BOOKISH THIS OR THAT TAG

Hullo, bookdragons! Let’s rejoice because I survived my first week of school 🎉🎉🎉 It was stressful but I will survive. I MUST.

Anyway, I’m doing a tag today and I have to thank Noly @ theartsyreader for nominating me! Look at me not stealing tags and actually being nominated by awesome bloggers. I’M GROWING, FOLKS (I think). I’m sorry it took me so long to upload this post. The slow internet connection is a hindrance to my life.

I’ve known about this tag for a very long time. I saw this first at Cait’s blog (PaperFury) months ago and absolutely enjoyed her post. I published my blog about a week after I read her post and I wanted to do the tag but I thought I was already too late to do it. Little did I know that bloggers can do tags even if they’re 100 years old because that’s usually how long it takes for us to write blogposts.

Look, guys, blogging isn’t easy okay?? Brainstorming posts and writing them while ruling the world tend to complicate things a bit.

Anyway, this tag was revived at Luana’s blog and now I’m thankful that I can finally take part in it! Now it’s time to fry my rusty brain again because I know doing this tag won’t be easy.

1. Series or standalone?

Well, I haven’t read that much standalones in my life (I’m a fantasy reader and we all know that genre is ruled by series) so I’m obviously picking series. I’ve read really good standalones but I still prefer series because I get attached easily to characters and I want to be with them much longer.

2. Magic earned or magic born?

I have favorite children who are born with magic buuut, maybe I’ll choose magic earned? It’s exciting to see a character learn how to master a power. It’s actually perfect for fangirling moments like, “YEAH YOU CAN DO IT! SHOW ‘EM YOU CAN TAKE THEIR HEADS OFF!”

Hooray to me for always showing my love for blood and murder.

3. ‎Enemies to lovers or friends to lovers?

NO CONTEST. Enemies to lovers of course! It’s one of my favorite tropes of all time because this relationship usually has A+ banter and 101% feels. I actually quite dislike the friends to lovers trope because it has less excitement (see: the Grisha trilogy).

I especially enjoy it when the characters throw death threats at each other in the first few chapters and profess their undying love for each other three books later. SLOW BURN RELATIONSHIP + ENEMIES TO LOVERS TROPE FT. DEATH THREATS = PERF ROMANCE.

4. ‎Hilarious banter or emotional ruin?

Books with hilarious banter usually give me the hugest amount of emotional torture. Come on, you have to admit they’re the perfect pair. We always look for books that kill our hearts after they make us happy.

I choose both for this. I won’t have it any other way.

5. ‎Love triangle or insta love?

This is an unpopular opinion but I live for love triangles. Sure, they often get annoying and stab me in the heart 1000x but I enjoy reading them (plus the additional pain), okay??? Insta love just doesn’t seem plausible to me though if it’s well-written, I don’t get too much irritated by it.

6. ‎Keyboard smash names or all names start with the same letter?

I’m all for keyboard smash names! Look, I don’t want to confuse the occasional Lea from the occasional Lila. I can’t pronounce keyboard smash names and I actually feel cheated when I read the pronunciation key at the end of the book and learn I’ve been pronouncing the name wrong since the world began but THEY’RE AESTHETIC TO LOOK AT, OKAY?

Honorable mentions to Sarah J. Maas, Brandon Sanderson, and George R. R. Martin for feeding me keyboard smash names all the time.

7. ‎Mean parents or dead parents

Both of these tropes motivate the characters but the mean parents trope makes me more angry and motivated to see them drop dead so it usually motivates me to keep reading. The dead parents trope also seems to be overused and I like to be angry all the time so mean parents all the way.

8. ‎Supermodel looks or constantly says how “plain” they are?

I despise both tropes to be honest but the supermodel look trope seems to be less annoying than characters who say they’re “plain” only to have a makeover and have everyone say they’re actually gorgeous. It makes me want to reach out into the book and strangle them all.

Now I’m angry.

9. ‎Face on cover vs. typography on cover?

TYPOGRAPHY FOR THE WIN. I’m a frustrated calligraphist so I just spend my time looking at a book’s pretty letters and hope that I can make a font of my own someday.

I don’t like faces on covers because they tamper with my imagination. I’m just going to leave those two books below to prove how beautiful books with typography are.

10. ‎Villain turning a little good or hero turning a little bad?

I’m all for morally gray characters so obviously I’m picking villain turning a little good. It’s nice to know that there’s still a little smudge of white on their black souls.

I still adore heroes turning a little bad though. It makes me proud of them to love a little blood once in a while.

11. ‎Best friend dies or love interest dies?

THIS IS A MEAN ONE. But I’m sorry, bestie. It’s more painful to read about the death of a love interest.

(Well, except when it’s TMI because I’ll choose Simon over Jace in a heartbeat)

I ship book loveteams so hard that I feel like I lose a limb when a love interest dies. I JUST FEEL THE PAIN OKAY?? This is why the resurrection trope is important. We must bring back the lives of dead love interests.

12. ‎Awesome writing with a dull plot or amazing plot with murderously bad writing?

I’d go with being murdered by bad writing rather than read a book with a dull plot. I hardly even read a book when I’m not in love with its plot.

13. ‎Cliffhanger ending or heartbreaking ending?

CLIFFHANGERS ARE HEARTBREAKING TOO. Especially when it’s an ongoing series and I don’t have a choice but to wait until all my hair grow white until the next book is finally released.

Heartbreaking endings also make a book/series unforgettable so I’m choosing both for this one. OH HOW I LOVE GIVING MYSELF SO MUCH PAIN.

14. ‎Breaking the spine or dog-earing the pages?

“Breaking the spine” sounds so painful I cringe just by reading it. I say no to breaking spines!

I don’t dog-ear my books but I already said that I’m not entirely against people who do it. They own the books so why should I object if their way of showing love is by dog-earing? Readers have different habits. As long as they’re not burning books at the stake or giving them death sentences, I think I’ll be fine.

15. ‎“Bad boy” trope or “perfect golden boy” trope as the love interest?

THIS IS SO DIFFICULT. I love my golden boy Gansey so much but I also love a lot of bad boys. You know what? I’ll choose both for this. You can’t stop me from loving bad boys and golden boys.

This was a fun (and painful) post to write! I love tags and I know you do too so I’m tagging everyone to do this. It has definitely no correlation to the fact that I can’t choose people to tag. NOT AT ALL.

Also, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ONE AND ONLY SEAWEED BRAIN, PERCY JACKSON! You deserve everything—including all the blue food and a proper movie adaptation. I love you so much xx

Do we have the same answers to the questions above? What’s your most favorite trope in YA? What trope do you hate the most?