Category: Bookish Question

27 December 2022

Bookish Question #258 | Have you Achieved Your 2022 Reading Goal?

It’s almost the end of the year, and I haven’t quite met my 2022 reading goal. However, Christmas is over, and I’m now on my summer holiday … so it’s reading time!

(Click here to check out my 2022 reading goals.)

I’m currently at 148 books with five days to go in the year, and it’s my summer holiday. I’m definitely going to make the 150 books as long as I don’t do something stupid like try to re-read War and Peace (or try and finish Vanity Fair).

I set an original target of 150 books, but I also set some sub-goals.

Of the 148 books I have read:

15 have been by BIPOC authors (out of a target of 12+).
32 were by international authors (target: 40). It’s possible I didn’t categorise some properly.
44 were from debut or new-to-me authors (target: 40).
I intended to read 48 books from my to-read pile. I’ve read 40, which means fallen well short of the target. On the plus side, I have made a practice of reading the books I’ve bought this year, so my to-read pile has shrunk rather than grown. Win!

I had intended to read at least 24 nonfiction books, but I’ve only read 13. I guess I over-estimated that one 😉

I’ve have read 71 books by indie authors, which wasn’t something I set a specific goal around, although I do usually seek out books from indie authors.

So that’s my 2022 in books.

Did you set a reading goal for this year? How did you go?

20 December 2022

Bookish Question #257 | What Were the Top Ten Books You Read in 2022?

Of all the books you’ve read this year, which were the most memorable for you? What are your top ten reads of 2022?

Here are mine, in the order I read them:

Click on each book title to read my review.

What have all these novels got in common?

I think what caught my attention is that they all a take step outside the ordinary in terms of plot or character or setting or theme. Yet they all still fit perfectly into their selected genre. Each book managed to challenge and stretch my thinking while still entertaining me, and that’s what makes a top read.

What about you? What were the top titles you read in 2022?

14 December 2022

Bookish Question #256 | What’s Your View on Romances Featuring Royalty?

This is similar to a couple of previous questions:

I have reconsidered this question, and find my opinion has changed … but only slightly.

I previously said:

I’m not a big fan of contemporary fiction (especially romance) featuring royal families.

I’m not interested in fictionalised versions of the lives of still-living people—I haven’t even watched The Crown. I’m also not interested in made-up contemporary royal families, perhaps because the lives of our real royal family have more than enough drama.

I’m from New Zealand (as you probably know), so grew up seeing Queen Elizabeth II on all the stamps, and listening to her Christmas message each year. King Charles III has succeeded his mother as our head of state, and we all watched people we knew or knew of attend the Royal Funeral or march in the funeral procession. We also had the Commonwealth Games, where the countries of the British Commonwealth compete in an Olympic-type tournament every four years (conveniently timed to be midway between the Olympics).

As such, the Royal Family were and are part of life, even if they are far removed from our everyday life.

However, I have read and enjoyed Toni Shiloh’s stories set in the imaginary African kingdom of Ọlọrọ Ilé, In Search of a Prince and To Win a Prince, and I would definitely want to read more in this vein.

I might even be interested in romances about royalty set in non-European countries, especially if the author could come up with some kind of twist. But I am still not interested in contemporary romance in European countries (particularly English-speaking countries), as that’s too close to real life.

What about you? What’s Your View on Romances Featuring Royalty?

6 December 2022

Bookish Question #255 | What Makes the Perfect Book Boyfriend?

In other words, what makes the perfect romance hero?

My view is that a romance hero (which some bloggers call a “book boyfriend”) should exhibit the same qualities as any good man.

He should be a Christian (especially in Christian fiction), and should be maturing in his faith.
He should be kind, loving, honest, generous, hard-working … all the fruit of the spirit.
He should be hard-working – bonus points for having a job he is good at and enjoys.
And he should love the heroine and always seek to put her first.

Does he have to be attractive? No … because he’ll be attractive to the heroine even if he’s not conventionally attractive. After all, we all have different tastes (as evidence by the fact some people find Henry Cavill attractive).

Above all, the perfect romance hero isn’t perfect … because perfection is unattainable outside heaven.

But I do want to see romance heroes that set a high standard, that encourage readers to not settle for second best in a life partner when they should be seeking God’s best.

What do you think? What makes the perfect book boyfriend?

29 November 2022

Bookish Question #254 | What’s your favourite book with a two-word title?

I find these questions difficult, because I tend to remember books based on the author or the genre or the main characters, not the number of words in a title. But I took a look at my bookshelf, and several favourite titles did jump out at me.

(So apologies to the hundreds of ebooks I’ve read. Searching for a two-word title on a Kindle isn’t as easy as scanning a physical bookshelf.)

The titles were all by the same author, Tamara Leigh. Tamara Leigh curently writes Christian historical fiction/romance set in around the 1300s (I think. I haven’t actually read any, because it’s not a period of history I have a lot of interest in).

She actually started her author career writing historical fiction for the general market. But between her two historical phases, she wrote several contemporary Christian romances which perhaps could be better considered as rom-coms.

All were written in first person point of view with only one point of view character. All had interesting, intelligent heriones. All were funny, yet also managed to cover some serious issues.

And all had two-word titles: Saving Adda, Perfecting Kate, Splitting Harriet, Faking Grace.

My favourite was Faking Grace, where unemployed Maisy Grace decides to fake being a Christian to get a job with a Christian company. I liked Grace, I liked her boss (the “English hottie” she falls for), and I liked the lighthearted redemption story. I’d re-read it, except I loaned my copy to someone and never got it back.

Maybe it’s time to invest in the ebook version …

All she wants is a job. All she needs is religion. How hard can it be?

Maizy Grace Stewart dreams of a career as an investigative journalist, but her last job ended in disaster when her compassion cost her employer a juicy headline. A part-time gig at a Nashville newspaper might be her big break.

A second job at Steeple Side Christian Resources could help pay the bills, but they only hire committed Christians. Maizy is sure she can fake it with her Five-Step Program to Authentic Christian Faith. If only Jack Prentiss, Steeple Side’s managing editor and British hottie, wasn’t determined to prove her a fraud.

When Maizy’s newspaper boss pressures her to expose any skeletons in Steeple Side’s closet, she must decide whether to deliver the dirt and secure her career or lean on her newfound faith, change the direction of her life, and pray that her colleagues—and Jack—will show her grace.

What’s your favourite book with a two-word title?

22 November 2022

Bookish Question #253 | Have you ever re-read a book and had it impact you two different ways?

Have I ever re-read a book? Yes, of course I have.

(Although not so much lately, as I have so many books in my to-read pile. I have found myself accidentally re-reading books, because I find them on my Kindle, start reading, and don’t remember that I’ve read them before.)

I’ve actually had that happen a couple of times this year: I only realise I’ve already read the book when I go to add it to my Goodreads list and find it’s already on my Read shelf.

In one case, I thought the book was average and forgettable, so the fact I’d already read it didn’t surprise me (especially when I read my review, which essentially said the book was forgettable).

But the other did surprise me, because I enjoyed it much more the second time around.

That book was The Edge of Mercy by Heidi Chiavaroli.

I’d put off reading it several times because while the book was described as dual timeline, the cover made it look like a historical. That gave me the impression it was set in two historical timelines.

That didn’t interest me because I’ve been going through a contemporary phase (I can’t be the only person who goes through reading phases). Yes, I could have read the actual book description which would have made it clear the book was a contemporary, but that is one of the disadvantages of reading on Kindle: there isn’t a back cover with a book description.

Anyway, once I started it (again), I realized The Edge of Mercy is actually a contemporary story that has flashbacks to the past through a diary.

Here’s the Amazon description:

Two women, three hundred years apart, must face the devastation of all they hold dear…

Suspecting her husband is having an affair, Sarah Rodrigues fights to appear unbroken while attempting to salvage her family. Though distracted by her own troubles, Sarah is summoned to an elderly friend’s deathbed for an unusual request—find a long-lost daughter and relay a centuries-old family story.

Determined not to fail her friend, Sarah pieces together the story of her neighbor’s ancestor, Elizabeth Baker, a young colonist forced into an unwanted betrothal but drawn to a man forbidden by society.

While Sarah’s family teeters on the edge of collapse, her world is further shaken by the interest of a caring doctor and a terrible accident that threatens a life more precious than her own.

Inspired by the unconditional love she uncovers in Elizabeth’s story, Sarah strives to forgive those who’ve wounded her soul. But when light shines on the dark secrets of her neighbor’s past and the full extent of her husband’s sins, will looking to a power greater than herself rekindle lost hope?

The Edge of Mercy reminded me of The Scarlet Thread by Francine Rivers.

The heroine married young, and focused on raising a family while her husband built a successful business. Now her husband has now left her for another woman.

As with The Scarlet Thread, the writing in The Edge of Mercy was excellent, and the story focusses on the woman: on her reaction to being suddenly single, on an external event (her neighbor dying) that pushes her to look beyond herself, and on her eventual (but subtle) reconciliation with God through the story. It’s also a story of the main character, Sarah, as she tries to find her identity now her marriage has ended. As she says on the first page:

I … couldn’t imagine who I was without Matt to define me.”

I think that’s what got my attention this time: a main character with a mistaken view about her identity. We should not identify ourselves purely in relation to those around us. We are more than someone’s daughter or wife or mother or colleague or friend.

As Christians, our identity is in Christ.

And I wanted Sarah to discover that …

What about you? Have you ever read a book a second time and had it impact you differently?

15 November 2022

Bookish Question #252 | Do you Pre-order Books?

Do you pre-order books? What would make you pre-order a book?

I often pre-order ebooks, but almost never pre-order a paper book. Because I’m mostly an ebook reader, I tend to only buy nonfiction in paperback, or novels I want to gift or loan to other people.

So what entices me to pre-order an ebook?

If it’s cheap.

If I see an advertisement for a book I’m interested in and it’s on pre-order for 99 cents, I’m likely to click on that pre-order button. My rationale is that it supports the author, I’m not likely to get it cheaper, and I’ve only lost a dollar or so if I end up not enjoying the book (although I’m less likely to click on pre-order next time if I don’t enjoy the book).

I may even pre-order at $1.99 or $2.99, but then it will depend on how much I have liked the author’s previous books. If it’s any more expensive than that, I’m more likely to wait until after it’s released so I can check the sample before buying.

If it’s a favourite author.

I’m more likely to click the pre-order button if a book is by a favourite author, especially if the pre-order is the sequel to the book I’ve just read (and even more so if there is a short sample to whet my appetite).

This has been known to backfire. I recently pre-ordered the third book in a series from a favourite author, then realised I hadn’t read the first two books in the series. As it happened, I already had the second book, and the first book was currently free, so I downloaded it.

I started the first book, but didn’t like the main character. I started the second book, but didn’t like either of the main characters. So I cancelled the pre-order. I now see it has 100+ 5-star reviews, but I’m not tempted. I’m glad a lot of people like it, but it’s not for me. And that’s okay

So what makes me (or entices me) to pre-order a book?

Basically, it’s price, genre, and author … author if I’ve read their books (or especially that series) before, and price if it’s a new-to-me author.

What about you? Do you pre-order books? If so, why?

8 November 2022

Bookish Question #251 | Do you ever find yourself taken out of a novel because of a character’s name?

Yes.

One thing that brings me out of a novel is when I can’t picture the character.

So if a character has a gender-ambiguous name and their gender isn’t immediately clear, it pulls me out of the story. (And I mostly read Christian fiction, so the characters are all male or female. The author isn’t trying to be ambiguous, as might be the case in general market fiction.) I don’t need a lot of character description.

I just need to know if I’m in the head of the hero or the heroine.

It could be that the authors know their characters so well that they assume everyone will know Hunter and Cameron are male characters. But the first Hunter I met in real life was a teenage girl, and the Cameron I “know” best is the female doctor on the famous TV series, House.

Then there are the names which can apply to either gender:

Ashley/Ashleigh
Lesley/Leslie
Billie/Billy

Those last two are all the more confusing as the “ie” ending is male for Leslie, but female for Billie (well, I’ve never met a male Billie).

Then there are non-English names, like Iola (which is Welsh, and means “valued by the Lord”). My sister’s name means “fair maiden”, so she was somewhat surprised to meet a male with her name. (There is a traditional masculine version, but that’s spelled differently. This boy definitely had the female spelling).

Another reason is when I’ve seen the character’s name in a novel by another author in the same genre.

I’ve seen this a couple of times. In one, it was made clear that the characters were the same, and that the author had “borrowed” the character with the permission of the other author.

The shared character was Gwen Marcey, from Carrie Stuart Parks’s Gwen Marcey series. I liked that, and it made sense. Gwen Marcey is a forensic artist, the books were set in the same part of the USA, and it made sense that the characters mentioned Gwen in the context of the story.

But I read another novel where a character shared an unusual name with a character from a novel by one of the author’s mentors. It was never clear whether they were the same character or not, and that detracted from my enjoyment because I was wondering about the character, not the story.

I’ve also read multi-author series where the different authors share some of the same characters. This doesn’t bother me, because it’s been established all the authors are writing in the same series, so it makes sense that they’d share some characters.

So yes, I have sometimes found myself taken out of a novel because of the character’s name.

What about you? Do you ever find yourself taken out of a novel because of a character’s name?

17 October 2022

Bookish Question #248 | Is it more important to like the hero or heroine in a Christian romance?

Is it more important for you to like the hero or heroine in a Christian romance?

Umm, both?

Seriously, I think the hero and heroine are equally important.

If I don’t like the hero, then I’m secretly hoping the relationship will fail.

I’m waiting for the heroine to see whatever red flags I’ve spotted, and for her to wise up and move on. (That goes double when there is a male character I think would be ideal for her.)

If I don’t like the heroine, then I wonder what the hero sees in her.

Perhaps he’s focussed on her looks or her money or something equally fleeting. Perhaps it’s not clear what attracts him to the heroine.

Either way, if I can’t see a real and credible attraction, I’m happy to close the book and allow the two of them to go on to their inevitable miserable and shallow ever after.

If I can see a real and credible attraction, I’m likely to question the hero’s intelligence, judgement, or both. Again, I’m happy to close the book and let them have a miserable time together.

On that basis, I guess it’s actually more important for me to like the heroine.

After all, the heroine (and therefore the reader) may often have a false initial impression of the hero. After all, a false impression could provide some great conflict and tension. But we, the reader, still need to be able to see the characters as they really are in order to buy in to the relationship.

What about you?

Which character is it more important for you to like in a Christian romance – the hero or the heroine?

13 October 2022

Bookish Question #247 | What’s your view on epilogues where the couple get engaged or married?

Christian romance novels often feature an epilogue with an engagement or wedding scene.

What’s your view on such epilogues?

I was tempted to give my usual “it depends” answer, using the rationale that some stories will need to include the engagement or wedding scene in order to feel complete, but others will be complete without the engagement or wedding.

But then I reconsidered.

If the story needs an engagement or wedding scene to be complete, that scene should form part of the main novel. It shouldn’t be tacked on at the end.

If the story doesn’t need an engagement or wedding scene, then that scene could be rated in one of several ways:

It could be excluded. If it’s not needed, why include it?
It could be moved to the next book in the series, to show the reader how the first couple are moving on in their life together.
It could be included as an epilogue.

I think epilogues work best when they are doing one of two things:

Setting up the next story in a series (e.g. introducing the next hero and heroine).
Following up the characters after significant time has passed since the end of the book e.g. an epilogue at the end of a series which shows where the main characters are months or years later.

I have seen engagement or (more commonly) wedding scenes which successfully set up the next book in a series e.g. by having the new hero and heroine meet at the wedding. I like these: they provide a sense of closure while whetting the reader’s appetite for whatever comes next.

I do think epilogues should be set many months after the conclusion of the novel.

First, because I do wonder if some fictional characters will marry in haste and repent at leisure. Second, because if the engagement or wedding follows the end of the novel too quickly, why not simply include it in the actual novel?

I have heard of authors who use an epilogue as an enticement to get readers to sign up for their email list. I can see the logic behind this, but I also know it annoys those readers who believe the novel should be complete as it is published, i.e. no cliff-hanger endings and no vital epilogues.

A better enticement night be a “bonus scene”.

This could well be a combination engagement or wedding with introducing the next couple. But it could also be a prequel scene or short story, or a deleted scene.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.