Temptation

Trivia:  Last week on a whim, I picked up two of Yasmine Galenorn's Emerald O'Brien series at the grocery store.  Read the first in a couple days, then was stuck with a decision.  Did I read the series or just the first and fourth novels?  Gave in to temptation and bought the second and third.  Now my to-read pile is piled higher and deeper.

Reading Lessons:  What a pleasure to read a 250 word book with short chapters.  My eyes didn't glaze over with excessive description.  More important, I could read a chapter during my after lunch coffee break and remember what happened.  I didn't have to go back and refresh my memory.  I wonder if this is a consideration for others with busier lives.  Maybe most people don't read by units as excessively as I do.  For me, plot specifics stick with me better when I read by chapters.

I'd read Galenorn's half-fae witch series, but got bored with it around the fifth or sixth book.  [The dragon was neat, though].  Really like O'Brien and her tea room (not shoppe).  An amateur sleuth with kids gumming up the works -- talk about magical realism.  A strong mystery provides the backbone that holds the book together.

I found Ghost of a Chance a book to go back and study.  O'Brien's complex backstory of the character is interlaced with the action.  Plot points -- a romance and a hint of competition, a second murder, nice red herring who stays unsympathetic, the motive of the real villain mentioned early in the book -- are all nicely strung together, better than most human spines.  The pagan foundation is presented in the course of the action with me appreciating Galenorn isn't dogmatic.  [Yes, some pagans are.] 

I read it in two days, but I think I'll be going back to it when I read the other three.  There's a lot to learn in the way she puts the book together.  Half-way into the second book, I'm already seeing hints at future plot points.


Progress:  Am up-to-date on my critiques.  All I have to do is review them to see if I still think the same -- and if I made myself clear.  Something I worry about since I'm so dyslexic.

Tangled.  Still chopping.

Emma.  Been spending more time here.  The reorganization to MG continues with me trying to add more emotional reaction as I go.