Book tags: This Is My Genre + Unique Blogger Award + My Name In TBR Books!

Today I’m coming at you with three different tags! When I moved my blog here in March, I didn’t know anybody so I am just overwhelmed with how friendly and welcoming the bookish community is here on WordPress. Thanks for all of the tags and all of the conversation!

I have a couple more tags that I need to do (if you tagged me and I haven’t done it yet, it’s probably coming up soon!) but I thought that three was enough for today.


First up, I was tagged by Clarissa @ The Quirky Lady Bookworm to do the This Is My Genre book tag! Thanks for tagging me!

The Rules:

1. What is your favorite genre?
Right now it’s young adult contemporary romance.

2. Who is your favorite author from that genre?
Jenn Bennett, for sure! I also love Becky Albertalli, Morgan Matson, and Sarah Dessen.

3. What is it about the genre that keeps pulling you back?
It’s so easy to get lost in a contemporary YA romance. They’re usually really easy (and quick!) to read and they just generally put me in a good mood!

4. What is the book that started your love for that genre?
Oh, wow. Probably Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen. I read it when I was maybe 12 or 13 years old and then proceeded to read every YA romance that my mom (or anybody) would buy for me. (Or whatever I could find at my library.)

5. If you had to recommend at least one book from your favorite genre to a non-reader/someone looking to start reading that genre, what book would you choose and why?
Again, wow. That’s a good question! Maybe Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson? I don’t even know! This is such a hard question. But I think I’d choose that one because first of all, it’s really well-written. It’s easy to get sucked into the story as you try to figure out what happened and where Sloane went. It’s also really fun to watch Emily break out of her shell as she adjusts to life without her best friend. The actual romance aspect is secondary to the friendship aspect, which might also be a good way to get started with the genre.

6. Why do you read?
To forget a little bit about what’s going on in my life and lose myself in a good story.

I’m tagging:


Next up, I was tagged by Jess @ Fiction No Chaser for the Unique Blogger Award! Thanks so much for tagging me!

Rules:

  • Display the award
  • Thank the person who nominated you, post a link to their blog
  • Answer the questions they’ve written for you
  • Nominate 8-13 bloggers
  • Give them 3 questions in the spirit of sharing love and solidarity within our blogging family!

The questions:

What book are you always thinking about even though you read it a long time ago?
I wouldn’t say I read it a long time ago, but I am always thinking about The Raven Cycle. A little longer ago would be The Hating Game and a couple years ago… probably Infini.

What is your favorite food??
Oh my god, what isn’t my favorite food? I could talk about food all day.

I love Korean food like bulgogi, bibimbap, and rice cakes. My best friend in high school and college was an exchange student from South Korea, but the only Korean restaurant in town closed shortly after we found it. I’ve never eaten so much Korean food as I have since moving to New Jersey. We have two Korean markets and multiple Korean restaurants in my smallish town (only 28,000 people).

I also love Peruvian food, especially aji de gallina and lomo saltado. I had one blissful summer years ago where I was literally paid to read and watch Netflix, and there was a Peruvian food cart right outside. I also visited Peru in 2011 and it was great, but I had altitude sickness and then food poisoning and then a really bad cold, so I didn’t get to eat a ton of exciting food. I wish I could go back with the immune system of steel that I’ve developed after six years of working in a hospital.

If you could pass three book characters on for the future, which would they be & why?
– Holland Vosijk from V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series. He’s such a great example of character development. He starts out as this sort of villain that I really disliked and by the end of the series I was ready to lay down my life for him.
– Simon Spier from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. He’s a realistic teenage boy. He tries his best but he isn’t perfect. He makes mistakes and he learns from them.
– I’m going to cheat a little bit and do a pairing for my final choice — Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman from Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game because this is banter, tension, humor, conflict, everything done right. This is how you do enemies-to-lovers.

Nominations:

8-13 nominations seems excessive, sorry.

My questions for you:

  • What’s the last book that really surprised you, either with a plot twist or with how much you enjoyed (or hated) it?
  • Which fictional character(s) would you want to be friends with?
  • What’s your dream job?

I was tagged by Geraldine @ The Book Nook UK to do the My Name In TBR Books Tag! I’ve seen this one floating around a bunch recently so I’m really excited to participate. My name is pretty short (only 4 letters!) so I’ll do my blog name as well. I either own or have library holds on all of these books.

S A R A
T H E B
I B L I
O P H A
G I S T

I can’t keep track of who has done this one and who hasn’t, so consider yourself tagged if it looks like something you want to do!

ARC review: Rumor Has It by Jessica Lemmon

Rumor Has It by Jessica Lemmon
Series: Real Love #4
Rating: ★★★★☆
Links: Amazon • Goodreads
Publication Date: May 14, 2018
Source: ARC from publisher (via Netgalley)

This is one bad boy who’s fit to print. A notorious jock tackles life—and love—after football with a type-A journalist in this sexy standalone from the author of Eye Candy.

Barrett: As a former pro football star, I’m used to playing the field. After injuries cut my NFL career short, my second act as a broadcaster ended on live television when a hot mic picked up a little verbal . . . indiscretion. But this latest publicity stunt might just land me back on top—much to the chagrin of Catarina Everhart, the prissy, beautiful journalist who’s been assigned to date a bad boy (i.e., me) and write about it. Catarina swears I’ll never touch her, let alone kiss those full lips of hers. Based on our chemistry, I’m not buying it. . . .

Catarina: Barrett Fox seems to be doing everything in his power to make me hate him. The cocky egomaniac is infamous for his bad behavior, and now, thanks to my boss’s harebrained schemes, he’s apparently my problem. As one fake date leads to another, I start to see a different side of Barrett. He’s close with his family. He does volunteer work. And, okay, he kisses like a dream. Am I really dating Barrett Fox? Or is he playing me? Because suddenly I’m risking my reputation—and my heart.

I’m a big fan of Jessica Lemmon’s Real Love series, so I was excited to be approved for an ARC of its latest installment, Rumor Has It. I remember Barrett Fox from Man Candy, the third book in the series, where he was Dax’s brash best friend. I didn’t love Man Candy as much as the other books in the series, but I remember wanting to know more about Barrett.

At first glance, Barrett is a huge jerk. He’s the former “bad boy of the NFL,” best known for berating a female referee to the point that he lost his job as a commentator. Now, in the hopes of bolstering his public image, he’s agreed to a publicity stunt that involves fake dating a prissy reporter, a woman who is his complete opposite in every way.

Catarina Everhart is poised, prim, and proper. She’s very rigid, always doing things by the book, never really taking the time to enjoy anything just because. Catarina and Barrett clash. After her boring experience with her (also prim and proper) ex-boyfriend, fake dating Barrett is a culture shock. It’s even more of a shock when Barrett drops the bad boy act and reveals that he’s a total teddy bear.

Overall, I really enjoyed the fourth book in the Real Love series. There were some things that put me off a little bit (Barrett’s initial behavior, his insistence that Catarina is “not like other girls,” the big conflict at the end) but for me, this was a solid four-star read. Davis Price still goes down in history as my favorite love interest in this series, but Barrett Fox and Catarina Everhart made a great pair.

Previously: Eye Candy • Arm Candy • Man Candy