February: First Date Book Tag

Hey guys, so this is a pretty old tag [dating back to 2016] but with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I figured I would dust it off and have a go at answering these questions myself. I first came across this on the Booktube channel Alex’s Fiction Addiction so if you want to see more of this, you should check it out there. The original tag was made by Kate’s Book Date 😀 In addition to this, if there’s some kind of amusing [and probably awkward] backstory I can supply to my choices, I will add it to my explanation of why I chose the books on this list

Question One: Awkward First Date AKA. A Date When Something Just Felt Off

 Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

An awkward date:

So there was a guy I went to a sport’s club with, who asked me if I wanted to ‘hang out’ sometime. I was pretty naive at this point, and having always been comfortable hanging around with guys one-on-one, I figured it was a casual friendly kind of thing. Yeah, stupid Kelly. I probably should have seen it coming, but halfway through the evening, which I will forever refer to as the Date and Switch, we’re sat on a sofa in a bar and I notice he’s doing that awkward yawn thing, where a guy tries to nonchalantly put his arm around a girl without making it obvious. I shuffle over to the far side of the sofa, where I remain for the rest of the night. When I leave, it’s pretty late, and I’m still hoping I might be able to draw a line in the sand over the awkwardness. He offers to walk me back, since he’s vaguely in the same direction. When we get to my block, he hangs around and it suddenly dawns on me that he’s waiting for a goodnight kiss. I totally panic, turn bright red, mumble some random excuse, and duck and run into my flat. We don’t really speak again after this.

Why I chose this book:

It seems like it should be a funny little story, and I really liked Genuine Fraud and We Were Liars. I thought this would be a good read. Instead, it was just… odd. Like a Freaky Friday meets The Fly kinda odd. The main character, Gretchen, is something of an outcast, spending all her time drawing her favourite superheroes and crushing on a guy called Titus. It sounded fluffy, but then she is turned INTO A FLY ON THE WALL and spends the next few days spying in the guys’ changing room, which is just… nope. Laugh out Loud funny at times, but mostly awkward and cringy and it is deeply disturbing when a girl secretly watches guys getting changed.

Question Two: Cheap First Date AKA A Book That Wasn’t as Good as You Expected it to Be

 The Fandom by Anna Day

A Cheap Date:

Okay, full disclosure: this isn’t a first date, but damn it cheap dates are sometimes the best kind of dates. Recently, me and my boyfriend went to go see Star Wars: The Last Jedi and we went on a day when there were some brilliant offers. He was staying with my family for part of Christmas, so I picked this really cool old cinema to go to, where there’s a nice bar along the side and there’s a little stand inside the cinema room selling popcorn. We paid next to nothing to see the movie, and it was so fun because we spent most of the afternoon discussing what we thought of the movie. And then we went and ate cheap burritos, because hey, cheap burritos.

Why I Chose This Book:

This is an example of a bad cheap date, I guess. I picked up an ARC of The Fandom back in July last year at YALC, and I was really looking forward to reading it. I’d met the author and she seemed lovely, but I guess the warning bells started to chime when I opened to page one and saw that it was written for a competition by an author who had not come up with the idea herself. There are moments when the book is decent, and the idea sounded promising, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations. Also, the heavy handedness at the start makes the ending too predictable.

Question Three: The Well-Prepared First Date AKA A Book That Was Better Than Expected

 The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

A Well-Prepared First Date:

Okay, so again, this was a classic example of me not realizing I was meant to be on a date [WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME?] Even though I wasn’t interested in being anything other than friends with this guy, he pulled out all the stops. We had a walk by the canal into town, and then we ended up going to some of my favourite cocktail bars. It was nice and relaxed, and we actually had a pretty nice time as friends.

Why I Chose This Book:

I got this and the first instalment, The Bear and the Nightingale, in my December Book Box Club Box. I read TBatN quite quickly, and although I really liked it, I didn’t completely fall head over heels for it. But then I read The Girl in the Tower and I thought it was so so good. It had lots of action, some amazing characters, beautiful descriptions and so much tension that I actually fell out of bed at one point because I was so close to the edge.

Question Four: The Hot Date AKA It Looks Good But There’s Not Much More Going On

 Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

A Hot First Date: 

Not sure I actually have a story for this one. I care a lot about personality, so I don’t tend to date people just for their looks.

Why I Chose This Book:

A controversial choice, I know. But it didn’t really do much for me. The cover was pretty, and the premise was something that convinced me to buy the book on the day it came out, but I found that I wasn’t that invested in any of the characters, and the constant switching between them didn’t help much. Some good plot and description, but overall it lacked something for me. Book two had the same issues, so I probably won’t buy the next one [or rather, I will and then I’ll complain at myself for a while asking why I did that.]

Question Five: A Blind Date AKA A Book That You Knew Nothing About When You Started Reading It

 It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

A Blind Date:

I’ve never actually been on a blind date. The closest I’ve come is when a friend told me that her friend thought I was cute and I should talk to him. I did, and we ended up going to a party together. We then quickly realized that we’d only ever be friends and he asked if I was cool with him getting off with one of my other friends. I said yes, and he disappeared soon after that. Lesson learned.

Why I Chose This Book:

Yeah, okay so I’m cheating a little bit. I actually saw the samples for this novel circulating last year, and then I happened to find out the author was doing a book signing in Birmingham later that month. The event cost a little bit, but in return you got the value of the ticket taken off the purchase of the book, and you got some free swag too [FYI: totally worth the trip]. Once there, I bought a copy of the book, and then listened to Holly Bourne talk about it for an hour or so. So I did technically know about it by the time I started reading, but I had gone to the event on blind faith, so I think that technically counts. The book is absolutely AMAZING by the way, and it does a great job of trying to explain how rom-coms can make people start being a bit too idealistic, and how they don’t reflect real, healthy relationships. I one hundred percent recommend this book.

Question Six: Speed Dating AKA A Book That You Read Really Quickly

 Alex and Eliza by Melissa De La Cruz

A Speed Dating Story:

Sorry, but I got nothing.

Why I Chose This Book:

I’m not sure what made me request Alex and Eliza on Netgalley over the summer. It shames me to admit this, but I haven’t boarded the train of Hamilton hype, so it wasn’t that. Still, I requested it and got it. And then I read it in about six hours. The story was so cute, all fluffy and with a touch of drama to make it interesting. I liked seeing little historical nods there too [though as an American Studies student, I’m glad it didn’t cover a period I actually know a lot about]. The characters were interesting, and I wanted them to have their happily ever after. Overall, it was really easy to fly through.

Question Seven: The Rebound AKA The Book That You Read Too Soon After a Book Hangover

 Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

The Rebound Date:

I once went out with a guy I’d drunkenly kissed on a night out while trying to get over someone. When we arrived at the cafe, I couldn’t remember his name, and we had nothing in common. I couldn’t even remember the kiss. We shuffled off to buy our coffees separately and then proceeded to sit in silence for a good hour.

Why I Chose This Book:

Rebel of the Sands sounded like a book I would really enjoy. Unfortunately, I picked it up after re-reading The Raven King which is my favourite ever YA book, and I didn’t like it much. I raced through it without focusing too much, and then frowned over how unimpressed I’d been. For some reason, when the second novel came out, I went and bought it, and I loved it. Should definitely re-read this at some point when I’m not drowning in the sea of TBR books.

Question Eight: Over-Enthusiastic First Date AKA A Book That Tried Too Hard

 The Dazzling Heights by Katherine McGee

An Over-Enthusiastic First Date: 

I once ‘dated’ a guy who told me he loved me after the first date. It came out of the blue [of course it did, it was the FIRST DATE] and I spent the rest of the night trying not the make eye-contact. Needless to say, I left as early as I could.

Why I Chose This Book:

Because this book is all enthusiasm, without really knowing what it wants. It tries to be a kind of murder mystery thriller kind of thing where a bunch of kids are linked to a dead girl and the narrative looks at how they cope in the aftermath of her murder. There’s elements of Gossip Girl opulence too, and it is also a kind of futuristic thing where people live in this huge tower which is never actually explained all that well. Also, it switches protagonists so fast it made my head spin. No thanks.

Question Nine: The Perfect First Date AKA The Book That Did Everything Right

 The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

The Perfect First Date:

Wow, this is about to get super-sappy. Be warned. So my perfect first date took place last year and it was actually an unofficial first date, since we were only meant to be hanging around, but we were both interested in dating so we kind of remember it as an actual date. I ended up accompanying my now-boyfriend into town for an optician’s appointment, and before that we went to Waterstones, where he got to watch me run around the bookstore like a crazy book-starved idiot, picking up almost everything in the YA section and questioning if I should buy it. He was told beforehand that on no uncertain terms was I allowed to buy a book. I came away with a book, of course. After that, we got coffee at this cute little place I like and we spent the rest of the day talking for hours about all the stuff we had in common. It was honestly so much fun, and we had a great time.

Why I Chose This Book:

As if I could pick a book other than this one? Actually, I was tempted to go for any of the Raven Cycle series, but this is the first one, the one that started the obsessive re-reads and the daily five mile cycles to the bookstore on my year abroad so I could buy the books, one at a time, and devour them. They were just so perfect, even though they didn’t seem like my thing when I bought The Raven Boys. I fell in love with the characters, and the romances, and the setting, and the magic, and the language and honestly, the quotes from that book series are capable of making me happy cry at the drop of a hat. The series is so bittersweet, and I can’t help going back to it over and over again. Not to mention recommending it to almost every single friend who reads. Gansey is life, guys.

Question Ten: The Humiliating First Date AKA A Book You’re Embarrassed to Have Read

Disclaimer: I’m changing this from the original Book You Are Ashamed to Like because I realized I actually don’t have any shame when it comes to books.

 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

The Humiliating First Date: Never actually been on one, and I’m really hoping, fingers crossed, that I never will.

Why I Chose This Book:

Again, are you surprised? Admittedly, I liked this book a lot when I was thirteen, but times have changed and I’ve grown up since then, cringing whenever this series is mentioned. I’m not sure if it is the lack of Bella’s personality, the cheesy af love triangle between Edward, Bella and Jacob, or the melodramatic and overwrought writing. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s all three. Girls, some advice for the future: If a guy admits to breaking into your house to watch you sleep, please dump his glittery ass.