The Pros and Cons of the Author Binge
Grooving on historical romcoms from Amanda Quick
I love an author binge. When I read a book by a new author I like, I want to find and read their complete backlist. This is partly because I’m greedy for more of the good stuff I got from this author, but also because I’m afraid I’ll forget them under the crush of my TBR pile.
However, reading too many books from one author back-to-back has its downsides, as I first discovered the summer I was 12.
Murder on the summer vacation: A cautionary tale about Agatha Christie
When I was 12, my family embarked on an 8-week vacation across Europe. It wasn’t possible to pack enough paperbacks to satisfy a voracious reader like me (this was before ereaders—yes, my young friends, there was a time when we had no choice but to read physical books—shudder). The only pre-teen appropriate author reliably available in English on the continent that summer was Agatha Christie.
I liked mysteries. I liked Agatha Christie—until I spent a whole summer mainlining her books. By the time we flew home from Amsterdam, I could tell you how every Christie book would end. I was bored to death with the scene where the detective gathers all the suspects in a parlor to reveal the culprit—so predictable. The red herrings, the real culprits—painfully obvious. Christie’s formula isn’t terrible; I just OD’d on it.
To this day, I’m reluctant even to watch a movie based on an Agatha Christie book. My author binge turned me off to one of the preeminent crime writers of the last century, and, honestly, that’s a shame.
My latest author binge: Amanda Quick
I recently grabbed three Amanda Quick novels written in the 90s, based on Reddit recommendations, and gobbled them down. Then I had a tiny bit of indigestion.
Mistress, Mystique, and Mischief are standalone historical romances. Mistress and Mischief are Regency romances; Mystique takes place in a Medieval period.
Despite the different settings and unrelated characters, I couldn’t help notice the throughlines that run through all three books: repressed heroes constrained by a strict set of personal rules and shaped by trauma; independent, feminist, chatty heroines unafraid to take matters into their own hands. I love those archetypes, but reading the books in the space of a few days, I couldn’t help noticing the patterns and the repetition of the grumpy/sunshine trope.
If I had read these Amanda Quick books as they came out, a year apart, I would have been delighted to dip back into her world once a year. The ecosystem of instant access and binge media consumption has changed the demands on authors to mix it up from book to book, while being similar enough that readers know what to expect from your author “brand.” I want to acknowledge that it is a big lift.
An author binge always works better for me with a series following the same or related characters. When I can follow characters I like through multiple adventures, I’m hooked no matter what. A binge helps me tease out connections in worlds constructed by the author or follow my favorite couple deeper into their happily ever after.
Book recommendation: Mischief
I liked all Amanda Quick books I read very much (and I will read more, after a break), but the one that stood out to me was Mischief. The heroine, Imogen, decides early on that the brooding hero, Colchester, has a delicate constitution. This is completely untrue, but he goes along with it in an indulgent and fond rather than mocking way. Imogen boldly sails through life, believing in a version of reality that makes her happy, and stepping up to protect the man she loves from becoming “overwrought.” I’m a sucker for an unreliable narrator, and I love that for her.
- Humor level: Laugh out loud funny.
- Spice level: 3 out of 5
- Tropes: virgin, tortured hero, grumpy/sunshine, mystery
Amanda Quick is a pen name of Jayne Ann Krentz, who also writes under her own name and as Jayne Castle.
Writing updates
While my first finished book voyages through submissionland, I find myself starting and stopping too many other projects. My writer friends encouraged me to work on the second book in the series, which is sound advice, and I’m doing that, but there are so many other ideas crowding my head right now, I’m finding it hard to focus on one story.
That said, I am determined to finish a fun short story for you, dear subscribers, in the very near future. And, as always, let me know your romance recs.
