Get to Know My Reading Taste Tag

Hey there! I saw this tag on Booktube on Mel Lenore Reads page, and so I wanted to do it for myself because it’s fun to do these every once in a while. As you grow and age, your tastes generally change, too, and that’s the same with reading.

This tag was originally created by Sam @ Thoughts on Tomes and Marines @ mynameismarines and features 15 questions, so let’s jump into it!

1. How do you rate books? Give a quick rundown of how you do your star ratings (or if you don’t use star ratings, how you evaluate books).

As of right now I do use a 5 star rating system to rate my books, along with quarter and half stars to make more specific choices when it comes to my ratings for books. Sometimes a book just isn’t a five star, but I reaaaalllyyyy enjoyed it, so it’s a 4.5 or 4.75, there was just something that wasn’t quite hitting the mark to make it a 5 star.

Saying that, though, depending on how I’m feeling will depend on how I mark it on Goodreads. Sometimes I round up to the nearest star, and sometimes I round down. On StoryGraph I can use the half and quarter star ratings to make my choices, which I like.

I have been debating changing up my system to a 10 point system, but then I’d have to figure out how to translate that into the five star system, and I don’t feel like doing that right now lol

So basically, here’s what each full star rating means:

5 stars – LOVED it, most likely a new favorite. Will definitely be recommending it to everyone under the sun. Everything hit for me.
4 stars – I really enjoyed it! There may be some things here or there that didn’t click, but it was still incredibly enjoyable and I’ll definitely be recommending it to everyone.
3 stars – It was an alright read. I didn’t mind spending my time on the book, but there were definitely things I didn’t like, or things just didn’t click for me. I’ll still probably recommend these, just not as frequently.
2 stars – I’ve never rated anything 2 stars or lower because I have no problem putting a book down if I’m not enjoying it. But if I did rate it a two, then I didn’t really enjoy it, but there might be one or two things I liked. I wouldn’t recommend it.
1 star – This type of rating will most likely never come up because I’m here to enjoy my reading time, not suffer through it.

2. How do you approach reviewing books? What’s your review style? Are you analytical, emotional, casual, or structured?

I think that my review style is definitely casual, especially since coming back to blogging after taking a couple of years off. I definitely lead through emotion rather than being super analytical, however, as an English major, I do also try to make analytical points in my review where I can lol

For me, I approach reviews wanting to talk about the characters, the plot, any romance involved, and any secondary plot, such as politics, family dynamics, etc. I feel it’s important to discuss these in depth, as it can give a better grasp as to what to expect going into the books. I guess that means my reviews lean more towards spoilery, but I never give away anything major that could ruin a book for someone.

3. What’s the book that made you a reader? Whether it was your first favorite or the one that got you hooked, what book started it all?

I’ve always been a reader (and book dragon – a collector of books), which is honestly surprising given my parents were definitely not readers at all! They definitely encouraged it, of course, but I think a big part of what made me a reader was a few things:

Wishbone – There was a show on PBS when I was a kid called Wishbone that followed a Jack Russell Terrier dog around where he went into different worlds of books and would tell the story of those books when he traveled into them. As an avid animal lover as a kid, this was right up my alley!
Reading Rainbow – Also on PBS was Reading Rainbow, and while I didn’t always catch it as often as Wishbone, there were many times I enjoyed watching it as a kid.
Plenty of shows and movies that told beautiful stories that I could get lost in, my imagination so vivid and wild when it came to imagining myself in those places after I would watch the shows.
My childhood book collection was so varied from storybook telling’s like Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, etc., to kid’s science books where I would learn about things like rainbows, weather, how ice formed, and more, to just regular kids’ books.

I would often take out library books at school for topics I was interested in, mostly around animals. I never really liked a majority of the books the teachers would pick for us to choose from for summer reading, though, or for the ones in class. A majority of them just never really clicked for me, but then in my teen years I discovered manga, and also the Twilight saga. That definitely sparked a love a reading in my teen years.

Then I fell out of reading again, even though I was an English major in college (overwhelmed much). Once I was out, though, I got back into reading as a young adult in my early to mid twenties. A large part of that is in thanks to the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. I fell in love with that series, and it was one of the series that pushed me into blogging about books for the first time! And now bam! Here we are!

4. Do you have a genre niche? Are there certain genres you gravitate toward? Or do you read widely across genres?

I’m a fantasy girly through and through, that’s for sure. The majority of what I read is fantasy in some way, whether it’s epic fantasy, low fantasy, high fantasy, urban fantasy, romantasy, YA fantasy, etc. I love reading about other worlds, magical places, and all of that stuff.

However, I do also read from the romance genre from time to time, though I prefer my romance to be intertwined into my fantasy because I enjoy the plot of other things going on in the background lol

I also read sci-fi on occasion, as well as general fiction. I want to give horror a try this year, as well as dip into reading classics as an adult.

5. Do you generally prefer character-driven or plot-driven stories?

A mix of both, honestly. And it really depends on the story being told, because sometimes it’s one or the other pushing the story forward. I was going to try to choose one or the other, but I really can’t lol I like them each for their own reasons, and then also combining them just feels so good, especially when you find the right book for you, you know?

6. What’s a book you love so much that you don’t care if others don’t like it? What’s that one book you love enough for everyone?

I’m going to probably be very basic in saying the Throne of Glass and ACOTAR series, but it’s true. I’ve been working on my reread and general first time read of some of the books in both series and I had forgotten how much I just adore those characters and the worlds that they’re in. They came at a time that I needed them in my adult life, and I’m grateful for that.

If I had to choose a specific book from either series? I think probably A Court of Mist and Fury. I just love that book a lot, okay? lol

7. What’s a book you love so much that if someone doesn’t like it, you know your reading tastes don’t align? The book or books where a difference of opinion is a strong indicator of different reading preferences.

*insert the don’t talk to me or my son ever again meme here*

I fell in love with this trilogy last year, and if someone doesn’t like it then I know that our reading tastes are just not going to align that well. I’d need to hear the reasons, but still lol

8. What’s in your “trash pocket”? What books, tropes, or themes that you know are bad but you love them anyway?

Anyone know of this little thing called “Twilight”? lmao

No but really, some of those mid to late 2000s and 2010s books don’t always age well, but you have such nostalgia for them that it’s hard not to love them, you know?

9. Do you have any dealbreakers in books? Something that, if present, immediately turns you off from a book.

I don’t really have an issue with most triggers, but, that being said… I don’t really have an interest in reading dark romance, for instance, given much of the subject matter inside because things that have to do with like… food? Like, tampering with food? Bleh, no, nope, absolutely not, bleh.

10. What’s a strong opinion you have about a book released within the last year? Whether it’s overrated, underrated, or just a take you need to share.

I honestly don’t have a strong opinion on anything released in the last year? So I’m gonna skip this one.

11. What do you look for in writing? What makes a book stand out to you? Is it prose style, themes, voice, structure, or something else?

Definitely a hook that pulls me in, as that’s what the first line and page is all about, but the voice of the author and the character from the get go needs to grab me or I lose interest pretty quickly. I also really enjoy “purple” prose or “flowery” prose, but it doesn’t need to be excessive about it, you know?

For instance, my most recent reads with Tahereh Mafi’s This Woven Kingdom series: I’ve read her Shatter Me trilogy before, a long time ago, and I remember her writing was fine for what I was reading, but this? I can definitely see how she’s improved and how she’s gotten so good at describing the world around her characters and their inner thoughts and emotions. The writing was slow and thoughtful, and it drew me in and kept me locked in.

12. How do you decide what to read next? Do you plan ahead, mood read, or follow external factors (hype, recommendations, ARCs)?

I’ve definitely been a mood reader all of my life, so I base my reads off of that. This year I’m giving myself a different type of reading schedule by using TBR prompts and setting up a hopefuls list to try to get through for the month. So far I’ve been keeping steady with it being both a mood read and a structured read, so I want to see how long I can keep it up.

I am, however, only doing that for as long as it’s fun. If I’m reading a series and only read one book but want to continue on with the rest, that’s what I’m going to prioritize over a list I made, you know?

13. Where do you get inspiration for your BookTube/blogging content? What sparks your video ideas—other creators, trends, personal reading experiences?

Other bloggers and booktubers, for sure, inspire my content. Obviously this tag is directly related to booktube itself lol I like to see what other people are talking about and what the general bookish sphere is engaging in, so that’s what I like to focus on when it comes to memes, tags, discussions, and those things. Otherwise just what I feel like fits for a book blog!

14. If you could make any book go viral right now, what would it be? A book you think deserves more attention and why.

I know I just read it and this series honestly has a decent amount of hype, but I need more people to read it, please and thank you lmao

You can check out my review for the first book, This Woven Kingdom, if you want to at least see my thoughts on the first book, but it’s such a good, tension filled, yearning filled, action packed, beautiful prose type of series. There’s one more book set to be released and I cannot wait to read it.

15. Who are some BookTubers/booktokers/bloggers with reading tastes similar to yours?

Here’s at least a few that I think has similar reading tastes to me (not everything 100% of course). I watch and check out a variety of people’s blogs, so not everyone always matches, but these ones stand out to me as similar reading tastes:

There’s all of the questions from the tag! This was fun! I haven’t done one of these in so long.

Reader Rayna