Torturous This or That Tag (feat. hard choices and a guest)

I was given the chance of wearing a pirate hat and feeling nefarious, and I obviously couldn’t pass it up!

It’s a really nice way of spending your Saturday afternoon, but I’ll explain that in a second… because, FIRST!!! I actually invited someone to pirate with me. And go through some harmless torture. Fun stuff. I’m not sure she’ll forgive me for the trauma?? But, I should probably let her say hi now, and introduce herself.

Iris: Hi! I’m Iris! I’m a wacky teenage bookworm, who sucks at introducing herself! And also at making decisions… which made this tag VERY difficult!

 

Luana: Oh, that didn’t suck at all. You just forgot to say what a fun person you are and your favorite kind of chocolate? It’s in the requirements.

 

Iris: Hmmm… I’m not sure I believe you about these so-called “requirements”, but fine. I am apparently a fun person (according to Luana…), and my favourite type of chocolate is… All chocolate? Except for the stuff with weird dried fruit. But then SOME dried fruit is good in chocolate… I’ve had raspberry hazelnut, and it’s delicious!

Luana: Well, you did say weird dried fruit. So, like… raspberries can be in the not weird category?

 

Iris: Fair enough… Although I’ve actually had dried pomegranate in chocolate, which is surprisingly good.. And I think that counts as weird…

 

Luana: I feel like I’m missing out on kinds of chocolate now… BUT, before people leave us for talking too much about chocolate, I guess I’ll just say what we’re doing here. *Puts on my pirate hat* We’re stealing! With permission. Which makes it not stealing at all, but we’ll say we’re stealing anyway. From no other than Cait the Paperfury! And it’s kind of a funny thing, because our stolen tag is actually just complete torture for us? But we did it anyway. So, behold, two bloggers suffering the wrath of the Bookish This or That Tag. With added questions of our own, to increase the torture. Sensible people, we are.

And of course, once you’re done here, you should just go visit Iris’s blog, seeing as she’s awesome. So yep. Do that. Now let’s start.

1. SERIES OR STANDALONE

Iris: I’m going to have to go with series. I like standalones, but they usually leave me wanting more. Honestly so do series if they’re really good, but… less so. So series for me!

Luana: Same! Most of the books I read are part of a series… Which does NOT help my TBR’s size. There are standalones I love, but… Then I wish they were a series too…

2. MAGIC EARNED OR MAGIC BORN

Luana: I’m having a hard time thinking of books with earned magic… But, I love characters that are born with magic and don’t know it. Especially if it turns everything upside down for them and drives them sort of insane when they find out. Sorry not sorry.

Iris: Honestly same. I love born magic, but when the character doesn’t realize they have it! And when they do… And also earned magic… I just love magic. Period. But agreed, born magic where the character doesn’t realize they have it is my favourite.

3. ENEMIES-TO-LOVERS OR FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS

Iris: Enemies-to-lovers all the way. It’s basically my favourite trope ever, and I also actually don’t love friends-to-lovers… It can be done well, but in general I’d prefer the friends to stay friends. Also enemies-to-lovers is just an amazing trope.

Luana: I LOVE BOTH SO MUCH, it’s hard to choose! I have to say, though, friends-to-lovers can be a bit predictable sometimes… But the banter in both is great. I think my choice would be enemies-to-friends-to-lovers…. Is that sort of cheating??

Iris: Only a little… 🙂 It’s close enough…

4. HILARIOUS BANTER OR EMOTIONAL RUIN

 

Luana: No… why… This tag is evil. I can’t live without either of them. What do you think?

Iris: Argh, same! This question is impossible! Quite honestly, my only logic is that without hilarious banter, I’m less likely to love the characters, and therefore less likely to be emotionally ruined, and therefore hilarious banter is more necessary. However that is VERY flimsy logic… And also untrue a lot of the time… But it’s my logic, and I’m sticking with it!

Luana: We could just say the banter is part of the emotional ruin. Then we get both. Because we’re smart.

Iris: EXACTLY!

5. LOVE TRIANGLE OR INSTA LOVE

Iris: Ooh, this is a tough one! I hate both of these tropes with a fiery passion! However, I think I’m going to have to go with insta love. It’s annoying, but if the characters have enough chemistry, it can sort of work. Whereas love triangles are the spawn of the devil.

Luana: Agh, yes! I can’t stand insta love, but love triangles just make me want to throw the book against a wall! I’ve seen people say they can be fine if done right… I doubt that can happen for me. So, insta love it is. It’ll just have to be impressively amazing, or I’ll roll my eyes.

6. KEYBOARD-SMASH FANTASY NAMES OR ALL NAMES START WITH SAME LETTER

Luana: I’m torn. Keyboard-smash names are so very annoying, but they can actually be sort of cool at times… And all names with the same letter seems confusing, but I guess they’d hurt your eyes less? I’ll go with keyboard-smash, I suppose. The other option seems to be part of a really bland, strange book… (hopefully it won’t mean I’m stuck with a really cliche high fantasy instead)

Iris: They’re both annoying, but I have to say I prefer keyboard smash names. It’s soooo confusing when names all start with the same letter, but I can usually actually vaguely remember the combination of letters in keyboard smash names, even if I can’t pronounce them. And being able to tell characters apart is helpful.

Luana: We can just make up the pronunciation… No one will ever notice…

7. MEAN PARENTS OR DEAD PARENTS

Iris: I… don’t really have a preference… I just have no strong feelings towards either… I don’t love them, and I don’t hate them. I guess maybe mean parents? I’m not sure why… I just slightly prefer them.

Luana: I guess dead parents are used as a plot excuse too often, while mean parents are usually there, JUST MAKING YOU MAD all the time… If done well, though, I’ll choose dead parents. Pain over anger. Don’t ask how this makes sense.

8. SUPERMODEL LOOKS OR CONSTANTLY SAYS HOW “PLAIN” THEY ARE

Luana: Ugggh, these are both so annoying… But whiny characters complaining about their looks all the time are probably worse. So supermodel looks it is.

Iris: Saaaame! They’re both REALLY annoying, but characters who are constantly whining about how ugly and plain they get on my nerves. So supermodel looks is marginally better.

9. FACE ON COVER VS TYPOGRAPHY ON COVER

Iris: Typography all the way. Faces on covers are good occasionally, but really NOT my favourite. And typography on covers is almost always gorgeous! (In my opinion)

Luana: I’m with you! Some covers with faces on them are amazing, but so many are terrible too… I like them when they do something unusual to it. But typography covers are usually much more likely to be great.

10. VILLAIN TURNING A LITTLE GOOD OR HERO TURNING A LITTLE BAD

Luana: These are both so amazing!!! The hero turning a little bad is usually harder to deal with… Like, I’m just worrying my sanity away that they’ll be broken forever and never be fine again. But, the angst can be nice. And villains turning a little good are so conflicting! You want to hate them, but then you love them too?? So I’m not sure what to choose… I’ll say villain turning a little good for the intrigue of it.

Iris: This question is too hard! I ADORE both of these tropes! I *think* I’m going to have to go with villain turning a little bit good, just because while I usually love it when the hero turns a little bit bad, I’ve read books where it wasn’t done well…? Or at least where it bugged me a bit…

11. BEST FRIEND DIES OR LOVE INTEREST DIES

Iris: This is a HARD one! I… I want them to both stay alive. I guess it’s going to depend on the characters, but usually best friend… I feel like I should be saying love interest, but the fact is, I get ATTACHED to love interests, and the best friends often just aren’t as well developed. So best friend dies, even though I feel like a terrible person for saying it.

Luana: I know what you mean, the love interest is usually so much more developed… BUT there are so many exceptions too… So if they’re all cinnamon rolls of a character, this is basically impossible. I’m going to say… hmm… Okay, I’ll just hope the love interest is a silly crush they barely even knew in the first place, and have them die. That should make it easier. Maybe.

12. AWESOME WRITING WITH A DULL PLOT OR AMAZING PLOT WITH MURDEROUSLY BAD WRITING

Luana: I suppose I’ll brace myself for the cringe-worthy writing, because I can’t stand dull plots. It can’t be a good book with a dull plot, and it’d just ruin the perfect writing anyway. It’d feel like an exaggerated, fake, flowery piece of text.

Iris: I’m going to say awesome writing with a dull plot. Plot has never been the most important part of a book to me, and if the writing and characters are good, I can deal with a bad plot.

Luana: Okay, you sort of made me rethink my answer… I do like character-driven books much more than plot-driven ones. But then I guess I consider that to be a good plot, even if not much happens. So if the “action” is slow, but the characters are amazing and make you love everything… Then I choose the same answer as you.

13. CLIFFHANGER ENDING OR HEARTBREAKING ENDING

Iris: Hmm… My broken heart wants me to say cliffhanger ending, but I know deep down that I love heartbreaking endings. So heartbreaking ending? I guess?

Luana: They’re both somewhat torturous… But give me the heartbreak. I’ll just happily sob (in my head, anyway), and at least won’t have to go crazy wondering what happens next for a whole year. It’s a small consolation… I suppose… We love painful books?? We’re just weird.

14. BREAKING THE SPINE OR DOG-EARING THE PAGES

Luana: Oh this is where we hurt our precious books as payback for destroying us… Just kidding, just kidding. I’d hate both of these, but dog-earing sounds like the less damaging option.

Iris: I hate both of these so much! But I think I’m going with breaking the spine…? Dog-earing just feels really pointless to me, whereas at least spine breaking makes it easier to read? But ugh I hate them both so much.

Luana: We’ll be sensible outside this tag. And do neither.

 

 

Iris: Exactly.

15. “BAD BOY” TROPE OR “PERFECT GOLDEN BOY” TROPE AS THE LOVE INTEREST

Iris: I have to admit, I actually love the tragic bad boy trope, WHEN IT’S DONE WELL. So I’m going with that one. Because characters who are too perfect are just annoying, and bad boys, if they’re done well (emphasis on this, because they can also be done TERRIBLY), are actually quite interesting to read.

Luana: SAME. But, in the eventual case that it’s done badly and it’s just an absurd abusive relationship that shouldn’t even happen, I say we get rid of that, have them fall for the “perfect” boy, AND THEN, discover he’s a villain. That should work.

Iris: Okay, but I really want to read that plotline now. It sounds amazing.

 

 

I tag you!

Muahaha, you get to go through our torture now. Feel free to “steal” this even if you haven’t been tagged, and link back to Iris and me so we can see it! We’ll just hold a little pirate convention. It’ll be fun.

• Noly @The Artsy Reader • Charleigh @Charleigh Writes • Tracy @A girl Who Writes • Sara @The Bibliophagist • Jackie @Bookworm Cafe •

What do you think of my first collab?? It was really fun to write, and Iris is just great to work with. I 10/10 recommend. So you will most likely see more collabs around here in the future, but right now, tell me… Would you rather have the best friend, or love interest die???? (this question’s still impossible, agh…)