The Beauty and the Beast Book Tag

I’m having a little bit of a writer’s block right now, even though I’ve taken the long weekend to focus on reading and writing for the blog. Hopefully I can get my groove back sooner rather than later; for now, though, some fun stuff to brighten the mood.

Many thanks to the ever-fabulous Azia @ The Uncharted World for tagging me in this delightful book tag! I highly recommend checking out her incredible reviews, as well as her awesome answers to one of my favorite book tags ever. Shout out to Kirsty @ Kirsty and The Cat Read for creating this tag (truly, a gift to bloggers everywhere. Check out her blog as well for more quality content!)

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1. “TALE AS OLD AS TIME” – A popular theme, trope, or setting you will never get bored of reading

Honestly, I’m a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings. I’ll give any book even loosely based off of the original story my time for simply pulling themes from my favorite fairy tale. I’ve read countless retellings of this story across genres (from recent YA adaptations to romance from the early 70s to actual fairy tale erotica) and I know I’ll read many, many more. At this point, I could read the transcript to the 1991 movie and give it 5 stars. What can I say? I’m obsessed.

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2. BELLE – A book you bought for it’s beautiful cover that’s just as beautiful on the inside

I don’t consider myself a cover buyer – at least, not a book I haven’t already read yet. I’ll check books out from the library based on their cover, or pick books up that people have recommended to me or sent to me that have beautiful covers, but I’ve only once bought a book I hadn’t read yet because I thought the cover was gorgeous, and I didn’t enjoy the book at all.

I did, however, totally spend money on international shipping so I could own the Vintage Classics UK edition of The Night Circus. I also made plans to purchase the UK editions of 3 different V. E. Schwab books, but you’ll have to check back to find out if I think Vicious is just as mesmerizing as the cover suggests.

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3. BEAST – A book you didn’t expect much from but pleasantly surprised you 

I had already liked Neil Gaiman before I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane, after reading his work geared for younger readers and absolutely blowing through Stardust before the movie came out. I’m not sure what I expected from this book, since it wasn’t high fantasy and relatively short at less than 200 pages. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve read it, but I remember finishing it and thinking that this is the kind of book I want to read in 10 years’ time and see how I feel. It was a very grown-up book for me at the time. I’m still waiting to read it again because I was pleasantly surprised and a bit awed the first time around, and I want to know if I was right about it affecting me differently at different points in my life.

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4. GASTON – A book everyone loves that you don’t 

Not everyone loves this, from what I’ve seen, but enough people liked it for me to decide to pick it up…and I hated it. I didn’t like the writing style seriously why keep doing this and it made it so hard to focus on the plot because I was so annoyed before I even hit the halfway point it sucked so bad. I keep hearing it gets better, so Unravel Me is sitting on my TBR shelf waiting to be picked up. I know I’m waiting because I’m not in the mood to be disappointed again. I’ll read it. Eventually. Maybe.

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5. LEFOU – A loyal sidekick you can’t help but love more than their counterpart

Although I loved Nikolai more than both main characters, I have to say that Tolya and Tamar were the real loyal sidekicks that stood out in my mind from this book and the next. I cared about those two more than a majority of the other characters, to be brutally honest. So glad to see them have such a large part in the final book of the trilogy.

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6. MRS. POTTS, CHIP, LUMIERE, AND COGSWORTH – A book that helped you through a difficult time or taught you something meaningful 

My parents got divorced when I was four, and while it wasn’t a difficult split by any standards, I had a really hard time coping when they both got remarried four years later. My mom moved to Hawaii with her new Navy-man husband, and I was stuck with my dad and his new wife that disliked me about as much as I disliked her. Although this book has nothing to do with divorce or evil stepparents or anything like that, it was one of my mom’s favorite books, and I cherished it greatly when she was away and I was only able to see her twice a year. I really think this book kept me from feeling so alone, and I found comfort in knowing that Mandy was alone, too, and eventually found a family that loved her.

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7. “SOMETHING THERE” – A book or series that you weren’t into at first but picked up towards the end 

Man, did I hate this protagonist! What a whiny, spoiled brat he was throughout the entirety of this book. I went up to the guy who let me borrow it and nearly threw the book in his face when I returned it, because I was so upset that there was just about zero redemption for his crappy attitude. Luckily the series picked up and Merlin seriously improved along with the rest of the characters, but hot damn did I hate him at the start.

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8. “BE OUR GUEST” – A fictional character you’d love to have over for dinner 

Molly Carpenter seems like the kind of person I would meet at work, who would be a regular with her ever-changing hair and a new tattoo peeking out underneath tight shirts and ripped jeans every time she swung by. I’d love to befriend her and invite her over for Chinese food and 80’s movies and maybe even convince her to dye my hair again. She seems like the kind of person who would be a great female friend.

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I’ve gotten a handful of new followers this week – hopefully you all enjoy this tag as much as I enjoyed seeing you in my notifications. Thanks so much  ❤

Ami @ Luvtoread

Leah @ Reading Cavy

Danielle @ Books, Vertigo, and Tea

Liam @ Hey Ashers!

Anne @ Inked Brownies

Lashaan & Trang @ Bookidote

Happy Blogging!