The Internet Made Me Do it: Buying YA Edition

Looking for a new, almost-completely-untested way of buying books that ultimately takes the responsibility out of your own hands and instead shifts blame to the boundless world wide web? Of course you are, don’t lie to me! This week, I was looking at my bookshelves (freshly tidied with big gaps of space for brand new books that I will hopefully adore), uninspired by everything that caught my eye. Naturally, I went on a Book Outlet shopping spree, and a quiz caught my eye (this one. Click it. Join me). Predictably, I took the quiz to see what I should be reading this fall, and it was so much fun I spent the next hour Googling similar tests: which YA books should I read next? I thought I knew myself as a reader, so the results were pretty surprising, to say the least!:

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Confession time: I’m definitely not a contemporary romance person, even though I have an unhealthy amount of fluffy, gooey, (supposedly) heartwarming books teetering on my TBR pile. I buy more every year, and every year, without fail, I end up deciding that those are the first thing to go in the donation box. I like more serious contemporary— like Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined, A Grown Up Kind Of Pretty, The Lifeboat Clique or Big Little Lies— where romance is in the background rather than the forefront. But a book about a main character chafing against cultural and familial expectations to chase her dreams, who just happens to meet someone? This might be one of the romantic exceptions on my shelf.

Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys

This one slid past my radar, and I’m mad about it, because honestly, this WWII historical fiction novel sounds right up my alley. I have no idea what it’s about other than the Goodreads-provided summary, but this is one I’ll definitely be checking out soon (and if I don’t like it, I’m going to be sad, because I feel like this book and I were meant to get along).

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Ahh. Yeah, look, here’s the thing: I was mind-numbingly bored by Anna and The French Kiss. Like, enough to erase most of it from my memory banks (should I give it another try? Maybe I just wasn’t in enough of a fluffy mood). I remember not jiving with the writing, and honestly, this book sounds like it has the potential to wind into DNF territory really fast. Am I gonna try it anyway? Uh. Okay, if it’s on sale.

Dividing Eden by Joelle Charbonneau

I’ve never heard of this book or this author, but just reading the summary, it reminds me of Kendare Blake’s Three Dark Crowns (which, in fairness, is currently staring at me from my TBR shelf, so I can’t speak to how alike they actually are without reading both). But, I mean, I like reading stories about royalty, assassination plots are always fun, and sibling rivalry that turns deadly seems to be a popular theme in literature, so I’m going to be giving this one a shot.

The Geek’s Guide To Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash 

Angsty unrequited teenage crush on a best friend? Hard pass. But there’s Comic Con? *Tire screech* wait a second, I’m listening… No, but for real, I’ve never heard anything about either this author or novel and I likely would have dismissed it altogether if not for the geek references.  Don’t let me down, book, don’t let me down.     What are some of the weird ways you buy books? Have you ever tried any of these? Let me know!