Author Review: Dean Koontz

While I'm mostly a romance reader, I do have a soft spot for science fiction. Probably because I'm sandwiched in the family order by an older brother and a younger brother who both loved Marvel comic books and Street Fighter.

I was first introduced to Dean Koontz by a good friend of mine who described his books as "challenging" vocabulary-wise. Because I was fast running out of good authors, I gave it a try. I think the first book that I tried was The Door to December and boy was it an experience. Dean Koontz is a master at suspense! I remember getting so scared that the hairs on my arm actually stood up! I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. It remains one of my favorite Dean Koontz books.

After that, I started hunting down his books at used bookstores (which thankfully always had a large supply of them). While I haven't read all of his books (he has so many!), most of his books are definitely top notch. Sure there were some duds here and there (*cough* The Funhouse *cough*), but overall his collection is definitely read-worthy.

Pros

1. I do like building up my vocabulary and I find that one of the best ways to do that is to read fiction that use more difficult words. Dean Koontz books are definitely in that category. While I consider myself to have a pretty good vocabulary, I find myself having to consult a dictionary at least a few times when reading his books. 
2. In most of his books, the suspense factor is through the roof! It's definitely a page-turner because you want to know what happens next. 
3. His characters are intelligent. There are no silly plot points where conflicts could have been avoided if the hero just paused to THINK. They are smart about what they are doing and I sometimes find myself thinking how well I would have done when faced with the same situation and almost always conclude that I would have failed miserably. 
4. Many of his characters are ordinary (but smart) guys. They don't have genius IQs, movie star looks, unlimited sources of money or powerful connections. I love my beta heroes and most Dean Koontz heroes are definitely betas. 
5. Plots are so interesting! And the way he unfolds them is simply amazing. While he is great at being suspenseful, the big reveal is almost never disappointing. 
6. Mostly happy and satisfying endings. I absolutely hate sad endings. I'm paranoid about that and often read the last page of suspiciously sad books just to make sure that it doesn't have a sad ending. Sally (from When Harry Met Sally) would find that horrible but that's just the way I roll... :)
7. He has so many books and he's still churning them out like a machine! 

Cons

1. Kinda prosy. To others, this may be a good thing. Dean Koontz spends a LOT of time describing things. Especially places. Usually I just skip them so its no biggie. 
2. He has a couple of duds. I absolutely loved Odd Thomas but I really did not like Brother Odd which seemed so over the top. I may do a reread just to make sure I wasn't tired or something but I remember skipping whole sections just so I could finish the book.
3. Not exactly light reading. His books gets you really emotionally invested and I sometimes find myself exhausted after reading his books. I love Dean Koontz but its hard to get into the proper mood for him. 

Some of my favorites are From the Corner of My Eye, The Door to December, and Odd Thomas. If you want to start reading a little Dean Koontz, I definitely recommend these as starters. 

Author Review: Carla Kelly

Its fitting that my very first blog post be about my favorite author of all time: Carla Kelly. To this day, I have never read a Carla Kelly book that I didn't love.

I was first introduced to Carla Kelly when Goodreads recommended it to me based on my reviews of books by the prolific Georgette Heyer. I was immediately hooked to her beautiful and emotional stories of (mostly) ordinary people falling in love and facing challenges together.

Why I love her...

1. She's squeaky squeaky clean!! Her romances are all about the emotions and the physical aspects of love is left mostly to the reader's imaginations with subtle references. 
2. Her stories are unique in the sense that she mostly writes about ordinary people in historical settings. It's so refreshing to read about servants, soldiers, and navy officers instead of dukes, earls and princes. I have a soft spot for beta heroes and most Carla Kelly heroes can probably classified as beta for their basically GOOD personalities. Her heroes are never like the cookie-cutter alpha hero that is rich, handsome, and arrogant. 
3. Her plots are beautiful and emotional with a perfectly reasonable and valid conflict. She doesn't create a conflict just for the sake of having a conflict. I've never gotten so frustrated at the characters to the point that I want to yell at them to "Just.Talk. To. Each. Other.". 
4. She has Kindle e-books!! Considering that many of her books are quite old, its a testament to her works that her publishers have decided to republish them in e-books. Not all of her books are available in electronic format yet but it looks like they're working on it. I buy and read so many books that my mother and sister are always secretly hiding (or even selling) my books behind my back because it took so much space at the house. That's when I decided to only buy e-books from now on so I only need my trusty Kindle Touch to reread old favorites. 
5. While I'm a devout Christian, I do like the fact that her books aren't very preachy. I'm glad because she can have a wider audience (because a lot of people are turned off by preachy stuff). I do enjoy Christian fiction but sometimes I just want some light reading. 
6. It's an easy read. While I love Jane Austen and some of Georgette Heyer's books, they're a little hard to read because of complicated (to me anyway!) proses and wordings.

Cons...

1. Libraries almost never have her books. I seriously don't understand this. She's actually quite famous and has had a very long career. But I almost never see her books or e-books at the local library. Plus they're very clean. I don't understand why libraries stock up on 50 Shades of Grey (Are kids allowed to check those out??) but don't even have one single book of Carla Kelly's. 
2. Some of her books are hard to find. As I said, not all of her books have been republished as e-books yet. Some of her paperbacks are really rare and even used copies sell for very high prices in Amazon because its almost a collector's item. Some of her books have been republished in the paperback format recently so if you prefer paperbacks you do still have that option. 
3. You can't put her books down. I don't know if this is a con really. But I really have to actually make time to read a Carla Kelly book because I know that they're really hard to put down. I also can't read her books in public because I usually cry at one point or another (Note: Its not because she writes really heavy and sad material, I just cry really really easily. Ask my family.)

My Carla Kelly favorite books so far are Lady's Companion and Wedding Journey  So if you want to try Carla Kelly, I definitely recommend those two.