tiffany D. Jackson, Alice Hoffman, and Becky Chambers are at the top of that list. I have read and will continue to read everything that Tiffany D. Jackson and Becky Chambers have written and I have read a good chunk of Alice Hoffman’s books, but she has an extensive backlist. I was recently sent an ARC of her 2023 release The Invisible Hour and that made my month!

They are a romance set in a small town

If you tell me a book is a small-town romance, I will instantly add it to my TBR, especially if it is a romcom. Part of Your World, When in Rome, and It Happened One Summer are among my favourite romances of all time and I read them all in one sitting. I just devour small-town romances because they tend to be super sweet and charming and they have incredible side characters!

They are described as cozy fantasy

The amount of cozy fantasy on my TBR is ridiculous and I truly am interested in them all! I have realized I love a lot of self-published cozy fantasy, so I am always on the lookout for those to download on my Kindle. I just love the vibes! Obviously, Legends and Lattes was the book that started me down this rabbithole but Baking Bad and Scales and Sensibility are two underrated cozy fantasies that I absolutely adore. I will post my cozy fantasy TBR one of these days!

There are witches

I have shared my witchy book recommendations in the past, but I continue to read them and add more to my list. All you have to do is tell me that a book has witches and it will pique my interest. I have been this way since I was a kid and I blame Hocus Pocus for my obsession. I am also not picky about the genre. Weyward is historical fiction, The Lighthouse Witches is Gothic, and In the Company of Witches is a cozy mystery and I adored them all!

There is a cat on the cover

I am a true cat person! I have never not had a cat in my life and I just adore them. So it is no surprise that I also love them in my books! In fact, I have shared a list of books with cats on the cover in the past. The Travelling Cat Chronicles is very cat focused because it is told from the perspective of a cat and I adored it, the cat in Sweethand is named Jello and that is all you need to know, and the cat plays an important role in the romance in Get a Life, Chloe Brown.

They are described as Gothic

I don’t know what it is but I am rarely disappointed by Gothic fiction. I think a lot of that has to do with my love of atmospheric settings and descriptive writing. In a lot of ways, the setting is more important to me than the plot, especially in Gothic tales. The Essex Serpent and The Ghost Woods are slow and rely heavily on the atmosphere and they are some of my favourite books of all time! I think a lot of vampire novels can be described as Gothic and A Dowry of Blood is among my favourites!

They are a Pride and Prejudice retelling

While I am always nervous about Pride and Prejudice retellings because I think it is difficult to capture Jane Austen’s tone, I am always intrigued by them and will always add them to my TBR. I have also found some real gems! Pride and Premeditation is a cozy mystery, while both A Certain Appeal and Ayesha at Last are both contemporary romances!

They are a Greek myth retelling

You hear my talk about Greek myth retellings all of the time, so I don’t think that this is a surprise! I have so many Greek myth retellings on my TBR and I never get tired of them. I like to have them read for when the mood strikes! Clytemnestra, A Thousand Ships, and The Silence of the Girls are three of my favourites.

They are a SciFi horror novella

I have come to the realization that SciFi horror is one of my favourite genres, especially if they are novellas. Something about the length of a novella makes everything more tense and I like to read this genre in one sitting if I can. Mira Grant is the queen of the SciFi horror in my opinion and I want to read every one she has written. Ring Shout was one of the most impactful novellas I have ever read, and Follow to Me Ground is so weird and I haven’t stopped thinking about it years later.

They are described as whimsical

I think the definition of whimsical is up to interpretation and a book I think is whimsical might now feel that way to you. That said, if someone tells me they felt a book was whimsical, I will add it to my TBR. There is something about that kind of writing that works for me! I would personally describe The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Spinning Silver, and Wild Beauty as whimsical in different ways.

What is something that always makes you add a book to your TBR?

YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Goodreads