Top Ten Tuesday: What Makes Me Pick Up a Book?

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created by the lovely folks at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they're "particularly fond of lists" and since I also enjoy lists, I've decided to participate in this fun feature.

It's rewind week on Top Ten Tuesday! There are a lot of topics that I've missed out on, either because I didn't know about TTT when they were first done or because I was too busy to put a post together the first time around. I remember reading the posts in April 2013 for words/topics that made people pick up a book. I thought it was really interesting and wished I had done it myself! You can see the links from that week here. So, thanks to the rewind week, here are ten words or topics that will catch my eye when I'm browsing for books. What makes you pick up a book?

mid-twenties

I've looked for characters who were in their early to mid-twenties long before the emergence of New Adult. The age that catches my eye has grown as I have (now I'm happy to see a character who is 26 or 27, especially) but I'm happy to read about anyone in their twenties.

publishing, librarian, event/wedding planner, travel writer, journalist, authors

A character who works in any of these jobs is probably going to be well liked by me. If I hear that one of these professions or industries is in the book, I'll eagerly read the synopsis to see if it's something I'm interested in.

tall

I'm tall (6') so I love when I find out the heroine is tall (5'8"+) as well!

small town

I'm a total small town girl so I love reading novels that take place outside of major cities.

any sport, but especially basketball and baseball

I grew up playing basketball and you can almost always find me watching Blue Jays games so I love when either sports show up in a novel. Really, I'm happy whenever any athletics are focused on but these are my favourites.

cupcakes/ice cream/chocolates

I'm a sucker for any story that takes place in a cupcake/ice cream/chocolate shop. Happily, these stories are frequent in chick lit - my fave genre.

best friends

I love a good story about BFFs. I'm lucky to have a few ridiculously close girlfriends and I like reading books that feature characters who have great besties too.

boy and girl (adults or teens) are friends and then they discover they have feelings for each other

One of my favourite type of story to read about is when a female and male have been friends for years and all of a sudden one or both of them realize they have more romantic feelings for the other. There are all sorts of ways to make this story unique and I love seeing what authors can do with it.

Scotland

My family is from Scotland (my last name is Stewart...is it really a surprise?) so I love when I see that a book takes place there. I've never been so, for now, I have to be content with traveling there in books.

fairy tales
Thanks to Once Upon a Time, I've become a little obsessed with fairy tale retellings. There aren't a lot for adults so I really need to find some time to check out some of the great YA novels that other bloggers can't stop talking about.