The Book Courtship Tag

I’ve been seeing The Book Courtship Tag going around for a really, really long time and I thought I’d finally do it today. I was tagged by Ayunda @ Tea and Paperbacks and Summer @ Xingsings. Go and check out their posts!

Phase 1: Initial Attraction – A book that you bought because of the cover

I’m not ashamed to admit that I have a lot of cover-buys. When I’m browsing in a bookstore, it’s usually the covers of books that get my attention first.

Since You’ve been Gone by Morgan Matson was a book that I kept seeing online and the amazing dust jacket was what pushed me to order this really expensive hardcover online. Of course, being a coming-of-age contemporary story, it was right up my alley. But I would have bought it even if it was completely out of my comfort zone.

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Phase 2: First Impressions – A book that you got because of the summary

Fairytale retellings with a sci-fi twist? Sign me up straight away!!! I loved that Cinder was a super badass mechanic and cyborg!

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Phase 3: Sweet Talk – A book with great writing

When it comes to books with amazing writing, All the Light We Cannot See is probably my number one pick. But I’ve been told that I never shut up about that book, so today I’m featuring The Stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard. It has a beautiful mixture of prose and verse that makes the book a pleasure to read.

Other favourites of mine with great writing are I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and Just One Day by Gayle Forman.

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Phase 4: First Date – A first book of a series that made you want to pick up the rest of the series

I have to choose The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutokoski for this one.

This book was near perfect. It had a wonderful atmosphere, some really complex characters and lots of political intrigue. It was wonderful and I binged The Winner’s Crime immediately after I finished the first book and it was even better! It was so full of tension and I could not stop raving about this series for a full month afterwards. I cannot wait for The Winner’s Kiss to arrive at my doorstep. It’s going to be EPIC.

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Phase 5: Late Night Phone Calls – A book that kept you up all night

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell was the first book that I remember staying up all night reading. I finished the book in one sitting at about 4:30am.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is the other book that I distinctly remember staying up all night for. I think I finished it at about 5am in the morning. I guess there’s just something about Rainbow’s books.

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Phase 6: Always On My Mind – A book you could not stop thinking about

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara completely broke me. It was the most intense and emotional read of my life and I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterwards. This book took me about two weeks to read and I couldn’t think about anything else during those two weeks. I couldn’t pick up another book because all I wanted to read and think about was A Little Life. And after I finished the book, I found myself in a pretty intense reading slump, where I didn’t want to read anything else because my heart was still so broken and I was so emotionally exhausted.

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Phase 7: Getting Physical – A book which you love the way it feels

The illustrated edition of Harry Potter is a book that I love holding in my hands, even though it’s super heavy. It just feels so luxurious.  I really like the embossed text of the title and the super matte texture of the cover that makes it feel really velvety. I also love the feel and thickness of the pages and the built-in bookmark.

I’m so excited for the illustrated edition of Chamber of Secrets to be released. I think I might preorder it soon.

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Phase 8: Meeting the Parents – A book you would recommend to your family and friends

You mean something that’s not All the Light We Cannot See (I literally push that book so hard that I end up buying it for everyone’s birthdays).

I highly recommend I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. I kinda push this book a lot too but it deserves all the high praise. It explores so many different things that every reader could find something enjoyable about it. It has beautiful writing and a beautiful story, with a really diverse cast of characters. It’s my favourite YA novel of all time!

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Phase 9: Thinking About the Future – A book or series you know you will reread many times in the future

These are two books I can see myself rereading over and over. They’re both really fast-paced and easy reads, despite them having an above average page count. I love the characters in both Carry On and My Life Next Door so much. I would love to revisit their world and get to know them over and over. And of course, I can see myself rereading All the Light We Cannot See until my physical copy falls apart from being over-read.

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Phase 10: Share the Love – Who do you tag?

Tagging 5 of my newest followers. Thank you for the follow and the support (even though I’ve been a sloth lately).

• Alice @ A Book and Two Cups of Tea
• Brittany @ The Grisha Lieutenant
• Jenna @ Fictional Neverland (extra shout-out because it’s rare to find other people called Jenna in the world)
• Lisa @ Lisa Talks About…
• Renee Alexis @ Random Bibliophile

And of course, 5 of my old friends/tag buddies

• Evelyn, Tash & Vane @ Books with Chemistry
• Jesse @ Books at Dawn
• Jess @ Princessica of Books
• Nicolette @ A Little Bookish, A Little Writerly
• Trisha @ The Bookgasm Blog