Picky Reader Reads Again

Picky Reader Reads Again

I used to do Picky Reader blogs about the books I read for pleasure. I’d say whether I liked the book or didn’t. But as an author I decided I probably shouldn’t be critical of other authors’ works. Even though I tried not be too critical. One man’s trash is another’s treasure, right? And mine is only one highly selective opinion. I’m not even sure my opinion counts because I’m a writer/published author. Maybe I’m skewed to look for flaws.

But I can stay silent no longer. I’m not a fan of authors giving their work away for free, but many of them do it. It’s a method of (hopefully) hooking a reader into reading a series or finding new readers for their work/backlists. I don’t do it (yet) for my own work, but I’m not above sampling these authors if it doesn’t cost me anything. If I say it’s not my thing, that’s exactly what I mean. Just because I didn’t care for it, doesn’t mean others wouldn’t.

Thanks to Hurricane Irma last year, I picked up my Kindle again and here’s what I discovered:

Thread of Hope by Jeff Shelby. This is the first book in the Joe Tyler series. I had read other books in a different series by Jeff Shelby and I enjoyed them. This one was free. It’s decent. I liked Joe Tyler’s character and the past incident that drives him to do what he does. The story was somewhat predictable and I had quite a few plot twists figured out before they were revealed, but that’s okay. Jeff Shelby’s writing is solid, but Jeff, please, I’m begging you PROOFREAD YOUR WORK. That’s a thing of mine I find disturbing about self-published authors. There’s no reason for this kind of sloppiness. To me it says the author doesn’t care. Other than that, I suggest you give Jeff Shelby a try if you like mysteries. He’s got several series going.

Night Magic by Karen Robards. Apparently there was a book of hers I missed. Karen Robards is the master of romance/romantic suspense as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been a fan of hers for a very long time. The only thing she’s written that I didn’t care for was the series with the ghost hero. Otherwise, if you like romantic suspense and you aren’t reading Karen Robards you should be.

From Glowing Embers by Emilie Richards. Just not my thing. Too much repetitive internal monologue/angst for both hero and heroine. But it might be your thing.

What books have you read that you enjoyed and would recommend?