It’s been ages since I did a book tag, but a while back Morgan from The Bookish Beagle tagged me to do the Book Cake tag. Books, cake… seems like the perfect tag for me, doesn’t it?

So, we’re going to build a book cake! We’ve got a couple of ingredients (flour, butter, eggs, icing, sprinkles and the cherry on top), and they’re all linked to prompts, which will be the basis for my book picks. You know, your basic book tag – it doesn’t really need any explanation.

Let’s get to it!

---

Flour

a book that is slow to start off but really picked up as you went along

For this one I’d have to pick Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, which I read earlier this year. I was immediately intrigued by the prologue, but then it took much too long for the story to really get going, in my opinion. Although I loved the writing style and did like the story, I was mostly thinking “when’s this thing going to start?” for the first 100 pages.

---

Butter 

a book that had really rich and great plot

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass in the USA) seems like a good pick for this one. It’s the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I read it in 2015 for a university course. One of the things I loved most about this book is that so much happens in it – it’s just climax after climax. A lot of the plot happens as preparation for the second novel, The Subtle Knife, which I loved even more. There’s traveling between worlds, there’s daemons, flying witches, armoured polar bears and some very evil characters that need to be stopped. Side note: Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of the third and final book, The Amber Spyglass. That didn’t curb my enthusiasm about the first two, though!

---

Eggs 

a book you thought would be bad but actually turned out to be quite enjoyable

This one’s a bit more difficult, because I don’t really read books that I think will be bad – because why would I? Plus, if I do think they’re bad, I’m usually right. The only book I can think of is On the Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher. I by no means thought it would be bad, but I also wasn’t expecting all that much, even though I was excited to read. It turned out to be a lovely read, though. “Quite enjoyable” is a very accurate description.

---

Sugar 

a very sweet book

Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan is the perfect book for this one! The story’s about Polly, who opens up a bakery on the island of Mount Polbearne – does it get any sweeter than that? Although she faces quite a bit hardship, Polly ends up on top and builds a life for herself on the island. It’s a story with a whole lot of heart, and the baked goods make everything just that extra little bit more sweet and wonderful.

---

Icing

a book that you’ve read that covered every single element that you really enjoy in books 

I recently binge read The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater and that series definitely fits this description. It’s got wonderful characters – all of whom are flawed and complex, interesting friendships and family relationships, humour, an extremely creative plot with lots of action, it’s got sadness, love and sacrifice – and above all amazing writing. This series blew my mind! If I’d have to pick just one (it does say “a book“, after all), I think I’d have to go with The Raven Boys, simply because that one’s my favourite out of the four.

---

Sprinkles 

a book series you can turn to for a little pick me up

I don’t think this is going to come as a surprise to anyone: the Harry Potter series. Duh. This is what I read when I’m sad, or when I need something that’s familiar and comforting. They’re my favourite books. I’d love to get a little more creative, but there’s really no other possible answer to this question for me! I just finished a reread of Goblet of Fire last night, and it was as wonderful as ever – although that ending is dark.

---

Cherry on top

favourite book this year so far

That’s a tough one! I’ve only read 15 books so far this year and while I enjoyed them all, there isn’t one among them that stood out as a new favourite, except for the Raven Cycle. I don’t want to count rereads, though, and I already read the first two books last summer, so I’m going to go with The Raven King, which is the fourth book in the series. I also really enjoyed Nutshell by Ian McEwan and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, but I wouldn’t count them as favourites.

---

Yum!

And that’s it! Seems like a delicious cake to me. Since this tag is already a couple of years old, I’m not going to tag anyone. But if you want to do this tag (it’s really fun!), consider yourself tagged!

What would be some of your answers to these questions? Let me know in the comments!