I am not a writer. I have said this a bazillion times. I
have no interest in ever being a writer. Period. However, I am a reader. I love
to read. Wait. Let me clarify. I love to read great books by talented authors.
I will support authors I love even when they write less than great books. I was
thinking about this the other day as I read a book and all I could think was: What the hell just happened here? What did
she do?!?! Why?!?!? How did this go so wrong so fast? Let me double check that
this is the same author I love. Yep. It is. Crap. Why?!?!?
So what is a reader to do in this era of ‘self-publishing, I
know how to hold a pencil so I am going to write a book’ book writing? I’ll
tell you what a lot of people do. They take to social media whether it’s in the
form of blogs or Twitter or the book with a face that shall not be named and
they rip the books and authors to shreds. Well, that’s one approach. I,
however, want to take a different approach. Asking myself the ‘why/how the
actual fuck did this happen?’ question led me to think…well, not all authors
can knock it out of the park every time. I mean, that’s ridiculous. Who can
write book after book that you fall head over heels in love with? That’s
impossible. Or is it…
It was a light bulb moment! I heard Gru from Despicable Me in my head….LIGHTBULB!!!!!
There are some authors who knock my socks off every single time. Specifically—right
here and right now—I am talking about Christina Lauren (C and Lo). They are
like magical unicorns! But not! I mean, they may indeed be magical unicorns
disguised as humans but I have met them in real life so I assure you that they
do indeed exist and are even more fantastic in person. BUT it makes me wonder…how
do they do it? Do they never drop the ball because there are two of them?
Do you think that they ever read each other’s work and send
each other notes that read something like: Did
you ingest too much lip gloss? Our readers will have our heads if we try to put
that in our book. OR a Have you been
drinking again? No. Just no. And of course I envision them doing this with
love—you know, throwing in a *falls at Lo’s feet* or a *pats lap* Any and all
input, insight, criticism, ANYTHING!, all with love and knowing that they love
each other more than anything and that they can genuinely call each other out
on anything that is less than CLotastic.. Individually
they are each incredible. Together they are a force of nature.
So is that it? Is that why they knock it out of the park
every single time? Because they are individually incredibly talented with the
best in-house beta readers in the form of each other? Do they have that trust
amongst each other that they know whatever they say to each other in the
writing and editing process is said with love and the other’s best interest at
heart? Is that why they are at the top of their game? And if so, are other
authors taking note? Is this the magic answer? I’m not saying that all authors
should take on a co-author. No. Heavens no. BUT shouldn’t authors have beta
readers to read their books and give them genuine and honest feedback? Is that
what the world needs? Is that why I finish so many books thinking: What the hell just happened here? but am
in my happy place any time I finish a Christina Lauren book? Or is it because
they are indeed magical unicorns? Hmmmm…I’m gonna have to noodle on that for a
little bit…
I
guess the moral of this post is that C and Lo are magical unicorns. Wait. No.
That’s not it. Hold on. The moral of this post is that there are A LOT of
authors and even more books out there. You are not going to love every book you
read. But here’s what not to do: don’t go to social media and rip the book and
author to shreds. Not cool. At the very least, be kind and constructive when
reviewing. But say you just read a book that has really ruined your day because
it’s not what you expected from that author or that book—take a breath and pick
up a book written by an author you love to help restore your faith. For me, it’s
my magical unicorns. I’m currently re-reading Beautiful Player because one cannot go wrong with that book! So go
forth and find your own magical unicorns….or just stick with the originals:) If
you haven’t yet read anything by C and Lo, go HERE!!!!!
Happy
reading, beautiful people!!!
xoxo
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