Do you love to read?
I used to. And then uhhhhhhh mental illness happened mostly, and I stopped. Focus is difficult but I am actively trying to retrain my brain. I want to start reading regularly again. I'm never going to be a booktok girlie, and I struggle a lot to like. Make decisions. About what to read.
So I am asking for recs. <3
I can't read anything with rape, excessive gore, or child abuse in it. I prefer hopeful stories and either happy or happy-for-now endings. It's not a "I'm not intelligent enough to enjoy sad stories" thing, it's a "my life has been too sad for me to risk flipping that switch" thing.
My historic faves include Naomi Novik's whole body of work but especially Spinning Silver (yes I know it does break one of my rules, my friend edits it in a read-aloud for me); The Locked Tomb (..... see above.......); The Hunger Games series (okay okay okay I know); Anne of Green Gables; The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury; Song of the Lionness from Tamora Pierce; Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.
I prefer speculative fiction over everything else, fantasy and sci-fi are both good but I lean more fantasy most of the time, science fantasy is a real treat though. Love fairy tales, both fairy tale retellings and fairy tale adjacent stories and also stories about faeries. I enjoy romances but I'm not generally a Coffee Shop Romance person.
The biggest hurdle is that the writing itself has to be good, and I know good is difficult to define, but it needs to make sense and the sentences have to be nice, lmfao. I'm a writer and I can't read, like, A/COTAR or Twil/ight or 4th Wing. I'm not trying to sound snobby, I just get pulled out by the "I'm just the specialest white girl" thing. I'm a lesbian and queer recs would be especially appreciated.
If you've read a book that you loved that you think I might enjoy and you'd be open to discussing it with me throughout/after, please drop it in the replies or reblog this with your recs.
