I’m a big paranormal romance fan. I got hooked on them after complaining to a salesclerk that I missed Anne Rice’s vampire installments. The sales lady asked me if I’d tried Sherrilyn Kenyon. One thing led to another, and here I am today. I’ve only been reading paranormal romances for about 3 years or so. I can’t tell you who the best authors are, I only know who I read. See my author’s list here or my reading list here. I’m the type of reader who starts a series and just has to finish it. I love books that come in a series.
Anyway. As my taste develops, I’m finding I have pet peeves. The one for today is multiple story lines from different POVs. I’m guessing other readers like reading a novel that has more than one story flowing. I’m not one of them. I like everything to be from the Hero/Heroine’s POV. Occasionally from the villain’s POV if the villain ‘s identity is unknown (the mystery person) is fine too. When an author skips the POV to a side character, I find myself flipping through the book to find out when I’ll get to the main story again. [rant on] Oh how I want to just skip the side plots all together. <GRRR> But I’m afraid I’ll miss something important if I do. What’s wrong with writing one book at a time? Why do some authors have to squash 2, 3, 5 different stories in one book? It drives me batty!
Honestly, it makes me think the author didn’t have enough material to write a full length novel, so shoved the side stories in for filler. I know one author who’s gotten completely out of hand in my opinion. I think she started with 2-3 story lines in the first book of the series, but then she went crazy. Now she has like 10 different story lines going. I swear her books have turned into a collection vignettes. A 400 page novel, and only 30 of them dedicated to the hero/heroine. WTH? I fell in love with some of her characters, so I just keep reading…all the while irritated out of my mind as I have to cycle through 32 story lines to get to the main plot. [rant off]
Guess everyone has their different preferences. 🙂