I recently hosted a giveaway on my BookTok channel to celebrate almost 5000 followers, but I put my own twist on the prizes, because I’m ~*different*~ (just in case it’s not clear, that was meant to be facetious).
For two winners, I recommended a new book based on a survey I had them fill out about their reading preferences, and sent them a copy of the book I recommended, plus another book of their choice (just in case they didn’t like the one I recommended… I’m very insecure about that). And for five runners-up, I had them fill out the same survey and I recommended them a book, as well.
The book recommendations are in the form of a letter that looks something like this:
I also sent all the winners and runners-up a copy of the October issue of my newsletter, All Things Bookish. If you want to subscribe to my newsletter, or get your own monthly personalized book recommendations, you can do so through my Patreon!
And, because I know your curiosity is eating you up (facetious again), here are all the books I recommended to the winners of my Giveaway!
Winner: Ashley
Recommendation: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Why: Ashley responded to the survey saying she loved contemporary romance. She also linked her Goodreads profile, which was very helpful, because it turns out that two or three of the books I was initially thinking of recommending, she’s already read! I didn’t see this one on her list, though, and I think she’ll like it because it has a similar tone to books by Christina Lauren and Helena Hunting that she’s rated highly.
Winner: Tatiana
Recommendation: Burned by Magic by Jasmine Walt
Why: Tatiana listed three books she recently read and loved as Tiger’s Curse, Hush, Hush, and The Mortal Instruments series, all in the realm of fantasy and paranormal romance. Burned by Magic is the first in Walt’s Baine Chronicles series, which ticks all those boxes, and I don’t see enough people talking about it.
Runner-Up: Vivi
Recommendation: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
Why: I haven’t been shy about my love of this book, and now I just really want everyone to read it, to be honest! But also, Vivi did list some of the books she’s read and loved recently as The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black (the first book of which is The Cruel Prince, fyi), the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas, and The Golden Trilogy by K. M. Robinson, all of which are all enemies-to-lovers fantasy romances, so I feel pretty confident about this recommendation.
Runner-Up: Ryce
Recommendation: The Healer’s Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson
Why: Ryce said that she enjoys romance and fantasy, and that she’s curious about and/or wants to read more medieval historical fiction, royal romance, and forbidden romance. This retelling of “The Sleeping Beauty” literally fits all of those criteria, so I think she’ll like it!
Runner-Up: Morgan
Recommendation: Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Why: Morgan mentioned in her survey response that she’s been on a reading hiatus recently, so I thought recommending something relatively light and compulsively readable would be a good idea. She also mentioned that she likes smutty romance (her words, not mine, haha) and she’s curious about historical fiction. Bringing Down the Duke isn’t super heavy on smut, but I think it is a great introduction to historical romance.
Runner-Up: Rachel
Recommendation: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Why: This Rachel is in fact Rachel Amber Bloom, whom I’m friends with through social media and who was a guest on my podcast. By some strange chance she was one of the runners-up! I still sent her the survey, but I knew even before she filled it out what book I wanted to recommend for her. Rachel is a HUGE Star Trek fan and I know she enjoys reading science fiction, as well, and I’ve seen a lot of comparisons made between Angry Planet and a certain science fiction television show about the crew of a ship traveling through space and having adventures.
Congratulations to all my giveaway winners and runners-up! I hope you like the books I recommended!
And if you, dear reader, would like your own personalized book recommendations every month, you can subscribe through my Patreon! (I think I already said that earlier in the post, but I’m too lazy to go back and check.) (Okay I just went back and checked and I did, but I’m not taking this out.)
Or if you’d like to enter potential future giveaways, you can follow me on TikTok! My handle is @rhondatoksaboutbooks. Clever, I know.
Happy reading!
Rhonda With A Book 