What Makes Me Want to Buy a Contemporary

Every book lover has weaknesses.

Buzzwords that beg them to pick up a book, tropes they just can’t say no to. Some are silly, some are fun, some are just wacky. I for one have numerous, and decided I couldn’t fit them all into one lists. Therefore, it is to be broken up into genres, beginning  with contemporaries, aka my favorite, so obviously this is the most important list and you should all pay attention*. Depending on how my thought process is, I may have sequels to this post (more contemporary buzzwords) and some spin offs (yay other genres!).

*Just you know in case anyone wanted to buy me a book hahahahaha jk

1. Multiple POVs

I am utter TRASH for multiple point of views books. Something about the way all the pieces aren’t revealed until the very end of the book and the confusion you feel excite me. Also, you get to love more characters AND WHO DOESN’T WANT TO LOVE MORE CHARACTERS.

Some favorite Multiple POV books:

• One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
• Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer
• From What I Remember… by Stacy Kramer

2. Secrets and lies and drama, oh my!

Yes, my inner gossip girl comes out. Those blurbs that say “so and so has a secret…and will do anything to protect it” or “but so and so doesn’t know ___ and the truth will change her forever” always pique my interest. Maybe it’s because I’m always so bad at guessing the secret?* Maybe because I just secretly thrive on other people’s pain? Who knows!

*I always go for really complicated and dramatic secrets and they usually are much simpler oops

Some favorite books with secrets

• Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum
• Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
• Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

3. Books that promise good friendships

Everyone wants to belong. And everyone wants to have friends. So maybe that’s why I love books with good friendships. Even if the story is trash, and the writing is awful, if it has an amazing friendship, I’ll forgive some of it. And I don’t care what type of friendship! Boy-boy, girl-girl, boy-girl, non conforming genders, human-dog, ghost-person. I just need more sweet friendships in my life.

Some favorite books with friendship

• Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith
• The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
• The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord

4. A good Hate-to-Love

A classic romance trope that I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF. It’s so stupid and also so underdone but I fall for it every single time and love it. LOVE IT. I feel like the romance comes off as a lot more organic that way? Because there isn’t that initial I LOVE YOU LET’S GET MARRIED attraction that always comes with instalove. And then it makes their romance SO much more rewarding because you can scream LOOK HOW FAR MY SWEET BABIES CAME.

Some favorite hate to loves:

• Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
• The Distance Between Us by Katie West
• The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler

5. Some weirdly improbable storyline

You know those plot lines that you read and think “no way would this ever actually happen to anyone?” I EAT THOSE UP. Because we all secretly want our lives to be a book, and what better thing to imagine than one that completely and totally can’t happen/is soooo unlikely to happen. Give me more books where people are trapped for no apparent reason! Books where they randomly meet this one person and then fate makes it so they keep meeting again! Just some random shiz because that is when my imagination goes crazy.

Some favorite improbable storylines

• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
• A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor
• Dreamology by Lucy Keating

6. Bad boy with a Good Heart

This one is SO cliche but I admit it, I’m a sucker for those “misunderstood” people. It just makes me so happy to see them turn themselves around. It’s not like there’s a shortage of these out there, but give me more good ones, please.

Some favorite bad boy novels:

• I’ll Be Yours by Jenny B. Jones
• Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
• Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

 

7. Road trips

Who doesn’t love a good road trip???? Or, rephrasing, who doesn’t love a good book about traveling somewhere cool and getting to know yourself while doing that??? Especially if the travel partner is someone unexpected, I’m ALL for it.

Some favorite road trip books:

• In Honor by Jessi Kirby
• You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith
• I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski

So there you have it! Some are silly, some I forgot to mention and probably will again in the future, and some I actually have SO many on my TBR for that reason. Also I realized that almost all of these are white which makes me sad so if anyone has some diverse recommendations that fit any of these categories I will gladly take them! 

What buzzwords always make you pick up a book? What are some “auto buy” tropes? Do you have any recommendations for some of these tropes? Do you agree with any of my auto buy list?