Book catnip & blurb keywords that make us want to read it badly…

LOL!!! Yep, this is shaping up to be a goofy Monday, indeed. It’s NEW LIST day (I post one every Monday), and recently, our fellow readers were having a “book-catnip” discussion. Certain phrases, or storylines, or keywords in blurbs that grab us and make us want to read it next. Plus… of course, certain heroes (or hero-types) make us go crazy enough that we’d roll in ‘em. The books I mean. We’d roll IN the books. *snort*

What a PERFECT list idea!!! So I am immortalizing the discussion.

We all know who my main catnip hero is… (Travis!! Yep… still. LOL!) but here are some things that make give me a *blurb jolt* and make me want to one click it.

Reclusive, angry, uninterested men/tortured heroes a la “Zsadist” in Lover Awakened. Those that are impossible to get to, and want nothing to do with the heroine. AND I MEAN IT darn-it! NOTH-ING. Full on refusal, denial, disinterest, and even rudeness. And long term too, so we can work for it. Lots of offensive (or at least discouraging) behavior, and private pining, and more rudeness, and heartache, and… well. Work. For eventual love. Of course I want there to be love for a good part of it, but I want to feel the emotional overload of knowing better, NOT wanting to want him, and yet loving and wanting him nonetheless. And all of that delightful intense emotion, true unconditional love, and healing.

Real people married-couple problems, as portrayed in After I Do by Taylor Jenkins-Reid. This is another thing that attracts me in book blurbs. Adults, living real lives, and having real life difficulties, and therefore struggling to keep their love alive. Whether it be extra-marital issues, or reproduction issues, or overworked issues, or personal scars that have opened up again… issues. Old secrets… (but please – let them be worthy of all the darn drama, okay?!!) I just love to see two people who were set in their lives together, trying to build it back, or at least, hold it together during the hard times. Or even fall apart right before our very eyes.

Risqué love themes. Teacher-student (such as Loving Mr. Daniels and Slammed), Stockholm Syndrome (like Captive in the Dark), forbidden love of various sorts (not too gross of course, but who am I kidding? Forbidden was as forbidden as it gets, and we all loved it, did we not)? All the things that we can imagine happening (due to news stories, or “hearsay” from friends), but that we wouldn’t actually want to experience ourselves due to the incredible trauma and insecurity and even mental-health issues such a love story could cause. And that’s why I love to experience the thrill, and terror, and drama via books. Always… and ONLY via books. *tee hee!!*

Potential NON-HEA - Blurbs (or recommendations from readers) that indicate a potential NON-HEA <— the possibility of that. BUT!!! Still gives me the impression that an HEA *could* happen… either way. You know. An unconventional love story. Ahhhhh I love that torment! I LOVE NOT-knowing what could happen in a book. Unpredictable = Maryse catnip! Oh I’d list some here but I’m afraid. I don’t want to spoil them either way, so I… I’m gonna think about it.

Bad guys. ALMOST unredeemable, unloving, cold and distant bad-asses (and maybe even a good reason for it – the potential for redeemable). And yet… that ONE (and only one) girl is THE one that warms his cold cold heart. BUT!!!! There are SO many of these out and they do not seem to thrill me as much as they once did. I think because there was a time when an entire book or two would pass before he finally relented, fully, to her (with hints of emotion throughout… but only for her. A la “Barrons“). Now it seems only a chapter or two pass before it’s “true love”. *sigh* I want more resistance!!! P.S. It’s kind of fun rooting for the bad guy… just sayin’ (Hi Javier!!!! *blows kiss*). Oh and Terrible. Any guy named Terrible must be terrible, right? Well to many he was. BUT OMG he put my heart through the ringer, book after book, after book. One of the best love stories ever! Oh and Deuce. Although I struggle with what section to put him in… “bad-ass”, or “bad-guy”? I dunno… *sigh* Guess it depends on who you ask. No matter what… FUN!

And of course… the tattooed, bad-ass, bad boys (and I MEAN BAD-ASS!!!) fighter or protector-types/ultimate BOSS hero types. But again… while they were once so majestic to me, in books, so hard to get to, so hardened and confused, now they seem a little too easy… there has to be *something*. A “je ne said quoi” that makes being loved by him, so freaking HUGE and delightful, and relieving, putting us in that love-fog again. You know… a la Travis, Edward, Christian Grey and of course… Zsadist. *sigh* I haven’t been in a true love-fog in ages…

Oh! But what DOES get my adrenaline racing are psych-thrillers (like Jezebel by K. Larsen). Twists and turns, shocking reveals, genius story-telling, and of course, if you can throw in “love” into the mix? That’s my perfect book. You can find A LOT of that kind of reading in Alessandra Torre and Tarryn Fisher‘s work.

P.S. The Paper Swan by Leylah Attar is quite the PERFECT mix of most of these, above. Just sayin’ READ. IT!!!!

Oh!!! One more… and even though I do not read many of these, I WANT TO. I have NO idea why I haven’t marathon indulged in post-apocalyptic reads. Because the thought of disease, or government takeover or something along those lines scares me to death. So not only would we get that crazy “what if” thrill, but we’d get the whole “rebuilding”, finding new friends, forgetting old “ways of beings” learning that all of that material wealth was for naught… and maybe even finding love and happiness amongst desolation. YES!!!!

Okay well…. enough of my rambling.

Let’s take a look at our fellow reader’s favorites! bev started us off:

bev: I was just listening to someone talk about figuring out your catnip in books. And then speaking of a book with Amy all over it. I was wondering what is your catnip, the keywords that make you want to buy. I think I’m learning a bit of some of yours. Fairies for MichelleS. Tessa likes the heroes that are d!cks, Amy the heroines that are.  But really what checks the box for you?

Tessa: I do like jerk heroes, but past that, what really checks my box is great secondary characters. So many times, the secondary are one dimension. When they are fully fleshed, and even better, there’s a friendship/ family love there, I just go nuts. FCH has Logan, Nate, and Heather. Harry Potter had so many awesome secondary, it’s insane. The Rocker… Series is basically a big family. Even Bully had Madoc, KC and eventually Jaxon. I just adore how it makes the story more real for me.

DianeM: Great question Bev!! I love tortured heroes (and heroines like Nora in The Siren: The Original Sinners Book 1 (The Original Sinners Series)), my 2 faves are Caleb from the Dark duet and Eli from The Lonely / LOST BOY (The Lonely Book 2). But I totally agree w/ Tessa, great secondary characters always make a book better

Lisa: Great question Bev. I think my book catnip is tortured heros who are kind of jerks initially…like Remy and Colton and Travis. And I totally agree with Tessa. Secondary characters that are well fleshed out really turns a good story to a great story for me. Loved all the characters in Jay Crownover‘s series for that reason. Felt like I knew them and missed them when I finished.

Amy: My catnip? When a book is attached to words or sayings like ugly cry, heartbreaking, gutted me, mindf$#k, twist, etc.

bev: Bad Boy/good girl Yes, well developed secondary characters. Yes, Tessa, HP rocked that. Made Families, HP did this well too. Slow Burn. Good sense of time and place, as if I know the town, or house, vibe of the city, etc

fabi: Book triggers, hmmm, I can’t really pin it down. I know I’m partial to younger characters, especially if they’re fighting against a dystopian world and there’s a little romance thrown in. So when I read a blurb with those elements, its an automatic 1 click. But there are many others too.

Lisa: fabi, have you read Lauren Oliver’s Delirium and Pandemonium. Also the author who wrote ‘travelling pants series’…her book ‘My Name is Memory’. They would all be ticking your book catnip box. Mmmm that sounds wrong. Another book quirk I love is when authors add a play list and you get that multidimensional feel by listening to the music and reading at the same time. (Trust me…listen to the choral music when reading 50 shades red room scenes *gulp*). Of course the beloved Colleen Hoover did it to perfection with her colab with Griffen Peterson for Maybe Someday. My husband thinks it’s just another way I block the rest of the world out when I have my iPod earbuds in and my head buried in my Kindle!!;)

fabi: Music, that’s another trigger for me. Give a character that plays guitar/sings and I’m likely to read the book. Same goes for soccer/football/basketball athlete characters. And dont even get me started on sci-fi. Ah, so many triggers. Probably why my reading is all over the place and I end up missing as many great books as I find.

Jean: OK I’m late to this conversation, but my catnip is the guys who are broken and need saving (Z, Remy, military men…). Also tattoo artists, bikers, and fighters. Yum!

Cheryl: My catnip in books, tortured, sweet, bad-a$$, doesn’t hurt to be a rock star or sports star, hero and a strong heroine.

Tessa: I adore CH, if done right and not cheesy just to get you to buy the next book. I love the mystery and twirling in my head of what’s going to happen, what is that mystery about… all those. Something to dwell on and ponder and make theories about are beyond priceless. However, I don’t like, “And I hate you,” the end, CH, where they get back together in the next book. *rolls eyes*

Maryse: Yes!! Agreed… cliffhangers have rocked my world in the past, but it had to be worth it!!

Maryse: I am LOVING this hero-catnip question… Me too, I’m into the broken bad-asses. And they don’t have to be god-like gorgeous either. Just BIG, strong protectors (even if they’re bad-guys) and reluctantly loving until that one girl comes along and then they give their WHOLE heart. Gah I LOVE that. Z is my ultimate. Travis too (but of course!!) hahaha!! Acheron… definitely. Christian Grey (although I don’t know how much of a “bad-ass” he was). Sebastian from Surviving Raine (YES!!) an even Evan Arden. Terrible from The Downside Ghosts series (and he is another of my perfect examples that he was not a physical beauty, BUT OMG I FELL HARD for him!!!!)

Okay… anyone else? What gets you excited about a book?

Tagged as: antiheroes, forbidden love or risqué, marital strife, reader favorites, reader recommendations, reclusive heroes, slow burn, sports stars, tearjerker