Book Talk: Birthstone Book Tag

Since my twentieth birthday is next week, I thought this would be the perfect time to do the Birthstone Book Tag. The tag was created back in February and that's actually when I started working on this post, but I thought I'd save it for something special. This tag was all over BookTube so I had to follow the paper trail to find the original video by Jay G. The concept for this tag is actually very creative and the prompts really suit the birthstones. That's probably enough talking from me; I'm sure you're simply dying to know what these prompts are and what I answered for them so I'll leave you to it!

January

GARNET: Associated with warding off negative forces and dark energies. Name a book with the darkest/evilest character you can think of.

Off the top of your head, this seems like a prompt that wouldn't be too difficult. Lots of books have evil villains, after all. For some reason, this prompt was the one I ended up having the most trouble with. The books that I thought had an evil villain were already somewhere else on this list or not evil enough? I had it in my mind that this "darkest/evilest character" had to be something fantastical. In the end, that's what I decided to go with. I chose the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because she turns innocent beings into stone, withholds Christmas, and lures unassuming children into her clutches with Turkish delight. That's straight up malevolent.

February 

AMETHYST: Purple is associated with royalty. Name a book with regal qualities. You can base this off characters of choice or the king of all books.

Another difficult prompt to fulfill. It's impossible for me to choose the king of all books and I feel like I read a lot of books with royal characters. The catch is that all the royals are not what they're expected to be. It'd be a boring story otherwise. Isra and Gem from Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay break the mold of breaking the mold. Isra actually is royalty, but she has always been an outsider in her own kingdom. It isn't until she meets and falls in love with Gem, a true outsider, that they truly step into their regal roles as a pair, ruling a new world side by side.

March 

AQUAMARINE: Washed out. Name a "wishy washy" character; a character that is not strong or a follower.

As much as I love The Selection by Kiera Cass, there's no denying America is one of the most irresolute and decidedly "wishy washy" characters out there. She isn't a follower, per se, and it's not that she isn't strong, either. She just really cannot make a decision. That's something I totally identify with. While this quality was something that turned a lot of people off from the series, I had no problem with it. Most days, the only thing I can be sure of is how indecisive I am, and I feel like the same thing can be said for America.

April 

DIAMOND: A diamond in the rough. Name a book that you loved but is not well known.

I'm going to raise you one better and give you an entire series. Honestly, I was a little bit embarrassed to be reading this series when I first picked it up because the covers are so cringe but after the first couple chapters, I was so hooked that I didn't even care. I'm talking about the Elemental Series by Brigid Kemmerer. Four brothers each with a power linked to the elements and some awesome girlfriends (and a boyfriend!) to match. The action in these books are so tense and the dangers are so real. Then add on to that a healthy dose of romance to satisfy my ever-present need for adorable relationships. I cannot recommend this series enough, which is nice because I've never heard anything about it anywhere. How did I even find it...? Regardless, it is most definitely a diamond in the rough.

May 

EMERALD: Said to balance energy. Name two characters who balance each other well.

I am over the moon that this prompt is for my month. Not only is it a really lovely prompt, but the characters I chose for this birthstone is my ultimate otp, Percabeth. Percy and Annabeth (from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, of course) are opposites in some ways and so on the same wavelength in others. Reading how they fight together as one in pretty much any battle (once they've acknowledged their feelings for each other) to see how well they balance one another. They are the best pair to ever grace the pages of any book I have ever read. The ultimate team. #relationshipgoals

June 

PEARL: Associated with loyalty. Name a character who is loyal to the end.

There are a whole load of loyal characters out there and a lot of the first ones that came to mind were either already featured on this list or in a book/series that has already been mentioned. One character that is hard to ignore, however, is Liam from Guardian by Alex London, the sequel to Proxy. This is another lesser known series, but Liam's undying devotion to Syd is more than enough to earn him his place in this list.

July 

RUBY: Blood red. Name a book that made your blood boil; one that made you angry.

I don't find myself reading a lot of books that anger me so I had to do a little searching. The ones that came to mind first didn't necessarily make me angry, just frustrated because they were poorly written. I ended up going with The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski, the second book in the Winner's Trilogy. The whole book was a series of missed opportunities and miscommunication. Sometimes I just wanted to strangle them so they'd stay put. Just five minutes more and the two of them would've crossed paths and they could've talked. Imagine that. I never wanted to tear my hair out while reading as often as I did while reading this book. Not gonna lie, though, I still loved this book, as infuriating as it was.

August 

PERIDOT: Pale green; paling in comparison to other gems. Name a supporting character who you like better than the main character.

Before I finished reading this prompt I already had Iko from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer in mind. Of course, this means I didn't take into consideration the "better than the main character" part. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love all the characters in this saga but Iko's sarcasm makes her stand out. Times are tough and it's refreshing to have a sense of humor thrown in there. In terms of memorability and sassiness, Iko takes the cake.

September 

SAPPHIRE: Blue like the calming ocean. Name a book that had a calming affect on you.

I usually read novels and those always have a lot of ups and downs to keep it interesting. The problem with that is that interesting does not equate to calming. One book that does come to mind is The Little Prince. It reminds me that it's okay to be an adult but not be grown up, which is something that I need to hear at this stage of my life. It certainly gives me a sense of relief and soothes my nerves when life gets to be a little much. Anything that throws adulthood (and the anxieties that come with it) to the wind is considered calming in my book.

October 

OPAL: Iridescent. Name an iridescent book; a book with a beautiful, shiny cover or a quirky/colorful character.

I don't own many books so when I read this prompt, I knew it'd be one that I'd have to do some research for. Turns out, I was reading Passenger by Alexandra Bracken at the time and the title was in a pretty (slightly iridescent) silver so I decided to go with that. Since then I've come across a few other iridescent covers but I wanted to feature Passenger, since it's an amalgamation of nearly all of my favorite things, the shiny title font being one of them.

November 

TOPAZ: Associated with resilience. Name a book with a character who rises to the top in a time of adversity.

As I've been reading the Red Rising trilogy recently, it shouldn't be a shock that I've chosen Darrow to fill this slot. I mean, I don't want to give anything away, but he proves time and time again that he is the definition of resilience and rise to the top in a time of adversity he does. He goes from literally being a slave to being the top of the top class. It's an incredible journey and there are people constantly trying to tear him down. It works, a lot of the time, but that doesn't stop him from working his way back up.

December 

BLUE ZIRCON: Associated with friendship. Name a book with a friendship you want to be a part of.

You've probably heard me gush about the Starbound trilogy many times so chances are you know what's coming. Across these three books there are six protagonists and they're all so different from each other and yet they all mesh together so well. I clearly remembering reading the final book and experiencing this overwhelming feeling of admiration and adoration for these characters. I felt like I was the new freshman who had the privilege of being invited to hang out with the cool seniors. I'm getting giddy at the prospect.


Putting this list together was so much fun! This made me motivated to work on bringing down my to-read list so that I have more books to choose from for book tags. Do you agree with the characters and titles I've chosen for these prompts? Are there answers that you think would fit better? Let me know in the comments below! Consider this me tagging you. I'd love to hear what book or character each of these prompts sparked in your mind!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette