Oddly Specific Things I Love In Books Tag

Well, my lovelies...

(And speaking of lovelies, isn't that graphic just too pretty?? Something about it just makes me happy...)

Can you guess it? Well, of course you can, I'll bet you've gotten rather good at guessing things like this. Especially when they come with pictures at the top of them that have a couple of descriptive words followed by "Tag."

So yes. You are quite correct. We have been tagged by the loveliest of Lizzie Hexam's, (apparently I have a Thing for the word Lovely today, but it is Accurate here :P) and though we have been shamefully slow in writing our post, even going so far as to go on vacation and not even take it... (At least one of us XD That part was not Julie's fault...) We are delighted to tell you (for the second time,) that we have been tagged for the Oddly Specific Things I Love In Books tag! The very one you see the graphic for above, I kid you not.

But anyway. I'm having too much fun with my words here ;)
Allow me to get back on track, and bring my words with me... *Drags a reluctant handful of straggling words determinedly towards the train station*

Allow me to introduce...

The Outline (As the word "rules" lends much too straightlaced an air to things ;)

1. Link back to who tagged you.
2. Share the Graphic on your blog
3. Share the Outline on your post.
4. Share a detail you love about the season of summer into fall.
5. List at least 7 random/ specific things YOU love to read about in books, big or small.
6. Tag 7 people who would enjoy taking part/whose answers you are curious to read!


Welllll... About this XD I imagine a few of you can already guess just how many of these guidelines I am going to be successful at upholding, so there isn't much point in elaborating further... But, (and I say this to the Others In The Crowd,) do let it be known that at least one of these Definitely Not Rules is going to come out of this experience feeling rather bent and not a little disheveled XD Care to hazard a guess which? The answer to the riddle will be lurking down around the lower regions of this post, so keep your eyes peeled and a chair on hand to sink into if it so happens that you were not expecting this outcome :P

But for now, without further ado...


Emi's Answers...


• Happily Ever Afters where you get to see the After, and the story doesn't come up short after the wedding... (Am I copying Lizzie? Yes. And also Cecilia, if we're counting. But only because we happen to think alike in this area, and that makes it permissible, I believe.) Because we love the characters, and while Cinderella endings are certainly beautiful and happy for the majority of the people involved, you don't get to see them being happy together afterwards. And we want to.


• Furthermore, couples who work things out, and don't give up in a rough patch. Because the world needs more of that, and also, it is Heartwarming.


• Families that clearly enjoy each other's company.
Grace Smith Richmond in particular has a wonderful knack for writing this sort of story... And something about it just warms the deepest sort of cockles a heart has got. She shows so beautifully that you don't have to have an abundance of money or connections to be rich beyond the average millionaire's strata.


• This one isn't quite so much a story thing as it is a writing thing... But it goes in the lot because the two are semi-inextricably linked. And it is this. Beautifully executed rhythms of the written word... I'm not quite sure how to explain it, (isn't that just the luck, too, with a topic like this one. *shakes her head, tsking at herself*) but one can just Tell when words have been put exactly right, and it delights the scribbler in one to enormous degrees. 

• Quaint little houses with personalities, and inhabitants that you just want to pack up in your suitcase and take home with you because you can't live without them now that you know they exist.

• When the author takes something entirely ordinary and everyday, and makes it somehow a thing of wit and charm and extreme ticklishness. Funny, you know, and interesting without relying in the least on dramatic landscaping and startling personages... Not to mention showing the beauty in the commonest things and circumstances so prettily. That is one of my very favourite sorts.

And now for Answer No. 7. Dear me, my thinking cap is yielding me no results... Hmmm, now what shall it be🤔

Ahh yes. 

• Character driven stories. DEFINITELY character driven stories. Not so much for me is the grand adventure and adrenaline rush kind of a thing, (unless it is combined with a thoroughly alive cast of persons, in which case it is Different. But not just for the sake of the thing.) it's all about the people.

And now shall I begin on the detail that was requested? I think so. Only it might work just as well to make it a thoroughly wintery one, since summer-into-fall was... *counts on her fingers* Well, quite a long time ago already XD

And let it be this. The beautiful softness of the winter colours... Everything seems to be a wonderfully silvery soft pastel that you simply can't find any other time of the year... It's in everything, as if winter got its very own collection of colours... And I love them <3

Julie's Answers

Oi, why does this seem so hard? XD But I shall do my best and I shall be perfectly honest, so here's hoping y'all don't end up thinking I'm nuts afterwards...

1. Physical Touch
Have you heard of the classic five love languages? I think this one is mine. A hug, holding hands, lacing fingers together, wrapping arms around someone's shoulders, holding them while they cry, tilting someone's chin up so they can see their face, wiping their tears away, any kind of touch...

2. Vulnerability
I'm guessing that's the best way to name this... it goes different ways. When a character is kidnapped and tied up or sick or hurt and can't move, and then someone else rescues and/or takes care of them...

3. Stories inside of Stories
It always feels like a special treat this way... when a character writes or tells a story and we, the readers, get to read it too... that always makes it extra awesome.

4. English Humor
Of the Dickens variety, mostly. I'll have you know I laughed myself to tears over Pickwick Papers...

5. This is a funny one and I dunno how exactly to explain it, but when a young man is referred to as 'boy', 'kid', or 'son' by another character XD 

(I half wonder if this is cuz I'm still stuck in that transition period between teenager and adult, although goodness knows I've been an adult long enough, lol, but the guys my age then are men, and it's too hard for me to think of them as anything else but boys cuz I'm still a girl, right? XD)

6. Rags to Riches! 

Yessss, when a character is poor and miserable and barely getting by and the next thing you know they're being instated in a mansion or castle, given lots of gorgeous clothes, being taken to a ball, and introduced to a potential love interest...

7. This sort of goes along with the vulnerability thing, really... but when a big, tough guy suddenly opens up and shows his heart, and he's kind and gentle and sweet, and when he feels safe enough to share things that have hurt him... idk where I'm going with this, but you get the general idea... 

Oh, and the best thing about summer turning into fall is NO MORE HEAT!!! Lol... I could come up with something more eloquent, but it's time I finished this already... (Also I despise heat)

And there you have it! Fourteen of our favourite (Ahem, it's "favorite", Emi) (Ahem to you to, because NO IT ISN'T. That just looks like there's a letter missing XD) things to find in books... Do any of them match your own, or do you have your very own list of things? Because IF you do, I'd love to hear about them in the  comments section! (Gee, all I need to do now is say "why don't you write and tell us about it? Our address is—" and I'd sound just like Chris from AIO😜 But still, it is very true. I imagine that's why she says it at the end of every episode :P) And, as this tag has taken more than a few rides on the blogging merry-go-round already, I think we'll say we simply tag the interested passerby, (you see where a Not Rule could get a little rumpled up in here,) and beg said passersby very prettily (or at least to the best of our abilities,) to let us have a peek at their answers below if they feel inclined to join the fun!

And that is it, at very long last! We're awfully sorry it's taken us such perfect ages, it kept getting caught under piles of stuff, and out of sight is not the first thing to get done, unfortunately... (And that one last question seemed to take a fiendish delight in not giving me an answer for it for the longest time, very rude of it.) It's my fault, guys, sorry... don't let Emi tell you otherwise XD

Thanks again most awfully for tagging us, Lizzie, and we hope we can do the same for you someday! (she says, Shirley Temple having suddenly said this exact thing in her mind, and it Fits ;)

Until Next Time and Au Revoir, ye kindreds!

~The Idlewood Girls