Five Foolproof Ways to Finding Your Next Favourite Read: A Theory

Here’s the truth: us book readers are addicts.

After the first book that gave us that high, that devastation, that crash and burn that was so addictive, we’ve been chasing it forever. Searching for our next favourite read from the last page turned of our previous book. I’m not sure there is a book lover that walked away from this high or stopped searching for it.

Don’t judge us. At least it’s books and not drugs. Though, yes I know that at this point the habit of being a reader is becoming just as expensive.

*clears throat* Daring statements aside, if you’re a book lover and haven’t yet figured out the pattern/steps to follow to find out how you achieved that perfect 5 star high, here’s the (mostly) foolproof methods I follow diligently. Follow these methods long enough and soon they begin to chance you, believe me, I speak from experience.

Disclaimer: All experiments, risks and stunts taken/performed in this post are done by professionals and should not be duplicated at home without guidance or the presence of an expert.

• Step 1: The Hypothesis

It’s the first initial “happening upon” a book, that is usually the hardest and marks the beginning of this long journey. The world is not an easy place, so searching/striving for what you want is often the primary role that occupies most your time.

The best solution to this that I have, is to keep your mind, eyes and arms open to all recommendations that come your way. Which, if you own any kind of social media account, you’re already succeeding in. All you need is to open an account and the book community (*I’m looking at you, Bookstagram, don’t pretend to look away.*) will steamroll you. Believe me, there’s nothing I’m more grateful for.

•  Step 2: The Research

Now after you’ve received the recommendation, you need to figure out if this is the book for you. My foolproof way of doing this is always through reviews. Trusted reviewers/review sites are my go to. I use Goodreads, but that’s a choice that’s up to you. This is a big part of understanding what the book is about and how it has been received, what to expect and look out for. (A shout out and thank you here to all the authors, reviewers, readers that put up trigger warnings for us!)

A bonus fun round is stalking the author a little, checking out the kind of books they write or reading up a little about them on their website, or even checking out their energy or interactions on their social media accounts!

Yes, we readers take our books very seriously.

• Step 3: Alpha Testing

A quick read of the sample/excerpt of the book or checking out the quotes from the book are my go to ways to feeling the book out. Some questions to ask yourself are as follows:
“How does the writing feel? Is it immersive?” (relevant to all)
“Does this sound like my next book-boyfriend?” (relevant to romance readers)
“Am I willing to be emotionally destroyed or cradled?” (relevant to mood readers)

Depending on the answers to this, you do the next important step; you either add the book to your TBR or decide it’s not for you and move back to steps 1 and 2. You’re likely to oscillate between steps 1, 2 and 3, often but don’t let that worry you, it’s a normal phase to go through while searching.

• Step 4: Beta Testing

I would personally label this the most important step. A lot rides on this step. The beta testing process is a valued step that you don’t miss unless you’re feeling adventurous.
What you do in this step is clear:

Throw your best friend under the bus.

Metaphorically.

Present the book to your best friend and step away slowly. Observe and make notes of their experience and reactions.

Do they crash and burn? Cry? Hate you and come back for more? Tell you what you’ll love about this book? Bring on the dramatics about how you’ve ruined their life?
All great signs! This is your green signal! Go ahead. Begin your book!

But, if they are feeling meh? They could not proceed past a few pages? They DNF and move on to another read? Tell you you won’t like it?
These are also great signs! Red signal. Go back to step 1.

• Step 5: The Dive

Many people choose to go to step 5 without step 2 or 3 or 4. To all of you who do that, kudos and RIP to your reader soul, I hope you made it.

If you’ve gone the advised way, good luck with your new potential book, you’re either one step away from the perfect 5 star read or you’re going back to step one. Don’t worry, you got your whole life to do this.

For what it’s worth, I hope this book is the devastation you were looking for.

May your book loving heart crash and burn ❤

Happy reading!

This post is part of the Bookish League blog hop hosted by Bohemian Bibliophile.