To Re-read or Not to Re-Read? #LongandShortReviews #BlogChallenge #mustread #books #tbr

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

This week's topic: Books I Re-read or Want to Re-read

First of all, why do we re-read books? That's sometimes a question that I ask myself. I'm not an extremely fast reader, I think I average about 50 pages an hour, so for me to read a 300 page book that's 6 hours of my life devoted to reading a book that I already read.

Here's the thing... It's like re-watching your favorite movie. The enjoyment of visiting this world again, seeing these characters that you fell in love with once more, experiencing the adventure one more time. It's fun! And like watching movies, there's sometimes little details that you might have missed the first time around that during that second read you say to yourself, "Ah! I see that now! How did I miss that the first time?" Or maybe after you read the ending, you want to read it again to see how the author wove all the clues to reveal the villain at the end.

Aside from re-reading children's books again and again and again (and then two more times) at bedtime for my kids, there's a lot of reasons to re-read stories. For me, I have a few, too. One of my main reasons is to learn the craft of writing. I'll re-read novels to learn how the author created that bit of suspense, or that tear-jerking scene with a main character, or the pacing, the foreshadowing, the POV choices, etc, etc. When I re-read a novel, I pick it apart piece by piece to learn how the puzzle was put together in the first place.

Now, that I have that out of the way, I'll share a few of my re-reads with you and why I chose to experience those journeys again.

Well, Harry Potter. That should be all I need to say for most of us. I've talked to many, many readers who have re-read these treasures. As I didn't start off as a Harry Potter fan, I am now. I blame my kids. I watched the movies and enjoyed them, but didn't really plan on reading the books. In fact, when I began reading them, I didn't much care for the author's writing. The Sorceror's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets were okay at best. Not stellar to me. But I pushed through because I wanted to read The Prisoner of Azkaban. The character of Sirius Black intrigued me like no other. He was the reason I got this far and then I stopped. I read what I wanted to learn and that was enough.

But, shortly after this, my children grew to school age and we were having bedtime reading that was more serious than Dr. Seuss books. One of them suggested Harry Potter and I reluctantly agreed. I'll do anything for my kids, even suffer through the adverb riddled writing of JK Rowling.

I spent a year reading the Harry Potter kids out loud to my kids every night. From start to finish. That meant, of course, re-reading the first three. I admit, reading them a second time was more enjoyable and I was pleased that Ms. Rowling's writing improved greatly with each book.

My youngest son will be turning 5 in a few months and we're approaching that age where I think he might enjoy hearing the books read aloud. I'm going to admit to you (and only you!) that I'm looking forward to reading the Harry Potter books again!

I read The Hobbit as required reading in 6th grade. I admit, I fell in love with Gandalf and Thorin. Before the movies were released, I decided to read The Lord of the Rings. These were fantastic books! I loved them completely!

Again, my children were the reason for re-reading these again. After we finished Harry Potter, they were eager for more. My third grader had already begun reading The Hobbit on his own at the time, so I suggested we read the books together as a family. My kids are now avid fans to Tolkien, too!

These books I re-read just for fun or I picked apart the author's work to study it. These are all well worth reading one or more time!

These I plan to re-read soon!

P.S. At the time of posting this, I discovered the ebook version of Eternity by Maggie Shayne is FREE! Grab it if you can! This is book of my favorites!

Be sure to check out the other blogger's suggestions at ...

I write sensual paranormal and historical romances. Interested in learning more about my stories? Sign-up for my newsletter where you'll learn about my new book releases, updates on my works-in-progress, writing tips, book reviews, contests, and other fun book-related info!

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Beth-Ann Miller returns to her Tennessee mountain home to find chaos erupting between her family and their shape-shifting neighbors. Her father is convinced the were-cougar clan is responsible for the murders occurring in their area and interrogates one of the shifters, Boone Evans, her childhood sweetheart. When Boone declares several members of his shifter family have gone missing including his little brother, Beth-Ann suspects someone else is behind both the murders and abductions.

Boone never expected to see Beth-Ann again. When she frees him from her father's cabin and promises to help find his brother, Boone doesn't plan on rekindling their passionate love affair or facing the pain of past mistakes. Nor does he plan on coming face to face with the man responsible for altering his family's life forever.

With men hunting the were-cougars, can Beth-Ann and Boone risk all to have a future together? Or is loving Boone too high a price to pay? 

AMAZON