Friday Fiction Fiend #5- Meet Jenni

It's Friday again! Which means three awesome things 1) Scott gets to be home to hang out with me ALL WEEKEND, 2) no getting up with the kids for school & 3) It's Friday Fiction Fiend!

I'd like you guys to meet Jenni! I met her through an excellent book club my friend Rachel adopted me into. They often host amazing local authors & spectacular parties. I'm lucky to know these ladies. Jenni is a great reader friend to have- she is always posting reviews on her blog & is always down for any book signing.

Stop on by her blog & say HI and I hope you enjoy her picks!

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Until five years ago, I wasn't much of a reader. I read a few things here and there, but I read maybe two books a year at the most (unless it was a Harry Potter release year; then I reread each of the previously released books to get ready for the new book). But, about five years ago, I was introduced to Twilight (say what you want, but I still love the stories) and it was like a whole new world opened up to me and I wanted to experience it again and again with other books.

In these last five years, I've tried to broaden my horizons because I missed out on a lot of good books growing up, books I refused to read when the opportunities presented themselves. I've read classics, fantasy, science fiction, contemporary, basically any genre except LDS/Christian fiction (although I read a few of those in my youth). I've discovered that any book that takes me out of this world, or adds to this world with some form of fantasy or sci-fi element, is my favorite. And, when it comes to a book, story and characters are much more important to me than prose. It can be the most beautiful writing in the world, but if the story and characters aren't compelling enough, I won't like it. The best books, however, are those with a good story and good prose, but I'll admit that Twilight (great story, awful prose) is still one of my favorite books.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)by JK Rowling. I've already mentioned Harry Potter, but what you don't know is how much I love this story. All seven Harry Potter books are my all-time favorite books. They'd be the books I'd choose to have with me on a deserted island if I could have no others. Nothing can touch them as far as I'm concerned. But, Deathly Hallows stands above the rest for me because I love how everything, and I mean everything, is tied together. JK Rowling left no loose ends. Not everything was tied up in a neat bow, but there were questions I had in Sorcerer's Stone that were answered in Deathly Hallows. I haven't read many series that have been able to pull that off and if they did, it wasn't done quite as well as it was done in Deathly Hallows.

2. Duneby Frank Herbert. I first read this book in high school. It was one of the only books I read while I was in high school. I read it for my science fiction class and I immediately fell in love with it. I love the detail in this book. There's so much going on that the first time you read it, it's a little difficult to follow along, but when everything comes together in the end, it's just awesome! The world, characters, and culture Herbert created are so intriguing. I even find the politics in Dune interesting and I don't find politics interesting at all!

3. Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)by Stephenie Meyer. I have to include this because it's what started my love of reading. And, as I said above, the prose isn't great, but I love the story and characters. I love how I felt the first time I read it. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It had everything I wanted in a book--adventure, intrigue, fantasy, and romance. After I read it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was so obsessed with it that I joined an online fandom, something I hadn't even done for Harry Potter. And, every time I read a romance now, I always compare the feelings to Twilight. If I feel like I did when I first read Twilight, then it's a pretty sure bet that I'll love the book I'm reading.

4. Clockwork Princeby Cassandra Clare. One thing you have to know about me is that I hate, HATE love triangles. I always want the third wheel to die a horrible death. But, Clare did something right in Clockwork Prince. As I read it for the first time, I found myself just as torn as Tessa was. And, in the end, the only thing that matters to me was not who'll get Tessa, but whether or not Will and Jem will remain good friends, brothers, parabatai through all of this. I don't care if either one of them ends up with Tessa. All I want is for their relationship to remain intact. That's not like me at all.

5. The Hunger Gamesby Suzanne Collins. I'll admit that I was a little trepidatious about reading The Hunger Games. Violence and gore, especially in books, don't bother me, but it sounded very Lord of the Flies-ish. Not my cup of tea. But, when I read it the first time (only 3.5 months after it was released), I remember feeling for Katniss and Peeta. I remember just falling in love with Peeta. And, I remember wanting something to happen so that both Katniss and Peeta could survive, but it seemed too much to ask, too much to hope for. And, when I finished it, it was the first book that I actively promoted to others to read. I talked about it with my friends and family. I kept telling people on Goodreads and Shelfari to read it. I talked about it on my blog. I'm so glad it caught on because the story is so fantastic!