I've been reading a lot lately trying to get through my huge TBR pile. I've made quite a dent in it, just enough so I can get more books when I go to the RWA conference in Dallas in a few weeks. :)
So, the question I want to know this week is what book(s) have you read lately that you loved or hated? Did you find a new favorite author? A new series that you're waiting anxiously for the next book?
Tell me so I can make a trip to Barnes & Noble and buy more books. :)
There are many things I love about reading. I love being introduced to intriguing, complicated characters. I love going to new settings and new cultures. I love being taken on an adventure that in real life would leave me huddle on the ground. Not to mention, I love reading about people falling in love.
As I look at my bookshelves, I see books that I haven't read in years, but I can still tell you about the characters. I may not be able to quote you lines from the book, but I can tell you what its about without having to reread the back.
We've talked about favorite authors, favorite genres, favorite eras, but we haven't talked about favorite characters. Is there a character from a book, that even years and years later you still think about? A character that parts of you wish you could be?
I have a couple. :)
I'd love to be...
Chloe from Karen Marie Moning's The Dark Highlander,
Gillian from Julie Garwood's Ransom,
Amy from Johanna Lindsey's The Magic of You,
Meg from Elizabeth Lowell's Untamed,
Lucinda from Susanne Enoch's England's Perfect Hero.
So, do you have a favorite character you'd like to be?
One of my favorite things to do is go to a bookstore. I love seeing all those books lined up waiting for a reader to delve into the pages.
As most readers do, I have my favorite authors. The ones that as soon as I know they have a new book, I run out and get it. Yet, there are times when I look for something new. When I look for a new author, the first thing I do is try to find a cover amid all those books that grabs my attention.
I know industry professionals would like to say covers don't make a difference, but I beg to differ. Covers make a big difference.
So, I find a cover that grabs me. I pull the book out and look at the title and author to see if its someone I know, then I turn it over to read the back. If the back sounds interesting, I open up the book and read the first page.
This is how I've found so many new authors. Yet, I know I'm missing out on some great books by skimming over covers that don't interest me. As a writer, that makes me cringe. As a reader, I know that it happens to many books/authors.
What I want to know is how do you find new authors in the bookstore?
Everyone has expectations. As readers, we expect our favorite authors to write a certain way in a certain time period (historical/contemporary/paranormal) and with a certain type character.
What happens when you pick up a book by your favorite author and she/he has done something so out of the ordinary than what they've previously released? Maybe they write a contemporary instead of a historical, a historical instead of a paranormal, or even an inspirational instead of a erotic romance. The book may not resonate with you as his/her previous books,so you have a choice. Do you buy another book of theirs and hope they got back to what they were doing best? Or do you move on to another author?
As readers, each of us has our favorites. Our favorite authors, favorite sub genres, favorite settings. I want to know your favorite historical setting.
Do you prefer Ireland, or do men in kilts drive you wild? Medieval knights? The Renaissance man? Or maybe Regencies or Victorians. Or do you prefer more ancient settings such as Egypt or Rome?
I love just about all historicals, though I'm about drowned in Regencies. I'll still read the occasional Western, and I'll even read the more ancient books set in Rome or Egypt. But if all those books were side by side, I'd take a Highlander over any other. :D
So, what's your favorite?
Sorry about the no show yesterday. I was taken down by a vicious migraine. (grrrr)
Since I wasn't able to ask the weekly question yesterday, I thought I would do it today.
What sub genre of romance would you like to see more of? As a reader, would you like more historicals, contemporaries, humorous, fantasy, vampire, paranormal or other types?
Coming from a writer's POV, I'd like to know what people are looking to read. If there's a certain sub genre that you read more than others, let me know. :)
Personally, I love historicals. Any type. I'll take historical paranormals, historicals, historical fantasies...well, you get the point. I do read some contemporaries, but I find that it has to have some paranormal or fantasy element to it or it doesn't appeal to me.
Give me your thoughts!
If you could meet one person throughout history, who would it be? George Washington, Richard the Lionheart, Jane Austen or just some normal person in a certain time period?
I'd like to meet Robin Hood, but I'd also love to meet Robert the Bruce. Its so hard to narrow it down to just one. Mary, Queen of Scots is another I wouldn't mind meeting.
So, who would you like to meet given the chance?
Each person has their own idea of what is romantic and what isn't. For some women, just having a man hold the door for her is enough. While other women need the wine and roses and candlelit dinner.
I'm a romantic (never figured that, huh. lol) and my husband is as well. I got lucky in that department, and I can see that what my husband and I do is already shaping our children to be romantics. Its so cute when my four year old son tells his daddy that "we must get out the candles for dinner because Momma has had a bad day". How cute is that?!
It really all started with my eldest brother who used to tell me a true gentleman always held the door for a women and my date should always walk me to my door or he wasn't worth my time. My brother was so right. He was a true gentleman and though he never found his perfect wife, he did shape me and what I saw in men. For that I will always be grateful to him.
So, what is your definition of romantic? Do you need the full blown romantic night, or is just being with yours significant other enough?
As readers, most of us have very specific things we like to see in a book. I know for me, the book has to have a Happily Ever After or I'm not satisfied at all.
Do you need a HEA or is a happy ending good enough?
I thought we'd try something different on Wednesday. Every Wednesday I'll pose a question to you, the readers.
I had someone ask me the other day "Why romance?" So, I'd like to know, why do you read romance?
I read it because I need that Happily Ever After, that good will overcome evil, that two people can have problems and work them out, that two people can indeed stand by each other when others have left them. There are so many reasons that I read romance, but the biggest reason is the LOVE. It does conquer all, after all. :)
I'm toying with the idea of joining a couple of other author sites.
As a reader/writer/fan, which sites do you visit? Are there some that you like more than others? Do you listen to reviews from certain ones before you buy books?
I've been reading through my TBR (to be read) pile rather quickly lately. I just discovered Toni Blake. My goodness this woman can write a novel!
In truth, I almost didn't read it because it was a contemporary, but as I was pulling books to give to a Woman's Shelter, I kept taking In Your Wildest Dreams back out. Just the other day, I decided to give it a try and see why my gut kept telling me to hold onto the book.
Well, let me tell you, it was a great book. If you haven't read any of Toni's novels, get thyself to a bookstore and pick one up. You won't be disappointed.
And where have I been with Kathryn Smith? She's a historical author but I had never picked up one of her books before this week. I read In Your Arms Again another great read, and I'm looking for the other books in this series of four brothers. I'm greatly intrigued to see what happened to the first and what will happen to the other two.
Hmmm. I do have a coupon to B&N. Maybe I'll go book shopping today. :D
So, what books have you read lately?
