Welcome to another Tuesday! Today I have another Teaser, thanks to MizB at “Should Be Reading,” and another Top Ten List, thanks to the lovely folks at “The Broke and the Bookish.”

For Teaser Tuesday, the rules are simple:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here’s my teaser for the week:

“The first time she set foot in the Haven, she was a slave, wasting away from starvation and abuse . . . the next time Cora set foot in the Haven, she, too, was a Queen.”

– Shadow’s Fall by Dianne Sylvan

These two phrases aren’t right next to each other like this, but I love the contrast between the two and how they simply, yet fully explain Cora’s character. I love this series so much, although I’m barely skimming over the first three in order to get my hands on book 4.

 

On to Top Ten Tuesday.This week’s list is a bit difficult for me. It’s all about what draws you to a book, what will make you pick it up out of a whole shelf of others. The short answer for me – almost anything. I’m not very picky about what I read. I’ll give anything a go. Here are a few things that I do notice.

Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly

Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book

1. haunted – What can I say? I like me a good ghost story.

2. ancient – I’ve read a few books set in an ancient time period, like the Roman Empire or Ancient Greece, and really enjoyed them.

3. King Arthur or Merlin – I am a sucker for a good Arthurian legend, especially if it’s a different retelling of some sort.

4. teenagers – As most of you know, I love reading Young Adult literature. I love reading about people with a different coming-of-age experience than mine. Helps me relive my youth.

5. fairies – If you believe in fairies, clap your hands! I’m especially fond of retellings of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but any fairy story will do.

6. magic – If you like fantasy like I do, you have to like magic. I love reading stories with an interesting and different magic system.

7. strong female character – Gone are the days when we stepped aside for our male betters. Give me a good heroine who kicks butt any day!

8. Europe – I love books set in other places, and since I really want to explore the great cities of Europe one day (London, Paris, Rome, sigh), I love reading about them as well.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, although I’m sure there’s more.