Yes. Two, in fact:

All That Really Matters and All That It Takes by Nicole Deese.

I know a lot of people rave about Nicole Deese’s writing, but the first of her books that I bought I couldn’t even finish. I don’t remember what it was called, as I’ve long since given it away, but I tried to read it two or three times and never got beyond halfway. The plot was interesting, but the characters didn’t grab me.

Then I read another where I really liked the writing, but there was one aspect of the plot that really got to me. The book has around a gazillion five-star reviews on Amazon, so I’m obviously alone in this feeling.

I decided to give her books one more chance because I did like her writing in that second book. I bought All That Really Matters in a Kindle sale, and loved it so much I immediately bought the sequel, All that It Takes.

It was just as good, so now I’m a definite Nicole Deese fan.

(In fact, I’ve recently reviewed her latest release, The Words We Lost, which was excellent.)

I guess there are a few lessons here:

• Not all books are for all readers.
• If you don’t like one book by a writer, try another.
• Writers improve as they write more books, so we especially shouldn’t judge a writer by their early titles.

(That might sound a little self-indulgent given I’ve just released my first novel, but think of it this way: would you really want to read a brilliant first novel from an author then find their subsequent novels didn’t live up to expectation? I wouldn’t. I want to see them get better in the craft of writing, and for each story to be better than the book before. That’s certainly what I’m aiming for.)

What about you? Is there a book you enjoyed more than you expected?