Once is Never Enough

Writing about my love of books has brought me back to thinking how many times I read a book. One of the authors I forgot to mention in my previous posts Richie Tankersley Cusick. She was one of the many authors I discovered after my Goosebumps stage, but still in my early years of reading discovery.

Her book "The Lifeguard" is about a girl named Kelsey; "Her summer should have been a paradise - a holiday on Beverly Island, complete with sun-drenched beaches and gorgeous lifeguards. But Kelsey's dream holiday quickly turns into a nightmare. It starts with the note from a girl who's missing. Then there's the crazy man in the lighthouse with his mysterious warnings. And there have been a number of suspicious drownings . . . At least she has the lifeguards around to protect her . . . Poor Kelsey. Someone forgot to tell her that lifeguards don't always like to save lives." I don't know why exactly, but I absolutely loved this book, in fact I read it so many times that the binding fell apart! I had to put it back together with many, many pieces of tape! I seriously can't count the number of times I read that book. And because I've been thinking of it so much I thought for a lark I'd look it up online, found myself a copy for $0.01! HAHA! Yup, I ordered it and am just awaiting it's arrival!

Every time I re-read a book, I get reintroduced to each character and it's like saying hello to old friends. Almost every book I own (and at this time I have 3 shelves completely full, plus more books stacked on top of the books on the shelves), I have read at the very minimum twice. I fully and completely admit that I am a romantic at heart, and yes even admitting that I do 99% of my book shopping in the "Romance" section of the book store. And until they decide to move the "Paranormal Romance" to another section I will continue to do so! When I'm in need of a real sappy love story, the author I always turn to is Diana Palmer. Her stories can be rather similar sometimes, however, I still keep going back. When I just need a love story I find she is perfect. Her female characters are always kind, every day type of women, but can sometimes be hard to relate to, while her male characters are usually rough around the edges, hard to get along with, but always harboring a heart of gold. Her women are so hard to relate to because most times they take a whole lot of crap from the men, crap very near verbal and psychological abuse that a woman should never have to stand for. But like most love stories, you have to get through the angst to get to the romance!

No matter how many times I read a book, it's almost like the first time all over again. Just like when you watch your favorite movie for the ump-teenth time, it just gets better and better. It never matters that I know the plot line and the ending, it's still an adventure from beginning to end!