Reader Taste Test! | Book Tag

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog! 

I wanted to do something quick and easy today, because I have a migraine and I'm also falling behind in my reading so I haven't read anything for a review yet this month. Anyway, I thought today I'd do the Reader Taste Test Book Tag. This tag was created by Sophia over at Sophia's Thoughts on YouTube, though I don't believe the original video is available anymore. I'm getting the questions from Kristina Elyse Butke's blog. 

As I said, this is a quick little tag just talking about what I prefer and don't prefer when it comes to reading. I'm sure that if you've been following me for a while you'll know my answers to these questions, but if you're new I figured this would be an easy way to get to know me! 

Alright, without any further ado, let's get into the tag! 

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1. What is your favorite genre? 

I'm sure this comes as no surprise, but my favorite genre to read is fantasy. I would say that 70% of what I read in total is fantasy, or some form of fantasy. However, I'm beginning to branch out, and now I really like to read historical fiction, and horror as well. But fantasy will always have a special place in my heart!

2. What is the most difficult genre for you to read?

Oh, romance for sure. I've never really enjoyed romance, even in other genres. Like, if a romance is really prevalent in a fantasy story, I'll most likely not enjoy it. I'm not entirely sure why I dislike it so much - it could be that there are just too many tropes in effect, or maybe it's because I'm ace and therefore don't like to read about something that I won't experience myself (though that's a bit of a stretch, because I read a lot of smutty fanfic, so I don't think I can use that as an excuse). Whatever it is, it's just not my cup of tea.

I also don't like to read mystery or thriller novels, that's never really been something I'm interested in. And lately I've been having trouble with YA contemporaries, I think I'm just growing out of them.

3. What is your preferred age range?

Oh, I guess I kind of already answered this, huh? Well, I read almost exclusively adult nowadays. Of course there are still a decent chunk of YA and middle-grade books in my repertoire, but I am gravitating toward adult books more and more these days. The middle-grade I'm reading is almost entirely horror, and the YA is usually fantasy or horror as well. I'm finding contemporary stories harder and harder to relate to. I mean, I am almost 25, after all.

4. Are you a character-driven or plot-driven reader?

Ooh, I guess it depends on the genre. If I'm reading a high fantasy or epic fantasy, I'll be paying the most attention to the plot. But if I'm reading a lower stakes book, or I'm reading historical fiction or horror, I tend to watch the characters more closely. Of course, I need both for it to be a book I'll really enjoy, but I can usually tend to let one or the other slide a bit, if the other is especially well done.

5. Do you have a preferred perspective?

I'm definitely a 3rd person POV reader. I think it ties into being a more plot-driven reader. I don't really care about what the narrator is thinking or feeling. If there is more than one POV, that's even better. I tend to get confused if I'm reading a multiple POV story, but they are all in 1st person. The voices all blend together in my head. Distinction is key, in my opinion.

6. Do you have a preferred tense?

Past tense. I get kind of squirmy when I'm reading a present tense book. There are too many ways it can go wrong. And it doesn't feel natural at all. Even if I'm reading a diary entry, I still expect it to be past tense. I mean, I write journal entries in the past tense. It just feels the most natural. 

But I have to be honest, I don't usually notice tense. Only if something is worded oddly, then I'll look at the tense and try to figure out what it is. I was really thrown off when I read Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston for the first time, because it's in present tense. I didn't realize until maybe half-way through the book, but then that's all I could pay attention to. It really threw me off.

7. Do you like series or standalones more?

Once again, it all depends on the genre, as well as the age-range. Despite not picking up YA as much anymore, I almost always want YA to be in a series. I feel like we don't get enough development in YA to be able to get everything into a standalone. Same with adult fantasy. While there are some exceptions to this, I think adult fantasy thrives in the series format. It allows the author to really dig deep in the world, and the characters. The longer, the better, I think. 

8. Which would you rather read, long or short books?

Oops, I did it again. Well, once more with feeling: the longer, the better. For fantasy, at least. Personally I think horror does best in short-story/novella format, because to me horror is all about the vibes, and you don't really need to flush everything out if the vibes are immaculate. But fantasy? Give me that tome! I recently reread The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, and that's an 850 page book. And I think it could have been even longer. I got so excited when I found out the prequel is longer than Priory. And of course, Brandon Sanderson thrives in the epic fantasy tome format. One day I'll read his Stormlight Archive series. One day.

9. Which format do you prefer?

Despite over half of the books I read being e-books, I actually prefer physical books the most. The reason I read so many e-books is because they're all from the library, and the digital selection at my library is much more extensive than the physical selection. I don't ever get books sent to me or anything like that, so I rely almost exclusively on the library for new releases. But yeah, physical books have my heart. I hardly ever listen to audiobooks, because I get distracted too easily and miss a lot of the book.

As far as hardcover vs. paperback goes, I think I prefer paperback. But only if its a nice and floppy paperback. If they are stiff and hard to read, I would rather read a hardcover. However I'm picky about my series matching on my shelves, so if I have one book in hardcover, I want them all in hardcover, and vice versa. It's difficult when I have a series in paperback that isn't finished yet, because then I have to wait extra time for the latest book to come out in paperback. I know that's a little ridiculous, but we all have our own quirks, and that's one of mine.

10. What are you currently reading?

I'm currently reading two books: If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha, and Elektra by Jennifer Saint. I'm hoping to write a review for Elektra when I finish. 

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Alright, that's it for the tag! If you want to answer these questions yourself, feel free to say that I tagged you. I'd like to know, what is your favorite genre? Let me know in the comments, or tweet at me @AllyEmReads.

Until next time!