I read a review of Jayne Ann Krentz’s new one under her Jayne Castle name, Dark Light. This is on my TBR list, as are all of Ms. Krentz’s stories. The reviewer and many of her commenters stated that they liked her books in spite of the fact that they were all the same- the plot and characters do all have a striking similarity. But the stories are good enough that the familiar points are comforts rather than irritants.
I have to admit that’s the very reason I love her stuff; I pretty much know what I’m going to get, and her stories hold up after several reads. Does that say something bad about us as readers? We’re always whining that we want something new, new, new. More vampires! More vampires! Gimme, gimme, gimme! But, ew, now they’re all starting to bore me and –ooh! Look! A shiny new Regency!
We bleat about the death of originality. But then we turn around and reward sameness because it’s soothing.
What about you? Do you have comfort reads?
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4 comments:
Yup. And I dig them out every year or so and read them over again and look for more of the same by those writers.
Don't need the "ooh, shiny" - certain story element combinations completely satisfy.
Yes, definitely! Her historicals as Amanda Quick have always been keepers for me; even though they're all 'the same' in a sense, I never get bored with them!
I have a bunch of "read-overs" in my bookcases. Like The Stand by Stephen King, Gone With The Wind, P&P, etc... they're great "go to" books when you just don't want anything else.
Currently, however, I'm on to a biography of Vlad the Impaler. It's a juvenile version, shorter and far sweeter than adult, I'm sure, but it's pretty cool!
BTW, how is your non-fiction writing going?
"Story element combinations." Hmm. Bernita, I wonder if it's just certain H/h or scenarios I like as much as this writer.
Beth, if I keep going this thing will be as long as the bloody Constitution.
I haven't read these, myself. I do rather love story elements that are like comfort foods in a series. The things that make you giggle and clap delightedly w hen they reappear in another series novel.
But then, it can become a bit too pat, a bit too same old stuff and I don't want to read any more of the series for a time or ever, lol. I am specifically thinking of some of the vampire romance series.
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