Reading Pet Peeves

So I’m reading away the other night, totally engrossed in a really good book, turning the pages as fast as I can. When suddenly everything comes to a screeching halt and I’m ripped out of the story.

Why?

Because the author didn’t know her stuff. Didn’t do her research. And I caught it. I had to put the book down. Oh, I’ll finish it because I love this author and I love this book. But for right now I need to take a break from it because the mistake was something that shouldn’t have happened if the author had done the research needed. And it’s a simple thing to do. A quick Google search would have netted the correct usage of a word.

Note to contemporary authors: There’s a HUGE difference between jail and prison. The character, who happens to be a cop, would definitely know that difference, yet he used the wrong term and it pulled me completely out of the story.

So what is your reading pet peeve? What will make you throw the book against the wall and walk away from it?

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The In Between

I finished writing my book and sent it to my editor. In the meantime I finished reading the book I’d been waiting two years to read (Ken Follett’s Winter of the World–950+ pages). Now I’m in the In Between.

That place where I’m not yet ready to start writing the next book and I’m still involved in the lives of the people in the book I was reading and am not ready to give them up.

I’m not sure what to do with myself in the In Between. I”m a little lost because I always either have a book to read or a book to write and I’m usually torn between the two.

So I’m doing strange things, like dusting, and painting my nails, and cleaning the kitchen.

This In Between thing needs to end soon before my family gets used to a clean house.

What do you do when you find yourself with some spare time?

Are you a one book person?

For two years I’ve been waiting for Ken Follett’s sequel to Fall of Giants. TWO YEARS! That’s a long time! But finally it came out and I’m so excited I can’t stand it. The problem is I’m in the middle of another book that I’ve been waiting to read (Maya Bank’s Never Seduce a Scot).

So now I have a dilemma. Finish Banks’ book or put it on hold and start Follett’s book.

Some people can read two and three books at a time, but not me. I’m a one book person.

What about you? How many books do you have going at a time?

 

What makes a hero sexy?

So what makes a hero sexy to you? I’m not talking physical attributes (although those do help). I’m talking personality traits–something he does that just curls your toes.

For instance, in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, I think Ranger is all kinds of sexy when he merely says, “Babe”, to Stephanie. Oh, it just makes my blood pound a little faster.

Maybe its the way he looks at the heroine. Or the way he interacts with babies and kittens. Or the way he helps little old ladies across the street. Maybe its something altogether unexpected.

You know what it is for me? Its when a guy cooks. If I’m reading a book and the guy cooks up a meal for the heroine, I’m lost. For me its the sexiest thing in the world if a guy knows his way around a kitchen. He doesn’t have to be a gourmet chef or anything–he can make something simple, as long as he cooks. Ay yi yi. Now that curls my toes.

What does it for you? What does a hero have to do to make you melt?