January 12, 2018

Erotic romances are just not my cup of tea






When I first discovered Lora Leigh back in the mid 2000s, I had no idea that erotic romance was going to become the booming market it is now.  I didn't read her Breed series for the sex, but for the intriguing story line that centered on a global rogue governments project to create brutal, super strong soldiers by using animal DNA and splicing it into human genetics to make the perfect warrior.  Cruel, soulless, intelligent, and completely loyal to whomever held his/her leash. 

The people born into those facilities suffered cruelties beyond comprehension, but have since escaped and are now being hunted by the government labs to recapture them and begin the breeding program once again.  Breeds 2.0.


Now this was an amazing premise, and I have enjoyed the books.  But when I decided on the first of January to use my library's Overdrive catalogue, so that I could read a few short books and get my Goodreads goal off to a good start, I thought I'd give the erotic romances another go - and it didn't go well.  Instead of finding another Breeds series I instead found books that only used a vague plot to take you from sex scene to sex scene.

Am I too old?  Are my reading tastes those of an aging generation who just don't get it?  Oh God, am I turning into my mother?!!

No.  I've just come to the conclusion that erotic romance as a genre just isn't for me.  So far this year I've read about 15 books and none of them have rated highly.  Perhaps my enjoyment of the Breed series stems from the fact that it made the jump from an indie publisher (Ellora's Cave) to a huge publishing juggernaut like Berkley?  Well, I think that that certainly didn't hurt it.

Anyway, my point is that it is okay to not love (or even like) a genre of books.  Don't let anyone tell you that you're not a real reader if you don't like a genre, or subject, or on the flip side, if you do like books that everyone else seems to hate don't let their criticisms put you off.  Don't feel guilty for having a personal preference.

Do I like erotic romance?  No, not really.  But I do like this series and some of the author's other works and in the end that's all that matters.

Thank you for hanging around to read my musings.  I'd be interested to know if you have read any of the books that fall under erotic romances (such as Ellora's Cave), and if so what did you think of them.

And until next time,
 

January 10, 2018

2017 Reading Stats









Hi there!

In keeping with my plans I am getting out another video.  This is just a quick run down of my stats.  I didn't go into breaking it down so far as to record male vs female authors, authors nationality, etc. - but perhaps that's something to look at for this year?

For this year I've still kept my Goodreads goal at 100 books, but I'm only including new to me books and not any rereads (because that just makes it almost impossible to keep up with at times!).

Anyway, until I see you next time,