Confessions of a Mood Reader & Beauty and the Beast Recommendations to Match Your Mood

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I see you there - You planful readers, you, who make meticulous TBR (to be read) lists, create lovely bullet journals with color-coded pictograms, and actually stick to their reading lists.

I really want to be one of you.

But… I'm not.  I'm not swayed by bookstagrams and I'm way out of book fashion.  I'm 100% mood reader.

I love my organized library wall of books and my toppling stacks of TBRs.  I aspire to be intentional and organized, and then we roll into the weekend and I want a cozy romantasy or spicy shifters.  We're back to the work week and I start two chapters into a non-fiction book that will be transformational, I'm sure, then back to what I was reading before the weekend mood ripped me away.

Ok, I'm just gonna own it… and I have a few confessions.


I Cheat on My Books

Yes, I'm saying it out loud.

Normal mode:  I read a fiction book and a non-fiction for development.  I will also likely be reading something for my morning quiet time routine.  3 books = normal.

But lately, I may stop in the middle of a book (!) and start a different one.  It's not a DNF - it's a mood.  And even worse… I'm doing it with non-fiction, too.  Sometimes my current reading pile tips over when I set my teacup on it.

It's a commitment issue.


Impulse Buys are My Love Language

📖👜  Sale at World of Books or Bookshop.org?  Yes, I'm in. 
🧳📖  Books have become my travel souvenirs.
📚 📚  I call stacks of books decorative.  

Is this a problem?


Mood Swings, Meet Genre Swings

Yesterday I'm into a swoony romantasy.  Today I'm ready for grimdark.  Tomorrow it's a cookbook I’ll never use.  

What's with these mood swings?  I feel like my reading life is less “organized library” and more “chaotic buffet where I pile my plate with three of the latest fantasy titles, a classic I always meant to read, and that random nonfiction book about personality tests I suddenly had to have.”  

Is this you, too?  /sigh


Beauty and the Beast Tales to Match Your Mood

Fellow mood readers, how about Beauty and the Beast-inspired recommendations to match your mood?

Beauty and the Beast retellings

If you're in the 📖 mood for a…

💋 Contemporary mafia retelling with an overbearing alpha male and plenty of spice, choose Beautiful Beast by Neva Altaj.

🌹 Cozy, clean historical romance with light magic you might enjoy Poppies and Roses by Allison Norfolk.

❤️ Sassy, mystery-solving FMC set in a whimsical Victorian, steampunk-ish setting, you'll love Masque by W.R. Gingell.

🏰 Witty banter and a practical gardener battling an impractical magical curse, let me introduce you to Byrony and Roses by T. Kingfisher.

🐉 Traditional period romance set in the Highlands with a broody Beast and spirited Beauty, give The Bride and the Beast by Teresa Medeiros a try.

I'm interested to know which mood you choose!  

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