Top Ten Tuesday - Things That Will Make Me Instantly Want To Read A Book

Happy Tuesday everyone! This week's feature is all about things that send a book shooting straight to the top of my must-read list. I really don't need any more books on my TBR that's growing faster than I can possibly hope to clear it, but there are some things that mean a book is going in my shopping basket regardless!

As always, a big thanks your to the fab bloggers over at The Broke and The Bookish for this feature!

A gorgeous cover
Don't judge a book by its cover is not advice I live by when it comes to books. Just as "bad" covers - Photoshop fails, cliches and the like - can kind of put me off, a beautiful cover always grabs my attention. Sprayed pages and foil details are always a plus too!

Storm magic
Storm was always my favourite X-(Wo)man, plus, living in the UK, behind able to control the weather would be a pretty awesome superpower. There's something very cool about the beauty and power of thunderstorms, so stories where people throw them around like dodgeballs is going to be epic!

Female friendship
There are some YA cliches that I like and some that I don't like. The pretty mean girl stereotype is one of my most loathed tropes, I much prefer stories that show a positive, healthy friendship between women - not one where they just talk about guys or the best friend is only there to prop up the protagonist when the love interest is being a jerk. A story about two friends against the world is always a must read for me!

Male friendship (yep - just friendship!)
Some authors don't appear to believe that a girl and a guy can be friends anymore than two girls can be friends! It's kind of hard to tell from blurb, but books that feature a strong friendship between the protagonist and a friend of the opposite sex that isn't a plot point in and of itself, I'm all over it.

Celtic mythology
Admittedly my homeland of Cornwall tends to dip out when it comes to Celtic-inspired stories. Everyone tends to get caught up with Irish and Scottish stuff - not that I'm bitter about that *simmers quietly* - but Cornish history is always something that's fascinated me. Throw in witches - we have tons of stories about witches back home! - and I will pay any amount of money to read your book.

Epic villains
Don't give me a sulky, misunderstood bad guy with a tragic backstory. Give me an unapologetic bitch/bastard who kicks ass and takes names. I like my villains villainous!

Mermaids
Forget Beauty and the Beast, wake me up when there's a live action Little Mermaid movie! I've officially reached the age where I find myself agreeing with King Triton (seriously Ariel, you want to give up your life to be to be with a prince you saw one time? Bitch, you don't even know the guy!) but it's still my favourite classic Disney movie, and I've always been slightly obsessed with mermaids as a result. If they're in a book, I will read it.

Science and alchemy
I'm a science nerd at heart, so stories that feature a protagonist who surrounds herself with test tubes and potions will always get me.

Written by
Some authors are on my auto-buy list before I've seen a cover or read a blurb. Laini Taylor, Mary Weber, Melinda Salisbury, Leigh Bardugo.

A super-hot love interest
Currently, I'm all about Lazlo Strange from Strange the Dreamer, but I accumulate book-boyfriends on a regular basis, to the point where my actual boyfriend barely raises an eyebrow anymore.

Anything you've read lately tick a box or two from the above? Let me know in the comments, you can never have too many books to read . . .