When I first started reading “adult” books I found myself drawn to Crime novels. I had always found Psychology interesting and I couldn’t help but love the whodunnit aspect of the books. I also found a love for the literary classics, Harper Lee, Jane Austen and Jules Verne. However, after reaching around 25 I found myself branching out more, and thus began my overwhelming love for Fantasy and Sci-Fi. I honestly don’t think there are 6 genres that I love so this post will focus on my top 3. What are your go-to genres, and do you find that, like me, you stick to the same genres or do you branch out? Let me know in the comments.

Six for Sunday is run by Steph over at A Little but A Lot and you should definitely go check her amazing blog out.

Crime

As I stated Crime was the first “Adult” style genre that I found myself drawn to. I started studying Psychology at college and carried it on to University, and with it I found an overwhelming interest in the criminal mind. I thoroughly enjoyed books where you could follow the investigation along with the characters, and no one does this better than Jeffrey Deaver. His clues throughout the books and literal whiteboards full of evidence, really help to make you feel as though you’re solving the crime along with the detectives.

Another author whose books I love are Linda Fairstein, though all set in New York, each book has a different historical focus. Whether its a building or an area, each book delves so deeply into a part of New York’s history that you cant help but learn new tid bits of information as you go along.

I also found myself interested in True Crime books, mainly those by profiler Robert Ressler. Though these books are not for the feint-hearted, they give you an amazing insight into some of the minds of the worlds most infamous killers.

Fantasy

It was quite late into my 20’s when I first classed myself as a Fantasy reader. Though I had read the odd novel growing up: The Hobbit, Harry Potter etc. It wasn’t until I picked up ADSOM by Victoria Schwab that my love for Fantasy really grew. I dove headfirst into Red London and fell in love with the characters and plot. When I’d finished I went on Amazon and ordered nearly every book it recommended after reading…

I was not disappointed! I ended up with the Six of Crows duology, Throne of Glass and Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy, all of which are now some of my favourite reads. I loved having the chance to discover new worlds, some with different types of magic, or some with none at all, of being able to meet new creatures, the mythological and the made-up, and most of all the ability to learn all about different cultures folklore and fairy-tales from books like The Bear and The Nightingale and Rebel of the Sands.

I love both YA and Adult Fantasy, and am hugely grateful to Victoria for inadvertently welcoming me to this world. I now class Fantasy as my favourite genre and it includes some of my all time favourite reads.

Sci-Fi

This was a genre I was wholly new to, but a few books in the genre kept appearing on my recommendations page on Amazon so I thought I would give it a go. I started with 1984 after a recommendation by a friend and couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. The whole dystopian future idea (even if it was disturbingly similar to our current political climate) really gripped me and I was hooked.

I ended up buying Ready Player One and The Martian, two completely different books, but two of my all time favourites. I enjoyed finding all the Easter Eggs in RPO and just loved the overall plot. The Martian had me in tears from laughter, I did not expect from the synopsis for it to be as funny as it was. These books really got me invested in this genre and I’ve found myself picking up more books based in it. I adore Sci-Fi for letting me encounter new worlds, to let me envision what our future might entail and to meet new species, some friendly and some not.

When I found out that Brandon Sanderson, one of my favourite Fantasy writers was writing a Sci-Fi book, I couldn’t get my hands on Skyward fast enough. I loved the premise behind it, his ability to create a whole new universe, and It was one of the first times I had encountered an A.I. M-Bot became one of my favourite characters and introduced me to a whole new character style.

So these are my all time favourite genres. I do dabble in general fiction, classics and Romance but I always find myself drawn back to these amazing genres.