Hey there, Arrowheads! If you’ve been here for a while now, you may remember that I haven’t always been a bookworm. Between 4th grade and my junior year of high school, I didn’t enjoy reading. However, after reading To Kill a Mockingbird my junior year, I’ve been an unapologetic book addict ever since. ❤

Now that over a decade has passed since I first got back into reading, you may be wondering if my reading tastes have changed, or how they’ve changed. Well, in some ways they have, and in others they haven’t. It’s a bit of a complicated answer, so let’s dive in!

What Were My Favorite Genres 10 Years Ago?

When I first got back into reading, there were really only two “genres” I enjoyed, which weren’t technically genres at all, but the backlists of two authors from my home state of North Carolina: Nicholas Sparks and Sarah Dessen.

Though I went on to try contemporary YA romance by other authors after finishing Dessen’s backlist, for the most part, Sparks and Dessen paved my path back into the beautiful world of books.

As far as trying other adult romance authors’ books out… I’m a Christian, and I was so wary of stumbling across what the book community now refers to as “spice” that I dared not venture into that unknown territory in my late teens. Nicholas Sparks’ books are tame for the most part, but some still had some iffy scenes that discouraged me from blindly trying out other mainstream adult romance books at the time.

Once I finished these authors’ backlists, I read some of the popular titles of 2012-2014, like The Hunger Games trilogy and The Help, and fell in love with them. They’re still among my favorite books. Others included The Fault in Our Stars, Wonder, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and a few lesser-known titles that I came across on Goodreads.

A little further on into my reading career (2013 – 2017, maybe?) I started reading some contemporary Christian books. Some standout titles were the Ellie Sweet duology by Stephanie Morrill, Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay, and Like Moonlight at Low Tide by Nicole Quigley. I also read some classics, like Peter Pan, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Wuthering Heights, and The Hobbit.

Overall, during these first few years of reading, I’d have to say my favorite genre was young adult romance, because I gravitated to those titles the most.

What Are My Favorite Genres Now?

Now that I’m 12 years into my reading journey, it’s crazy to realize how much my reading tastes have solidified in some ways and have changed in others.

Do I still read books by Nicholas Sparks and Sarah Dessen? Yep, those are habits I can’t break. Do I enjoy every single one of their books? No, but they’re still comfort authors for me. ❤

Here’s where things start to differ. YA Romance used to be my jam, but these days, I’m finding I relate to it less (probably because I’m on the verge of 30 😛 ) and have found that a lot of the newer YA Romance titles are vulgar. I’ve even come across some that are more vulgar than some mainstream adult fiction I’ve picked up, which is disheartening. So these days, though I still read some YA Romance, I’ve been gravitating toward other genres.

So does that mean I’ve moved on to adult romance? Well, I am not a fan of spice at all. I can tolerate bad language in books if it’s not rampant. I’ve unintentionally come across both spice and vulgar language in adult romance books I’ve read, and now only try to read adult romances that I know are clean and/or Christian. Most often, they’re romantic comedies or sweet romance.

Since I try to avoid vulgarity in books, does that mean I avoid popular secular titles? Yes and no. If a popular secular book sounds interesting to me, I’ll take a chance on it. If I don’t enjoy the story, and I find that the content is vulgar, I’ll avoid reading that author’s work again (unless I had already bought another one of their books. Then I’ll force myself to read it and skim over the bad stuff). If I enjoy the story and find that the content is bad but not distracting or super vulgar, then I’ll continue to read that author’s work. This goes for pretty much any genre, including YA, mystery/thrillers, fantasy, romance, literary fiction, etc.

All that being said, what is my favorite genre as an almost-thirty-year-old?

*Drumroll*

Though I’m still new to the genre and haven’t read a ton of them yet, my favorite genre to read in this season of life is mystery/thrillers!

Why Do I Think My Favorite Genre Changed?

Again, it’s not shocking to me that YA Romance is no longer my favorite genre. First of all, I’m almost double the target audience’s age now *cries at that alarming realization*, so I no longer relate to protagonists in that genre as well as I once did. Sure, I didn’t start reading YA Romance until I was 19 and technically an adult anyway, but I was a lot closer to the target audience’s age at that time.

Second of all, when I got back into reading way back when, I never tried mystery thrillers. I’m not sure why, but I just didn’t. The closest I got to one was The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks, and though I LOVED the thriller aspect of that book, I never dared to venture out and try another until a couple years ago. In hindsight, I think if I had tried more mysteries or thrillers back then that it would’ve become one of my favorite genres earlier on in life rather than strictly romance.

Some of my favorite mystery/thrillers I’ve read so far have been A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, The Naturals and the first two books in The Inheritance Games trilogy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (I haven’t read book three yet!), Jenny B. Jones’s Enchanted Events cozy mystery trilogy, and A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham. I’m always looking for mystery/thrillers with cleaner content, so if you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments! ❤

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

How have your own reading tastes changed over the years? I can’t wait to read your responses and see if they’re as drastic as mine!

P.S. I’m sorry if this post seems messy or hastily written. I struggled to get it up on time, and I apologize for the presentation if it comes across that way. I proofread it twice, but if I missed something, please forgive me lol. 😛

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀