There has been a meme going around recently about which five books are your bookish brand and it got me thinking about which books represent me and what I love to read about. I've been thinking about this for weeks and I think I've finally figured out a list. My list is going to have more than five books because I contain multitudes when it comes to my favorite kinds of books. And this is definitely not a definitive list. I know I'm forgetting some of my favorite things and will probably remember them soon after this posts to the blog. I will say that a lot of the thing I mentioned in the post I did about things I want to see more of in books is going to overlap a bit with this one but that's only to be expected, right?
One of my favorite things about the current world of publishing is that we're getting to see some of my favorite bookish tropes happen with diverse characters. Make it Queer 2019. Just give me all of the queer books/romances, please! Bonus points of it's a non-contemporary queer book. Witchmark is all of those things plus bicycle chases! I loved this book so much! You all are probably sick of hearing about it but I don't think I'll ever be done shouting about how excellent it was.
Can V.E. Schwab's whole backlist be considered a bookish brand? I love weird, twisty AF books and Victoria is one of the best at writing them. She also writes stories from the perspective of the outsider character and I appreciate that so much! And I can say with perfect confidence that she absolutely nails writing anti-heroes and non-linear timelines. I've loved all of her books but Vicious is still my absolute favorite of hers for those reasons.
There's so much about Carry On that just ticks all the boxes for me. Magical boarding school quest book? Check. Queer enemies-to-lovers romance? Check. The book has been described as reading fanfiction? Check. Lots of snarky banter? Check. I loved everything about this book and I'm so enamored with it that I've reread it twice via audio since reading it for the first time last month.
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
I always want more excellent sci-fi books in my life and The Murderbot Diaries is definitely excellent sci-fi. It has so many of my favorite things: found families, epic journeys, anti-social AI character, bonkers space battles, and discovering your place in the world/universe. I seriously adore Murderbot and relate to them so hard. And as much as I love romance in my books, it was nice to read a book with no romance in it.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
I can include another author and their books in my bookish brand, right? I adore Becky Chambers and her books! They feel like a hug in book form and constantly remind me why I love sci-fi. But Long Way is still my overall favorite. All of her books feature the ragtag found families trope and I love it so much! Long Way also features a road trip across space and I am always always here for a road trip/journey/quest in my stories.
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
I love romance in books but I equally love seeing stories revolve around friendships and other non-platonic relationships. And The Raven Cycle is all about friendship and family with a bit of romance thrown in. I adore it so much! I need more healthy friendships in books in my life.
In case you don't know this about me, I love me a good quest/chosen one prophecy book. Make several of the characters disaster bisexuals and subvert the chosen one's destiny combined with excellent worldbuilding and you have some of my favorite things about The Ruin of Kings. I need the next book in my hands like yesterday. 2019 is doing well at delivering books with my favorite tropes and making them queer.
One of the things I want more than anything is more queer paranormal romance and urban fantasy books. The Badlands series and its companion series, Witchbane, deliver on that. They also deliver on unique mythologies/folklore and different takes on supernatural creatures which are both things I absolutely love and want more of. If one book could be said to represent my overall bookish brand, Badlands and Witchmark would be dueling it out.
As I mentioned in my Things I Want to See More of in Books post, I want more soulmates/fated mates books. I adore a good fated mates book and I want to see more of the soulmates trope migrate from fanfiction into my preferred genres. True of Heart is one of those good fated mates books where it's not instalove. Instaattraction but not instalove. We get to see Kiernan and Gaige fall for each other despite being from opposite sides of the tracks so to speak. They have to work at their relationship even though they're true mates and it's one of the aspects of the series I adore.
For years, I devoured every urban fantasy and paranormal romance book I could get my hands on. I adore those genres so much! And one of the things besides all the different takes on the supernatural creatures was the worldbuilding that had to go into each series. The Kate Daniels series is one of my favorites for this reason. The amount of different and unique mythologies and folklore that were integrated into this series is mind-boggling. I'm also a sucker for badass mercenary main characters who are forced to open themselves up to a found family situation like Kate has to.
What books make up your bookish brand?
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