Hi Cynthia!

Elizabeth Amber here for the Month of Monsters! Thank you so much for inviting me. I finished writing the first draft of my 5th novel, Dane, The Lords of Satyr, about two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been reading like a demon. A fiend. Attacking the TBR stack I couldn’t get to for months.

I usually pick up a new book in the evening as I sit down with a glass of wine, often as a defense against my husband’s TV-watching tastes. Not that my tastes are more refined, but we’re just different. He rarely reads books, but devours magazines. However, if a book is really gripping, I’ll stay up till 4 in the morning to finish.

I was with a group of authors and readers a few nights ago, and I revealed the fact that I almost always decide which book I’m going to read by going through these steps, in this order. I . . .
1. Look at the cover
2. Read the back cover blurb
3. Read the first few pages
4. Read a random paragraph or two within the book
5. Read the ending

Number 5 drove everyone I was with insane. Is it really so unusual to do this? I’ve always done it. I had to come up with a reason why on the spot. People were really upset with me. Authors especially. I can understand that–we write a book in a certain order, and that’s the order we’d prefer events to be revealed to a reader.  I think the reason I read the endings early on is because I worry about the characters so much that I can’t bear to be in suspense. I’m so busy wondering what’ll happen to these characters I care about–if they’ll be okay–that I can’t focus on the story. Reading the ending doesn’t spoil the book for me.

So what are the steps you follow in reading a book? Do you ever read the ending before reading the book? Does it spoil things for you?

To celebrate Cynthia’s Month of Monsters, I’d like to give away a copy of my first novel, NICHOLAS, THE LORDS OF SATYR, to one person (over 18 in the USA) who drops a comment below. If you already have Nicholas, no problem. You can choose another of the satyr novels. Good luck and Happy Halloween!

Elizabeth Amber
erotic historical paranormal romance
Nicholas | Raine | Lyon | Dominic | Dane: The Lords of Satyr
Kensington Aphrodisia
excerpts: www.elizabethamber.com

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Romance. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.