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Do You Believe in the Slump Buster?

48826434As part of the  ongoing discussion about reading or really the lack thereof, I must admit that I’ve been in a major reading slump for the last few months.  Obviously, I’m not the only one.  Recently Sandy wrote an post on The Reading Slum That Will Not Die in which she blames a book for her lack of reading interest.  Jean followed Sandy’s piece with her own where she discussed A Solution to the Reading Slump, which involved taking a break from reading to end a slump.   Now, I’d like to throw out there the idea of a slump buster – a book so good that it in and of itself will bring you out of a slump.   At first, I thought such a thing didn’t exist, but now I know and I believe.

My slump was caused by what seemed like both an inundation of mediocre books, as well as upheaval in my personal life that left me with little time to read and when I get out of a habit, it’s incredibly hard to get going again.  I can’t say I didn’t read, because I did, but I lost the desire.  I read a couple of books that were good, not great, and certainly not inspiring and I just wanted….no, needed…. a book that would make me fall back in love with romance.  In other words, I needed a true slump buster.

My slump buster came out of the blue, one that I’d had in a TBR pile for a while and hadn’t gotten around to reading.  It was Elizabeth Hoyt’s The Serpent Prince and I have to say it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time.  It contains all the elements of romance  I enjoy most; a gritty, tortured hero who is deeply affected by the heroine, a heroine smart enough to realize she can love a man with imperfections, a true historical feel, witty and intense dialogue, and unsettling sexual tension.     I read it and immediately re-read it, a sign of a true keeper.  All I can say is that it made me want more and I’ve been reading steadily ever since, which makes me a happy person.

Since reading my slump buster, I’ve been reading review books in earnest, two other of Ms. Hoyt’s works, most of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and several others by various authors.  Many of those were wonderful, some average, and others left much to be desired.  But, I’m okay with that because I realized yet again that whatever the book I’m reading brings, I’ll eventually find another that enables be to remember why I love reading romance so very much.  It’s something that I’d forgotten for a little while.  It also makes me wonder what other gems I have hiding in my TBR pile.

Do you believe in the slump buster?  Have you experienced a book that made you fall back in love with romance after time away?

– Heather AAR

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