ROMANCE WEEK: Bookish Smash or Pass

Hello! We are once again doing our little Romance Week posts. We hope you enjoy all the romance-themed activity, and if you’re interested in previous years you can find them here!

This fun tag comes from Becky’s Book Blog, and we absolutely had to add it to our line up!

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Bookish Tropes

Bree: SMASH! Tropes are just fancy cliches, but if they’re executed well they are soooo consumable and delicious. IDK why they are just soothing to my brain.

Tree: SMASH! I will read almost any trope as long as it is written well. Close readers of this blog will know that I don’t love second chance romances or friends to lovers, but there are always exceptions. 

Alternating POV

Bree: SMASH. It doesn’t have to be alternating necessarily, just dual POV is always better than a single side. Especially if I’m reading a romance. I NEED the grumpy lead’s mushy inside thoughts.

Tree: Realizing I don’t have strong opinions on things, because again, depends on the book. I will say 100% SMASH for historical romance. If there is no dual POV in a historical…why am I even reading it?

Ambiguous Endings

Bree: PASS. Literally the worst thing for my brain! I will just spin endless questions/theories to “figure out/settle” the ending for myself, and I’ll still feel unsatisfied by what I come up with. 

Tree: Well I read mostly romance so in romance that is a PASS (wouldn’t even be a romance novel with an open ending), Daisy Jones and the Six is one of my favorite books (see my very old review here) and the ending is so perfect and open just enough that I cannot say I am always passing on an open ending. 

Non/Fiction

Bree: PASS? Honestly, it depends on the author and subject matter. I don’t usually read too much nonfiction, but I picked up a good handful last year! *proud of myself*

Tree: SMASH! I love a good nonfiction. 

Historical Setting

Bree: Uhh PASS. I prefer modern settings, or like extreme fantasy worlds.

Tree: SMASH as long as there isn’t too much description of the setting. In a historical romance I am there for the romance the setting is just a structural thing that helps shape the plot, but too much detail and I will be peacing out!! 

Morally Grey Characters

Bree: SMASH! They stress me out so much because I just want them to do the right thing but I love when they instead go feral for their *one* person!!

Tree: SMASH as long as they have a good reason! In romance this can be a tad hard to pull off, but when it works it works. 

First Person POV

Bree: SMASH? PASS? Honestly I couldn’t tell you if I had a preference between first and third. I don’t really track that when I read??

Tree: I’ll be honest I rarely notice what tense a book is in. Once again, if the writing is good, it doesn’t matter. 

Audiobooks

Bree: DOUBLE TRIPLE SMASH!! I EAT AUDIOBOOKS FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER.

Tree: SMASH obviously. Just finished an audiobook like five minutes ago. 

Re-reading

Bree: SMASH, CLEARLY. I love returning to my favorite reads. They are my comfort books, and if I liked it once, I will like it again.

Tree: SMASH. I am a massive rereader and wish I had time to reread even more! But alas too many new books. 

Classic Novels

Bree: Ehh PASS. I am a modern girlie. Sorry, not sorry.

Tree: PASS. But I am a big Pride & Prejudice fan and collect different editions of the book. 

Annotating

Bree: PASS. I read a lot of audiobooks so this is a no-go with those. I also feel like stopping to write things breaks my pace, and pulls me out of the story. Occasionally I will highlight things if I’m reading ebooks, but that’s more just interesting quotes or dialogue that made me laugh.

Tree: PASS. Mainly because I am too lazy and like to read fast. I do highlight/underline sometimes in nonfiction and love the highlight feature of my kindle. 

Cracking Book Spines

Bree: RUDE. That’s always going to be a hard PASS for me. I like to keep my belongings in nice condition. But also, if I’ve read a book 4 times, there’s gonna be some damage. It’s well-loved. 

Tree: PASS because I want my own books to be pretty, but if someone else does it I literally do not care. 

Smut

Bree: SMASH. Bring on the dirty details!

Tree: SMASH. Lol I prefer open door romances. 

Character Driven Books

Bree: SMASH, but honestly I prefer plot-driven books. I just have a short attention span, so if I don’t comptley vibe with the characters, I lose interest.

Tree: SMASH. I much prefer character driven books. 

Past/Present Split Timeline

Bree: PASS. I feel like it is hardly ever pulled off well, and I get confused so easily. Like I LOVE Ninth House but it took me until read #2 to fully appreciate and understand everything that was going on.

Tree: I’m going to say PASS because they mostly don’t work for me, but occasionally I appreciate them. 

Heavy World Building

Bree: SMASH!!! PLEASE GIVE ME THE MOST DECADENT WORLD BUILDING!! (But only for fantasy worlds. I don’t need hyper realistic NY or whatever.)

Tree: PASS PASS PASS. My brain cannot take 100 pages of nothing but world building! I am not strong enough to be a fantasy reader anymore. 

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Thanks for reading! We didn’t tag anyone, but feel free to tag us, if you do it!

xoxo, Bree & Tree