True bibliophiles seek other bibliophiles. My friends, even those that are not authors, love to read. One series that I shared with my reading buddies was Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series. Being that we all love national parks and a good mystery, they burned through everything she had written in a few weeks. While we were waiting for her next book release one of them commented that it would take a couple months beyond that to get a copy to read at the library because the wait list would be so long. In the course of that conversation I learned they never bought books from their favorite fiction authors. I was stunned. It certainly wasn’t a matter of not being able to afford them.
They were stunned that I did buy books. Sometimes I would read a book from the library and still buy it. Their reasoning was that books are free at the library so why would you buy them.
My reasoning, if an author is so good that you have read everything she has written and wait eagerly for the next book, you should financially support the work of an author you love.
You don’t have to buy everything they write, but you should buy a book or two as thanks for the entertainment pleasure. One, they need to pay bills and library sales alone are not going to do that. Two, if individual sales aren’t high their books won’t be in the library, and low sales will get them dropped by their publisher. In this tight economy the threshold of sales is much higher than it used to be and the competition from masses of books released every month is fierce. It’s even harder for authors who have given up on the traditional route and become hybrid or independent authors.
So Shannan, Siobhan, and I wanted to help those authors worth spending money on in their quest to find readers who will love them. Each Friday we will share with you a brief summary of a book we each bought and why we felt it was worth the bucks. That way if you’re looking for something to read on the weekend you’ll find it here.
My first suggestion is a military romance, Exposed Desires by Brandi Evans.
Her opening:
It was now or never.
Sophia stared across the smoke-filled club as the man she loved took a long pull of his Heineken. Regret expanded her chest like a lead-balloon, so heavy she could hardly breathe. She’d had over a year to tell him the truth. A fricking year! But somewhere along the way, time had become her enemy.
Evans writes hot, sensuous, erotic romance. I admire that the romance is still first in everything she writes. When the clothes go flying you know it is not just characters in heat, but a couple falling in love driving the action. As an author I admire her skill with metaphor.
If you’re looking for a quick, hot read you’ll love Exposed desires. It’s quickie length, four chapters and an epilogue. You can grab a copy here.
I’m happy to say my friends saw the sense in my reasoning and started collecting books in a series from their favorite authors. I hope that even if a particular book we share is not your thing, that you will keep checking back as we will cover a spectrum of subjects. We’ll share obscure indie authors and famous ones we love. We’ll cover all the genres of fiction. Happy reading.
Check out Siobhan’s pick for this week.
Check out Shannan’s pick for this week.
