To Smile and Breathe...

So, this one was pretty hard for me. But I knew I had to answer this, because I needed to know for myself. As a Bibliophile, you come across a lot of books. Books that leave you agitated, or tensed, books that stir your emotions into a frenzy, probably when you’re reading a slow-burn novel. And then there are those books that may do all of these for you, or none at all, but they just make you happy. Make you giggle, make you roll your eyes in amusement, and most of all, you never get tired of reading it.

I had a few books that came to mind when I saw this prompt. First of which would be Worth It by C. M. Owens and S. M. Shade. I don’t know, the novel is steamy, crazy, whatever you may describe it as. But did it make me laugh? Yeah, it very well did. And I noticed that this is what constituted the sole criterion for books that I call comfort books. Dialogue. I’m a sucker for dialogue, and what I always strive to perfect each time I write, is good dialogue. Cause I think it’s the heart of every novel. Good dialogue. Good banter. This book has it in spades and I love it so much.

The next book I had in mind when I thought of Comfort books is Snow in April by Rosamunde Pilcher. I don’t know why, but there’s something about that book. To be honest, each time I go back to it, I simply skip to the part where Caroline and her little brother, Jody, arrived at Cairney. These two young uns meet the recently bereaved, very grumpy Mr. Oliver Cairney and it is just bliss from there. Some people might find the book a drag. But the dialogue, the banter, the resolution. All too beautiful for words. I never get tired of picking it up every once in a while to read.

But I think my ultimate comfort book at the end of the day might just be Night Shadow by Caroline Coulter. Knight Winthrop, this quintessential rake of a bachelor just living his life and then Lily swoops into it with his murdered cousin’s kids and pretty much turns it upside down. It’s a bit like Snow in April in that regard. Bachelors who become unwilling, reluctant guardians, type of thing. But it’s a bit different with Night Shadow.

What do I love the most about it? I can’t quite say. Is it the antics of Laura Beth, Sam and Theo that make me roll on the floor with laughter? Is it the sizzling tension simmering just under the surface for Knight and Lily? Or is it the unlikeliness of the entire situation and all the drama that ensues as these lot come into the Regent’s life? Or then again, is it the banter that just has your ears perked and your eyes bright with excitement?

Or maybe it’s all of them and more.

But most of all, it’s because this book represented a time in my life. A time filled with light. I’d not read any dark books yet, and my library was pretty much filled with so many Amanda Quick, Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, Agatha Christie books. I read their books and similar authors like my life was on the line, and that period in my life represented something meaningful. Someone who isn’t there anymore. Someone less evolved. More innocent. Less cynical and less jaded.

Each time I read Night Shadow by Catherine Coulter, even as I get lost in the words and the steam and the joy of the moment, I’m transported to a time that I deeply cherish, and I’m grateful for. It can never come back but I’m grateful for the lessons that came with it. I found out a lot later that it's the second book in the Night Trilogy. I genuinely didn't know that cause you can read it as a standalone. So yeah, there’s a lot of things special about this book. I read it to smile. I read it to dream and I read it to be happy. Comfortable in my own skin. It’s my way of saying, I like who I am when I read Night Shadow. Uninhibited and free.

So yeah, that’s pretty much it. My Comfort books, you all. What are yours? Share it with #mondaybookprompt

Jhymi🖤

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_{Images from my e-library.}

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