✨ Welcome back to another week of LTB! ✨

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and myself! In this discussion meme, participants get to talk about certain topics, share opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Learn more about LTB, past topics and future topics HERE.

This week’s topic is:

Favourite Genre Recommendations

Prompts: What is your favourite genre(s) and what makes it your favourite? If someone wanted to try your favourite genre(s), what are five books that you would recommend to them and why those books specifically? Has your favourite genre changed over time?

What is your favourite genre(s) and what makes it your favourite?

If the tagline on my blog didn’t make it clear enough, my favourite genres are swoontastic romance and fantasy adventures! 🥰 I love these genres for so many reasons.

I love exploring new fantasy worlds and magical systems. I’m always left in awe when reading fantasy because of an author’s imagination and sometimes I’m truly stunned at how they can create such vivid, lively, and realistic fictional worlds! Fantasy also provides the perfect escape from reality, even if these stories can be just as political and volatile as the real world.

Despite being a bit of an intimidating (so I’ve been told) jaded grump in real life, deep down I’m really just a panda overwhelmed by emotions and a hopelessly romantic heart. Romances feed that romantic flame in my heart that refuses to die for others to find their HEA! The swoony, heart-fluttery, sexy feelings that come with reading romance give me life and surprisingly, I’ve learned a lot about myself (love languages and faults) but also what I’d ever want in a partner and relationship if the time comes.

If someone anted to try your favourite genre(s), what are five books that you would recommend to them and why those books specifically?

Although I’m the one that came up with this topic, current me is cursing past me for making this so difficult! 🤣 I don’t feel I’m very good with recommendations because I always get so overwhelmed at the thought of having people read things I suggest—it’s a whole lot of pressure! That said, I’m going to cheat a little bit here and do five fantasy and five romance recs because why not!?

FANTASY RECOMMENDATIONS

I think the following selection of books presents a wide variety of flavours in fantasy: urban, cosy, horror, and sci-fi blend. These are just some of my favourites but ones that I will never hesitate to recommend!

• Jade City — Admittedly, this might be for the more ‘experienced’ fantasy readers, but even if you’re not, I would still highly recommend giving it a try. It’s a gangster family saga set in a fantasy world where jade equals power and strength. It’s political, dramatic, high-stakes, action-packed, and entirely consuming! 100/10 will always recommend.
• Nevermoor — If you love rooting for the underdog, stories about magical awakenings, magical schools, magical alternate realities, and found family, then this is the story for you. I’d recommend it over HP any day of the week!
• The Six Deaths of the Saint — This is a short story but it’s a FULL story with characters written with such heart, and in 30 pages, the author managed to make me bawl like a little baby. Brutal, wonderful, captivating!
• Vicious — This is a sci-fi urban fantasy blend that’s perfect if you love stories like X-men or love reading about people with supernatural abilities. We also follow two morally grey MCs and their stories make you question perception and what makes someone a hero vs a villain and vice versa.
• Legends & Lattes — If you’re intimidated by complex plots, too much world-building, and large character lists, this cosy fantasy is the perfect “go with the vibes” pick. It’s endearing, heartwarming, will make you crave coffee and sweet treats, and just a really good time!

ROMANCE RECOMMENDATIONS

This was a bit tougher for me because there are so many romances I love for different reasons and it felt almost impossible to pick just five. However, these just hit so freaking hard emotionally that all these years later, I still remember how I felt reading them. That lasting impact is *chef’s kiss!*

• Seven Days in June — Not at all what I expected but it was so profoundly raw and emotional and so deeply romantic that it hurt so good! Seriously, this was a master class in taut connections and chemistry so palpable that it bleeds off the pages and completely draws you into their orbits.
• Love Lettering — Clayborn writes with such heart and I felt it deeply in this book. My heart felt like it would float straight out of my chest after finishing it! If you love slow-burns, incendiary chemistry, quirky yet endearing characters with complex and layered arcs, don’t sleep on this!
• Role Playing — Look no further if want a cosy, heartwarming, and hopeful story about older protagonists finding their people and being accepted just as they are. If you’re a gamer, these two also find great joy and connection through gaming. This really hit all the feels! 🥹
• In a Jam — Is it enough to say ‘hello daddy bread baker?’ Yeah? No? Well, let’s just say that this book was one helluva good time—the banter, friendships, and holy granola, the steam! A plus-sized FMC, growly gruff simp MMC, a precocious potty-mouth niece. A small-town, marriage of convenience, single parent, friends-ish-to-lovers romance. This book was purely excellent chaotic-charm!
• Words in Deep Blue — The only YA on this list but oh, what a wonderful love story that’s not just between two individuals but also for books. It’s a love letter to stories and the power of words. It was deeply emotional (there’s a lot of grief) and honestly, this was a book that snuck up on me and then all at once whacked me over the head with feelings. 🤣

Has your favourite genre(s) changed over time?

Absolutely! It’s hard to imagine fantasy and romance not making up a huge part of my reading life, but I used to mostly read contemporary and literary fiction, and mysteries/thrillers. I think a large part of that has to do with how the book community I found myself part of in the early days of bookstagram were full of people who read those genres. I loved reading those genres and I still do whenever I read them now, but romance and fantasy have taken over what brings me joy while reading!

Back then I also felt there was such stigma around reading romance (and there still is today as well), and I would even say that, to an extent, the same could be said about reading fantasy because it’s “not even real, not serious enough, it’s silly.” Thankfully, I care much less about what people think of my reading these days and I’m proud to say I’m a romance and fantasy reader!

Don’t forget to check out the other bloggers who joined the discussion this week! 👇🏽

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Emma @ Pages of Emma
Rachael @ The Green Tea Librarian
Leslie @ Books Are the New Black
Leyre @ Read You Leyre
Tiffany @ Romantasy Life
Tasya @ The Literary Huntress
Yolanda @ Past Midnight
Abyssal Librarian
LaRonda @ Flying Paperbacks
Lee @ Callie’s Tales

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