Recently Amanda commented internally that she used to read a ton of historicals, but that she hadn’t reached for or even considered one for awhile.
This got me thinking about genres that I used to adore and read like I was starving and had an unlimited supply of those chocolate covered fruit snacks from Brookside.
Figuring out what I used to read isn’t difficult; I’m packing up most of my possessions and donating at least a third of them. Parting with some paperbacks is much, much easier than parting with others, especially when I ask myself, “Is it worth it to pay a company to move this for you, or would it be better to say goodbye now?” Clearly, the books that are easy to let go of are books I’m not as attached to, and for me, they fell into one of two genres, mostly: angsty historical, and paranormal, some angst.
Why? That’s harder to pinpoint. I think my step away from angsty historical matches my disinterest in any book in any romance sub-genre that is described with the words “heart wrenching,” “twist of fate,” “devastating,” “poignant,” “touching,” “tragic,” “moving,” or “heartbreaking” in the cover copy. I’m mentally exhausted and don’t have extra feelings to spare or energy to devote to the deep reactions I have to strongly emotional fiction. Damn you, authors are your ability to make readers have feels! (I mean, really and truly, good job, and I’m sorry I can’t pick up those books.)
But paranormal, I think I burned out by reading too much. For me, a very powerful combination of catnip or an author who is persistently excellent are about the only things that vaults me past my initial, “Oh, yeah, I’m kind of tired of that” reaction to vampires, were-shifters, and demons. I read so many, for so long, and so quickly that I kind of exhausted myself on that particular type of story. The descriptions I have read all seem too familiar and overdone most of the time.
My exception: dragons. Because dragons.
But I’m also building a “When I Have More Time to Read Again” library of fantasy that’s been very effusively recommend, such as some of the Discworld books — Tiffany Aching ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au | Scribd ), for example, and Guards! Guards! I also have some of the Anne McCaffery Pern books (see above re: DRAGONS.) I’m very eager to read more fantasy with nuanced and absorbing world building – once my brain isn’t exhausted from remembering and doing 9,365,199 tasks that are currently on the to-do list.
Yet paranormal, not so much. Which is unfortunate because it’s not like I want the genre to disappear or anything.
I think there’s a difference between “I’m burned out on this sub-genre,” and “My reading tastes have changed and this no longer appeals.” Paranormal is, for me, an example of the first, while angsty fiction is more the second, because I don’t see myself gravitating towards emotionally wrenching fiction any time soon.
Amanda:
As noted above, I cannot get into a historical romance for the life of me. I’ve read my fair share – Lisa Kleypas, Julie Garwood, Courtney Milan, etc. But I’d say within the last few years, I haven’t been interested. My closest guess might be burnout since I read a lot of them in a little amount of time, but who the hell knows.
I see my fellow Bitches reading them and enjoying them and it’s hard not to think “WHY NOT ME?!” I want to get excited about the new Sarah MacLean or the new Mary Balogh. But I read the book descriptions and just shrug my shoulders. I recently picked up Meredith Duran’s Lady Be Good and gave it a lukewarm 3 out of 5 on Goodreads. I firmly believe the problem lies with me and my reading tastes rather than with any of these authors or the genre as a whole. There are also so many historical romances getting published in a given month that it’s rather overwhelming on decided where to dip my toe in again.
It’s possible my reading tastes are just focused elsewhere right now. I’ve shifted to reading a lot of contemporary romances, mainly sports romances and those that are darker (see Madame X and my Edie Harris reviews – Blamed and Ripped). With darker themes, I often find them more prevalent in other genres and not in historical romances, so maybe that’s why.
But there are tropes that I love that show up in historical romances all the time, like class differences, and I still can’t seem to be swayed very much. For me, I think my avoidance of historical romances is a little of both the reasons Sarah mentioned earlier: changing tastes combined with burnout.
What about you? Do you have sub-genres that you’ve burnt out on, or that no longer appeal? Do you know why? Which ones?
First, I want to say, Brookside’s chocolate covered pomegranates are the best candies in the world and I’m sad there are none in my fridge right now.
As to subgenres, it isn’t romance exactly, but I used to read a lot of historical epics, it was the first thing I looked for actually, and while there are a few titles I go back to when I need a comfort read, “The Bronze Horseman”, for example, or anything by Sharon Kay Penman, the genre just doesn’t grab me like it used to.
I’m much more likely to read gothic/historical mysteries or, if I’m in that mood, nonfiction about historical figures.
Maybe it’s the market? I seem to remember the late ’90’s/early 2000’s had a bunch of historical epics. Today I see a lot more …literary fiction with a historical bent on the shelves. You know the type. Three generations of women in a family deal with similar trials and tribulations, something, something, 1950’s.
There’s just something about that narrative or framing that bores me.
I moved at the end of 2012 and, in spite of the purchase of five enormous new book shelves for our his-and-hers dens, a major book purge was in order.
This got me thinking about what I did not keep. I used to read a lot of Chick Lit, but only one or two authors came with me; same for a good amount of so-called women’s fiction. Nowadays, there is only one author in that genre who I will buy without a moment’s hesitation.
One sub-genre that leaves me completely cold these days, I can only describe as the sassy historical – the ones with spirited, unconventional heroines and plenty of supposed sparkling banter. I’m pretty sure this is a case of YMMV, but I haven’t read one of this sort over the past two years that has gotten a bigger reaction than meh!
Obviously, old-skool bodice rippers ran their course years ago. I remember my regret when I broke up with Bertrice Small – the day I realized that her books weren’t doing a thing for me any longer, after years of devouring them.
Although, I have been very good about purchases of physical books since the move, another clean-out is due. This time I’m getting rid of everything I’ve hung onto for reasons of guilt: it was a gift, it was so expensive, it just looks really impressive on the shelf, maybe I’ll re-read it or finish it one of these days, etc.
Suzanne Brockmann ‘ s Tall, Dark, and Deadly series. So many of them were the wonderful for me. Prince Joe, Forever Blue, and especially Harvard’s Education are personal favorites!
Oops wrong post. Meant to put this on the Harlequin sale post!
I used to read a lot of ‘cozy’ mysteries with Feisty Heroines. These ladies were amateur detectives and invariably couldn’t resist getting involved with murders. Frequently, their boyfriend/lover/fantasy object was a detective or sheriff who would gruffly warn them off.
That never did any good, but Feisty Heroine would solve the case!
My reaction these days is ‘You need to leave that to the authorities.’
New adult. I didn’t like many at first, then I binged, now I see the tag New Adult and I don’t read any further. I am sure I will come back around. Historical is another, I have so many sitting on my Kindle that I think I want to read. I always end up re-reading old favorites. I am scared I will be disappointed by the new ones. I haven’t read a new historical in almost a year.
I actually burned out on McCaffrey in my teens. The Dragonriders series eventually kind of resembled the Engergizer bunny and I just stopped reading. (I still adore Dragonsong and Dragonsinger.)
I think I more often burn out on specific authors and series then I do on genres. Revisiting the Johanna Lindsey books that were my entry to adult romance is kind of fun, if I’m in the right mood, but I just can’t plow through one after another anymore. Partly my tastes have changed, but I think I just overdid it way back when.
I still have a bunch I never got round to reading before that happened, that I keep telling myself I will get round to reading, someday, because damn it, I spent good money on those.
I read in gluts, usually try to get an entire series and read them all in a row, or all the books I can find by one author. But once I’m done, I’m looking for something entirely different! I went from all the Courtney Milan’s to John Scalzi’s sci-fi(happily, hubby owned many!)to m/m historical romances. Steampunk romances might be next if I can find new ones.
High Fantasy romance–have been on the look out for that. Not much outside of dragon shifters. Am writing some. Want to read Narnia/Middle Earth inspired romances!
One genre I really don’t read anymore is mystery, specifically the “fair play ” variety ala Agatha Christie. In my teens I devoured every single one I came across , but lately I tell myself I’ll pick one up, but never do. I think I just got burned out on them. I still like to watch them every now and then though.
One type of book I can never get into is anything that is Grimdark, reading is an escape for me and sometimes trying to read anything like that is emotionally taxing. This may be the reason I’m having trouble getting into the third book, Faefever of Karen Marie Moning’s Mackayla Lane series. I will have to finish it though because my husband bought me the entire series after I got really into the first book when a friend lent it to me.
I’ve migrated into that type of reading habit now, getting burned out on some sub-genres. When I first started reading romance, went crazy, read everything I could get my hands on. Basically read everything as it came out by my favorite authors, but then grad school came and I had to mitigate my reading time that’s when I started reading on what sub-genre I was “feeling” at the time. Couple years ago, when my books were organized alphabetical by author, realized I was missing out on re-reading great ones because they were in the back of the shelf.
So now all my books are organized by sub-genre. It makes a lot more easy to find something I want to read and helps me read stuff I haven’t in years. Now I just go to the specific bookcase(s), and actually shuffle the books around looking for what I want, instead of just pulling something off the front stack.
Mysteries and New Adult have never appealed to me. I burned out at book 9 on Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series – I couldn’t take the repetitive descriptions and rehashing of every prior book’s major events any more.
Laurell K Hamilton ruined the Anita Blake series so much that I could no longer keep slogging through her books, hoping for improvement (and even a semblance of plot) after Bullet. She also ruined me for series – I no longer want to read series at all. Even a sequel is iffy in most cases.
I meant to also say that LKH spoiled paranormal romance for me forever. I can’t bring myself to read any of it now.
I rarely romantic suspense anymore. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by watching too many crime dramas where the mystery is tied up in the hour. I’ve found I don’t connect with the characters as much, and the romance is often rushed for the sake of the suspense/mystery.
I find these days I have low tolerance for bad books, reading something that is un-fun (but may be well regarded) or sticking with a series past a bad book. Especially if a character is being TSTL or visiting WTH-land.
Case in point. Secret McQueen – I lasted I think four books until the author had to have the love triangle become a real thing rather than hinted at and had our lead go for it with bachelor #2 whilst bachelor #1 was in shifted form IN THE NEXT ROOM! Because that’s not skanky.
I also find that sometimes I just run out of steam, even if the book series is well written and I enjoyed reading it. Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires – I read 6 books in a row, waited and read the 7th and have #8 in my TBR pile (I think they’re up to about 10+ now). Same with Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson. And it’s not because these books are paranormal.
JD Robb’s Eve Dallas series I adored. I have 30+ books all the same size, cover type and covered on my keeper shelf. And then they changed covers on me (which lead to my owning a kindle). And I … ran out of puff.
And lets not discuss authors who ruin a series for you *cough* Sookie Steakhouse *cough* Anita Blake *cough*
I find I have “moods” with books/genres so I try to rotate through my TBR pile when I hit a “don’t know what I want to read” period. It’s the literary equivalent of opening the fridge and waiting for inspiration to hit.
I don’t burnout on genres, but I do burnout on particular authors. For instance, I used to inhale books from LKH, Christine Feehan, and Sherrilyn Kenyon. Now, I just delete any notice of new books. With LKH, it was that there wasn’t any progress in the books – just sex. And its odd that this bothered me because I love the more erotic romance books. But if you have a series with recurring characters, it needs to progress. As for Feehan and Kenyon, it got to the point of “same book, different names.” I tried to get back into the Feehan Carpathian series recently, but didn’t make it very far before I got distracted by other authors.
Like Gemma, I’m also burned out on romantic suspense, and on police/FBI type procedurals in general. (Except In Death, after nearly 20 years, it seems unlikely that I’ll ever burn out on those. Heh.) I’ve tried to pick up several highly recommended suspense books this year, and I’ve put all of them down within a few chapters.
I’m starting to get over my paranormal burnout – I’ve been unable to read anything but a couple of favorite ongoing series for several years, but lately I’ve found myself picking up a couple of new-to-me paranormal authors. I’m still more into historical paranormals, but apparently my love for modern day werewolves and vampires is making a comeback!
OH HOW I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A POST SUCH AS THIS.
I have been feeling so bad because I’m so burnt out on romance, I can’t even watch a sweet commercial. I spent a couple of years gobbling up everything I could find, specifically black romance by my faves Christina Jones and Farrah Rochon, et al… and then…. I’d just had enough. I could not take one more, as Sarah put it, poignant, touching, moving…..ECH. I CANNOT. ANYMORE. And I will not. For AWHILE.
Now some authors are auto buy… Piper Huguley and Farah Rochon and Roni Loren, I will HURT myself one-clicking. Actually I usually preorder so I don’t even have to worry about it, they just show up. But romance is a genre that I am taking on a book by book basis for right now.
I’ve been talking a walk on the grittier side, digging into Romantic suspense (Sandra Brown is so much crack) and trying to find authors of color in crime dramas and thrillers. That’s been pretty fun, since I’ve discovered Pamela Samuels Young and Rachel Howzell Hall and others. It’s also been a really nice palate cleanser from romance.
Not that I don’t love the stuff, but… I need a break!
If it isn’t one of a half dozen authors (Meljean Brook, Nalini Singh, Thea Harrison, Kristen Callihan to name most of them), I am almost completely over the whole paranormal romance/urban fantasy romance thing. Goodreads and Amazon put a lot of them in my suggested for you section, but I just can’t. Unless, yes, dragons. It’s how Thea Harrison hooked me. Came for the dragon stayed for the – no, you’ll have to read the book.
Soooo been there, done that, over it with billionaire BDSM. Really, billionaire anything. I see that word in a title or blurb and I move right on. I can’t relate. I have zero interest in angsty rich people. I realize money can’t buy love or happiness, but it does get you to a beach in Tahiti, so put away the butt plugs and lighten up already.
In my teens I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but rarely pick it up anymore. I haven’t figured out why. When I do read one these days I really enjoy them, but never gravitate towards them when browsing.
I’m trying desperately to avoid burn out, but I’m not sure if I can avoid the “moving on.”
Since I’ve cranked up my reading (going from about 30 books in 2013 to close to… about 80 this year!), I try really hard not to read the same kind of book in a row. That means when I finish the historical I’m reading now (Forever Your Earl, which I’m really liking), I will not pick up another historical next. I’ll have to read a contemporary, UF/PNR, or lit fic before I can, come back to historicals.
That said, these days I’m not loving the UF/PNR genre that much and I’m leaning heavily toward historicals. I know I’m not burned out on UF/PNR. How could I be? I just checked out Vision in Silver from the library (I LOVED the first two books in the series), but I started Forever Your Earl instead.
Contemporary is all over the place. It really depends on the individual book. Fascinating topic! Thanks!
Don’t forget “Bittersweet” Yuck. 3 types I won’t even read free are:
Scottish Lairds (Except of course, himself, Jamie Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser)
Cowboys
Medievals
Read WAY too many of them.
I used to read a lot of fantasy in high school, and got burnt out after reading the Sword of Truth series faster than I probably should have.
I loved horror when I was a kid, and read so much of it that I got burnt out of reading it big time. Now I only pick books by my favorite authors in that genre, or anthologies.
I haven’t gotten burnt out on any romance authors or subgenres, but I try to mix up what I’m reading and not read a bunch of the same kind of books right in a row.
I totally burned out on erotic romances. I just got to this point where all the sex scenes seemed to go on for pages and pages and sound identical across the board. I pulled back and read some contemporaries for awhile that were more tame. Now I’m just jumping around genres to see where it takes me. I’ve been reading a lot of YA (fantasy–powers, witches, etc.) and a lot of thriller/mysteries. I also switched to some memoirs recently.
I tend to not notice I’m burned out until I look back at my “read” list.
Paranormal, totally. I’m also a little worn out on the twisty psychological thriller, after about a year of being obsessed with them, which I think is because good ones were literally not being written fast enough to keep me stocked. Oh, I could find books, sure, but a lot of them sort of run together in my head and aren’t that memorable, and my favorite author of that type (Tana French) doesn’t humor me by writing 57 books a year. 😉
I read lots of different stuff, mystery, historical, romance, fantasy, scifi – and when I choose my next book it is as much a process of ‘what am I in the mood for’ as ‘what is currently available for me to read’ (I have a budget of $0.00 for book reading, so all my books are library books) and I generally end up mixing them up pretty well. There are times when my mood lasts for days so I read three or four romances in a row but they could be contemporary or historical. I think this helps me to not get burned out by one type of story.
Oh and those chocolate covered fruit bits you mentioned? Those things ROCK. And you have to lock them up and parcel them out or you’ll eat the entire bag in two chapters…
A couple of years ago, I burned out on paranormal romance and UF. Stepped away and read a LOT of contemporary romance, which I haven’t burned out on but am a lot pickier. I also got bored with historical romance, particularly those with English settings and storylines focused on the ton.
Now, to avoid burnout in any genre, I’m mixing things up (genres) and binging through a series or reading one book a month in that series. I’m also reading outside of the romance genre (non fiction, contemporary fiction, mystery/suspense) and I’m enjoying most everything I read. PR is still at the bottom of my list but at least it’s back on the table. And, I found I love listening to historical romance!
The burnout really bothered me because I was avoiding some really good books on my shelf. Now, the appeal is back but this time I’m being smarter about my reading structure. For now, it’s working.
I hide the Brookside chocolates from the family–no one looks in my secret hiding place in the dining room.
I think we all have genres we get tired of reading.
I have partially burned out on one particular SF publisher. I used to buy every single monthly webscription, but I don’t anymore. I buy some of the eARCs, and some of the monthly webscriptions, and sometimes single titles.
This shift happened because of a couple of authors whose writing I found actively nausea-inducing, and I just couldn’t stand the thought of buying anything that included one of their titles. Also, I found the political undertone in books by many of their authors was becoming more strident in a way I didn’t care for. Now,I don’t mind political and other messages in the books I read, as long as this doesn’t detract from the stories. And as long as it doesn’t become a staple in my literary diet. And at Baen it was heading in that direction.
Some authors and series just seem to have gone on for too long, and have lost their freshness, and just goes over well-traveled terrain again. Anne McCaffrey was mentioned by another commenter, and she was a good example of this towards the end of her career. David Weber’s Honor Harrington series is also showing sign of the same sort of strain. Christine Feehan’s Carpathan books is well into that well-trodden territory, to the point that new books should be greeted with yawns. There are certainly others, too but this is what I came up with just off the top of my head.
I moved again 3 years ago and I paid for it myself so cutting down was definitely in order. I donated 46 book boxes to Friends of the San Diego Library. And this was after letting go of 40=some boxes when I moved from Michigan 20 years before that. Thank goodness for ebooks. I look now at what I kept (about 60 linear feet): American and English edition Dorothy Dunnetts; all the Dick Francis mysteries; all the Jo Beverleys, all the Jennifer Crusies; Christine Merrill; Elizabeth Lowell; many Stephanie Lauren; art books, cook books; bird books and cherished children’s books for the grandkids. My ereader is full, though, of wonderful times and I go there frequently: Lauren Dane, Tessa Dare, Trisha Ashley, Jayne Ann Krentz. I am having a hard time with angsty books because my life has been a bit angsty lately. And I won’t read Scots romances because the relationship between them and real Scotland history is too far apart for my suspension of disbelief. I am so very grateful for Smtb and HABOs — the reviews and comments. Thank you all.
Great topic and also timely for me. I burned out on contemporary cowboy stories a while back after I DNF’d a couple of books for uncharacteristic cowboy and/or horse behavior. A few weeks ago I realized I am burnt out on “humorous” contemporary books, in particular Jill Shalvis. Her heroines always think about licking the hero’s abs and somebody’s dog always smells like bear dung. And kitchen sexytimes are getting to be a bit overdone, IMO. There have been a few books by other authors before and after I read All I Want (the poorly trained dog on the cover should have warned me) that also left me flat. One book that stood out as an exception was Matched by Jamie Farrell … now that girl is funny and the kitchen is used for baking cookies.
Lately, I have been happily reading or re-reading Regencies with a contemporary romantic suspense (loving D.D. Ayres!) now and then as a palate cleanser.
I’m a binge reader lately, so I happily burn out on sub-genres and then (hope) to come back to them again in a year or so. But I have moved on from others – categories I won’t touch anymore, anything new adult and angsty (I want low-drama adults thank you), and certain authors who used to be must-buys but kept writing the same book over and over.
I haven’t completely burned out on any genre but I do read a lot less mysteries than I used. I haven’t been a big fan of procedurals since I burned out on the original Law and Order many years ago. Weirdly, I rarely read cozy mysteries any more because of burn out but I have started watching some TV shows that would fit that genre.
I may tire of contemporaries or historicals for a while but then I read some literary fiction or paranormal (a genre I’ve never read a ton of) and I’m usually good again.
Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony both – read all – loved all – then one day a big NOPE. Same with Dolphins of Pern series. Who I’ve never gotten tired of? Robert Heinlein. But then he died, so there’s no more of that to even burn out on. Sigh.
On another note, I have never burned out on the original Star Trek, or the Next Generation. Could watch them ad infinitum.
I don’t burn out on genres, I burn out on authors, and it’s rarely the authors’ fault. There are your LKHs, sure. But I can’t read the Stephanie Plum books any more, and my objection is not that they’ve gone off the rails but that they haven’t changed, and for the first dozen or so I was perfectly thrilled that they hadn’t, so I’m pretty sure that’s all me.
The fact that I read some twenty Julia Quinn books in a row, in a couple weeks, made her go from my favorite thing ever to an author I never want to read again, and clearly, that one is all on me (but I feel a little old school hero about it – I couldn’t resist her, I had to have her, she made me do it – even though that is clearly reprehensible victim blaming).
Wait, I lied, I have Scottish historical burnout.
I agree with many of the previous commenters that I have burned out on some authors—and it breaks my heart that one of them is Nora Roberts. I’m two or three books behind on In Death and I haven’t read her last two romantic suspense titles. I’ve been mulling over why this is for a while and I still can’t put my finger on it—maybe the tone of the writing is just TOO familiar? I don’t know.
I’m also burned out on Jill Shalvis, for all the reasons LauraL mentioned, plus, after four or five Lucky Harbor books I just couldn’t deal with how *adorable* she thought the meddling-old-lady character was. That’s not cute. That’s fucking obnoxious.
And I was never a secret-baby (or surprise!baby) fan, but as a copyeditor, I get tons and TONS of these. Now I straight-up hate them. Don’t have unprotected sex with strangers, romance characters! It’s a bad idea!
Finally, WORD, DonnaMarie. Word.
LHK and Feehan here. Sadly for myself (my whole adolescence weeps) most of Mercedes Lackey. I hold on for any new Valdemar and Light-a-Candle-universe books but her romance fantasy books started to get repetitive for me so I stopped reading them. Though not a romance I burned out on Frederick Forsythe. There was only so much I could get through before my brain started switching off.
Also Christine Harris though that’s more a case of getting a little tired but holding onto the end with hope and getting massively stung.
I started out in the 70s with Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Phyllis A. Whitney and the like. I burned out early on Rogers and Woodiwiss, and I’m afraid Suzanne Brockmann lost me when she started with the somewhat-explicit scenes between gay characters. What consenting adults do behind closed doors is their business; doesn’t mean I want to read about it.
Like others have commented, I just don’t do the angsty stuff anymore. Life has enough angst of its own without adding it in my reading material.
I got into sci-fi after Star Wars, and a bit of fantasy, though one of my biggest beefs with that genre is character and place names that just don’t flow past my eyes. For example, a back cover blurb that goes something like this: “Unpronounceable name, daughter of the house of second unpronounceable name, in the land of third unpronounceable name–” at that point, I put it back down. If I can’t pronounce it in my head, I’m not gonna read it.
I basically don’t read romance at all anymore because so much of it is one big yawn. Not saying the writing is bad or anything; just that the whole genre just bores me, mostly. And I don’t have the time or the inclination to wade my way through the vast masses looking for that one not-boring book in a million. (And that’s one reason why I read this blog. Sometimes a book review will sound interesting enough for me to take a closer look.)
Just about the only author in the fantasy genre I still pick up is Mercedes Lackey. And I recently read a little thing by another author whose name I can’t think of, but it was called “Rumplestiltskin’s Daughter,” and it was a LOT of fun.
Pern got kinda boring when it was no longer “our” characters, Lessa and F’lar and Menolly and Master Robinton, all them. But I did read them all, in hopes that the magic was somehow recaptured in later books. (Alas, it really wasn’t.)
Speaking of Baen, just yesterday I bought and read an e-arc, Lois McMaster Bujold’s latest. If I have a favorite author, it’s her.
I yawned my way out of the Honor Harrington series many books ago. A shame, because she’s a great character in interesting situations, but, like Tom Clancy, Weber is a little too fond of the hardware, and frankly, hardware just doesn’t drive plot.
So what do I read? Let’s see. I recently devoured the entire Kris Longknife series; those are FUN. I also re-read the entire Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly from start to finish. Love Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, refuse to see the movie because Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is just wrong, wrongety wrong-wrong-wrong. The Agent Pendergast series by Preston & Childs is a bit gruesome in places, but really, really good otherwise. I read most of the Vince Flynn stuff some years back; I really should take another look. Oh, and how could I forget Clive Cussler? Got hooked on those in the 70s. I might not like Dirk Pitt so much if I actually met him, but in the books, he can buckle my swash any old time. Another series I loved and re-read periodically is the one by Elizabeth Moon that starts with “Hunting Party.”
Whoops, gotta run. Those are all I can think of at the moment.
I’m still so mad at LKH for going so wrong with both Anita Blake and the faerie series. How could so much sex be so annoying and/or boring? Also, why did Anita always dress like she was stuck in an 80s teen movie?
New Adult, Young Adult, Billionaires, She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful, Actually a Criminal hero or heroine, Political Figures as hero or heroine, and Action Thrillers are all sub genres/ subjects that I haven’t had a chance to burn out on because I just skipped them. I have no interest. I don’t have a problem reading these subjects or genres, just not as they relate to Romance.
I am taking a break from historical romance. I feel like if I read any right now I would absolutely become burnt out. I don’t want that to happen.
I have predominantly moved on from paranormal romance. I’m done of having vampires and shifters mixed in with my science fiction or fantasy. I don’t mind a good vampire novel, I just want that to be that novel, not also a science fiction novel, or a fantasy novel. I want my sub genres to not mix. And I love science fiction and fantasy, but find that people are confused about the difference between fantasy and science fiction. They’re not the same thing. Increasingly, these come under this huge umbrella and I find them exhausting to separate.
I am totally burnt out on authors who claim to write erotic romance but actually write transcripted porn. I love a good erotic romance, one where the dialogue, and the non sexual interactions, and the depth of personality and individuality, make the sexy times sexy. I find it increasingly hard to come by.
No pun intended.