Into the Fire

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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

Seconds . . .

 

                   
Second-helpings-e1341197784658

 

What does it take, if anything, to get you to help yourself to a novel you've already read?

I have only one series of novels where this has happened to me, although I confess to be considering re-reading Vince Flynn's books.

Why only two books of a three book series? For the first and potentially the last time I re-read Kristen Heitzmann's Secrets before the second in the series Unforgotten debuted. I loved Secrets because of the unique and truly amazing co-protagonists Reese and Lance. I've said before if I was a man, I would've been Lance Michelli (sans the Catholic part, and that's no offense to Catholics). His passion and spirit captured me from the first acquaintance. Kristen outdid herself with these two characters. When I purchased Unforgotten, I read it, closed the book and opened it again to the first page, completing it a second time. Then I reread Secrets and Unforgotten in order. Never had done anything like that before or since. All total, I reread those novels three times each.

The characters were amazing, the story unique, the scenes life-touching, and the locations intriguing and wonderfully presented. Needless to say, I've loved a lot of novels that proved meaningful to me in many different ways, but there was something about these two that reached way down deep and left a mark. The third and final novel (Echoes) in the series was a disappointment but then it would've been hard to equal the first two.

So I know some of you have resorted to taking second helpings of novels you've read. Why?

 

Father, thank you for the beauty of creating fiction that models life in all of its difficult ways but somehow through it all leaves a redemptive seal. Only you can inspire that kind of truth and beauty. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

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3 responses to “Seconds . . .”

  1. BK Jackson (@BKJacksonAZ) Avatar
    BK Jackson (@BKJacksonAZ)

    The very few books this has ever happened to me on put those books in very rare air indeed. Way, way above the rest. To me, even though it’s hard to attain, THAT is better than sales figures, best-seller lists or anything else. If you write such a good book a person reads it more than once, THAT is the ultimate satisfaction. Who could ask more than that?
    There were a few novels I’ve read a number of times during the glory days of Star Trek (the original) writing back in the 70’s and early 80’s, but I’ll discount those from discussion since they did have the advantage of drawing from a TV show to build visuals into their books. (all the good writers of Star Trek books must’ve since died or moved to another planet because I haven’t found a good new Trek book in years. It’ sad.)
    Apart from those, two novels are multiple reads for me. Zane Grey’s Forlorn River, which by this point I must surely have read at least five or six times remains at the top of the heap.
    Not for the attention deficit among us, Zane Grey writes rich, wonderful description and setting, he lived and rode the places he wrote of and he created awesome characters (the young lad Marvie Blaine is a runaway scene stealer in this book).
    This particular novel is what I would call “buddy fiction” which is my favorite, contains one of my favorite themes–“How much will you sacrifice for your friend/loved one?”, was deeply true to the “rugged individual” of the west in its two male character leads, and even though a considerable portion of the book was taken up with a romance (which I DIDN’T mind reading because the female character was a good, solid, likeable one), he wrote with such mastery that the fewer-pages-in-all conflict for the 2 main male characters was STILL the most powerful part of the book–as it should be. Romance should always be a side-show, never the main feature. And while the setting for this book was northern California, the main characters of this book ended up in Arizona, which makes it even more dear to me.
    The second novel, read 3X, is Nancy E. Turner’s “These Is My Words”. This book contains a romance so strong it will make you weep, BUT–it is still the side show to the bigger story of one girl’s journey from teenager to womanhood and the events of her life in–you guessed it–Arizona. 😎
    They both have in common:
    1. Shutting down my writing analyzer because the writing is so good you forget yourself (sadly that hardly ever happens when I read fiction).
    2. Not only masterful main characters, but every secondary & minor character has color and life. (one of the reasons I still hold out with my book Principle Engagement–I have some secondary characters that I haven’t achieved full potential on).
    3. Stories that include but step outside the box of romance to a bigger story.
    4. Have bearing on Arizona (though obviously most people don’t care about this factor).

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  2. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    It isn’t often that I re-read novels, not that don’t want to, it’s more a time factor.
    Right now I’m re-reading Jane Eyre for the umpteenth time. I love everything about the book: the story, the characters, the prose, descriptions, etc. I’ll pick this book up when I’m tired of formulaic pop literature. (An aside – I was at the doctor’s office today and the nurse asked what I was reading. I happily told her Jane Eyre. She glanced at the cover and said, “Hmm, never heard of her.” How very sad!)
    Another book, actually series, I’ve read numerous times is Francine Rivers’ Mark of the Lion series. I’ve never read any other novel with such deep characterization. I’m totally immersed in the characters’ lives and emotions. The next time I tire of pop lit, I’ll probably pick up this series.
    I re-read Cynthia Ruchti’s They Almost Always Come Home for a different reason. On my first read-through, I was immersed in the story, and couldn’t wait to turn the page to discover what happened next. Because it was such a page-turner, I wasn’t able to savor her beautiful prose that first time through,so I re-read it right away just to appreciate her prose.

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  3. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Thank you, my friends, for sharing your favorites and your experiences with “second helpings” of novels you’ve enjoyed. It takes something very special and obviously very moving to get us to repeat a read-through. Time, of course, is a major factor, but overall it’s something unique to our psyches and emotions that drives us back to particular books.

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