Reader Rayna

Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl! Today’s topic is all about buzzwords or phrases that make us want to read or avoid a book, so the way I’m going to split up my list is half want to read, and half avoid.

For each list I’ll also give an example of a book I’m talking about that I’ve read before or am interested (maybe) in reading. At least they’ll be books I or my wife owns, as she reads one of the things on my avoid list that I really don’t.

So let’s jump into the list, shall we?

Words or Phrases That Make Me Want to Read a Book

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1. Political intrigue – I’m a sucker for books with political intrigue. Give me a good conniving scheme, complicated family drama, overworld politics, etc., and I’m good to go. This doesn’t always work, of course, but I’ve read plenty of books with some great politicking that have kept me wanting to read more and more of the story.
   • My example is The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. There’s sooo much polticking going on in here.
2. Found family – I actually haven’t read many of these, but I love the found family trope in media in general. One of my favorites is Critical Role’s campaign 2 following The Mighty Nein. I love seeing a band of misfits and regular people come together to become a family, with all of the ups and downs included.
   • I’d definitely consider the Monk and Robot series by Becky Albertalli to be found family. It’s a monk… and a robot. I mean… lol
3. Romance subplot – Now this is specifically for the fantasy genre, because I am a true romantic at heart. I’m not always into a straight up romance book, as I like reading about heavier stakes going on, but give me a romance subplot, I beg you. And an actual romance subplot, not lust from the get go.
   • Legendborn also has a lot of politics, mythology, magic, familial relationships, but also a few romance subplots that I’ve been eating up.
4. Yearning – BRING. BACK. YEARNING. I beg of you, bring back pathetic men in love with the woman they’re pursuing, and women who would do anything for the man they love (or man/man, woman/woman, whatever). I want to feel the ache and pain of the character being away from them too long, or being so close and yet there’s nothing they can do about it. Ugh, I crave it. More please. This Woven Kingdom has sooo much yearning, I love it.
   • Slow burn also falls under this category, and though it’s another word I love, it’s also one I avoid nowadays. I want real slow burns where they don’t even think of holding hands until 40% through or kiss until at minimum 50-60% of the way in.
5. Djinn – I’ve gotta admit, some of my favorite books I’ve read the past two years have involved djinn in some way, and I’m not mad about it lol It’s definitely a type of mythical creature I love to read about and how the authors take those myth and bring them to life in their books.
   • The series that involve them that I’m talking about are, of course, The Daevabad Trilogy by Shannon Chakraborty and the This Woven Kingdom series by Tahereh Mafi.

Words or Phrases That Make Me Want to Avoid a Book

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1. Enemies to lovers – Let’s be so for real right now and point out how most books with these descriptions are more “mild inconvenience to lovers.” There’s very few truly enemies to lovers books, which is sad because there’s SO much good politics around that, as well as just good drama. Give me my popcorn, I want a true enemies to lovers story line, please.
   • The Cruel Prince is one that’s an actual enemies to lovers, however when I read it years ago I distinctly remember not getting into it until 60% of the way through, which was honestly too long to be giving a book a chance… I am, however, going to try reading it again at some point to see if I like it better now that my expectations of it are better known.
2. Dark romance – This is not to yuck anyone’s yum, I want that to be perfectly clear. I, myself, am just not into dark romances, particularly of the serial killer variety. Have I read a lot of them? No. Do they intrigue me? Sometimes? But I’m also not going to go out of my way to read one, however this isn’t a hard no, but more of a “I need to find the right one,” kind of thing.
   • Butcher and Blackbird is one that my wife owns and has read and liked, and just seeing some of the trigger warnings and hearing about it from friends has me very turned off by it. Just… no thank you, not for me. Same with other books; I just have no interest in the dark romance category.
3. Mystery/Thriller (genre) – Sorry, they’re just not something I’m interested in picking up. If there’s a mystery within the book I’m reading, sure, that’s fine, but as a genre I generally don’t ever gravitate towards it. Same with thrillers; I don’t want to read a book just to get to the end and put it away and never want to reread it. I own exactly one thriller that’s sounded interesting to me, and I haven’t read it yet lol
   • Razorblade Tears is the one straight thriller I own that I’m interested in. I’ve heard so much buzz around it that I want to at least give it a try, so I hope I enjoy it.
4. Alzheimer’s/dementia trigger warning – I will say that I’m generally unbothered by most trigger warnings, but there’s still things that do affect me or things I want to avoid or just be cautious about. Dementia, for instance, hits too close to home for me as I lost my mom to it several years ago, so if I don’t know ahead of time that a book has that in it and I read about it? Yeah, the book is getting put down and probably won’t be picked back up because I didn’t have time to prepare myself. However, as long as I know it’s in there and can prepare myself? Then I’m generally okay and will then be slightly more analytical about how the representation is shown since I’ve gone through it as a family member, you know?
   • Can’t Get Enough was one of my favorite reads of last year, and was my favorite read in the Skyland series by Kennedy Ryan. I have never felt so seen as I did reading this book. I could 100% tell Ryan did her research into what it’s like not only for the person who has dementia, but for those around them who have to watch their love one slip away from them, as well. Because I knew this was in here ahead of time, I was very kind and gentle with myself while reading it, and definitely did cry, but it felt so good in this instance in particular.
5. Petite, tiny, small, little female protagonist – Get that shit away from me. I’m over it. I don’t want to read about how microscopic the woman is compared to the ginormous man she’s about to get freaky with. Like, obviously petite and small women exist and I want to read about them, HOWEVER that SHOULD NOT be the most PROMINENT THING ABOUT THEM in a lot of these scenes I’ve read. That’s all lol
   • Fourth Wing was the first one that came to mind because it was just mentioned so much as the beginning that it grated on my nerves so much. Now every time I see it mentioned in almost anything, I get the immediate ick and it knocks down my rating instantly. It doesn’t always mean I won’t read it, but it does put me in a bad mood for a bit.

Now, will I read the books in the ones I listed under “avoid,” I mean… yeah, probably, if I already own them or they fall under the category of “I’m interested” or “I know the trigger warnings ahead of time,” etc. However, some of these I know I won’t, and that’s okay, you know?

What words or phrases are on your lists? Share any you want in the comments and why they’re under either category!