Month: September 2017

Here’s why I boycott books with graphic sex scenes

/ For the Love of Books / 2 Comments

I’ve always just tried to avoid books with graphic sex scenes, or shrugged and zipped past the occasional unexpected one. Now I boycott them; and I am dying to tell you why.

There are a few reasons: TMI, annoying, unrealistic, unnecessary, unbelievable, disappointing. And it doesn’t help that I read many books and now little aggravations  start to become big ones.

Too Much Information. My friends don’t give me graphic details about their sex  life, in fact they don’t give me any details at all (except maybe in extenuating circumstances)  nor do I want them to. Books are my good friends, I don’t want to know all the minute details of their intimate encounters.

Annoying. Like commercials during your favorite movie. Highly annoying. Especially when the obligatory scene has nothing to do with the story.

Unrealistic. In most cases, the scene starts with them frantically tearing off each other’s clothes and then it goes on and on, for pages, and pages, and pages.

Unnecessary. In most cases, if you asked if this scene was essential to the story, the answer would be no. Be ruthless, if it doesn’t cause the story to fall apart, it needs to go.

Unbelievable. A mystery/thriller comes to mind when I think about unbelievable. Unfulfilled  raging hormones start early in the story and make themselves known to the reader every page or two. Believable characters wouldn’t allow this to go on, the distraction could get them killed.

Disappointing. An awesome love story seemed to finish with a beautiful wedding and was lining up to be my favorite book of the week.  The obligatory sex scene was tacked on at the end and destroyed everything the author had going.

One other thing tipping the scales for me has been the computer generating book suggestions. The suggestions have been less and less like the kind of book I wanted and more and more like the kind of book they were trying to push. I couldn’t figure out how to change that.

So, what does my boycott look like? I stay away from main stream romance. So far it’s working for me, I still seem to find more than enough good books to read.

Thanks for letting me rant. I’m not feeling nearly as steamed as I was a couple of days ago when I started writing this piece, but that can change. BookBub had a cartoon the other day that says it perfectly.  A man is reading in bed and with disgust  sends the book sailing out the second story window. The caption says “The way you feel when they kill off your favorite character”.

It’s too bad I’m reading ebooks! It’s just not the same 🙂

One of my favorite romances this year was The Mountain Between Us Charles Martin. It will be out soon as a movie and looks like it will be as good as the book. The scenery is awesome, it was filmed in Canada’s rugged Rocky Mountains. Check it out if you haven’t already. There are lots of great trailers and interviews on line.

Next time there will be a new list of books.

In the meantime, Happy reading!

 

 

 

Fire in the Stars, and a few more books

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The book I am loving this week is,  Fire in the Stars: An Amanda Doucette Mystery Barbara Fradkin; an author, and a story location new to me. This book  kept calling me back until it was finished.

The main protagonist, Amanda, arrives in Newfoundland Canada, invited to go on a wilderness trip with a friend and colleague who has not been responding to any of her attempts to contact him in the last three days. This is not like him. She is worried but has no idea where to begin looking since he hasn’t shared any details of the trip beyond a  vague comment, remote wilderness Newfoundland. There are many locations to fit that description, where  would she even start?

This was to be a healing journey to put some of the demons of their past to rest, instead it’s turning out to be complicated and certainly not healing.

There are many layers, characters, and locations, every one of them there for a reason. I love the way the author has kept it all straight for the reader, handing out details the moment they are needed and not before.

Newfoundland is a very beautiful place, inhabited by people with courage and resiliency. The vastness of it’s craggy wilderness is the perfect setting to make this story work.

more good books to share

The Black Flagged Technothriller Series – Black Flagged Alpha book 1 – Steven Konkoly …. this was a new author to me and I liked what I read. One intriguing part was; all of the characters and agencies involved were tough and ruthless, which brought doubt about the identify of the bad guys. Half the time it seemed like the protagonist was actually the bad guy. I definitely give this book two thumbs up and I hope to read more in this series.

Arms of Promise – Crystal Walton ….. Anna is trying to honour her mother, keeping the promise to hang on to her dream to dance. Army Ranger Evan has a promise to keep too. Sometimes these promises are at cross purposes, especially when her life is in danger and she fights against being protected.

Old West Romance (Women of the West) – Finding Love in Last Chance, California book 1 – Miralee Ferrell…. Alexia has been left alone to manage her father’s ranch. Ranching is her life and she feels up to the task but there is doubt the men will be willing to work for a woman. Justin has been called to repay an old debt by helping a friend with a life threatening situation. He arrives to find the friend has been killed and the threat is still real. Another story to kept it’s secrets as long as needed.

Serena Jones Mysteries Series – A Fool and His Monet book 1 – Sandra Orchard …. This book tickled my funny bone… love that.  Serena has a passion for recovering lost art so when she had a chance to join the FBI Art Crime Team she took it. Her mother is on a mission to persuade Serena to leave the FBI and pursue a life of marriage and motherhood. I think Serena is going to be the winner in this battle of wills.  Two thumbs up for this book too, and, at the moment it is still free on Amazon.

A Brush Creek Brides Duo: A Wedding for the Widower & A Companion for the Cowboy – Liz Isaacson …. two lighter romances set on a ranch with rodeo horses and retired rodeo cowboys to train them, a nice break from the intensity of thrillers.

Happy reading as we head into Fall.

two recommendations

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There are two books I am excited about today and want to encourage  you to read. One book I’ve read and loved; one I want to read and expect to love.

The first one, mentioned in previous posts, came up today on my BookBub suggested books email, and brought back great memories which made me want to tell you about it.

It is The Braque Connection Estelle Ryan.  Dr. Genevieve Lenard is brilliant and has risen to great heights in her chosen profession connected to the art world. Success in working with art related insurance fraud and theft cases has brought further recognition which  serves to take her out of her comfort zone. She is brilliant, and autistic, so angst is unavoidable in all relationships. There is a cast of quirky characters in her everyday life, and they have her figured out, much to her dismay. She may not be comfortable with  people as a regular part of her life but it’s a good thing they are there because she needs them  to watch her back, on more than one occasion. Check it out, this one is free today on Amazon, free takes the risk out of trying new things.

I would love to hear what you think of this series.

The second book today is by one of my favorite authors, one mentioned two posts ago in Recruits. I bought this new book, Miramar Bay Davis Bunn,  because it is on sale and a Davis Bunn book on sale is like free and not to be passed up.

Miramar Bay is about a disillusioned singer who drops out of sight for a sabbatical in a small town to help him get his life back on track, success has taken him away from the dreams he started with. He meets unpretentious people, unlike his everyday life, and is drawn to them. Will he go back to his life as it is or will he choose to make changes? Davis Bunn writes captivating and thought provoking stories and I am looking forward to this one.

I hope you will check out these books and come back here to let me know what you think.

As always, Happy Reading!

lots to be excited about

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This week was the first meeting of the season for the writer’s group I joined in the spring. It has been an amazing experience because I’ve never joined a group and bonded  so quickly. I was ready to make some new friends and finding some with similar interests is a bonus. I am pretty excited.

The purpose of the group is to share and critique our writing. This week I was slated to share for the first time; something I have been reluctant to do, mainly because I don’t see myself as a writer. It went much better than anticipated and I am excited. I shared a couple of passionate posts from this blog startling everyone, this side tracked us into talking about some things and we ran out of time for critique. Actually, it made me pretty happy because that’s the main purpose of writing, for me anyway, to generate thought and conversation.

Then, there was another unexpected happening; the member responsible for our small library is leaving us for a year and someone will need to take over the task. The books ended up in the trunk of my car, as a temporary measure, and now (since I am a reader at heart) my head is filling up with ways to promote the reading of these neglected and mostly forgotten books. My excitement is growing by the minute. Several of the ladies are slated to come over for coffee in a week or so, to help check out the books…… maybe  I can infect them with my enthusiasm.

On a more serious note, all of this has been like salve for my soul. Writing has been a blessing and connecting with like minded people has too. I highly recommend both.  Writers groups seem to be popping up everywhere and we all have a story to tell. If there is a spark of an idea in your mind, go for it. I think you will be glad you did.

Now for a few books

The Claudia Hershey Mystery Series – In the Spirit of Murder book 1 – Laura Belgrave Claudia transfers to a small town police station to find a quieter professional life, for the sake of her daughter, but murder seems to follow her.  Dead psychics and citizens with secrets to guard are not conducive to a quiet life.

Turner Creek Ranch Series – Treasure Me, Cowboy book 1 – Debra Clopton   rumours of buried treasure, a researching historical writer,  well meaning but interfering brothers, a cowboy with a ranch to run and issues with all of the above……  an entertaining story

Paths of Grace –  Such a Hope  book 1 – Sondra Kraak     Washington Territory 1871, Anna has spent her whole life travelling the countryside in the wagon of her freighter father; now he has died and left her to fend for herself. She knows how to do the job but things are not the same for a woman alone in a man’s world, especially when her father has made financial decisions without her knowledge.

Nothing stood out as special this week, instead it went the other way – there were books read that didn’t make the list to be shared. On the bright side, the less than great books make the great ones stand even taller when they do show up.

I hope you have found your share of great books to read this week. And, I hope you have found the courage, and the means, to tell your story to someone who cares.

Happy reading! Inspire a friend to read too!

 

 

Recruits

/ For the Love of Books / 1 Comment

The book I loved this week is Recruits by Thomas Locke (T. Davis Bunn).  Davis Bunn is a prolific author and has been one of my favorites for decades. I’ve read every book I could get my hands on and have, fortunately, lived in cities with great libraries that considered him a favorite too and stocked most of his books. He is flexible at writing and successfully spans a number of different genres, there is something for everyone. If you haven’t read any of his books, you will be glad you did.

Recruits is a fantasy aimed at young adults but will be loved by young and old alike. Seventeen year old twins, who have had detailed dreams for years about a city in another world, are approached by a clandestine scout from this other world to see if they would be interested and able to become recruits to the human assembly, they have 30 days to prove themselves or their memories will be wiped.

I don’t know how to put into words the magic that happens when an author gets everything just right and the story becomes real for the reader, this was one of those books for me.

Part of the twins gifting was the ability to transition from one location to another, to far off worlds in other parts of the galaxy where they met up with many people of other races. I don’t want to spoil any of the story for you so will not give many details, I’ll just say there are lots of great characters, conflict and situations, family relations and stresses. The story grabbed my attention from the first page to the last and I didn’t want it to end.

I am a trekkie, a fan of Star Trek movies and TV shows, and this book felt, to me, like Star Trek Voyager and Deep Space Nine did when I used to watch them. As often happens, one thing led to another, and I started thinking about the whole question of whether or not there could be other inhabited worlds out there.

With recent discoveries about the beauty and vastness of outer space, and with newly uncovered marvels in our own world, it occurs to me that the mind behind all of this is highly creative. If I were the creator, I wouldn’t be content to have just one populated world, I would have many worlds, with a great variety of life forms.  I can’t imagine that the creator of this universe would be content to stop with just one world either. Maybe the stories birthed in the minds of writers like Thomas Locke are like the twin’s  dreams of another world in Recruits. Maybe there are other inhabited worlds out there.

You will have to read Recruits, maybe you will agree with me.