Top Ten Tuesdays #135: Read-Bait

Posted April 18, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 15 Comments

Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review.

I talk about read-bait all the time on my blog – the certain words, phrases, settings, and tropes that immediately draw me in. I’ll add it to my TBR and be suuuuper excited for it until I can get my hands on it. Because I talk about it so much, there are plenty of places to look on my blog. I decided to just go crazy for this TTT by listing all of my favorites and then linking where applicable.

General Topics

  • Stuck in limbo between life and death; stories set in heaven with finished business on earth
  • Parallel universes, time travel, and parallel life/choice stories
  • Books about fairies
  • Reunions with old friends in the hometown they left
  • Losing memories / amnesia
  • Bucket lists (checking items of the list for themselves or for someone else who died)
  • Family dynamics and drama after a death
  • Disappearances and people returning home from being kidnapped/etc.
  • Winning the lottery or being rich
  • “You’ve Got Mail” secret pen pal relationships
  • Stereotypical mean girl learns a lesson and fixes her behavior

Romance Tropes

(Full post here)

  • Best-friend-to-more romance (bonus points if childhood best friend and/or neighbor)
  • Best friend’s brother, or brother’s best friend
  • Playing “Cyrano” – falling for the person you’re supposed to be matchmaking with someone else
  • Fake dating
  • Hate-to-love, full of banter, slow-burn
  • Second chance romance (returning home to old boyfriend and giving it another shot)
  • Summertime love with a beachy setting
  • Travel (international or road trip) leads to romance
  • Celebrity falls in love with a ~regular person~
  • Sex positivity

Settings and Related Situations

  • Boarding school, private school, etc. (also here)
  • Being trapped somewhere together (snowed in, locked in, etc.)
  • Road trips or international travel
  • Returning home after being away for years
  • Beach/coastal towns or islands
  • Carnivals or circuses, especially with magic involved

Holiday Book Tropes

(Full post here)

  • Cozy snowy settings like a B&B, wintery place, mansion full of Christmas decorations, etc.
  • Lots of holiday feels (obvious timing around Christmas Eve/Day, traditions, etc.)
  • Being snowed in together

15 responses to “Top Ten Tuesdays #135: Read-Bait

  1. Great list! My fave from your list are bucket lists, disappearances, fake dating, and beach/coastal towns/island settings.

    Bucket lists are knew of my fave topics!

  2. I love hate to love romance in books. I love the banter and snarky comments that always seem to come hand in hand with it. I also love a good boarding school setting, I’m not even sure why but something about it just draws me in. Great picks!

  3. Wow, this is such a big list! I put boarding schools on my TTT list as well…. I don’t know why, but I’ve always loved reading books with boarding school settings <3 Although I'm not sure that I would actually like to go to a boarding school myself…. Anyways, great list!

  4. We have very similar tastes haha! I love everything you mentioned in romance and setting, except for the circus/carnival setting. That one can be a hit or miss for me! Great list!

  5. This is a great list! I love so many of these. Pen pals, bucket lists, and travel are some of my favorites! I was always a little hesitant about fake dating, but To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before has made me love that one too.

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