When I was broke I read a lot of romance novels. I mean, how could you go wrong at $6.99 a pop when you have no money and book addiction? So it was all ramen noodles and Johanna Lindsey, Julia Quinn, Jude Deveraux and Amanda Quick. As time went on and I had a little extra money to spend, I read less and less romance novels. However, I still adored Lindsey and Quinn's work and every year with out fail, I would go out and purchase their new one on the release dates and immediately devour them.
Last year though, it took me about two months to purchase The Devil Who Tamed Her
, Lindsey's newest. I didn't think much of it though, I simply figured it was due to the 40 books in my "to be read" pile. Last week however, I realized that I still hadn't read it yet. Interesting... I wondered why that was. Then it dawned on me... I've fallen out of love with Johanna Lindsey. I'm not knocking the genre at all here - I may not be a big romance reader anymore, but it took me less than a couple of days to tear through The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever,
Quinn's latest and if you've seen my recent review of The Winter Rose you know I enjoyed it - immensely.
, Lindsey's newest. I didn't think much of it though, I simply figured it was due to the 40 books in my "to be read" pile. Last week however, I realized that I still hadn't read it yet. Interesting... I wondered why that was. Then it dawned on me... I've fallen out of love with Johanna Lindsey. I'm not knocking the genre at all here - I may not be a big romance reader anymore, but it took me less than a couple of days to tear through The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, Quinn's latest and if you've seen my recent review of The Winter Rose you know I enjoyed it - immensely.Falling out of love with an author - what a unique concept in my world. I've no doubt that publishers love people like me, because if at any point I enjoyed your work, you've got a fan for life. I would go out an purchase your next thing, sight unseen. I'm the same with music and I'm likely to stick with a dog of a tv show out of habit. Though I'd like to tell myself that I had extra money to spend on different books, it's quite likely that I fell out of love with Amanda Quick and I know for certain, I stopped reading Deveraux, when she started writing contemporary romances.
I want to blame this falling out of love thing on an evolved taste in reading material, but I know that has little to do with. A good "bodice ripper" does wonders for the soul every now and again and I'm not so sure that I won't be buying her next one if I hear that it's a Mallory novel. Either way, I'll be thinking long and hard about purchasing another Johanna Lindsey or a John Grisham or a Zane. And I'm sure I'm going to drag my feet to get the next Sophie Kinsella.
So what about you? Can you relate? Which authors have you fallen out of love with and why? What would make you purchase another book by an author you'd fallen out of love with?
I also have that "loyalty" issue to authors. I still read every James Patterson and John Grisham, and I find myself complaining throughout the entire book. But the next time they release a book, I'll be the first in line to read it! I have to agree with you on Sophie Kinsella as well, but you know she has a new book coming out in the next few months....:)
ReplyDeleteI fell out of love with Danielle Steel and Sidney Sheldon eons ago but yet sometimes when I see a DS book I'm tempted because well I know it'll be a quick read. Saying that I still haven't read one in years.
ReplyDeleteI haven't bought a Grisham since An Innocent Man and I bought that because it was non-fiction and not his "standard" novel. I continue to read James Patterson because my dad buys them and sends them to me otherwise we would have been through a long time ago.
If the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich doesn't evolve I might have to be done with her too.
For the most part I don't mind if authors have the same style of writing, what I mind is if their books sound the same and I feel like I could have written it.
I've "fallen out of love" with a few authors whose work I adored as a teenager but just can't read now. I think it's more because I simply grew up and my reading taste changed (or matured) than any change in the author's writing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I've fallen out of love with a few authors, or if their body of work just isn't living up to whatever novel of their's I fell in love with in the first place...
ReplyDeleteGreat point Jenn. I think an author becomes pressured to write more book faster once they have a bestseller under their belt.
ReplyDeleteAlthough some authors can do multi-books well and others oh get other writers to do the work for them but just put their name on it. ;)
ReplyDeleteI used to read everything by Robin Cook, Dean Koontz and John Grisham when I was younger, but find now that I have lost interest in their books. I can't remember the last time I read a Grisham book, and the last Robin Cook book I read, not too long ago, was disappointing. Not as good as his previous books. Dean Koontz books started to read exactly the same. There was too much similarity between them that they got boring. More recently, I have stopped reading Sophie Kinsella for the same reason. The Shopaholic series started to bore me, because every book had the same plot and I started to hate the character because she never changed. I haven't read her other books, however. Perhaps I have to pick one of them up.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up on Sophie Kinsella entirely. I loved Can You Keep a Secret and The Undomestic Goddess. Those characters are not as irritating as Becky. :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE to read other books by authors I have enjoyed. Usually if I like their book I will pick up the new one without knowing what the book was about. That being said I have fallen out of love with authors. Alice Hoffman - loved "Here and Now" and some of her older ones, but don't really like the new stuff. Now I rarely read her. Also James Patterson - loved "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas" and "Sams letters to Jennifer." That being said - I do have authors that I am still in love with...Jodi Picoult, Chris Bohjalian, Susan Elizabeth Phillips...and the list goes on...and on!! :) So I guess that I have had several disappointments but MANY more loves still attached.
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