Book 5/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
As from 2016, a Nora Roberts book is always the first and last book of my reading challenge. Why? I explained the reason in a previous post that you can read here.
I also always read a Ms. Roberts novel every 10th book, i.e. book 11, 21, 31 etc. I came up with this model in 2016 as a way to keep me motivated during the challenge. The nature of the reading challenge, like any other challenge, is to push you out of your comfort zone. So I would read books from authors I had never read before (e.g. Stephen King), as well as books from genres I do not enjoy to begin with (e.g. nonfiction). I may have discovered new authors I liked along the way (e.g. Belinda Jones), but I also got reaffirmation that:
1) Nonfiction is really not my thing
2) I am not a Stephen King fan at all. I have read three of his books and while I may enjoy the storyline, his writing style is not for me. Plus his books are always 100 pages or so too long 😐
Planning a Nora Roberts read for every 10 books kept me going when I was reading nonfiction, or when a book started off as promising but ended up disappointing. I last participated in a structured reading challenge in 2017 but even in 2018 and 2019 I still read a Nora Roberts book as my inaugural read as well as every 10 books.
This year though I did not kick off my reading challenge with a Nora Roberts book because I was still reading a book I did not finish in 2019 when the New Year rolled around. It was a very boring 1-star read that was followed by another 1-star read. I caught a break and read a highly interesting Nicholas Sparks book next before reading yet another 1-star read.
It was at that point that I decided to turn to my trusted, favourite author because I simply could not read another 1-star book in a 10 week period. I usually prefer to pace myself when reading Nora Roberts’ books in my reading challenge, but after three 1-star books in less than three months I am going all in. I have decided to read all four books in the Bride Quartet series one after the other. Not only will that fuel my reading fire, it will also help me move ahead with my reading challenge as I am currently one book behind schedule 😐
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
Lwile the Leo 