The Keeper Shelf

I’m sitting here thinking I have everything done for the day (well, not really, but everything that I can do right now), and then I remember: blog.

Yes, I have today’s blog. I’m typing all this in hopes that something will come to me.

……

Nope. Not yet.

…..

Still nothing.

Ok. We’ll stick with nothing.

Maybe I can't think of anything good because I've been contemplating a recent read.

A really good read. Not a flawless work by any stretch of the imagination, but a book that made me sad for it to end.

I like reading books like that – books whose endings are bittersweet. Not that I like the end of the story itself to be bittersweet, rather I like that feeling of ,“Wow, that was great. I’m so sad it’s over.”

As I prepared to go to work today, I thought about the book and considered rereading parts I loved just to prolong the experience of it.

What did I love about the book?

The heroine. She was very real. Her motivations seemed strong. She wanted something very important, but so much kept getting in her way. Her success literally meant life or death, not just for her but for those around her. She was power and strength and vulnerability and love -- all at the same time.

The suspense. I love books where the end just isn’t known until, well, the end. The last several pages of this book floored me. “No…..” I verbalized. Don’t go. You can’t leave. Stay. But the hero had to. The heroine knew it and so did I. Bummer. Big fricken’ bummer. But then, you find out he left for nothing. He thought everything was his fault, but it wasn’t. I like what the heroine said to the real bad guy, “I’m a doctor. It’s against what I believe to kill you myself. But right now I wish you were dead.” Real. Honest. And suspenseful to the last word.

Hope. The book didn’t have a true HEA, but it held out hope that it was possible. I hate books where they end with no hope. No HEA – I can deal with that, but no hope. Crash. I should have put that on my “throw list”. I keep wanting to write this author (a guy) and ask him if he’d consider writing a romance novel sequel to this suspense fiction book. The hero and the heroine are sure to get together again eventually. I’d just like to read it.

The book exceeded my expectations. I like that. It’s a keeper shelf book.

I’ll have to wait a day or two to start the next book I’ll read. I need to savor this one a bit longer.
I want to write the kinds of books people savor -- keeper shelf books. I want to read them, too.

What have you savored recently?

Macy