Why I love reading....my 6th sense

So I have posted several book reviews at this point in my newly birthed blog. So far so good. I am enjoying sharing my thoughts on a particular book and in many instances reminiscing about the characters and places in those stories. Many times I find myself thinking about the characters long after I have finished a book. They sort of continue to live with me for a while. And for the rare book which truly touched a cord in my heart, I'll find myself thinking of their "story" many months or even years after I've finished the reading. To me, that is truly the sign of a well written story. When it affects you so much that memories of the story pop up in your mind much the same way as memories of times with your family or your childhood spring into your thoughts at a given moment. That is not to say I cannot draw the distinction between reality and fantasy - I most definitely can keep this all in perspective. I wonder if this feeling of a book being a "part of you" is a kin to the feeling that many authors have when they say that their characters "speak" to them and "live" with them for a time. I wonder if this is a 6th sense sort of experience. Perhaps it is that connection that the author has to their characters and story that make their books have a similar affect on their readers?

As a kid I never really liked reading. I would read what was required of me as a student, but if the Cliff Notes version of a required novel was available - or better yet a movie! - I was all about taking a short cut. I guess the classics just did not peak my interest. I did read To Kill A Mockingbird all the way through. The same with The Scarlet Letter and Romeo and Juliet. But The Handmaid's Tale? Withering Heights? Cliff Notes baby! Shhhh...don't tell Mrs. Hall my high school English teacher. However, somewhere in my teenage years I discovered a book series called Sweet Valley High - don't look up copyright dates please let's all just pretend we are still 20-somethings. m'kay? This was a teenybopper version of a romance series and there must have been 100+ books in it. I think I read them all. And truth be told - they were not even that good. Reading choices for teens and young adults abound today as compared to when I was younger. However, many of the offerings cross a boundary into what I would consider to be adult reading material. I suppose this is the way of the world and not a shock when you compare that to what the kids are watching on TV and movies and listening to on their iPods these days. Still, I would steer my teenage daughter to better, more age appropriate alternatives - and then read those New Adult novels myself. <grin>.

I also find my tastes changing back and forth from time to time. I guess it is a little bit the same way with certain foods or taste in music. I was on a Subway sandwich kick for a while there. Tasty, cheap, easy...until I could not stomach the idea of one more 6" turkey on wheat or even the smell of the bread when you walk in the store. So I moved on to other culinary desires. I'm sure I'll be back in a Subway one day and will again sink my teeth into a good old meatball sammy with extra pickles. The same thing happens with my tastes in reading. My love for fiction really re-sparked several years ago with a series by Diana Gabaldon called Outlander. These are ginormous 900+ page novels (and to date there are 7 in the series) about a time traveling woman who goes back in time (accidentally) to the mid 1700s Scotland and falls in love with a highlander. It has romance, history, travel, sci-fi and is absolutely hands down my favorite of all time. When I took a break from the historical nature of that series I tried a few easy romance novels by the likes of Nora Roberts. Mehhhh...kinda like a Lifetime movie on paper. They are okay, just not moving or memorable in any way - kinda like that turkey sandwich. So I bounce around mostly within the genre of romance novels - but ones that have some substance. I even enjoy the occasional New Adult book. Many of these I have reviewed on Good Reads. Right now my kick seems to be on the contemporary romance but stories that provide more than just the same old-same old "boy meets girl" storyline. And as intriguing as Fifty Shades of Grey was (yes, I read all three...yummy!) those novels that are all about sex are not all that tantalizing after a while. Now a slow burn, teasing, smoldering "let's get to know each other" storyline - that is way sexier to me.

If you have a good book to recommend, please let me know. I'm all ears! Or should I say I'm all eyes?

The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

                   The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

At just over 100 pages, The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers is a lovely romantic “snovel” (shorter than a novel).  Carrie West is a 30-ish librarian in the city. Carrie finds reading the online personals interesting and sometimes funny. Never would she respond - she is just in it for the pure fun of perusing them. That is until she comes across one that grabs her attention…the man in the photo is so attractive with sensitive eyes but it is what he is offering that makes her want to answer his ad. “I will meet you on Wednesdays at noon in Celebration Park. Kissing only.”

Completely out of the norm, Carrie replies to his ad and with nervously anxious anticipation she sets out for their Wednesday rendezvous.  Brian is all his picture made him out to be and more. He truly wants just what his ad said, kissing only. And that first kiss…..WOW! Carrie is eagerly watching her calendar for the next Wednesday to arrive.

Carrie finds herself wanting to know more about Brian but he is a closed book. She can sense there is more to this guy than his seductive kisses but she cannot get him to open up to her more or agree to anything more than kissing for an hour on a park bench once a week. Or does she?

I don’t want to give it all away but needless to say, there is a lot more to this story than kissing on the park bench.  The 100 pages go by quickly but are very fulfilling. Makes a great Saturday afternoon read.

 

Check out my Goodreads review at: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/728652353

Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

                        Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

I am a sucker for anything and everything about Scotland. Visiting Scotland is on my bucket list in position #1. So I was excited to sink into Five Days in Skye. Much of Scotland’s landscape is picturesque and you can experience everything from city life to rolling fields of heather to the craggy hills of the highlands. But the Isle of Skye is a dreamer’s paradise and Carla Laureano has painted a gloriously vivid picture for her readers.

Andrea Sullivan works in the high pressure and fast paced corporate environment as a hospitality consultant. Having been burned in the past by her chauvinist boss she finds herself having to land the account of a well-known celebrity chef in order to save her career with the company. She has to ditch her plans to take a much needed tropical vacation and head to what she feels is dreary Scotland to meet a celebrity she is sure is going to be full of himself and determined to bed her…just like the other men she has had to work with.

However, Scottish celebrity chef James McDonald turns out to be nothing like she expected.  James’ public persona as a womanizer has Andrea putting up her guard from the point of their first encounter. Despite what the public might think of him, James has been hurt in the past by the one woman he thought he loved. It was the pain he endured from the loss of that relationship that caused James to wall himself up and not let another woman into his heart. That is until he meets Andrea and finds out there is more to her than the polished professional appearance she has on display. He slowly cracks away at Andrea’s soft side and learns about who she really is, apart from her career. And even while Andrea is trying to keep the walls up around her, she starts to feel like she can trust again and she softens up and remembers who she really is inside. As Andrea and James become more comfortable with each other, Andrea starts to realize that their connection is much more than a business relationship.

The five days Andrea gets to spend in Skye with James is transforming for both of them. And the magic of their surroundings adds to their blooming romance. This is where Carla Laureano’s writing really impresses me. The description of the surroundings made me feel like I could feel the temperature and see the beauty of the land that James loves so much and wants to introduce to Andrea.

 If you are expecting the normal hot and heavy sex scenes typical of many romance novels today, you will not find them in Five Days in Skye. But please do not let that turn you off on this novel.  You will find yourself wanting and hoping for a “hook up”. When you are instead presented with a slow and tender kiss filled with the simmer of desire, you will remember that hardcore sex is not nearly as swoon-worthy and heart melting as a soft romantic kiss from a man you trust when you have been hurting and not trusting for such a long time. The will power of the two to not let sex drive their budding relationship but instead to be faithful to letting it build out of something more meaningful makes you feel their connection all the more.  This is not to say there is not sexual tension between the two – there most definitely is and it is well written and endearing. Now would I have been turned off if they’d have taken it into the bed…maybe, for that would have taken away from what they were trying to accomplish in their courtship.  Therefore in this case, no sex was sexy.

I would definitely recommend Five Days in Skye to my friends and I could even in good conscious recommend it to my mother without blushing – something I could definitely not do with Fifty Shades of Gray. It would make a great book club read as well.

I give Five Days in Skye 5 stars. Read it and take a staycation to the Isle of Skye.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17879360-five-days-in-skye