What I Really Really Want

Everytime I log onto a bookstore on the internet or, shock and horror, walk into an actual real life one in search of a new book to read I am looking for something particular.

I don’t mean a particular book, I mean more a book to compliment whatever mood I happen to be in, and to cover a topic that is of interest to me at the time. Walking into a bookstore to me is like walking into an endless world of opportunity. It feels almost sacred. But I always have high expectations, I want to find something that will exactly fit what I am looking for, and ifI happen to discover something new that fits that I feel all the more excited.

When it comes to choosing my next romance book I take into account several factors.

1: When/where will I be reading the book.

If it has to last more than 2-3 days than it will definitely be a single title, as I go through category books in a number of hours. I also keep the majority of my books (I have a large number of containers of them in storage crying out for a bookshelf). Therefore, I also need to consider if I am going to have room to transport my book home when it has been finished.

2: Is it a keeper?

As I said I like to keep most of the books I read, but if I’m not one hundred percent sure I will try and borrow it from the library first.

3: Availability.

If you live anywhere but the US you will understand my frustrations. I am very upset that I live in a country where the price of books are ridiculously high. If I want a book in hardcopy I will first look for it at bookdepository. But nowadays I will search for it first as an e-book. I REALLY hate when I know an ebook is available, but not outside the US. I also hate when I find out it is available at different prices for US v International. All of these are taken into consideration when I purchase a book. Basically if a publisher is trying to do me wrong then I am turned off from buying their product, frankly there are a million good contemporary romances out there, so why buy something where I feel like I am being ripped off.

4: Mood.

Like I said I am always looking for a particular type of book when I go searching for new reads. My favourite sort of contemporary romances are sport based because I like being active. I also find these books a bit more fun, the characters aren’t always so dire. I also like western romances simply because I have always been fascinated with that culture, and living somewhere with nothing similar it is one of my only sources to feel a part of it all.

Outside of this I am always looking for a female character that is doing something that interests me. It could be that she is working in a male dominated field, or that she is a journalist that travels. Really as long as I find her life situation interesting it draws me in.

As i have been married for 3 years I am now much more interested in characters that are also married. You start to realise that the getting together is such a small part of the whole relationship and what comes along later is a lot more complex and meaningful. These relationships are therefore really interesting to delve into and read about.

I am also at an age (28) where my mother feels the need to tell me on a weekly basis t I should have kids already, not to mention a mortgage I can’t afford and be locked into a job i hate, because as she puts it, that is what life is about and I better get with the program… Yes obviously there are mother issues there, but I do the best to ignore it, especially when I discovered recently that my mother has no idea what I actually do for a living, just that it is wrong and I should be an actuary instead, which funnily enough she also didn’t know what an actuary does either. Moving on, with all the pressure to get pregnant I cannot stomach reading a romance book where pregnancy is a major part of the plot. I’m sure in the future this will change, but for now it is an immediate put the book back on the shelf offence.

5: Tried and True.

I will always be partial to a new book by an author I have read and liked, ONLY, if the new book also fits in with my criteria above. If it is a book that I am not quite in the mood to read, but I know I definitely would be interested in in the future I will buy it and keep for later, as i go through them so quickly.

As mentioned I read ALOT of romance books. This means I need to constantly be searching for new authors that I haven’t yet read. I like the tool on Amazon ‘others who bought this also bought…’, I also regularly troll through iTunes, Smashwords and Amazon for books based on keywords that take my fancy. I also am a big fan of Goodreads, and I know I should make more of an effort to write reviews or at least rate books I read, as I rely on other people’s feedback so much on their. Their forum is also excellent.

So that is how I go about selecting a new book. My quesion is: How did you decide on the last book you read?