Most Fridays I have spent sharing a link to a contest or something writerly or interesting, but this Friday I just don’t have any cool links to share. So, I thought I’d add book recommendations into my Friday repertoire.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t read as much as I should. I have certain auto-buy authors, otherwise a book blurb really has to catch my attention and I have to have a few extra dollars (which is rare). I know I could go to the library, but none of the libraries around me have a very strong romance offering, so I rarely find what I’m looking for. I’m also really picky and I don’t want to waste my minimal reading time with a book that isn’t going to hook me right from the first chapter.
So, I’ve started frequenting a few romance review websites, waiting for books that, based on the review, really seem to fit my romance criteria. The first book I bought after a review was a book I read in two days this week (another problem for me, when I start a book I MUST finish it ASAP and my family tends to get irritated with me when I say things like “let me just finish this chapter and then I’ll make dinner). It was the winner of the DABWAHA tournament this year, and I felt that was a pretty strong recommendation. So, I downloaded a sample and was immediately hooked & plunked down the eight dollars for it.
Something About You by Julie James was one of those books where I actually stopped in the middle and thought to myself, wow, this is really, really good. I loved everything about the romance, about how smart and sensible both characters were, and the simple, realistic way they fell in love… even despite some unusual circumstances. I think that’s what I really enjoyed the most about it, the realism, despite the suspense background. I try to write really realistic romance and sometimes feel like it doesn’t fit anywhere, but this book totally changed my mind on that. And I love Julie James’ voice. It was unique and funny and funny as I’ve mentioned before is something I adore in romance. James is a writer I think you could identify without knowing who wrote something, and I think that’s amazing. The only thing I didn’t particularly care for was getting the killer’s POV. I didn’t really care so much about that, but I know that’s a fairly common thing to do in suspensey romance, and it does give you a clearer picture of why the whole suspense part was happening. Still, because so much else was SO GOOD, I am definitely going to be looking to read more Julie James in the future.
Nicole Helm 