No, I’m not going to share my backwoods recipes with you. This is about being proven wrong.
In my last post, I mentioned that I don’t like romances told in the first person. I admire them, the same way I admire modern art, but as with modern art, first person romances don’t do it for me emotionally. I’m hero centric, a failing, yes, I know.
‘Course the moment I posted that preference, I was forced to read a first person romance. It was Biting Nixie written by Mary Hughes. I was certain I’d hate it. I don’t like first person and vampires scare me the living daylights out of me.
I loved it.
I can no longer say I dislike first person. I have to fess up to liking a vamp romance. Biting Nixie has bumped another favorite off my deliberately small ten book wide keeper shelf.
A month ago, I also had issues with romances where the heroine starts out in love with one man and ends up, 300 pages later, in love with another man (one of the reasons I’m a last chapter reader). Why? Because I usually fall in love with the first love, or I feel the heroine will change her mind yet again after the happy ever after.
That prejudice created conflict. I’m addicted to Lisa Kleypas’ historicals. Her latest Tempt Me At Twilight starts with Poppy in love with someone else (not a spoiler as it is clear on the back cover who the hero is). Oh, no, what is an addicted reader to do? Well, this addicted reader grumbled, grumbled, grumbled, but bought the book anyway.
I loved it.
Due to Lisa Kleypas’ skillful writing, I didn’t fall in love with the first man. I felt Poppy’s love for the real hero would last. It worked.
Another reading prejudice thrown out the window.
This isn’t an entirely happy thing because I use these preferences and prejudices to help me choose what to read. I can only read about 400 books out of the 8,000 plus romances published every year. Life was a lot easier when I could go into the bookstore and automatically skip over the vampire titles.
Have you had any reading prejudices challenged lately?
No related posts.
Happened to me too, about three years ago.
It’s still a rare author who can sway me with First Person POV, but it is possible!
I think the reason why is because, as a reader, I like to sit on the POV character’s shoulder and be telepathic once in a while. I don’t like to be right inside her head.
Ohhh… I didn’t even think of that, Kimber An. First person would take some of the mystery out of the main character’s actions.
I LOVE writing with 2 POV’s because I can switch if I don’t want a reader to know something. I also switch if I want the scene to be looked at by the non-expert. It eliminates those awkward read needed only explanations.
For me, it’s been historicals. I found a few I thoroughly enjoyed and now I have to consider them when I’m looking for more books.
I’m not sure if your post helped or hindered — I’ve not yet found a vampire book I’ve loved, so I’ve been skipping those. Also shapeshifters. I’m almost afraid to follow up on your recommendation for the same reasons.
I KNOW… that is why it is both a happy and a sad thing when one of my reading filters is blown away. There are SO many great books, so little time.
Hey, any word on when Nowhere To Hide is coming out? Love the cover! Is it going to be the start of a new series?
Kimber – thanks. No release date yet; I just sent my editor my copy edits today. It’ll get into the queue next week, I think.
I had the same prejudice until someone twisted my arm and I read J.R. Ward’s DARK LOVER. I have since read her entire Black Dagger Brotherhood series and just recently started her new series.
If you want a superb vampire series with fabulous characters, check her out.
I am resisting the Black Dagger Brotherhood. It is one of those ‘writers must protect their writing time things.’ I heard it rocks and I know if I get sucked in, I’ll read all bigillion books and never ever finish my current manuscript.
I love your collection of quotations about why romance. Love it!
Having recently gone a trip without a book to read – I know…stupid! – I managed to find a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book, in English, in Rome. It was This Heart of Mine. It’s a contemporary, which I rarely read, and the hero is a professional athlete. I never watch professional sports.
And yet I really enjoyed it. Heck, I inhaled that book on the flight home, even though it meant no sleep for me despite landing at 3 a.m. our time.
I know exactly what you mean. I have strong prejudices (no adultery, hate kick-ass heroines, leave the kids out of it, etc), but a great writer can make me forget all of that. So I have auto-buy authors, where I don’t even look at the plot before I buy it, and I also read reviews. (So I just bought Biting Nixie, for example
).
It took me a moment to get past, ‘ten book wide shelf for keepers’ thing. What will power!
I always avoided first person also, but I read a Megan Hart first person book and loved it.
I still haven’t been sucked into the vampire romance thing and hope to remain immune. Cold-skinned killers turn me away.
I might have to look up Biting Nixie and see what you see.