Sarah's Reading Habits: Favourite Genres

Today I'm posting the first in a series of posts which delve into my reading habits a little more! This post is all about my favourite genres. I actually read a pretty wide range of stuff, and there's not a lot that puts me off. I'm also looking to branch out my reading so I'm always looking for recommendations! Feel free to drop some in the comments. Enjoy!

My Current Favourite Genres

Contemporary

I love books I can relate to, and those books predominantly fall under the contemporary or realistic fiction genres. Books set in schools always send me back to my own school days, and I love books that focus on friendship and family. Here are some of my favourite contemporary YA novels.

 Urban Fantasy

One of my first forays into urban fantasy was reading Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers trilogy. My sister had a copy of the first book and then a friend lent me the second and third. It's that friend that has helped me expand my reading in that genre. She lends me a lot of UF books, both YA and adult. She lent me most of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series and all of The Infernal Devices which have become some of my favourite books. This is why bookish friends are awesome!

Dystopia & Post Apocalyptic

I still credit The Hunger Games for transforming my reading habits and opening my eyes to a wealth of new books. I know dystopia is a word that gets thrown around a lot and doesn't always apply to books that are associated with the strict definition, so I'm using it in a very loose sense. Anything with a controlling government, post-apocalyptic world and marketed as something that Hunger Games fans will enjoy catches my attention. I know people get pretty tired of that comparison, but for me I found some of my favourite books because they were associated with it and to this day I still love discovering books like The Hunger Games. Some of my favourite dystopian novels include Delirium, Divergent and the Matched trilogy, as well as my new all time favourite The Testing by Joelle Chabonneau. Recent reads that appeal to this side of me include the first Maze Runner book as well as Slated by Teri Terry.

 Sci-fi

This is one of my new loves. I've been eating up sci-fi recently! I think it was reading Insignia by S. J. Kincaid which really sparked my interest. I loved all the cool technology and gadgets in that book. I'd thoroughly recommend it! I just read Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris which was completely different to Insignia but had some really awesome scientific ideas going on. The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer is another great example of a book I've loved, and All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill got me all fired up about time travel.

Genres I Want to Read More Of

 Historical & Historical Fantasy

I've been so scared of reading historical in the past. I don't have that great an interest in history, which mainly stems from the fact I have a memory like a sieve. I really struggle to retain the information in order to keep up and lose myself in those time periods. I'm slowly being converted though! I recently read Code Name Verity which I absolutely adored. WWII is the one time period I've actually read a lot in, although most of that reading has been adult as opposed to YA.

 I'm definitely keen to explore more books set in that time and maybe start branching out and finding other historical novels that interest me. I've also read a great few historical fantasies such as Fire Spell and The Red Necklace, and I enjoyed Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices trilogy which is set in Victorian Britain.

Mystery & Thrillers

This is a genre I'm in desperate need of recommendations for! I love crime and detective fiction but most of my reading in that genre is adult. I loved James Dawson's Cruel Summer which was a fantastic murder mystery. I want more of that please! I'm dying to read more contemporary mysteries. I also really enjoyed Kathy Reichs Virals series (the two books I've read) which have a mystery element to them and Hold Your Breath by Caroline Green was a great mystery with a paranormal twist.

I've Had Bad Experiences - Recommend Me Some Books!

Fantasy

This is a genre I still don't read a lot of, and when I do it's more urban fantasy and low fantasy. I'd love to dive headfirst into stuff with more dragons and myths and legends. My fantasy reading is pretty limited but I enjoyed The Hobbit, and growing up I adored Harry Potter and the Artemis Fowl books.

Romance

I like a good love story, but I usually enjoy it a lot more when it's a sub-plot rather than the main focus. Intense relationships tend to anger me, and I don't need all that sexy-time that adult and new adult romances are filled with. A lot of the contemporary stuff I read has cute fluffy love stories, but is there anything more passionate that I will love? I don't know. Help me out!

What genres do you love to read? Do you have any recommendations? Let me know in the comments!