world-building

I'm head-deep in the JR Ward BDB series. I cannot get my head out of it.

I'm the sort who likes to savour a good thing. If I read a Damn Good Book and it's the beginning of a series, I squeal with glee and then prepare to pace myself. 1, 2, 3 months between books is fine. I like it when I find out about a series when it's ten books in so that I can anticipate spending the next year or two enjoying the well-written goodness.

I read my first JR Ward BDB about eleven months ago. I started with Book 5 - a shocker to those of you who have been following the series. To me, who was just beginning to read paranormals as opposed to the straight contemporary romance, the book nearly broke my little heart. Ms Ward broke The Rules. She broke them hardcore. So while I could tell that she was a good author, and knew how to craft a compelling story, I was able to flit off and read other series and authors in the meantime. Book #1 could wait.

It did wait. It waited months... then, I thought, let me give it a whirl. I picked up Book 1 and Could. Not. Put. It. Down. Like, eyes burning, up way too late, can't even put it down to go to the bathroom sort of glued to the story. I had a headache when I finished. I was in looooooooooooove with her world when I finished. But I was still strong. Plus I wanted a bit of control back in my life.

So then, a couple of months later, after taunting me from the nightstand for weeks, i opened Book #2. WHAM! (and not the '80s group) It was like being body-slammed from the high wire. The book took me in its grip and would not let me go. I had this compulsive need to keep turning pages. I was tired, hungry, needed a shower - none of it mattered. I had to finish the book.

Well, clearly, this could not continue. It's all very well to enjoy your reading, but you can't let the books own you like that. I'm in charge. At least I'm supposed to be. Until the BDB comes calling.

So you know what happened next, right?

Wrong.

I stayed away. A few more months passed and I was able to stay away for all of them. But the books sat in my TBR, waiting for me, calling to me, promising me a deeper entrance into their world. Last week I gave in. Book #3. Another body-slam. I stopped trying to pace myself. I was like a pig at a trough. What's the point in self-denial? Who am I hurting but myself?

Book #4 came next, and within a matter of days too. I just needed to catch up on my sleep first. Then, because it had been so long, and so much had happened in the beginning of the series, I did something I rarely do, I re-read a book.

I just dragged my head out of Book#5 about half an hour ago. I started it within an hour of finishing Book 4. I am zapped. Drained. My head hurts. I am in desperate need of a shower. I need actual nutrition - not just coffee.

Book#6 is in my TBR. I have given up the fight. Tonight I will shower and sleep and make some veggies. Tomorrow I will start that book and not even bother to question myself. Everything in moderation - except the BDB.




How do you like to read a series? Do you gobble them up in as few sittings as possible or do you space them out, to be devoured as slowly as the author writes them?





Just finished: Lover Unbound
Just finished: Lover Revealed
Just about to start: Lover Enshrined
Currently reading: Ceremony in Death