A Fiction Binge

For the last month or so I have been on a fiction binge. I usually read one or two fiction books, then something in from the non-fiction side of the library. But with the end-of-school and start of summer, I have just wanted to read and not think for awhile. I found several series and got a little caught up in reading them - all of them....in the quickest amount of time possible it seems.

Two series are from Christian author Denise Hunter and two series are from secular author Nora Roberts. I, also, read one stand-alone from Nora Roberts - these are the first books of hers that I have read in...well...probably close to a decade. I use to read all her books, but then she started to write with a paranormal bent....one character went from a man to a wolf....another would have conversations with a fairy. Yea. Not my taste. I have not read any of the vampire books that have been popular lately. Just not me. I was disappointed that in one of these new series that a ghost was in the mix. But by then I was taken in by the other characters.

While I could have done without the strong language and the few love scenes, her characters are very compelling...like you want them to be real and go and hang  out with them. One series had a set of three brothers. I always love books and series that have a strong family as a major part of the plot. Also, both sets of Nora Robert's books had sets of friends that were unbreakable....friends that would stay together through thick and thin....friends that have known each other for most of their lives and plan to life  out the rest of their lives close by. I missed that being a military wife. I have met some amazing friends in my adult life, but time and distance have left their mark.

The Denise Hunter series was...just okay...in fact I really couldn't get into the second series.  Read the first chapter then the skimmed the rest the book. All of these series were more or less just love or romance books. But I did read a Dee Henderson book that was anything but "just romance"

Dee Henderson's latest book, Full Disclosure, was full of twist and turns as the two main characters tried to solve a murder mystery. But she also did something I never had read before -or at least never realized it - she wrote herself into the book and mentioned her other books. It was very interesting. The murder mystery was very interesting, but the romance side of the book was way too cerebral for me. The two falling in-love characters analyzed it to death, I felt like. But I think that was better than Nora Roberts book where clothes go flying off without thought!

I, also, read a Danielle Steele book: 44 Charles Street. She is, also, an author I use to read a lot. For the most part her earlier books had a pattern: they get rich, they get poor, they fall in love, some one dies, they get rich, they get poor...you get the picture. This is only the second of hers I have read probably since college, but it was a good read....a little predictable, I  think. Also, most of the characters are rich - who really gets to take the whole month of August off??? No one in my real world.

But I'm done with my fiction binge. On to some non-fiction....maybe  I'll even get sewing machine out to work on a project....