Guilty pleasures – we all have them, whether we admit to them or not.

I’m going to admit to seven of mine because I’m a fan of oversharing and hey, these are things that make me happy when it comes right down to it, so why shouldn’t I?

1. Slightly terrible sci-fi/urban fantasy TV shows.

Primeval, Grimm, Torchwood – if it has mythical beasts/dinosaurs/Gods and angels/future creatures/aliens or anything similar, then I’m all in. If it has slightly gawky, adorable nerd characters that are vaguely awkward then I will think they are adorable and lap up every. single. second. of cheese that they provide.

The episode of Primeval with the Velociraptors in the shopping centre and Connor tranqs Abbey? My favourite.

The Stopwatch episode of Torchwood with Ianto/Jack? I am mush.

And let’s not get into how in love I am with Cpt. Sean Reynard from Grimm because frankly it’s a bit obscene.

2. Teeny-pop.

I know S Club Juniors’ albums off by heart. Still. (And all of S Club 7’s, too of course).

I know more One Direction lyrics than I will willingly admit to.

It’s cheesy, it’s lighthearted, it’s fluffy, it’s bouncy… and it makes me smile and it makes any day brighter.

3. Slightly-dubious paranormal soft-porn novels.

Anyone who ever looks at my Goodreads profile has probably figured this one out by now. The volume of free or almost-free ‘Paranormal Romance’ novels that I consume is bordering on alarming. But there’s something highly entertaining and feel good about them that i can’t quite put my finger on. Sometimes they’re so terribly written that I give up, and sometimes they aren’t terrible but they have so many cliches and bizarre descriptive choices that I find myself chuckling away in public and looking like a dork. (Yes, I read bad soft-porn in public, I am a terrible person. Or something.)

My favourite best-worst bits get texted to Liberty who I happen to know also shares this dubious reading habit. We often discuss author’s word choices when it comes to describing body parts and saucy moments because sometimes they are just plain hilarious and other times they are quite frankly a little terrifying.

This guilty pleasure makes me laugh, a lot. I must confess that these soft-porn books very rarely make me feel anything near sexy, but they do make me feel happy and they do almost always have Happy Ever Afters and that’s sometimes exactly what you need when the Real World is being depressing.

4. Pepsi Max Cherry.

One of my mottos in life is ‘It’s better have a little bit of the full fat version, than loads of the ‘skinny’ one’ – because, let’s face it – sugar is bad for you, but the chemicals and crap they replace it with in diet drinks are far, far worse.

So I always just go all out and drink the standard ones if I’m having a fizzy drink… apart from if Pepsi Max Cherry is on offer. And then I will drink that until it comes out of my ears.

I’m probably just hopelessly addicted to some terrible cherry-flavoured chemical that is rotting my brain, but I have no resistance to it at all. It’s just too good to resist.

5. Corgis

I love dogs – so long as they are ‘proper dogs’. I.e. they are bigger than a foot stool and don’t look like a rat/toilet brush.

My favourite dog breeds are Rottweilers, Alaskan Malamutes, Shiba Inus, Hungarian Viszlas… and Corgis.

I don’t know what it is, but Corgis just melt my heart. They’re quite big, for a small dog, and their giant ears are beyond cute. They’re clever and funny and fluffy and… I could go on (and on)

I once knew a Corgi X Rottweiler. I think he may have been my dream dog.

6. Pretty stationery

Washi tape, cute paperclips, post-it notes, notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, notebooks, highlighters, notebooks, diaries, silly rulers, novelty pencil sharpeners, notebooks… did I mention notebooks?

I need it all.

And it’s practical, so it’s all just fine.

7. Harry Potter

Am I old enough to have grown out of my HP obsession? Yes, totally.

Have I?

Not at all.

I am the Harry Potter Generation. I moved up through school with him. I lived, breathed, dreamed his world.

I’m not getting over that. I don’t want to. It opened parts of my imagination I didn’t even know that I had and has kept them alive ever since.

I still don’t like the movies though. Books all the way.

 

So… I’ve shared mine – what are your guilty pleasures? Go on, tell me just one – sharing is caring after all.