Reading is one of my all-time favorite past times. It is something that I am constantly doing. I mean, I almost always have a book at hand in case I have some free time. Even as I sit here, typing away on my computer, I am surrounded by stacks of books – both read and unread. But right now, I’m in a reading rut. I can’t seem to concentrate enough to actually get into a book. This started in November when my life got extremely busy. I put many, many hours into work and had many personal and family obligations. This isn’t unusual for this time of year, I know. But things have quieted down a bit, and I still can’t seem to actually commit to a book. Last week, I was sick and home from work several days. Usually, the only thing I do when I am sick is read. But last week’s cold was settled in my head and played havoc with my concentration. Reading was definitely out of the question.

Currently, I have read the first chapters of several books: The Darkest Touch by Jaci Burton, Her Secret Lover by Sara Bennett, Never Dare a Duke by Gayle Callen, The Bride Price by Anne Mallory and The Heir and the Spare by Maya Rodale. Now, I don’t want to in any way suggest that my reading blues are prompted by the aforementioned books – I haven’t gotten far enough into any of them to be able to form a realistic opinion. However, I do keep reaching for new books trying to rekindle my interest.

I hope my reading blues turn around soon. Reading is what I do to recharge my batteries – and I’m definitely starting to feel a bit agitated.

I’ve been reading up a storm in October. By October 14, I had read 19 new-to-me books. I was having a great time, although will admit that I didn’t have time for much else – including writing any reviews for this blog. However, this mad reading rush came to a rather abrupt halt when I picked up Julianne MacLean’s The Mistress Diaries, which has been in my to-be-read pile for a month or two. Now, I want to say that I enjoyed the first book in the Pembroke Series, In My Wildest Fantasies. I really liked both Devon and Rebecca, even though I was frustrated with the lack of resolution I had to go back and read my thoughts on this book to refresh my memory about the characters and the mad-duke-trying-to-marry-off-his-sons-while-avoiding-the-curse plot. I bought The Mistress Diaries because I was indeed caught up in MacLean’s story.

However, I have now been reading this story for 3 days and am only on page 106. I pick it up repeatedly and always seem to find something that takes my attention away from it quite quickly. At this point, I HATE/DETEST/LOATH the hero, Lord Vincent Sinclair with some serious passion. In the first 106 pages, he has seduced and impregnated the widowed heroine, Cassandra Montrose, Lady Colchester. He has continued to be rude and obnoxious when she shows up at the Sinclair estate with baby daughter to plead for help because she believes she is dying of consumption. He goes back and forth between wanting to be involved in his daughter’s life to wanting both her and Cassandra out of his life. He has offered to buy Cassandra a home and pay for the upkeep of her and her daughter while mandating that she may never marry another man. Meanwhile, he is engaged to Lady Letitia Markham who was once his father’s choice of bride for his the aforementioned Devon – who is heir to the Sinclair dukedom. She is quite mercenary and as unlikeable as Vincent.

Seriously, I don’t recall disliking Vincent so much in the first book. In fact, I think he was more a tragic-type figure who had been betrayed by his older brother and then left to manage the family and the estate in his brother’s absence (because the Duke may or may not be mad). I think he seemed like an intriguing character. But now, I am having a very difficult time believing that any type of tragic revelation or character transformation can make his behavior towards Cassandra seem appropriate enough to result in a HEA.

In addition, I have a real bad reaction to illegitimate children in historicals – especially involving illegitimate children of peers. There was such an incredible stigma attached to illegitimacy. And, there is no way to reverse this plot device. It ruins both the unmarried mother and the child. At this point in the story, Vincent seems remarkably unconcerned about the fact that he has fathered a child out of wedlock. I have wanted to knock some sense into him several times already. I haven’t had much of a reaction to Cassandra, because I’ve been so annoyed with Vincent.

I do plan to continue reading the book. I don’t hate it, and I am curious about the curse and the mad duke. I can only hope that Vincent’s redemption is believable and that it makes him worthy of the love of both Cassandra and his daughter June.

Currently, I am reading four different books (My True Love by Cheryl Holt, Surrenderby Vonna Harper, The Wicked Ways of a Dukeby Laura Lee Guhrke and A Seduction in Scandalby Sara Bennett) and am having a tough time finishing any of them. Having this many open books is something that is a huge anomaly for me. I’m fairly fastidious about not starting a book until I’m finished with one. I find it too distracting to go back and forth and back and forth. But, everytime I sit down to read a book, I find myself loosing interest. Part of this is because I’m not entirely enjoying a couple of the aforementioned books as much as I would like. I can admit that the others are not grabbing my attention either. At this point, I’m forcing myself not to start another book.

I absolutely hate it when I’m in this sort of slump. I want to read. I have stacks of unread books waiting their turn. This will be my last free weekend before school starts again (for my last semester of my master’s program), and I want nothing more than to curl up with good books and read the long weekend away. Maybe I should pull out my DVD collection and immerse myself in some of my favorite tv shows and/or movies. Maybe that will help pull me out of my slump!

I’ve been a fan of traditional romance for quite some time. I’ve always been partial to historical fiction where pregnancy is usually the worst thing that can result from unprotected sex. However, I’ve recently become quite a fan of erotic romance. I’ve been chuckling a bit of late at something that seems to be coming up more and more in erotic fiction (and no, I don’t mean that!). I’m talking about the whole “I’ve-been-to-my-doctor-recently-and-I’m-totally-clean.-How-about-you?” discussion that the main characters seem to have right before they get down to business for the first time - usually so that they don’t have to use a condom. Obviously contraception and disease prevention are hugely important topics – ones that cannot be avoided. Despite this, the contraception/disease discussions seem to take away from the intimacy of the moment. I mean this is fantasy, right? And, this new “I-get-checked-regularly-and-I’m-clean.-Can-we-skip-the-condom?” routine is definitely disruptive. I’m not sure that many would think this is a wise discussion to have in real life with people we may or may not have known for long.

Anyway, I find it very difficult to suspend my disbelief, and thus, the mood is usually broken. More often than not, this conversation makes me laugh at its absurdity. I’m not necessarily trying to knock the authors that do this. A part of me wishes that this subject could just be avoided. However, the topic itself is critically important and should not be just ignored. Everyone needs to be aware – even characters in works of fiction. I just find it all a little weird!

Earlier this week, the author Jennifer Estep wrote a blog post about writing in the first person over at Romancing the Blog. Estep begins the post by writing that “People dislike first-person books.” She goes to discuss the fact that there seems to be a stigma attached to writing in the first person – that there seems to be a belief that it is an inferior way to write. This is important to Estep because she writes in the first person voice – and feels as if this is the way that she writes best.

Now, I can say that I almost universally hate books that are told in first person voice. The most notable exception is Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series which I absolutely adore. But, I don’t particularly believe there is anything wrong with writing in the first person. Is there something inherently bad about it? I can’t really see why there would be.

For me, I think one of the biggest reasons that I almost never finish a book that is told in the first person voice is because I find I can’t connect with the main character in a way that lets me connect with the story. It bothers me more when a character does something that I don’t like or embarasses me if I have to read about in terms of “I did” rather than “she did.” I am much harder on characters who are presented in first person than in third person. Does this make much sense? Probably not, but it is how I react to stories written in the first person.

Interestingly, I didn’t realize that this was something that bothers many people. I just thought it was a personal preference – one that I didn’t (and still don’t) fully understand, but just accepted. Personally, I don’t think less of authors who write in the first person. Of course, I generally don’t form much of an opinion about these authors because I don’t read their works. That is probably a shame in many cases. However, I doubt that my preference will change.