Pay No Mind to the (wo)Man Behind the Curtain

Oh, Simone…

Where do I even begin to describe the strange relationship that has flourished between the two of us over the last few months?

Well, for the sake of not freaking out our audience, I’ll keep it simple:

We both have the same taste in books. We met via Facebook while commenting on the same post from an author we both enjoy. I don’t even remember what post it was or what drew us to each other, I just know it was one of those “Oh my god, I LOVE this girl!” moments for me. June 23rd we officially became friends and I think the longest gap in our communications with each other since then was a little over 24 hours—an impressive feat considering the awkward time differences between Salt Lake City and Melbourne! She helped come up with the Mega Meme Monday as you guys know it today and without her, I probably would have gone mad over it by now. I owe her many many thanks, and now I present her to you for your enjoyment! You can expect to start seeing more and more posts from her as time goes on!

Miss Simone Nicole

David and I were talking about books and what kinds we read, which lead to this post.

What makes you read a book?

A reasonably easy question with a multitude of answers, you found the cover intriguing or in a lot of cases sexy, a blogger/friend recommended it or my favourite, it was free. The harder question to answer would be what made you keep reading? Everyone starts a book for different reasons but fundamentally kept reading or stopped reading for the same simple truth. It was or wasn’t good enough to keep you enthralled.

There is nothing better to me than a book/author that can captivate me from the very first page and better yet, keep me there. I have heard on more than one occasion that the first page is critical. It needs to make you want to turn to the next page and the next, until you run out of pages. Easier said than done as many authors will tell you, that first page can be the hardest. Not every story can grip you from the first few sentences and needs time to warm up but, what is too long? Where do you lose interest and cut your losses, moving on to one from the never ending TBR list.

For me, the first chapter needs to start intriguing me. I need to be able to at least start connecting with the characters and want to see where their story will lead. If I am still struggling to do this in chapter two, unless the book comes highly recommended, I’m going to skim or move on completely, I have too many books on my TBR to waste on a book I’m not enjoying. It is rare that I don’t finish a book and the few I haven’t, I found the writing style choppy, somewhat forced and not moving fast enough, making it hard to sink my teeth in. The final nail in the not-to-read coffin always comes down to the lead characters. I can overlook the writing style, slow plot and sometimes even predictable twists but if I’m not feeling the characters, well, what’s the point in reading their story if I couldn’t care less if they live or die.

In the last twelve months I have read more books than I can comprehend and with so many more to read. Why? To find those few precious gems that stay with you for life, the stories that touch you so deeply you can’t let go, the ones I find myself wanting to read again and again because I loved them that much, once will never be enough.

Everyone has different opinions on the same books, the writing styles, whether the characters were believable or relatable, even likeable and if you saw the plot twists coming. What we can all agree on is that feeling of finishing a book all too soon and left you wanting more but not needing more. If a book can make me ugly cry, laugh out loud, fall in love, heart pound out of my chest, forget to breathe, refuse to sleep and/or throw it across the room with frustration, which, I admit, I have done but only once, possibly twice, ok so I only stopped doing that seeing as I spend most of my time reading electronically.

To me that is the epitome of a good book and I will continue to spend the rest of my days reading as many as I can.

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