Hello, reader!

I’m back trying to catch up with the my book tags! I know so many wonderful bloggers who are sweet enough to think of me when they do these and I always feel so bad because it takes me forever to get to them. Case in point, I was tagged by three different, incredible book bloggers to do the Never Have I Ever Book Tag! So a huge, thankful, apologetic shout-out to Lili @ Lili’s Blissful Pages, Kimberly @ My Bookish Bliss, and Esther @ Cozy With Books for the tag! They all have wonderful blogs that you should check out, covering genres that run the gambit. Between these three, you’re bound to find something you love!

Now, as for the tag itself, who knows why it’s taken me so long to do it. I love games like this! This one will be far less alcoholic than the ones I played in college (😬), but I’m no less excited to play along. So let’s get to it!

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The Rules:

• Link back to the original creator! (Madame Writer)
• Link back to the person who tagged you! (Lili, Kimmie, and Esther, y’all rock!)
• Answer all prompts.
• Add one more prompt of your own.
• Tag at least five people.
• Don’t lie.
• Have fun!

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The Prompts:

Never have I ever… read a later book in a series – before reading the first book.

Yes… on accident. It was actually for a blog tour! I started reading the blurb for Frozen Rage by Steve McHugh and it sounded so interesting that I immediately signed up for the Storytellers on Tour blog tour. Turns out, it’s a novella that was number 6.5 in an ongoing series! Thankfully, the story stood pretty well on it’s own. There are things I’m bound to have missed, I’m sure, but I still really enjoyed the book. You can read my review here.

Never have I ever… burned a book.

NO!! I would never! I’ve read books that made me consider it (looking at you, The Scarlet Letter…) but I would never actually burn a book! The thought alone makes me shiver 😣

Never have I ever… read a book I knew I would hate.

No. I’ve read books that I was unsure about, sure. But never something I thought I would actively hate. Even when I read the Twilight series, I didn’t think I would hate the books. Why set myself up for a bad time, ya know?

Never have I ever… wrote a fanfiction about my favorite books.

No. But that’s mostly because I’ve never written a fanfiction about anything. It’s not something outside the realm of possibility, but I’m much more a consumer of fanfic than a writer.

Never have I ever… loved a book when I was young and hated it when I got older.

Yes, unfortunately. Until very recently, the answer to this would have been “No”. Probably because I don’t reread a lot of my books. However, I took part in a buddy read of The Princess Bride by William Goldman a couple months back and it was… not great. Got a two star. And one of those stars is solely for nostalgia. Let’s just say that it’s an older book and it does not hold up well.

Never have I ever… dressed up as one of my favorite literary characters.

No. But, again, it’s not outside the realm of possibility! Halloween is just around the corner.

Never have I ever… hated a book by an author I love.

No. At least, I can’t think of one off the top of my head. I did start to fall out of love with the Wheel of Time series (which I still haven’t completed…), but I never actually hated any of the books that I read. They just started to get a bit long-winded, if I’m honest. I still want to complete the series, though! Eventually…

Never have I ever… gone into a bookstore to buy one book and come out with many more.

No… in a way. Mostly because I never go into a bookstore planning to only buy one book 😂 That’s cheating, isn’t it? Usually, when I head to the bookstore, I don’t even have a book I want in mind. I’m just in a book shopping mood and whatever calls to me (within reason… I ain’t made of money) gets put in the basket.

Never have I ever… read the end of a book before reading the beginning.

NO. That would kill the suspense for me! Though I have read books before that were giving me so much anxiety that I wanted to skip to the end to reassure myself things would work out okay. But I like to remain as unspoiled as possible when it comes to books.

Never have I ever… read a book without the dust cover.

Yes. There were some older books my parents had that I read as hardcover, but didn’t have dust jackets. The hardcovers I personally own and read always have the dust jacket on, though. I know myself… if I take it off to read it, I will lose it, so it’s safest to just keep it on!

Never have I ever… skim-read nearly half the book.

Yes. A couple of the required reading books in high school got this treatment. The one that pops to mind is Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. You want kids to like reading and then force them to read that? No, thank you…

Never have I ever… pretended to read a book I haven’t read.

Kind of? Usually it’s in a casual conversation and I’m already partway through the book and I know I’m gonna finish it. But that still counts as “haven’t read”.

Never have I ever… had a book boyfriend.

No. I’ve had men I found attractive in books, but I don’t think I’ve ever had strong enough feelings for a character to declare them my “book boyfriend”. Also, my teen/young adult reading years are such a blur and I feel like that’s when I would have been more likely to latch onto a book boyfriend. Who knows if there is some long-forgotten fictional character who I adored back then.

Never have I ever… saw the movie before reading the book.

Yes. So many times, lol. There are quite a few movies I didn’t know where based on books for the longest time. I usually tend to like the book better, as well.

Never have I ever… read a history book or anthropology book for fun.

Yes. The one that comes to mind is The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. I absolutely adored this book and want to read more by this author! He has a way of making non-fiction really easy to read and accessible. I do have his book about Winston Churchill, but that baby is a thicc one and I’m a little intimidated…

Never have I ever… picked up a book based on the cover alone.

Yes. All the freakin’ time. Thankfully, my cover tastes usually don’t steer me wrong. I can’t think of a book I picked up solely because it had a beautiful cover and ended up not liking. I haven’t loved all of them, but I at least enjoyed the ones I’ve read.

Never have I ever… bought multiple books in a series without having started it.

Yes. This tag is really coming for me, isn’t it? I own all the books in the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb and haven’t read a single one. I feel like I’m going to love it though. And, if the bookish community is to be believed, it’s probably gonna make me cry. I hope to find out sooner rather than later!

Never have I ever… kept reading a series even if I didn’t love the first book.

No. Typically, if I don’t care for the first book, I’m gonna give the series a pass. I’m a completionist when it comes to books, not series. There have been series where I fell out of love after getting a few books into it. Usually, though, I enjoyed the first few books and they got progressively worse as I went along or they just weren’t my thing anymore. Thinking of the Anita Blake series…

Never have I ever… kept buying books even though my bookshelves are full of unread books.

Yes. Look. I have a problem. And a severe lack of bookshelves, in my honest opinion.

Never have I ever… bought/read a book because of a booktuber/book blogger.

Yes. I mean, of course I have. The only reason I bought The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart was because so many people in the bookish community were raving about it! And there are quite a number of books that pop into my mind that could fit this category. Y’all have good taste, what can I say 😉

Never have I ever… given a book as a shower, birthday, Christmas, graduation, or wedding gift.

Yes. But only if it’s on someone’s Amazon wishlist or they specifically said they really wanted the book. I’ve gotten my share of random books as well-meaning gifts that were just… not my thing. So I try to avoid foisting books on someone unless I know they’ll love it or are eager to read it.

Never have I ever… thrown away or donated a book you really wanted to keep.

No. Mostly because I don’t donate my books. Well… I did once back in college, but I definitely meant to get rid of the books I donated that time. Though that is when I purged my Wheel of Time collection… so, retrospectively… yes? I definitely meant to get rid of them at the time, though.

Never have I ever… read a book so quickly that I don’t remember what happened by the end.

No. Usually, even if I read a book super fast, the end is what sticks in my brain the most. All the details in the middle, however…

Never have I ever…recommended a book without reading it first.

No. I like to recommend books I’ve already read and enjoyed. So, if someone is asking for a recommendation from, say, a genre I don’t really enjoy or for a certain trope I tend to avoid, I either stay out of it or send them in the direction of someone with similar tastes. Seems like they’ll get better recommendations that way!

Never have I ever… not bought a book because it was too big.

No. I like. big. BOOKS and I cannot lie! I bought The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon because a) dragons and b) it’s a thicc gal! I have so many big books on my shelf that I’m dying to read. I will fully admit, though, that they intimidate me. It’s a weird relationship… I snatch them up and then let them languish on my shelves until I pluck up the courage to read them.

Never have I ever… own multiple editions of a book.

Yes. *looks at her 4 copies of Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko* Look. I just love that book so much, okay?! And two of those copies I got for free, sooooo… I do love a good special edition now and then, but I tend to try and only have one copy of a book. But when it comes to my favorites, I might go a little wild.

My Question:

Never have I ever… pretended to like a book you disliked to spare a friend’s feelings.

Yes. Not recently, but I have done it in the past 😅

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Tagging:

• Ashlee @ Books Are 42
• Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den
• Emily @ A Short Book Lover
• Haadiya @ Her Bookish Obssession
• Kat @ KB Book Reviews
• And anyone else who would like to join in!