Clichés. You have to love to hate them, right? I’m a sucker for clichés, so I couldn’t help myself when I found this tag — although, I can’t find who started it, but credit to the creator of these questions. I’m not going to tag people, meaning anyone should feel free to give it a shot. Now, let’s get into the tag . . .

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS

A Book That Wasn’t or Couldn’t Be Better Than The Movie

All the Harry Potter films. I think this could be controversial, but I couldn’t get into the books — maybe because when I tried to read them they felt a little too young for me — whilst I loved the movies. Maybe it’s because I had a huge crush on Daniel Radcliffe, or the fact that Draco Malfoy made bleached hair look cool, but the characters and the magic comes to life in a totally different way on screen. Hermione Granger is also very much my spirit animal and Emma Watson played her so well.

THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE

A Rags to Riches or Riches to Rags Story

The Paper Princess series is the first rags to riches story that came to mind. I feel I’m probably missing something more obvious, but that’s one cliché I don’t read a lot of.

THE APPLE DOES NOT FALL FAR FROM THE TREE

A Parent/Child Relationship That You Love

My mind went blank for this, which should say a lot about how few good parent/child relationships there are in YA books. The only one I can really think of that I loved is Lara Jean & her dad in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. They had a super soft soft and supportive relationship — plus he was likeable! Some writers do the most to make parents out to be villains in YA fiction, but I prefer healthy family relationships.

YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

A Good Book That Needs a Better Cover

The Bloodlines series has some of the worst covers and that hurts my heart. The first two aren’t awful, but they slowly get worse and it’s so hard to get people to take my recommendations when the covers aren’t pretty. If we’re honest, we all judge a book by its cover at some point.

YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE

A Book You Hate That Everyone loves

Stalking Jack the Ripper! So many people praise this book, but I didn’t finish it since it was painfully predictable. I figured out who the killer was before Chapter 7 and some of it felt oddly modern for a book set in the 1800s.

WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER

What’s a Book That Made You a Better Person For Having Read It

Ooh, this is a hard one. Divergent was the first book that ever really meant anything to me and will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason. It was the book that got me into reading and I don’t know if it made me a better person, but it definitely made me more self-aware and managed to fire me up in a way I never expected.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS

A Book That Is Bad But You Just Don’t Want to Admit It

The Selection. I reread this book in 2019 for the first time since around 2013 and I was disappointed. I remembered it being so much better than it was. There’s a part of me that is too emotionally attached to the characters and plot to admit that’s it actually a bad book with weak writing.

THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

What is Your Favourite Contemporary Book?

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord. Paige and Max absolutely have my heart. This is the absolutely sweetest book and I’m saying that as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of contemporaries.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY

A Book You Don’t Want to Read in Case It’s Bad

I’m not so much scared of it being bad, but I’m scared that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will ruin everything I know and love about the world and characters of The Hungers Games. I know a lot of people were hesitant after hearing it is going to be focused on President Snow and I’m also one of those people.

Do you have a favourite cliché? And do you think cliches really are as bad as people make them out to be?

read it and weep,