Book Blogger Hop No. 94: Giving Authors a Second Chance

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This Week's Question

If you read a book you ended up

hating, would you stay away from

future books by that author,

or would you give them

a second chance?

(Submitted  by Maria  @ 

A Night's Dream of Books)

My Answer

I have actually been generous and open-minded enough to give an author a second chance on one occasion. You will be reading about this further down in this post. It did NOT end well. 

In one case in particular not that long ago, I actually had the opportunity to give an author a second chance, and decided not to. As I think back on this now, I do feel a bit guilty. Then again, since time is SO precious, it seems a waste to try again with an author who has already disappointed you once. 

The author in question was Stephanie Laurens, and the book was titled The Lady's Command. It just didn't grab me at all. The characters were flat and unrealistic, while the plot was VERY slow. I had reviewed this novel for a blog tour, and was very honest in my review. Well, when I was given the opportunity to review another romance novel by Laurens, I turned it down.

There was another romance author whose novel was also a disappointment -- Lisa Kleypas. Her novel, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor, did not appeal to me at all, even though I liked the characters. The plot wasn't too bad, either. The problem was that the two romantic leads met, and started a relationship, while one of them was in a relationship with someone else. I have no tolerance or sympathy for cheaters, so that was that.

In the case of Kleypas, I might give her another chance. I did like her writing, and her characters were realistically depicted. In contrast, I did not like Laurens's writing, and her characters, as I mentioned above, did not strike me as very realistic.

So now I've arrived at this revelation: I will be more willing to "forgive" an author for a disappointing book if at least some of the book's elements are appealing to me. I will engage in "trade-offs", so to speak, lol. If a book has great characters and plot, then I will give the author another chance, even if I might not like the writing style per se. On the other hand, no matter how great the characters, plot, and/or writing, I will not tolerate or be interested in certain topics or themes. If any of these are included in the book, I will not continue to read it, and will probably never pick up another book by that author again.

The case is different when I've already read and liked one book by a particular author. If a subsequent book bombs, I will definitely still give that author a second chance. Here are two recent examples of this: The Last of August, by Brittany Cavallaro, and The Christmas Bridge, by Elyse Douglas.

In the case of Cavallaro, I had already read and GREATLY enjoyed her debut YA novel, A Study In Charlotte. Based on the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, I thought it was highly original, exciting, and suspenseful, with great character development throughout. The sequel, mentioned above, just totally disappointed me. It most certainly did NOT live up to the high bar set by the first book in the series.

In the case of Elyse Douglas (this is the pen name of a husband and wife writing team), I had read a previous novel, The Christmas Town, which I adored! The  Christmas Bridge -- which was not a sequel, as the authors had not started a series -- just totally infuriated me! Had it been a printed book instead of an ebook, I would probably have thrown it against the wall! This novel also involved cheating, and it was even WORSE than the situation in the Kleypas novel. Furthermore, the plot made no sense whatsoever. The novel read like two books crammed into one.   

Since I have already read previous novels by both of these authors, I am not at all hesitant to pick up a future book of theirs. I already know that they can write novels that will engage me, that will make me want to turn pages. BUT. If these two writers again disappoint me, then that will definitely be IT. I will never be interested in reading one of their books again.

I really made a BIG mistake once, when I decided to give an author a second chance. The book in question was Angel Star, a YA paranormal novel by Jennifer Murgia. I TOTALLY disliked it, so much so that I only gave it ONE star. Heck, I RARELY give a book only one star! Well, unbelievably enough, I did give this author a second chance, and read the sequel, Lemniscate..... OMG. Yup, this was another ONE-STAR read! 

Then there was the case of the Fallen books, a YA series by Lauren Kate. The first novel, Fallen, was just GREAT! I LOVED the plot, the writing, and the characters! I gave this book five stars. I had mixed feelings about the second book, Torment, to which I gave three stars. Incredibly, the third book, Passion, was REALLY good, so I gave it five stars. And then the fourth, and last book, came along.... Rapture. This book totally DESTROYED the entire series for me, and I gave it two stars. (I didn't give it one star because I really liked the writing, lol.) There were a couple of REALLY objectionable things about the plot, one of which was a TOTALLY UNNECESSARY blood sacrifice, aka MURDER. I then wished I had NEVER read the three previous books. I got rid of the entire series through a couple of giveaways on my YA blog, A Night's Dream of Books.

So this is what came of "giving an author a second chance"! In the case of this series, I gave the author TWO "second chances". Lol.

I guess the whole thing is just VERY unpredictable.... Even if an author has delighted a reader once, there is absolutely NO guarantee that they will do so again, even after the reader has given them more than ONE second chance. However, I do think the odds tend to be more favorable once a reader has already sampled, and liked, one or more books by a specific writer. 

Of course, I could go on giving more examples, but, in the interest of not making this post too long, I will stop here.

If anyone is interested in reading any of the reviews of the books mentioned above, they're available on my "Book Reviews" page, which you can quickly access HERE. 
                      

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