It’s the first Monday of the month. And we all know what that means . . .

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• What book(s) did you finish reading (or listening to) since last month’s update?

• What are you currently reading and/or listening to?

• What’s the next book on your To Be Read stack/list?

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  I read two books (yes, two WHOLE books) in October and started two more, which I’ve set aside while trying to finish writing An Honest Heart while also trying to figure out how to get all of my grading done for the Freshman Comp courses I’m now adjunct teaching.

  The first book I read in October was Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell. My “review” from my Pinterest board:

  Started 10/2/12. Finished 10/13/12. This was recommended highly, but I found I really took issue with the theme of the heroine having to be “tamed.” The heroine seemed to have no flaws. Her only fault seemed to be going along with the hero’s need to completely control everything she did. The hero had major control issues, and it bugs me to see captivity and control being made the basis of the relationship between them. But Lowell is a good writer. 3 stars.

  The second book was Notorious Pleasures by Elizabeth Hoyt. It’s the second book in the Maiden Lane series. I really enjoyed the first one, but I was a bit disappointed by this second one:

  Audio book read by Ashford McNabb. Started 10/3/12. Finished 10/14/12. I did not like this second book nearly as much as the first book in the series. I have no sympathy with the heroine who allows herself to be seduced by her fiancé’s brother—a man she caught in flagrante in the first scene of the book with another woman. The hero is flawed, but the flaws do not make him relatable or endearing. Didn’t find any chemistry between them. 3 stars.

  I also wrote about my reaction to these two books here.

  Here are the two that I started in October but have set aside for the time being:
  

  And Only to Deceive (Lady Emily, Book 1) by Tasha Alexander.

  Emily’s desire to learn more about her late husband takes her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, where, amid priceless ancient statues, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. To complicate matters, she’s juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. Her search to solve the crime leads to surprising discoveries about the man she married and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated.

  The False Prince (Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy) by Jennifer A. Nielsen. [Audiobook]

  In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

  As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner’s sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

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As a writer, my story ideas start with a character 99% of the time. Sometimes, though, there are those places—or images of places—that make me want to write a story set there.

Since I spent all weekend grading freshman comp essays, I had no brainpower left to come up with a book-related topic. So today, I’m stealing one of the prompts for an essay my students had the option of writing a couple of weeks ago and I’m presenting it to you. This is something you can do whether you’re a story writer or not.

Look at these images tell me about them. Make something up or tell me how it makes you feel. If it brings to mind a song or a Bible verse, share that.

A picture’s worth a thousand words. You don’t have to write that many, but do share with us what one or all of these images inspires in you.

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The two books that I just finished over the weekend have me thinking about similarities in the books we choose to read, whether it be actual similarities in the stories or similarities in the way that we as readers and react to them because of our own emotional or physical states. For example: I just finished reading two historical romance novels by two different authors published by two different publishers a few years apart. One had a medieval setting; the other had a mid-18th century setting. One had a hero who could only find love for the heroine by controlling her; the other had a hero who felt no qualms about seducing his brother’s fiancée. (Obviously, I’m using the term “hero” a bit loosely here—really, there wasn’t much heroic about these two male protagonists.) The medieval was written by an author who was new to me; the other is the second book in a series I have been looking forward to reading because I enjoyed the first book so much.

But I had the same issues with both books. The heroines were too perfect to be likable (even after sleeping with her fiancé’s brother, “Lady Perfect,” as the hero called her, seemingly remained guiltless and above reproach—and of course everything worked out perfectly for her with few to no consequences) and the heroes both had issues and did things that made them distasteful. I never felt any chemistry between the two couples except for the kind of chemistry that usually indicates these people should stay as far away from each other as possible.

This made me wonder—did I have the same reaction to both of these books because of my current mental and physical state; or, had I read these books separately at different times when I was in a better mood or not quite so exhausted, would I have liked these books better?

Now, I could go through and reread these books as a critical reading, really break them down and figure out what makes them tick and why I reacted to them the way I did. However, I’m really not that interested. And besides, one was a library book which I’ve already returned, and the other was an audiobook. So it’s not like I can do any underlining or highlighting or sticking Post-it Notes on them. I picked up both of these books because they were highly recommended and/or had high-rated reviews on romance review blogs that I trust.

This does not mean I won’t read the next book in the one series, or that I won’t read anything else by this new to me author. The writing in itself was good. It was the characters, the situations, and the storylines that I didn’t connect with. I have to give each author at least one more shot before I decide to give up on them.

What’s the point of this blog post? have no idea. This was what I happened to be thinking about in the car yesterday driving home from Arkansas.

Here’s a little questionnaire I made up that we can hopefully all have fun with. The only rule is that you can choose only ONE book for each of the five questions. Try to choose a different book for each one, if you can. (And, yes, this says “Monday” and I’m posting it on Sunday. My prerogative.)

1. What’s your ONE favorite novel of all time, ever?
Remember—you can only pick one!

I’m going to have to go with Jane Austen’s Persuasion for this one.

2. What’s your favorite YA novel that you read as a teen?

I have three that vie for the top spot in this category, two of which are by the same author. But I think because it’s the book that set me on the path to writing my own books, and the one I read most often during my teen years, I’ll have to go with Victoria by Willo Davis Roberts (#13 in the Sunfire Romance series).

3. What’s your favorite picture/storybook from childhood?

When my niece was young, I wanted to make sure she had some of the books I’d enjoyed as a child. The first one I hunted down and got for her was Corduroy by Don Freeman.

4. What’s your favorite book (fiction or nonfiction) that was a first-time read for you since October 2011?

I had to go to my Books Read in 2012 and 2011 boards to remind myself what I’ve read in the last year and to see which were the highest rated to choose from. As the true word-nerd that I am, I have to go with the only book I’ve given a five-star score in the October to October timespan: Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English, audiobook read by Robert Powell.

5. You love the book; you love the movie. What’s your favorite book-to-film adaptation?

Most of you will probably expect me to go back to the book I mentioned in the first question, but I’m going a completely different direction and go with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s the only book I ever waited in line to purchase the day (night) it released, and the two films are some of the only ones I was willing to fight the crowds to go see the day they opened.

Your turn. Remember—only one book per question!