Author Addiction is a monthly feature which is the brainchild of myself and Kaja over at Of Dragons and Hearts where we write about our love for our favourite authors and try and entice you guys to do the same. At the same time it is an excellent way to feature authors we love which we may not necessarily mention overly much on our blogs… or at least that was part of my motivation for it.
This month is a freebie month because as in sync as our tastes are, Kaja and I do not in fact share all the favourite authors, so it is the perfect opportunity to try and convince the other to read an author whilst also trying to convince you lot as well.
This month I am featuring Jennifer Crusie as my author addiction. I know she is not the typical kind of author on my blog, her books are neither YA nor NA, and she is not a fantasy author either, she is a chick-lit author. I feel I need to do a bit of background to explain my decision because this may be an author you have not heard of, but she is an author I really love.
I read my first Jennifer Crusie book when I was about 15 or 16 because my mom had borrowed one of her books from the library. I had begun to read my mothers books from the library when I’d finished my own at 14 because I devoured books as a child, and I was limited by only one visit to the library a week. It was from this that I first discovered the chick-lit genre. It is a genre I’ve loved since about 14 simply because they are filled with fluffy romance that is a so like watching a chick-flick, but in book form. My mom had borrowed a book called Bet Me from the library, I borrowed the book from my mom and was quickly absorbed.
You would think that reading a book about a woman in her early thirties who worries about her weight and is fed up of dating ridiculous men would not be a thing a 14 year would enjoy but I found myself lost in her world. I laughed and raged along with the characters and quickly found myself loving Cal in the books almost as much as Min did. The book also introduced me to Krispy Kreme donuts, something me and my mom will forever grateful for because not long after reading this book the Birmingham Krispy Kreme donuts store at Selfridges opened, which was great because at that point my mom was working in Birmingham and could go to the grand opening just to get us a box of donuts. And what grand donuts they are?
I think, because of my experience as her first book, Bet Me is my favourite book by Jennifer Crusie, and it is certainly the one I would recommend most, simply because it is such great romance. It is not a serious read, it is just shameless fluff and romance that is so satisfying to read. I love rereading Crusie’s books because they are all such satisfying reads.
She doesn’t limit herself within one set genre, a lot of her writing is referred to as women’s fiction, but it is so much more than that. She writes excellent novels, some involve mystery and crime with a heavy dose of romance. One I really enjoyed was a throw back to mystery fiction and old school detective films with Fast Women all about a woman who gets divorced and begins working in a detective office, it’s a hilarious read. Very fun, dramatic and just generally a good book.
If you’re looking for a fun read with some sex, a porn film and some old school small town gossip then Welcome to Temptation is for you, also there are some book and movie quotes to enjoy. There is also a book which follows this one as well, another following the Dempsey family and their criminal ways in Faking It. I have a soft spot for the book Faking It because it features art, art forgeries and a good old con man, and I do love those things, especially things with con men, there is a reason White Collar was one of my favourite TV shows.
I admit, some of her newer books I’ve not gotten around to reading yet, but I am excited for her books because of the way she writes. She posted on her blog about how she has grown as an author, she began writing romantic shorts. Then she began writing long romance stories, and then once she’d finished with that she wrote mysteries, she writes collaborative novels with other authors and all the time she is growing and changing how she writes, and I liked that. It’s true, some authors I stick with because I know they will write the same kind of story over and over again, but some authors I stick with because I like their writing and they happen to be good at creating ingenious storylines which draw me in. Crusie is the second kind. Yes, she has written a load of fantastic romance novels, she writes good chick-lit, but she has written other fantastic stories too.
I hope you enjoyed my reminiscing and become motivated to read a few of her books, there are certainly enough of them that you are practically guaranteed to find one you enjoy. Crusie is an author I hold close to my heart because whenever I reread one of her books it’s like revisiting an old friend because those books are just the perfect comfort reads to me. Do you have any authors like that, whose books you always enjoy and are just so comforting to read?
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