Bath & Body Works Book Tag

Hiya! I just came back from the beach yesterday and felt like posting a somewhat summer-y post today. I was tagged by the sweet Analee (thank you!) to do the Bath & Body Works Book Tag, a tag Analee actually created herself (I don’t know how I didn’t realize that until I published this). For those of you that don’t know, Bath & Body Works, is a big chain store here in the U.S. (and I think Canada as well) that sells a lot of, well, bath and body products in various scents and fragrances. So yeah, that should explain the random fragrance names before the questions.

Okay, so let’s get to the actual tag! I’ll do my best to just choose one book for each answer (you guys know how I always manage to cheat with these tags)!

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1. Pure Paradise: A book that was simply perfection.
Perfection? Oh gosh, that holds a lot of weight. For me, it’s The Truth About Forever (no surprise). This was the book that got me into reading Sarah Dessen, now one of my favorite authors. And I love everything about it. The characters (all of them), the story line, the comedic relief, the swoon worthy male MC, the overall deeper message, the lyrical writing, and, yeah, I could go on… It still remains my all time favorite ya contemporary novel, I think. Also it’s such a perfect summer read-all of Sarah Dessen books are.

2. Sweet Pea: A romance/contemporary novel that you really enjoyed.
Instead of choosing my two favorite contemporary reads from this year (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Summer of Chasing Mermaids), I want to share a book that I have yet to talk about on Xingsings: Before I Fall. This was my first Lauren Oliver book and I remember reading it when it was first released and absolutely enjoying it. I haven’t read Oliver’s other books for some reason… I’ll fix that one day I’m sure!

3. Fresh Strawberries: A book you really enjoyed that came out this year.
I started to explore the nonfiction realm this year and really enjoyed The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly, a frank memoir about Dr. Matt McCarthy’s experience as an intern at Columbia hospital. I practically breezed through this in a day. The medical terminology was surprisingly easy to follow, and the anecdotal flow was exceptionally well done. It honestly felt more like a fictional read than an autobiography. A lot of serious, deep health related topics were explored but there were also some humorous moments.

4. Warm Vanilla Sugar: A character and/or book that made you feel all warm and smiley.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens most definitely. Honestly, I feel like I could’ve answered all these questions with Simon’s story so that says a lot. I tried avoid choosing this because I’ve already raved about how cute this was on multiple occasions. If you’d like to read my review (that was totally written in fangirl mode) this link is for you.

5. Paris Amour: A couple you majorly ship together.
Haha, I have like a gazillion OTPs but I pick Clace (Clary/Jace) just because I love The Mortal Instruments and, though I really really really wanted to knock Clary upside the head, I loved this couple. This was probably the only instance where I literally felt frustrated and infuriated when something got in the way of a fictional couple’s relationship, lol. Also Jace was my first fictional boyfriend if I had to choose, so you can say I’m pretty biased. (And I’m sure I’ve mentioned my love for TMI and Cassandra Clare many times on this blog. So much for being non-repetitive with this tag.)

6. Dancing Waters: A book that takes place on a beach/perfect beach read.
Ahh, I seriously have so many great memories with this series. I want to say I began reading these in middle school and kept up with them until high school (there’s only 14 books). Now, looking back, a lot of these study abroad stories were ridiculously unrealistic and cheesy but they were great fun at the time. Girl Overboard came to mind because it was one of the better written stories set primarily at sea.

7. I ❤ Cake Books: Favorite book/character.
Well I’ve already mentioned my favorite books through my Top Ten Tuesday posts so one of my favorite characters is Annabeth Chase. She’s a kickbutt heroine in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series (I’ve finished PJ but I think I’m only up to Mark of Athena for HoO). She’s also intelligent, well-read, and strong. So yeah, she just seems like an all-around cool character! And whoa, guys, when did this cover change happen?? (Have you been using this cover, Carolyn, because if you have I apparently didn’t notice till now!)

8. Winter Candy Apple: A book set around Christmas or during winter.
If I have ever told you I have never read any John Green well I have technically lied, because Let It Snow is an anthology with a John Green short story. I want to say John Green was the closing piece and my least favorite of the three, so that could be why his contribution wasn’t so memorable for me…  And this cover is so much prettier than the one I own (the white/red/green one with the present); I’m learning a lot of new covers through this tag, lol.

9. Beautiful Day: A book with an unusual/interesting/appealing setting.
Unusual setting? I have a lot of those. And I choose Uglies (and that entire trilogy). That was my first dystopian read and I really enjoyed it, which may be an unpopular opinion, I think. This has received a lot of mixed reviews, especially now that there’s a lot more ya dystopian series out on the market (in my opinion). The concept of the story was unique (but then again many sci-fi books are like that). And when did these become dual bindups? Man, am I behind on these cover changes…

10. Dazzling Diamonds: Gorgeous cover(s).
There are simply too many of these, so I will pick a title from my latest haul (yeah… book buying ban didn’t work out in July either… at least the majority of them are ebooks this time!): Magonia. There seems to be so many mixed reviews on this book as well, and after reading some bad ones I was so sure I was not going to pick it up despite the gorgeous, breathtaking cover. But never say never, right? Besides, this was on sale for two bucks, too good of a steal to not download onto my Kindle (that’s how I always reason my buys, cheap=instantly harmless).

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I tag – 

• Aimal at Bookshelves & Paperbacks
• Alysyn at Reinreads
• Anjie at Love Thy Shelf
• Ashley at Dreamingthroughliterature
• Carolyn at A Hundred Thousand Stories
• Casey at Inspired by the Page
• Erika at Erika in Bookventureland
• Kelly at Dancing through the Pages
• Lauren at SERIESous Book Reviews
• Maria at Big City Bookworm
• Shelby at Bookish Royalty
• Sydney at Books and Stuff
• Wesaun at Oreo & Books

After looking up international locations on google, I want to say that Bath and Body Works stores are only found in the U.S. territories and Canada (correct me if I’m wrong), so I tried my best tagging some fellow American and Canadian gals (I feel sexist leaving my handful of male blogger friends out this time but this kind of seems like a girly tag). But, of course, you don’t have to have a B&BW in the area or be female to do this tag, so if you’d like to participate I tag YOU. I know, I’m not that original with the generic “I tag all”… but yeah, join in the fun if you’re interested!

And thanks again for tagging me, Analee! ^.^

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Have a lovely Friday, everyone!