Connected Books...Love Em or Leave Em?
I'm reading Match Me If You Can right now. I started Monday and am up around page 200. If it wasn't a SEP, it wouldn't have passed the 50 pages test, because books about matchmakers just aren't my thing, but she sucked me in.
And then dropped me in the middle of all these old characters. I've read every SEP book, but it's been awhile. The only one I remember is Phoebe, because, frankly, who can forget Phoebe? So I'm pulled out of the story, a romance I'm enjoying, trying to remember these other people, and then I give up, because, well, I read a lot of books, and I have trouble remembering my OWN characters. And I'd much rather see what's going to happen with Heath and Annabelle than witness all these other people's happy endings. Now, maybe if they had their own new conflicts....
Clearly I am not a particular fan of connected books.
I'll read them, and if I'm intrigued by a character that I see as a potential star of his or her own story, I will wait impatiently (Dallas's story in Cindy Gerard's series can't come soon enough for me!) But I'm hoping it will be Dallas's story, and if the other Bodyguard heroes show up, that it's just for a cameo.
Do I sound grouchy? I don't mean to sound grouchy. I love SEP, and this is a good book. I just got distracted by the large cast. Remember, my books are a hero and heroine running through the jungle ;)
Also, did you notice SEP always describes what everyone's wearing? Again, maybe I notice because my characters wear the same clothes for like a week....
I miss Denny.
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12 comments:
I enjoy connected books :)
I think it depends on the series and the writer. I love Suzanne Brockmann's series, for example, and I loved Paula Graves's first Intrigue enough to hope for a connected series. I think the only time I'd get annoyed at a series (presuming I already like the writer) is if I hated the direction in which the series was going. I know a lot of people love her newer books, but I always wish Laurell K. Hamilton would go back to her old-school scary Anita Blake stories instead of the newer, let's-see-how-many-people-Anita-can-ho-it-up-with books she's been writing, for example.
No offense to Laurell or anyone who loves her new works. As always, it's just a matter of personal taste.
I love connected books. In fact, I just got J.R. Ward's latest in the mail yesterday and can't wait to read it! There are several series I really enjoy.
Oh!! I have this book in my TBR stack. I keep lovingly looking at it & doing research on my latest book instead. Soon, my precious, soon. ;)
Mostly, I love them. There are so many times when you read a story and fall in love with the community of characters that it's wonderful to return to them over and over.
Sometimes I do, eventually, get tired (I don't read Sue Grafton anymore, for instance), but the next two books I'm buying are the new J.R. Ward and the new Weather Warden book.
The only pet peeve I have is when they don't mark a book as being part of a series - yes, sometimes they can stand alone, but they're always richer when read together and in the correct order. Please, please always put "Book three in the (blah, blah, blah) series".
Okay, all done ranting :-)
Ah, it's official. I am weird.
Back when I started reading, I loved them I think I let myself connect with the characters in a bigger way then, though. Now that I'm reading so much, I'm not.
LOL Mary I loved that book :)
Not weird--individual :D
I love series. I read them constantly. Heck, I sold two books that are connected! But I did my best to make them stand-alones.
I read a LOT of mystery and paranormal series. Seeing the same characters time and time again is part of the pleasure.
Joanna
I love them, too. And I'm also waiting with bated breath for Dallas's story. (Can't. Come. Fast. Enough.)
I KNEW I was in the minority. Look how many people sell series. Myself, I don't think I could write connected books. Kinda a been there, done that thing. Alex WAS in DLB, but fairly minor. And Del and Liz won't show up in Alex's book.
I finished Match today, and the whole cast thing played well into the hero's story. Impressive.
Elisabeth, I stalked Cindy Gerard at conference, and she said she needed to give the heroine (I can't remember her name) time to heal. But dang, I want to read that book!
I think it depends upon the author and the book. I've read several books that didn't make me interested enough to buy others from the series. But I just finished 4th of July by James Patterson, and it was amazing. I couldn't put it down and now I want to buy the rest of books in the series.
I like books that are semi-connected...if they can fully stand alone as their own story. More like a spin-off of a secondary character where you don't have to remember anything of the first book! :)
Mary, can you send me your email address? :) my address is
s. castleberry @ yahoo.com
Thanks! :)
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