Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic, Things That Make Me Instantly Want to Read a Book, can be interpreted in a couple different ways. First, you can take this in a situational direction. For example, a rainy day, a day at the pool or beach, or a snowstorm are all situations where I’d instantly grab a book for some relaxing reading time. Or you can think of a book’s attributes that would immediately draw you in, such as a trope you love, your favorite author’s new release, or a setting you’re excited about.

I’ve chosen to tweak this topic a little and share things about a book’s cover and back cover that would grab me and make me want to learn more about it. If I’m in a bookstore or browsing for books online in places like  Goodreads, Amazon, Netgalley, or Edelweiss the following ten things will ultimately pique my interest and prompt me to investigate.

1. The cover or title indicates that it’s most likely an adult fantasy romance. 
I find these to be so hard to find! I have a few favorites, but I’m always on the lookout for more.

2. Colorful book cover.
I love bright, colorful covers and find my eye always zeroing in on them when I’m perusing bookshelves.

3. An author I love has blurbed the book.
If I’m looking through books and spot a small quote on the cover from an author I love endorsing that book, I’ll be interested right away.

4. The title indicates that there’s traveling involved.
Or really, if the book is set in a location I’d like to be.

5. The title is punny. 
I love a good pun, so if I see one in a title I’m going to want to know why it’s there!

6. Pretty dresses. 
So many amazing historical romances feature the heroine on the cover in an opulent gown. I always need to take a more in-depth look at a book if I see a dress I like!

7. It’s written by an author I’ve never heard of.
I am always looking to discover new authors!

8. It’s written by an author I love.
But I also get so excited when I see than an author I love has a new book!

9. Sparkles!
If a cover has any glitter or sparkles or foil accents on it, I turn into a barracuda who will grab it immediately.

10. Christmas
I’d be kidding myself if I didn’t include this one. We all know I love Christmas, so if I see a book whose cover is decorated for Christmas or whose title guarantees festive cheer I’m going to take a look. Guaranteed.

What about a book makes you pick it up to learn more?

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is “Books I Recommend to Others the Most” and feels slightly redundant, because the books I recommend to others the most seem to also appear in my TTTs the most! I’m going to dig a little deeper into my life of reading and share titles I have recommended a lot during various parts of my life and not just the ones I recommend the most at present. So here we go!

1. Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
This is the book that made me fall in love with travel romance and also inspired me to dream big and go on a huge European excursion!

2. Catherine and the Pirate by Karen Hawkins
This book was my first historical romance, my first YA book, and my first pirate romance! To this day, I still love historical romance and gobble up all the pirate romances I can find. While I don’t read YA anymore, this was my gateway into YA fiction, which was severely lacking in options and variety when I was 15 years old.

3. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
I owe a lot to this book, and have such fond memories of my time reading this series. Twilight came out in 2005, the year I graduated high school. It took a while for it to appear on my radar since I was not a reader at this time (I read occasionally, but would never have claimed to be a reader). I believe around the time New Moon came out, someone in my college color theory class brought Twilight for a class assignment. We were discussing color symbolism in media. I was intrigued by the idea of a vampire romance and my mom had also heard little murmurings of this book, so we each got a copy and did a buddy read of it. We were hooked. We immediately went and bought New Moon upon finishing, and went to the Eclipse midnight release party and Borders bookstore. These books made me love reading again, and the YA fiction industry exploded. I found The Hunger Games, Shiver, and so many other books that I loved. Shortly thereafter, my friends and I started The Broke & the Bookish, and it all started for me with Twilight.

4. Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
Oh, how I loved this book! I think I need to re-read it.

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
This is one of those books that solidified my love of fantasy romance, and I am forever looking for more books like it.

6. The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler
I bet you’re wondering when I’ll shut up about this book series. Well, never.

7. Christmas at Frozen Falls by Kiley Dunbar
This is my very favorite Christmas romance of all time.

8. The Gem Thief by Sian Ann Bessey
SO GOOD. There’s mystery, travel, suspense, romance, and everything I love in a book.

9. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
This is the book that made me fall in love with the fauxmance trope.

10. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
This is THE book I am telling everyone to read right now and is the reason I’ve read, like, 10 historical fiction novels this year. I didn’t even like historical fiction before this! Now it’s one of my favorite genres.

What books do you find yourself recommending over and over again?
Based on my picks this week, do you have any book recommendations for me?

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is a bit of a game. Stand in front of your book collection, close your eyes, point to a title, and write it down. If you have shelves, point to your physical books. If you have a digital library, use a random number generator and write down the title of the book that corresponds with the number you generated. You get bonus points if you tell us whether or not you’ve read the book, and what you thought of it if you did! I have limited bookshelf space, so everything on it is either a book I loved and want to keep forever or one I hope to love. I’ve closed my eyes and selected my books, and am dividing them up between those two categories.

Books I Loved

Sleigh Bells In the Snow by Sarah Morgan
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
Cress by Marissa Meyer
Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca

Books I Hope to Love

Juliet by Anne Fortier
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
The Duke Heist by Erica Ridley
Nala’s World by Dean Nicholson
Some Like It Scandalous by Maya Rodale

Have you read any of the ones I haven’t? Do they deserve to stay in my collection?
Do we share any favorites?

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is about audiobook narrators! If you’re not a fan of audiobooks, take this opportunity to share celebrities whose voices might change your mind if they were to start narrating audiobooks! This is a bit of a narrower topic than usual, so if audiobooks really aren’t something you’re interested in then choose a topic that works for you, or go back and pick a past topic you might have missed if you’d rather!

I have fallen in love with audiobooks. Since I started crocheting, I love them even more because I can read and work on a project at the same time! And I love, love a good narrator. If I love a book but not the narrator, I can’t listen. So I’m super excited to see which narrators you love because maybe I’ll find more to add to my list! I thought I’d share the names of narrators I love, along with a book or two I’ve listened to and consider to be a favorite.

1. Saskia Maarleveld (The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code by Kate Quinn and What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon)

2. Mary Jane Wells (The Ravenels series by Lisa Kleypas)

3. Teddy Hamilton (The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams, Not So Nice Guy by R.S. Grey,

4. Andi Arndt (Take Me Back by Meghan March and Heidi’s Guide to Four Letter Words by Tara Sivec & Andi Arndt)

5. Richard Armitage (Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeny and Wanderlust by Lauren Blakely)

6. Nicola Barber (Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

7. Elizabeth Knowelden (The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss)

8. Luci Christian (Date Me Like You Mean It by R.S. Grey and Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone)

9. Imogen Church (The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware)

10. Fiona Hardingham (The Lady Helen Trilogy by Alison Goodman and The Scorpio Race by Maggie Stiefvater — I love Steve West in this, too)

Tell me how you feel about audiobooks! Do you like them? No?
Who are some of your favorite narrators?
Is there a celebrity you’d love to see become an audiobook narrator?