Big Decisions... Which Book?

Recently, I pulled all copies of unread books from my “to read” piles of authors who were recommended for study. And now I admit, as I hunted through my piles and piles, I put a few books in my “special to read box” that weren’t actually recommended. Only a few.

Today, I worked pretty diligently on doing all the things on my list so I could read a book tonight (my reward). So I started hunting in my “special to read box” for Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James. To my despair, I realized that I did not, in fact, have this book!

So now I’m bummed and decided to search the box for something else. So what caught my whim tonight? Naturally, one of the few books in my box that was not on my recommended list… Norah Hess’s story Devil In Spurs. Now tell me… who could resist a title like that? And listen to the first line of the back cover blurb, “Raised in a bawdy house, lovely young Jonty Rand had posed as a boy all her life to escape notice of the rowdy cowboys who frequented the place.” WHAT? A heroine in disguise???? I love those!!!! BUT WAIT… that’s not all, “And to Jonty’s way of thinking, the most notorious womanizer of the bunch was Cord McBain. So when her granny’s dying wish made Cord Jonty’s guardian, she despaired of ever revealing her true identity.” AND he is her guardian… OMG… I love those too!!!! LOL

Since this is my writers blog… please notice how effective this (partial) blurb was for me (the reader). Note to Self: Take Blurb notes from Norah Hess.

Okay, Okay. I had a bit of guilt creep up on me. I’m supposed to be reading books to study. Who are we kidding? I’m so easy to please. I could pick up any of those books in the “special (recommended) box.” They are all by terrific, outstanding, AND recommended authors. And I know this about myself… I could read any of these books and be pretty much guaranteed to be happy by the end of the story.

So how do I hope to appease my guilt?

I go to amazon to check out its rating. I figure if it didn’t get good reviews then I shouldn’t read the book. It got 4 stars from 6 reviews. Pretty good I think. Of course I have to read them. I do love to read amazon reviews. The lady who gave her only 2 stars went off on a tangent on how Norah named the heroine’s horse “beauty.” I thought it an especially funny post. I wonder why this person keeps reading Norah Hess… if she thinks her characters are shallow and her plots weak? If you're curious... Check it out… it’s the “Ohhh Nooo, Not Again!!!” post.

One final note to self: Amazon reviews does make a reader wonder. I did take a look at the romantic times reviews to make absolutely sure I was making a good decision. Since Devil in Spurs wasn’t rated (I guess it is too old) I’m going by the fact that Norah Hess got a consistent 4 or 4 ½ stars on 11 out of 13 books.

Who would have thought a simple decision of what book to read would be such an enlightening experience? ;)