This is a fun tag I picked up from Kaya at A Fictional Bookworm, another great book blog! If you’re not following, definitely recommend checking it out. 😀
Sunshine: A Book That Made You Smile
I loved The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison SO MUCH. I felt such empathy for the main character (I know what it’s like to be let down by your own family) and I teared up a time or two but it was such a hopeful book in the end. I loved Maia. I want to hug Maia because Maia deserves all of the hugs always. I loved this book so much that after I finished reading it I immediately re-read it. And then I re-read it again about a month later.
Rain: A Book You Couldn’t Put Down
Pretty much all three of Courtney Schafer’s Shattered Sigil books. I did a review of them here if you want to read my full thoughts on them. But specifically that second one was amazing. All of them have great pacing but the tension in the second book, The Tainted City, really kept me glued to the book. I stayed up all night reading it even though I had to work the next day. Whoops! (it was worth it)
Wind: A Book That Blew You Away
Oh, there’s so many. I think I am easily impressed by books sometimes, haha. I think I’m going to have to go with The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer. I love this one for a lot of the same reasons that I loved The Goblin Emperor–I felt such empathy for the two main characters. This book is highly symbolic and thematic and the prose is purposefully archaic so I know it’s not something that everyone will love but it was absolutely the right book at the right time for me. And I had to keep putting it down because I was crying while reading it but the end was so happy. I never had such a profoundly visceral reaction to a book before.
Hurricane: A Tragic Book
Oh, I had to think a bit about this one as I don’t tend to read a lot of tragic books. I do cry when reading sometimes but those books almost always seem to end happy! Just…bad stuff happens in them sometimes. Umm, ok if I have to pick then possibly Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner. This book is a retelling of the very old tale of Thomas the Rhymer who was carried off by the Queen of Elfland for seven years. The writing in this book is SO GOOD. But the book was very bittersweet and definitely left me feeling melancholy at the end. It’s really good though and if you like retellings you should check it out. It won both the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic awards in 1991.
Blizzard: A Book You Had High Expectations For
Heartstone by Elle Katharine White is a Pride and Prejudice inspired fantasy story with dragons! Fantasy of manners! Dragons! P&P! All things I love! And yet, somehow this didn’t work for me. It wasn’t a terrible book, but it just felt so average. I couldn’t get past the direct retelling of P&P in some parts of the story because I guess I thought it would be more ‘inspired by’ and less ‘scenes lifted directly from P&P’. I don’t know what my problem is with this one exactly, because I don’t even mind retellings, I’ve read a bunch and seen a bunch and argh, I’m difficult. I guess sometimes a book just doesn’t appeal to you for whatever reason.
Tornado: A Book You Didn’t Like At First But Ended Up Loving
This one’s easy. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. At first this book was so boring. I was really struggling with it. But then the end was so tension filled that I just couldn’t put it down and was literally on the edge of my seat (not figuratively literally, but literally literally). Also, having recently finished the third book in the trilogy, I have such an appreciation going back to that first book. Hobb is in it for the long haul storytelling-wise and I finally get why people love her writing so much.
That’s my list! As always, don’t like tagging people and making them feel obligated but if you like this tag, consider grabbing it, or leave a note in the comments with your answers–I’d love to hear from you!
Way Too Fantasy 
I love Hobb so much, but, yeah, it can be a slow start.
I totally am a fan now. It took 3 books, but I’m in. 😀
I must say I enjoyed Heartstone and it’s a shame it didn’t work for you. Hobb, I’ve only read the first book but I should really read more – I’m so far behind though that I just find it off putting
Lynn 😀
Heartstone–I really think it was an expectation thing and I just let myself down.
Hobb–I really hated the second book and almost DNF the series but I absolutely loved the third one and it totally made the others worth it. But that second one, I wanted to throw it in a fire. Lol
Thank you so much for doing the tag!! I love all of your answers. I’ve really been on the fence about AA but hearing that makes me want to give it a chance!
You’re welcome! Thoroughly enjoyed filling this out. 🙂
I totally agree with you about Heartstone. I absolutely loved the magic and world building but the P&P stuff was just too much. I’m excited for the sequel, which hopefully will give us more of the world building😁
Yeah, I’m still definitely going to check out the sequel!
I loved Heartstone 😂😂 Haha but if you went in with high expectations and then it wasn’t what you thought then sometimes it hard to like a book. Or maybe you wouldn’t have liked it no matter what 😂 Great choices! I love the cover of the Oddling Prince!
Yeah, I think the issues I bad with Heartstone were mostly my own. I think I had been expecting more inspired by then adaptation.
Well, I’ll consider myself tagged anyways, lol! There are a few here I have on my TBR like Goblin Emperor and Heartstone. I can see how that Hobb book could come off as boring at first because I thought the same when I started the story but my interest grew as the plot progressed.
Exactly, with the Hobb book. By the end it was so good!
I’ve seen the Goblin Emperor floating around, but the fact that you chose it as the book that made you smile makes me want to read it sooner than later. For some reason I thought it was going to be a dark story (not sure where I got that though, the cover is kind of cheerful).
The main character grows up in an abusive situation, so there is darkness, but it is ultimately a very hopeful story because the main character is hopeful and just so overwhelmingly nice. He wants to have friends and he wants people to get along and it would be a lovely world if there were more people like him in it. 🙂
I love that!! It always hits me as amazing how profound fantasy novels can be. This sounds awesome. 🙂
If you get to it, hope you enjoy!
Thank you! 🙂
I’ll definitely consider myself tagged! (as my mountain of uncompleted tags weep at me). And I have no idea why I haven’t picked up The Goblin Emperor yet! It’s got everything I love–intrigue, steampunk, empathetic characters…
I have to admit, I’ve gotten a little addicted to tags, they can be such fun to fill out. 🙂