Seventeen Book Tag: Song Edition (original)

Hi everyone! Today I’m back after a month of not blogging (I know, I know, I’m sorry) to share an original book tag with you!

My friend Romie and I both love the KPop group SEVENTEEN a lot, so we thought it’d be fun to take our love for them and our love for books, and mush them together to create a book tag. Or, should I say, three tags. Yes, we might have gone a little overboard and made three different versions of this, but hey, we had a lot of fun with this and we hope you will too! So, without further ado, here’s the Seventeen book tag: song edition. 

Very Nice: a book that made you so happy your heart felt like it was going to explode

When I first read it over a year ago, Noteworthy by Riley Redgate made me ridiculously happy. I loved the writing style, the music aspects of it, the characters and their friendships, and I couldn’t stop smiling through most of the scenes. Just talking about this book right now is bringing back memories and I can’t help but grin a little. I guess I should add this title to my never ending “books I should reread” pile.

Pretty U: a book with a gorgeous cover

There’s a LOT of book with incredibly pretty covers so choosing just one is very hard, but I’m going to go with If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann, partially because it was announced last week and it might not be on your radars yet! I absolutely adored Claire Kann’s debut, Let’s Talk About Love, and If It Makes You Happy sounds like it’s going to be just as good, if not better. And the cover makes me so happy! We don’t get to see happy, plus size Black women on covers a lot so the fact that this cover exists is amazing and I can’t wait to put it face-out on my shelf. 

Adore U: your favourite debut of the year

I usually read quite a few debuts in a year, but the number of debuts I read this year is surprisingly low. But among the debuts that I read this year, my favorite has to be Front Desk by Kelly Yang, a book about a girl with Chinese immigrant parents who run a motel, and hide other immigrants. I stayed up until 2 in the morning to finish this one, and that says a lot about how much I loved this book because I love sleep very, very much and a book has to be really good for me to give up on time spend dreaming.

Simple: an underrated book that you love

I was looking through Goodreads pages of various books to see which title would fit for this, and when I saw that This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow only had 121 ratings I was a little shocked. I mean, okay, it only came out last month, but still. This Is What It Feels Like is one of my favorite releases of the year, that beautifully explores friendships, has the most amazing characters, and is centered around a girl band. It’s incredible, and I really hope more people are going to pick it up.

Don’t Wanna Cry: a book that made you cry

One of the constants in my life is that books make me cry. Excessively. I cry at basically every single book, even when the book isn’t even remotely sad. It’s a problem, and also the reason why I never read in public. So yes, I could probably list hundreds of books here, but the one I immediately thought of when I read this question was If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson.

If You Come Softly is a book that was first published in the nineties but was recently rereleased, and that’s why I decided to pick it up last week. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this book is hands down one of the most well-written books I’ve ever read, and boy did it make me cry. I was listening to the audiobook while cleaning the house, and I sincerely hope no one looked through our window during that time because seeing a girl literally sob while vacuuming the carpet is probably not a thing you want to see.

Thanks: a book you’re thankful for

I am incredibly thankful for You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman. Laura Silverman is one of my favorite authors, and I’m very lucky to have been able to read an ARC of her 2019 release You Asked for Perfect. This book deals with academic pressure in a way I’ve never seen in books before, and I know it’s going to be super relatable for many of us. Books like this are incredibly important, and I’m very thankful that it exists.

Oh My!: a book you couldn’t put down

I don’t tend to read a lot of sci-fi, but The Final Six by Alexandra Monir grabbed me from the very first page. I’m honestly always a big sucker for “space training” type books (see: Dare Mighty Things), but The Final Six had a lot of twists and turns that constantly kept me on the edge of my seat and I cannot wait for the sequel to come out.

Call Call Call: a book that deals with standing up for what is right

American Panda by Gloria Chao is yet another one of my favorite 2018 releases, and I feel like this book goes pretty well with this question. This book is about a girl named Mei who’s parents want to control her and her brother’s life, and her finding the courage to stand up for what she believes in, and thinks is right.

Don’t Listen in Secret: a book you go back to when you feel sad

Rereading books isn’t a thing I usually do, but when I’m feeling extra down I always reach for The Vanderbeekers series by Karina Yan Glaser. These books, about a family with five kids living in Harlem, are incredibly comforting to me. The lovely family dynamics, the amazing characters and the super cute pets never fail to make me smile.

Mansae: a book you were scared to pick up because of the hype

A few months ago everyone on my Twitter timeline was talking about one book, and one book only: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. They all talked about how incredible it was, how it broke them, how it took them months to recover, etc. I put off reading this book for quite a while because I was scared I wouldn’t like it as much, because I usually don’t love adult books, but I ended up agreeing with what everyone was saying: this book is incredible.

Clap: a book you loved right from page 1

Sometimes you only have to read one page of a book to know that it’s going to be one of your all time favorite books, and that was definitely the case for me with Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. I listened to this as an audiobook (because that’s how I prefer to consume novels that are written in verse), and I was absolutely captivated after just listening to the first few words. I couldn’t put this book down, and this is still one of those books I think about every so often, even though I’ve read about 100 other books since then. I should probably add this book to my “to be reread” pile, too.

Change Up: a book you didn’t like at first but grew to love

I don’t tend to read a lot of historical fiction, and I’m usually not a big fan of books that have a bit of a slower pace and I think that’s exactly why I didn’t like Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee that much at first. Luckily I was reading this book because it’s one of Fadwa’s favorite books so I pushed through it and I ended up absolutely loving the book. Thank you, Fadwa.

Trauma: a book that felt like being stuck in a bad dream

I first thought I wouldn’t have an answer to this question because the type of books this question made me think of were thrillers and horror, and I try to avoid those like the plague, but then I remembered Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand. This book isn’t super dark or disturbing, but there are definitely parts in this book that feel like a really bad dream. This is one of the only books that had me stop reading in the middle of the sentence, and act like a true YA heroine, letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

So, those were all the questions for this version of the tag. Please also check out the answers my friend Romie gave to these questions on her booktube channel and visit my blog next Monday for the second version of the Seventeen book tag!

Oh, and I almost forgot you’re supposed to tag people in a book tag. Woops. I tag Marianne @ Boricuan Bookworms, Angela @ Books of a Shy Girl, Dorka @ Berries & Books and Savannah @ The Book Prophet.

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P.S. here’s a handy list with all of the questions for your copy-and-paste purposes in case you want to do the tag too:

1. Very Nice: a book that made you so happy your heart felt like it was going to explode
2. Pretty U: a book with a gorgeous cover
3. Adore U: your favourite debut of the year
4. Simple: an underrated book that you love
5. Don’t Wanna Cry: a book that made you cry
6. Thanks: a book you’re thankful for
7. Oh My!: a book you couldn’t put down
8. Call Call Call: a book that deals with standing up for what is just
9. Don’t Listen in Secret: a book you go back to when you feel sad
10. Mansae: a book you were scared to pick up because of the hype
11. Clap: a book you loved right from page 1
12. Change Up: a book you didn’t like at first but grew to love
13. Trauma: a book that felt like being stuck in a bad dream