Another day, another tag stolen mercilessly from Birdie Bookworm. This one is all about what draws you to the books you buy. I decided to make all my selections from books on my kindle because it’s probably where most of my impulse book purchases happen. Let’s take a look at the results, shall we?

1. Find a book on your shelves or e-reader with a blue cover. What made you want to pick up this book?

The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas jumped out at me recently because I just bought the kindle edition after much urging from one of my fave IRL book friends who turned me onto the series. This is a prequel apparently and will tell you about Celaena and Sam’s relationship before she was sent to prison.

2. Think of a book you didn’t expect to enjoy, but did. Why did you read it in the first place?

Map to the Stars by Jen Malone didn’t have me at hello you could say. Initially I found the main character kind of annoyingly dense and stubborn and the premise seemed a little contrived. It wasn’t until a few chapters in, when the love story starts to pick up and witty banter ensues that I really got on board and then suddenly I was loving it, contrived story and all.

3. Stand in front of your bookshelf with your eyes closed and pick up a book at random. How did you discover this book?

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea by  Alyssa Mastromonaco is about Alyssa’s time working as Obama’s former deputy chief of staff. I think I discovered it in one of those kindle books on sale roundups either goodreads.com or Modern Mrs. Darcy.

4. Pick a book that someone personally recommended to you. What did you think of it?

I know I basically just mentioned this series but Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas came highly recommended to me by two different friends and I’m so glad they were persistent because I loved it. If you are into YA fantasy, this one will definitely do the trick. It’s fairly popular in the blogging circles and deservingly so. If you read The Lunar Chronicles after fifteen people insisted you do so (or maybe it was just me fifteen times), this is your next assignment.

5. Pick a book that you discovered through YouTube / book blogs. Did it live up to the hype?

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Allbertalli has been a social media darling for awhile now. Everyone I knew online was reading it. Sometimes this makes me leery of a book but the premise sounded like my kind of adorable – geeky shy girl thinks she won’t find love but of course does find love. This was such a sweet story but also felt very real – it was like reading your old diary from high school except that when I was in high school none of the pop culture references in this book existed. Shhhh…. no tears now.

6. Find a book on your shelves or e-reader with a one-word title. What drew you to this book?

Wanderlost by Jen Malone – I read this one before reading Map to the Stars and honestly it took me a minute to fall for this one, too. Malone’s characters are kind of clueless initially but this makes for more character development. In this one Aubree is coerced into running a European tour for senior citizens for her big sister and if the pages of descriptions of European travel don’t do it for you, the love story definitely will. I puffy hearts adored Sam.

7. What book did you discover through a film / TV adaptation?

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams was turned into a pretty amazing series on BBC last year. I haven’t actually read the book yet but couldn’t resist picking it up in case my husband or I need a good read. Douglas Adams is one of the funniest writers of all time – but it’s the best kind of funny. Smart British Sci Fi Nerd Funny.

8. Think of your all-time favorite book/s. When did you read these and why did you pick them up in the first place?

Okay I’m going rouge for this one and not worrying about whether it’s on my kindle. Favorite books include: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen which I read in 2008 about a year before my daughter was born. I was late to the party and probably feeling guilty about being an English major who hadn’t read Jane Austen yet. I’m glad I rectified this because this story especially completes me and I consider it my favorite love story; Harry Potter series by JK Rowling which I started reading sometime in high school or college and finished reading when I was a married mother to a toddler. My husband and I pretty much met and fell in love over Harry Potter and we’re both such big fans of the series that we each ordered our own hard cover copy of the last book because we refused to share. I could go on but I’ll refrain because then we’ll be here literally all day. If you want to know about more books I love, just go here.

TAG, YOU’RE IT!

Now for the serious business of tagging. Because I’m a tag renegade, I’m tagging all the other tag renegades. The ones who always wait impatiently to be tagged and are perhaps obsessed with talking about books. You, sir or madam, have been tagged. Report to me in the comments section when you’ve finished your list!