[pisceschick]

Originally Posted by library addict

And historicals aren't as epic in scope as they were when I first started reading romance in the early 80s. I don't miss the TSTL heroines or all of the rapes and guessing-who-the-hero-is-supposed-to-be, but I do miss reading about settings other than Regency England.

Originally Posted by Blossom

I guess that would work. I look at romances written in the 90s or late 90s and those written today and it's like words have been simplified compare to the more complex writing of just 10 years ago. It has nothing to do with word count and all to do with writing style. We need a Save The English Language campaign.

I mostly read historical romances and I agree with both of these posts. I have been really happy reading the self-pubbed backlist for formerly trad-pubbed authors, many of whom I find when they make one of the books free. This year has been much better than last for that, I've not had to search so hard to find things to read. I have set a pretty strict upper price limit for myself, so I don't read much of what's brand new until it gets a hefty discount.

I also agree about being tired of Regency England. My favorites are Medievals (either Scottish or English, I love the highland laddies, chivalrous knights, AND the Norman-Saxon struggles lol) and early Americana (westerns, frontier, colonial, etc). Luckily those were popular in the 90s and early 2000s.

Originally Posted by Blossom

I think so too. I also think I am going to become more strict on what I read and not go with current trend. You can no longer trust 5 stars on Goodreads or over 1000 reviews on Amazon to find good quality stories anymore. I think word of mouth is probably the way to go.

I look at the lower reviews, the gushers don't help me at all. I've never been trendy fashion-wise, so I guess it makes sense that I'm not trendy book-wise. Most of the stuff that's wildly popular right now has no appeal at all for me.

I look for reviews that call a novel boring or too full of detail. Reviews that say a book should be a movie or use the word "cracktastic" are a red flag!

Originally Posted by KyBunnies

I do not know about others but I had more bad books than good ones this year.

I finished To Tempt a Scotsman by Victoria Dahl last night and honestly I thought it was boring.

I read it last year and loved it!

When I read reviews that call a book boring or too stuck on details, I know it's a good chance I'll like the book. One HR I read this year complained there was too much info about sheep farming... I ate it up! lol

I am currently reading my 123rd book of the year (a HR by Pamela Morsi that I picked up with one of those awesome Kobo coupons), and think I'll finish it by tomorrow night. I read more than twice as many books last year, but we bought a house and packed up the apartment we'd lived in for 10 years earlier this year. Been a little busy!

Probably not going to set any specific goals for next year. I need to get my ebooks organized for sure. I've been organizing my sewing threads while reading this weekend, so it's gone really fast. Not so easy to read while ebook organizing, though.