Ever struggle to find books you actually love? Not just tepidly enjoy, but fall-head-over-heels, cancel-plans, stay-up-way-too-late love? Have you ever devoured a book, rushed out to buy the author's entire backlist, and then...hated every single one? Been there. As someone who reads for hours every day and has read a ton of disappointing books but finally cracked the code on picking winner-winner-chicken-dinners with 97.6% accuracy (give or take), I’m here to help. Step into my office, and let’s talk about how to finally stop picking duds and start finding books that hit just right.
Figure out your “type.” Think of your favorite books. What do they have in common? Are there certain tropes you gravitate to or especially enjoy? Does multi-POV annoy you? Do you find dual timelines disruptive or exciting? Can you get specific on your genre? Do you love thrillers, so long as the thrills are more psychological than physical or violent? Does the book have to have lots of twists, or is one big twist enough? What’s more important to you—plot, character development, or quality writing (you don’t have to pick just one)? What sort of atmosphere thrills you? Do you tend to tear through books with luxury settings or dark vibes or gut-punch endings (if so, might I plug Good Intentions)? Who published your favorite books? (Oftentimes, imprints have a very distinctive “type.”) Now think of books you’ve DNFed (or reluctantly, regretfully finished) and ask yourself the same questions.
Browse using really specific search terms. Now that you know your (hopefully very specific) type, search Amazon or Google or Bing (if you must) using very specific criteria. For me, this would look something like: dark, character-driven book with unhappy ending, high-concept premise, and high-quality writing.
Take a sneak peek. Look up a prospective book on Amazon and scroll down to the “Popular highlights.” These are e-readers’ favorite highlighted passages and should reflect the best of the book’s writing. If those passages have you feeling meh, this might not be your book.
Judge it by its cover. If the cover doesn’t speak to you, you might want to reconsider. So much thought and effort goes into getting the cover design just right, to attract that book’s ideal reader. Doesn’t mean there’s no chance of you enjoying a book whose cover doesn’t thrill you, but I’ve developed a pretty keen sense for looking at a cover and predicting whether the story inside has a shot with me.
Read the (spoiler-free) reviews. Focus on the extreme ends of the spectrum: the 5-star ratings and the 1-star ratings. These give great clues as to whether the book is for your or not. Why did some people HATE this book while others LOVED it? If I see a bunch of 1-star ratings justified by the explanation that the story was too disturbing or it had a depressing ending, I’m probably clicking Buy.
Get influenced. If you’re not following any book influencers, what are you doing with your life? There are some GREAT ones out there. Follow a bunch and figure out which ones have similar tastes to yours, then use their recommendations as a starting point for looking into further using the above ideas.
If all else fails, DNF without guilt. Not loving it? Put it down. Life’s short. Your TBR isn’t.
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