It’s official.
I’m in a reading slump. A romance reading slump.
I picked up five romance titles today, and promptly put them all down, after reading a few pages. One of the books was called Immortal Bad Boys, a Brava anthology.
The first tale was by Rebecca York, whose stories I usually like, but like I said, I got to about ten pages in, and just lost interest.
The same thing happened with the other two stories. I might just take the bloody book back because it cost £9.99 ($18.00), and I do so hate wasting money on crap.
The second book I picked up was Evelyn Vaughn’s A.K.A Goddess, which has been languising in my TBR forever. Same thing happened.
I then tried a Natasha Rostova book, and it bored me stupid within the first three pages.
As with Liz Carlyle’s, Beauty Like The Night. That book has been in my TBR for longer than I can remember, but I’ve always been resistant to reading it. No change there then.
The last book I attempted to read was Tara Janzen’s Crazy Love. I bought this when it first came out, but I decided to leave it on my TBR for a rainy day. I obviously wasn’t in the right frame of mind to appreciate it today, so back to the shelf it went.
I don’t know what’s the matter with me, I’m just not feeling the romance at the moment, I could do with a book that’s so unbelievably fantastic, that it starts me reading again.
I think that perhaps I’ll start reading the Clive Cussler books that I bought last year. Actually, no I wont, I’m not in the mood for him either.
Tami Hoag is usually a comfort read, so I think I’ll revisit some of her books. I’m going to stay away from romance for a while, unless somebody can recommend a stupendously fabulous book.
Big effing sigh.
Anonymous
January 21
12:10 am
I’m in a slump too, but can out of it long enough to enjoy Bonnie Dee’s ebook Finding Home. A very good read.
Anonymous
January 21
1:33 am
I’ve just read my feeds and both you and Tara Marie posted on being in a bit of a reading slump. My friend and I have been feeling it, too. Maybe it’s because we had lots of reading time during the holidays and now we’re all “read” out! There are a couple of books I want to read, but they’ve been out of stock at all the bookstores since before Christmas.
Anonymous
January 21
2:53 am
I feel your pain, Karen. So much so that I wanted to send you a freebie, but I can’t find your effin’ email addy.
You used to enjoy my books, and hey, that’s what I live for so if you want one of them, it’s yours. Just send me an email linky-poo.
Anonymous
January 21
3:47 am
Good luck getting out the slump. I’m feeling the same way.
I can’t wait till the new books I am waiting for come out.
eggs
January 21
4:25 am
I’m in a scifi slump ATM, so I feel your pain. I spent about $200 on scifi in October when I went to San Fransisco, and I haven’t been able to read any of them. All fave authors, all of them sounding exactly like the kind of story I want to read. Can’t get past the first two pages of any of them. They just sit there in their big expensive stack, MOCKING ME.
Maybe you should take the Laurell K. Hamilton cure? A binge read of her will scorch out your brain, leaving it fresh and ready to be filled with good writing and compassionate characters. I find her prose excellent for purgative purposes.
eggs.
eggs
January 21
8:01 am
Following up to myself, but I see you have Linda Howard’s “Killing Time” in your TBR list. I read this one about two weeks ago. There is a danger that reading it could cement your slump into a total aversion.
Here’s what you need to do: First, you need to take this book and put it in a disposable baking tray. Then take it out to the backyard, soak it with lighter fluid and set it alight. Once the flames have died down, take the whole mess to your nearest large body of water and fling it as far from the shore as you can. Walk away, and don’t look back. I tell you this as a person who’s highest level of praise for a romance is “it reminds me of a Linda Howard novel”.
Karen Scott
January 21
12:00 pm
Eggs, I think I read Killing Time, but I’m darned if I remember what it was about. What a shocking indictment.
I have a few LKH books in my TBR, I think Mary Janice Davidson sent them to me actually. I haven’t bothered trying to read them yet.
Sharon, I’ve got Bonnie Dee’s Finding Home, I just haven’t gotten round to reading it yet.
Ann, I haven’t read any of your books for a while, but freebies are always welcome.
Kat, I really don’t know what’s up with me, I think waiting for people like Lisa Valdez to bring out a book that should have been out last year doesn’t help.
Hey, anybody wants to send me any freebies, you may do so at hairylemony @ gmail .com (without the spaces)
This is not a promise to review them though, unless I really, really love them, or I really, really hate them. (g)
Anonymous
January 21
1:09 pm
Karen, I think I’ll go buy Passion the next time I visit Borders. I had to laugh at eggs’s comment because I’ve been so very tempted to try LKH, just for lack of anything better to read. I don’t think my romance pipeline will be healthy until March, when Lover Revealed comes out.
Avid Reader
January 21
1:52 pm
If you read manga or graphic novels, I’d recommend a couple of titles for you. I’m in the mood to read comics these days and that’s all I’ll be reading for awhile. At least the next couple of weeks. I’ve never read Tami Hoag. What would be a good title to start with?
Sarah McCarty
January 21
2:34 pm
I think you ought to glom Marjorie Liu. I love her books and they always cary me along on an action packed read that’s full of romance.
Karen Scott
January 21
3:06 pm
Kat, I love Linda Howard, try Mackenzie’s Mountain, because that’s classic Howard. I think you’d enjoy it very much.
Keishon, I’ve never really tried reading comics. I probably should.
My top Tami Hoag books are Cry Wolf, and Ashes To Ashes. Night Sins and Dark Horse are also very good. Her writing reminds me a little bit of Karin Slaughter, but with less graphic description of the scenes, so you’re not gonna get a rape scene, where she describes what the perp is doing to the victim, that kinda thing. But still very good.
Karen Scott
January 21
3:08 pm
Sarah, I think I have one of her books on my TBR, but until I actually sit down and read it, there wont be a glom forth-coming. I’ll try though sometime within the next couple of weeks.
paz
January 21
3:45 pm
Hmmm… I think sometimes it’s good to take a break or reread old favorites. Old favorites are always a pick me up for me. 😉
Paz
Shelly
January 22
4:09 am
I get that way too sometimes and it usually means that I have to make a genre change for a bit. I frequently bob and weave between romance, mystery, YA and SciFi/Fantasy with a little horror thrown in every once in a while.
I’m sorry you didn’t like AKA Goddess as that’s one on my keeper shelf. I wish I could recommend a good book, but I’m just getting back into reading from the holidays.
fiveandfour
January 23
4:14 am
Ditto on the slump thing. I saw today that this is the most depressing day of the year so perhaps the slump is no surprise. I keep reviewing genres and picking up and discarding books.
Oh well. It’ll come back. Eventually.