Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist

Hello my dears. Today is Tuesday!! I’m here with another Top Ten Tuesday. *dances* Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.  Today’s topic is my reading wishlist. We all have those things that we wish books had more of. Whether it be genres, themes, plot lines, or just certain character types. I’ve gathered here my own list of things I just want more of in my books. Here’s to dreaming.

10. Fantastical Historical Retellings

This means that book isn’t just a fantasy that sounds like its from the past. But the author takes a real historical person or event and adds some fantasy. One of my favorites is Legacy of Kings which is a retelling of Alexander the Great. I’ve also heard pretty good things about My Lady Jane. Adding the fantasy to a bit of real life history always perks up the story for me and thus my enjoyment.

9. Retelling Crossovers

I’ve pretty much made up this phrase. But what I mean by it is multiple fairy tales of works of literature being mashed together. I am a big fan of Once Upon A Time and one of the reasons is that I enjoying seeing all my fairy tale friends interact with each other.  Writing a mash up of multiple famous characters is always a must buy for me. Like what if all of Jane Austen’s characters met? That would be so cool. I just love these types of retellings.

8. Positive representation of the Foster system

One of the things I loved so much about A List of Cages was the representation of the foster system. Adam’s mom truly cared about Julian and took care of him out of love. We don’t see much positive rep for the foster system. Usually its people who abuse or neglect the kids. I understand that abuse and neglect happen but there are also loving and honest people out there that want to provide foster children with safety and a family.

7. Document style formatting

I loved Illuminae. And one of the reasons I think I reached into one of my uncomfortable genre is because of the way Illuminae was written. I loved reading the emails, receipts, and business documents. It was so cool and innovative. I hope more stories are able to utilize this way of story telling in the future.

6. Disabilities in Fantasy

I wrote a post about this here. But basically I just want to see more mental, physical, and other disabilities in a fantasy setting. Usually books that broach these topics are contemporaries. And I just have a hard time beliving there are not blind, deaf, autistic, or depressed people in your fantasy worlds. These people need their stories told as well.

5. College coming of age stories

I also talked about this in the above mentioned post. There are so few stories about what the college, out of high school experience is like. Part of this is because just a few decades ago women went from their father’s house to their husbands. But now there is this whole part of life after high school where we can go to college, travel, go straight into the work force. We get this time to discover what it is we really want out of life. And I would just like to see more books that cover this period of life and the highs and lows that it brings.

4. Healthy and deep friendships

Healthy friendships in YA are just not a thing. Or few and far between. Mostly we get a lot of girl hate and a lot of best friends that turn in lovers. And don’t get me wrong. Girls can be mean. But I did have healthy female friendships in high school. I also had guy friends that I never had a crush on and were close guy friends. I need more of these deep but healthy friendships that show readers they deserve acceptance and loyalty. And maybe how to deal with those friends that don’t treat them with respect.

3. Talking Animals

This is just a personal weird one for me guys. I’ve showered you guys with pictures of my babies so it’s been settled that I’m a crazy cat lady. And I talk to my babies like every good mother does. And sometimes I imagine what their voices would sounds like if they could respond. It’s just a weird thing I do. And I do think it would be cool to chat with cats. Like if Harry was my familiar and I was a witch and we had a soul connection that would be so cool!

2. Social Media and the effects of using it

Social Media has really only been a thing for like the past 20-25 years. In middle school I got my first MySpace. And in high school when I got a Facebook my boyfriend’s sister wouldn’t add because “Facebook was for college kids.” It is still hard for me to keep up with Twitter and Instagram. But there is a whole generation of people who grew up with social media being the norm. You can be bullied and attacked through social media. You can make the best friends you’ll ever have through social media. Its just a different environment that I’m used to and I would like to see more books that 1) even mention that social media is a thing and used hourly. And 2) discuss things like being doxxed or someone posting photos of you that you didn’t want people to see. I think social media isn’t going away so we need to embrace it, especially in our story telling.

1.Geeky Boys, the more awkward the better

I am just not the one to be falling for the hot athletic guy or the rebel without a cause. I don’t hate them and I think they are perfectly fine characters when written well. But honestly my bias is for geeky boys. Especially when they are awkward with girls from lack of experience. Most of my boyfriends were incredibly awkward and geeky. We talked about nerdy stuff together and had a great time. Geeky boys are just my kriptonite. #Sorrynotsorry

I hope you enjoyed my list of things on my bookish wishlist. Comment down below and let me know one thing on your wishlist. I hope you’re having a perfectly bookish day!