BLOGMAS DAY SIX: The Superlative Book Tag [ORIGINAL]

Even though high school superlatives are usually given out at the end of the school year, we wanted to do them with a fun little twist, featuring the books we read this year! At our high school (hehe fun fact we’ve known each other since elementary school) they would pick two “winners” for each award – a guy & a girl, but we’re just each going to pick one. Also, our high school had quite a few weird categories, some of which ended up featured here.

RULES:

Link back to the creators, Tree & Bree @ WordsAboutWords & the original post
Interpret the superlatives in anyway you like, or even create your own.
Have fun!

BEST DRESSED: Favorite cover art

Bree: We recently listed all our favorite covers of 2020 but one that didn’t make it onto that list (because it was a 2019 release) is All the Bad Apples by Moira Fowley-Doyle. It’s just so striking and I love the contrast of the bright red hair.

Tree: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson is my favorite cover from the year. This open and raw memoir is written for teens and it holds nothing back. I’m so glad that teens, especially Black queer teens, have this book, because there was nothing like this when I was a teenager.

CUTEST COUPLE: best ship or favorite couple to read about (can be non canon, not together at the end of the book etc.)

Bree: I really enjoyed Emma & Jo from Something to Talk About (review here). They are just so ridiculously adorable and soft and wholesome.

Tree: Dani & Zaf from Take a Hint, Dani Brown are 100% my favorite ship of the year. I adore them. See my full review here.

BIGGEST FLIRT: A book with a good romance / a character that flirts with everyone

Bree: I’ve been rereading The Lunar Chronicles, and Captain Carswell Throne is definitely an equal-opportunity flirt with everyone who crosses his path, especially Cress.

Tree: I love a character that cannot stop flirting with everyone (aka why I came up with this prompt lol). Even though Alex Claremont-Diaz from Red, White & Royal Blue (see Bree’s review here) fits this in my mind.

MOST SCHOOL SPIRIT: A five star read

Bree: A five star read (that was good enough for me to read it twice this year) is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. (Check out my review here.)

Tree: This was the year I read a ton of Jason Reynolds books, but his novel in verse, Long Way Down, is truly phenomenal and I won’t stop talking about him or his books. Did you see that he bought all his books from independent bookstores so kids could get them for free? Legend.

MOST ATHLETIC: A book that made your brain work out (a book that made you think)

Bree: If you’ve also read The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, maybe you’ll appreciate this reference, but reading this book made my brain feel like it was struggling through honey. It was just so thick and dense; I’m still not sure I’ve processed all of it.

Tree: Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth was too clever for me. Definitely gave my brain a workout. Read my full review here.

MOST LIKELY TO END UP ON A WHEATIES BOX: A book about sports or an athletic character

Bree: I believe From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata is the only book I read this year with any characters that are remotely athletic. Yay for Jasmine and Ivan!

Tree: *regrets not reading the basketball book on my TBR* Anyways. Sweetie Nair from There’s Something About Sweetie is a track star and it would be awesome to see a fat Indian American track star on a wheaties box. Also, I did not talk about this book a lot this year, but it was so cute and my favorite of Menon’s books so far.

MOST LIKELY TO SLEEP THROUGH CLASS: A book that was a bore

Bree: I’m gonna have to to go with Lost (House of Night Other World #2) by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast, solely because 75% of the book was just regurgitated info from the original House of Night series, and it contained 0% plot progression

Tree: This question is a little mean, but I have to say Behind the Hill by B. Ivy Woods. I literally forgot I was reading this from one day to the next and it was a thriller romance type of deal. AKA I should have been invested. But, I do want to say that I read most of this book when I was having a rough night and this book was the perfect distraction at the time.

MOST ALL AROUND: A book that has a little bit of everything

Bree: A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones has a little bit of everything. A crime, a mystery, a mother-daughter relationship, a lot of flirting, and loads of sarcastic banter.

Tree: I’m going to say When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole. This book has social commentary, romance, thrilling moments, a mystery, grief, white privilege discussions, fun neighborhood vibes (for a bit until they get dark), and more. See my full review here.

BEST SMILE: A charismatic character

Bree: Darlington from Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, is an absolute charmer. I barely know anything about his character, and I would definitely travel to the underworld for him.

Tree: Why did I already say Alex Claremont-Diaz?? Cries. Anyways why are most of the characters I read this year awkward humans? I’m doing so many rereads for answers which might technically be cheating, BUT WE MADE THE RULES IT’S FINE. But, Tiffy from The Flatshare is so charming and cute and people just can’t help but like her. See my review here.

BEST PERSON TO WALK BEHIND: Best undercover/end papers

Bree: I definitely have to pick the B&N special edition of How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black. The endpapers are gold with little white themed illustrations all over, and they were unexpected, so even better!

Tree: This is hard to answer because I read a ton of ebooks, so no fancy end pages for me.

CLASS CLOWN: A book that made you laugh / a funny character

Bree: I’m currently listening to Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin, and I’d totally forgotten how much of a crack up all of Lou’s antics are. Honestly, she’s most entertaining thing to happen so far, except for maybe the magical bar brawl she started…

Tree: I need to start keeping track of which books make me laugh because I have a vivid memory of LOLing while reading some books but I don’t remember which books. I am going to go with Shrill by Lindy West. This is West’s memoir and covers many serious topics (fatphobia, grief, abortion, & more), but West has a way with words that she can make you cry and then laugh two sentences apart. The audiobook is amazing too.

BEST PERSONALITY: A book you clicked with

Bree: I don’t know about clicking exactly, but I think A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was the only book I read this year that didn’t feature any of my literary pet peevs (I.E. “missed connection” trope, stupid decisions, annoying illogical characters, etc.). So, I’m going to count that as a win.

Tree: Historical romance was such a surprise this year and the first one that I read 50% of it without realizing it was Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas. I literally read all of that in one sitting without seeing where I was in the book which is rare for me.

MOST LIKELY TO BE FAMOUS: A book that you would like to see adapted

Bree: I can totally see Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia or One by One by Ruth Ware, getting adapted into a high-suspense mystery/thriller, along the lines of Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train.

Tree: A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones was LOL worthy. I honestly thought that this would be better as a tv show than a book…

MOST LIKELY TO BE A SOCCER MOM OR DAD: self explanatory

Bree: After the resolution of The Queen of Nothing I can totally see Viv & Heather toting Oak back and forth from soccer practice, once Madoc got banned from attending.

Tree: This was a real question from our high school’s senior superlatives. Anyways. I defiantly see Ivan and Jasmine (from my fave From Lukov with Love). I mean Ivan already has the van.

MOST LIKELY TO BE BROUGHT HOME: A book you recommend all the time

Bree: My review of The Hating Game (here) weirdly brings in a lot of traffic to the blog, so I’ll go ahead and consider that as a book I recommend all the time.

Tree: Dear Martin by Nic Stone is something I recommend to everyone.

MOST LIKELY TO SHOW UP AT THE REUNION AND SHOCK EVERYONE: A reread that was better the second time

Bree: The second time I listened to the audiobook of Ninth House I feel like I actually understood everything that was going on, instead of being more than a little confused by all the world building/extensive glossary (like I was the first time around).

Tree: For me this has to be The Scorpio Races. The first time I read this, I gave if four stars, but when I reread it (three months later) it became a five star read for me and now I read it every November.

CAMERA SHY: A good book with an ugly cover

Bree: I’m currently working my way trough a reread of the Heather Wells Mysteries series, and let me just say, the 2000’s were just filled with some less than fortunate covers. Literally every one in this series being one of them. Oof.

Tree: This cover isn’t ugly per se, but it’s a bit cringe and I would go so far to call it tacky… and I never would have picked it up if someone on Twitter hadn’t hyped it up, but The Marriage Effect by Karla Sorenson was such a good romance that I would’ve passed on if I hadn’t seen such a good review.