I completely agree. It was the most uninspired and overly worded tripe I ever laid eyes on.
@karen You aren't missing much. The books are lengthy with little character depth and a plot that could be written in a short story or novella. Just dragged out to the size of the Old Testament.
That about sums it up. I don't get how it became so popular. I read the first sex scene and was laughing at how dumb it was. That's when I put it down. If she can't even do justice to a sex scene, then forget it.
Exactly. I only read it to see what the hype was about and made it through it out of frustration with the image of the dynamic it portrayed.
I get it wasn't really written for "men", still I don't see what there is to like about the portrayal. It was so cringy and rapey. Not in the roleplay sense either.
Exactly. I did read another series called Mona Lisa. It was about people who moved here generations ago from the moon. It was full of sex scenes, but they were well written. The Vampire Diaries are another series I stopped reading about 2 books in. Her writing style was not good either.
I didn't know that. I've heard of such a practice in other areas. I even know of one guy who bought his way into getting a chess opening named for him by paying masters to research it. Ego wears many faces.
I can't say to what degree or validate it myself but when I hear it over and over again by publishers and other writers I tend to believe it about someone I didn't like to begin with. So, bias.
I am a big Patterson fan. Some of his series books are collaborative, but they have both names on the front cover. There are some series that are better than others.
In general I do a fair amount of research before reading a book, so it's rare that I'd find what I was reading was poorly written. That said, I have started some books that were just a bit over my head and I vowed I'd attempt them again later (in this case, Ulysses by James Joyce).
I have some favorite authors, Stephen King, Bentley Little, Jim Butcher and quite a few others. I try to at least stay with what I know, but I love to venture out as well.
"The Shack" has just been made into a movie. I suspect it will be a vacuous as the inane book. A failed attempt that theodicy. The Sorrows..." A factious journal of a young mans love. "Solaris" scifi
There are a few books that I've put down if they haven't captured me in the first 50 pages. Too many books and too little time to read so there's no point in wasting time on something uninteresting. To be honest, since I read for enjoyment in the moment, there are many books that I've read that I couldn't recall what it was about a month later, but I can remember if I enjoyed them. :)
Benedict Arnold 