Eleven Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book (Top Ten Tuesday)

I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday today, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Here's today's topic: Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

This topic made me think a little. What really determines what I will add to my TBR and/or read? What I found from looking at the books I've read over the past couple of months and what I have on my list to read are eleven things that affect what books I pick up (I know there's supposed to be ten, but when I realized I overshot my list by one I didn't want to take one out 😏), in no particular order...

(Please note that almost all of the books below are linked to a review or post on my blog with a few linked to Amazon with my affiliate link.)

The Cover

Most of us are first drawn to a book by its cover. I've been fooled by a cover before, so I don't generally trust them, but they still grab my attention and I love books with fabulous covers on my shelves. Here are two books that first grabbed me in this way:

It's for a Tour/Book Club/Judging

Most of the books I read are for tours I've signed up for (of course I had to be interested in these books for other reasons to sign up for their tours in the first place), or they're for the book club I'm a member of, or for judging (like the Whitney Awards or INSPYs).

Here are two books I recently read that were chosen for these reasons (the first was for my book club in March and the second was to judge for the Whitneys):

The Author

I've been reading and blogging long enough now that I have a long list of favorite authors - many of which I'll auto-buy. Here are two books that I specifically picked because I'm a fan of these authors:

The Genre

Most of us have a few genres we stick to. I read quite an array of genres and I can't say that one is necessarily a favorite over another, but these two are from genres I love and read regularly, Historical Romance and Christian Contemporary Romance:

The Book Synopsis

There are books that I'm neutral on sometimes, and the book's synopsis will push me over to either wanting to read it or not. These books both had stories that sounded like they'd be something I'd like (although the second one I wanted to read from the cover and author as well):

The Publisher

I've found that there are some publishers that I can count on, either with the quality of the work they produce, that I generally like their books, or that I know that what I'll be reading will be clean (which is my preference). Some publishers that I've found to be consistent would include Tor (they always produce really good, quality works even if I haven't liked all their books), Covenant (their books are always clean), and Blink (they always have complex stories and are generally on the cleaner side). Here are a couple of recent reads from Covenant and Blink:

The Trope Used in the Story

I think most of us have favorite tropes. Maybe it's the girl or guy next door, the best-friend turned to lover, the marriage of convenience, etc. These stories seem to resonate or work for us better than some other tropes. These two stories both have tropes that I enjoy (old flame and marriage of convenience):

My Mood

I used to read a lot based on mood. That was my life before blogging. Now I get to read what I'm in the mood for when I don't have any books that are on deadline for tours and such, which isn't all that often. Here are two that were for tours, but I was really in the mood to read and read early on and quickly (like in one sitting):

The Book Line

There are a few publishers that have book lines that I will almost always read. A few would be Harlequin's Heartwarming line, Shadow Mountain's Proper Romance line, and Mirror Press's Timeless Romance line. There are more. Here are two books that are from those last two lines, one I just reviewed and gave five stars to and one that is on my list to read:

It was Recommended

Occasionally I'll read a book based on someone's recommendation. I have some blogger friends I follow and will look at their reviews to see if I should read something or not. Here are two books that were based on recommendations (they don't always work for me, but many times they do):

Continuing Series

Finally, there are books that I'll pick up because I liked the first book in the series and want to continue with it. I have a huge list of all the books I still need to read to continue or finish a series, but I definitely plan on getting to them all at some point. Here are two books that are both sequels (and for which I'm eagerly anticipating the next books in their series!):

As I went through my books I found that a lot, if not all, of the books I read and that are on my list fit in several of these categories (i.e. I like the publisher, author, cover, and synopsis). It's rarely one thing alone that makes me grab a book.

How about you? What influences you picking up a book?