Do you ever read just for pleasure or do you always read to review it?

[BravoJedi]

I always read for pleasure or for research when I write my own books (and need information to get something historically correct). As for reviewing, I do not think I am wired for that or have the necessary skills to do it well, so I am happy to leave that to more capable people than myself.

Hi BravoJedi, I may just have to read both your books and review them for you

Hi Stephen! I would be extremely honored and very grateful if you did! Flourish Sunday did a great review for me on No Tears (Inheritance), which is Book #2 in the No Tears series (I was beyond grateful and very much shocked....I was expecting 2 stars to be honest, not the 4 I received, being a newer author). I had 5 years of research, mistakes, and lessons learned flushed through and out of my system by the time I got to Inheritance. Book #1 in the series, No Tears (Northern Company), follows the same structure as Inheritance, but you may notice some writer growing pains of those 5 years. Inheritance allowed me to polish things up and learn what worked for me as an author, etc. Inheritance only took 9 months to write & research, so the proof is in the pudding, right?

If you have the time, I would HIGHLY recommend picking up the prequel book, A Story of the Beginning (Revised Edition); it is the forerunner to the No Tears series and is a character-focus book on the title character of Book #1 & Book#2. It is short (213 pages) and cheap ($7 for ebook and $15 for paperback), but it gives you that background on Giovanni Salzano the Traveling Mercenary (the namesake of the books). It also provides more insight into the Big Bad of the series, etc. It is a very personal book and is my favorite in many ways because of its intimate nature; but it is also gut wrenching, because you are taking this 17-year-old kid born into wealth and turning him into a sword-for-hire mercenary by Northern Company, the very next book. So, obviously, you are needing to do some serious character development, which is what the whole book is: the why, the what, the when, and the where that gets us to the No Tears series. But it does touch on other tones including childhood friendships, romance, coming of age in the 1500s, etc., that are all referenced throughout both Northern Company & Inheritance. Written right after I finished Northern Company and before I wrote Inheritance, it brings my original 2016 book in line with the "new canon" that the No Tears series set, so there are editorial footnotes for people that bought my 2016 original (which can be found on Lulu, see my website below, with the hardcover Special Edition of Northern Company, but otherwise the 2016 original is out-of-print). Broken up into 3 parts like my other books, Part II will require tissues. Lots and lots of tissues, as you go from blissful innocence and romance as a young 17-year-old to the horror that unfolds and carries our title character through Part III of the book and into Northern Company.

I have a review in process for Northern Company and am hoping to get one for A Story, but the prequel may get pushed back a bit longer for a review due to those pesky and illusive pennies to pay things with (raising children is expensive, as is book cover art lol). Anyways, everything is on my website. I can't post links, but my website link is on my author page here on the boards. The website also provides more details about my books, the academic books I use for references, etc.

[Wanjla Carl]

For me it depends. Some books a just find them interesting an therefore might read them for pleasure. I would not lie, most of the times, I read in order to review the books for sure.

[Stephen Christopher 1]

For me it depends. Some books a just find them interesting an therefore might read them for pleasure. I would not lie, most of the times, I read in order to review the books for sure.

I totally understand. I'm choosing books that I can review as my first priority now. My bookshelf is overloaded lol.

[BravoJedi]

For me it depends. Some books a just find them interesting an therefore might read them for pleasure. I would not lie, most of the times, I read in order to review the books for sure.

I totally understand. I'm choosing books that I can review as my first priority now. My bookshelf is overloaded lol.

I have two books to read and between the demands of family, our children, the research reading for my own books, and my own writing, they have not moved from my bookshelf at home and into my hands (not to mention the books I have marked on here to read and want to give a try at reviewing, to see if I am any good at it). Argh. So, excuse me if I am totally jealous of you two for having the time to read. I eye my wife with Death Star lasers when she gets to read every night.

[Stephen Christopher 1]

For me it depends. Some books a just find them interesting an therefore might read them for pleasure. I would not lie, most of the times, I read in order to review the books for sure.

I totally understand. I'm choosing books that I can review as my first priority now. My bookshelf is overloaded lol.

I have two books to read and between the demands of family, our children, the research reading for my own books, and my own writing, they have not moved from my bookshelf at home and into my hands (not to mention the books I have marked on here to read and want to give a try at reviewing, to see if I am any good at it). Argh. So, excuse me if I am totally jealous of you two for having the time to read. I eye my wife with Death Star lasers when she gets to read every night.

Oh it's a juggling act at times. I'm a content writer and often have strict deadlines, when that happens my reading goes onto the backburner for a couple of days.

[BravoJedi]

I totally understand. I'm choosing books that I can review as my first priority now. My bookshelf is overloaded lol.

I have two books to read and between the demands of family, our children, the research reading for my own books, and my own writing, they have not moved from my bookshelf at home and into my hands (not to mention the books I have marked on here to read and want to give a try at reviewing, to see if I am any good at it). Argh. So, excuse me if I am totally jealous of you two for having the time to read. I eye my wife with Death Star lasers when she gets to read every night.

Oh it's a juggling act at times. I'm a content writer and often have strict deadlines, when that happens my reading goes onto the backburner for a couple of days.

At least I know I am not alone! Right now, I'm in limbo as I navigate several of the books I used for research in my writing, navigating notes and double checking in the books themselves as I am writing "No Tears (Reckoning)". Not really "reading" for say, more like a task at the moment unfortunately, but it is a necessary evil to get to more reading down the road. Maybe this Sunday (fingers crossed) I can take an hour to open up one of the books I have on my list to read.

What content do you write? When I hear "content", my mind goes to various things, since the term content is being used more & more for various pursuits.

Friederic Schröder's review of "No Tears (Northern Company)" just dropped yesterday in the historical-fiction forum. I was very honored to receive a 4/5 stars again. I know you said you were interested in the two books, so I figured I would update you. I was really expecting 3 stars, since it took 5 years to write "Northern Company" and I had countless drafts, but the reviewer found the gems that I couldn't see myself. I am glad that while "Inheritance" was praised for the structure & storytelling, "Northern Company" was praised for the historical grounding and character development that laid the ground work for "No Tears (Inheritance)". Very blessed, very honored.

[Mailab]

probably for Pleasure. I love reading a book and usually my hobbit book is my ways of pleasure everyday of my life.

[Paul Link]

I have always read for pleasure. But because of OnlineBookClub, I tried reviewing some books and exploring new horizons.

[Jennifer Schmiege]

yes every day

[Stephen Christopher 1]

I have always read for pleasure. But because of OnlineBookClub, I tried reviewing some books and exploring new horizons.

OnlineBookClub has done that for me, too. I've discovered new authors that I hadn't even heard of before and now some of them are my new favorites. What I'm doing now is reviewing one book, while reading another just for pleasure, so I get the best of both,

[Hannah-bowen1597]

I read for pleasure. I throughly enjoy reading, it takes me into another world. It’s very relaxing and makes you use your imagination, you also gain knowledge in reading. I love feeding my brain new information

[Tommy Mayengbam]

For reviewing, I choose books that interest me, but not every book meets my expectations. Some have tons of errors, and others just aren't what I initially thought they would be.

In that case, because I don't like quitting halfway and also because I value my time, I read with the intention of writing a review.

[Cara Wilding]

I read entirely for pleasure! Granted, I have found numerous books on OBC that have garnered my attention, so there never feels like a shortage. Since I'm always reading 3-4 books at a time, it's easy to pick one that is a non-negotiable read. Right now, I'm reading "How Emotions Are Made" by Lisa Feldman Barrrett. This is not an OBC book, but my non-negotiable read that I wanted to read for my own curiosity. I have two OBC books in the hopper as well. I also read a lot of health and fitness books, of which there is a shortage here on OBC, so I turn to the outside world of books for these! My last read in this category last week was 75 Hard by Andy Frisella. This literally needs to be my full time job! Great question! Until next time...

[Alissa Nesson]

I choose a book to review and a book to read purely for pleasure. While I do review books that I think I’ll enjoy, reading one that I’m not going to review is more relaxing. I don’t need to worry about errors of any kind. So what I’ve been doing is reading my book for review earlier in the day and my book just for pleasure at night.

[Jennifer Lissethe]

Mmm... good question. I had a full stage in which I only read because I wanted to review what someone else hyped and reviewed and stated my opinion as well (bad Idea: I wrote very cringy reviews). And now... part of it is to get rid of my tbr so I choose books randomly or following a challange, while the other involves reading for pleasure.