We have a new author on our team, which I will tell you about shortly. Firstly, I want to talk about the issues I have being an emotional reader.
One of my benchmarks for a good book, as a reader, is the extent to which I get emotionally involved in the lives of the characters. If I don't care that much about what happens to the characters, then why would I continue reading? If I do care, then I will want to be in their world at the end or start of each day, before I enter the real world of work (or as a child, school). However, I have an issue sometimes (and I'm sure many readers feel my pain), in that I can get too emotionally involved and invested in the lives of these people who are, frankly, made up.
This is what happened when I read the offering from our latest signing, Stacey Murray. I mostly read her book under the duvet after Adrian had fallen asleep, and each time I picked up the story where I'd left off, I found myself very quickly sucked into the lives of the people in Stacey's book. I don't want to give too much away, as you all, dear readers, will soon be able to find out for yourself. But there were stages in my reading when I wanted to physically enter the world created by Stacey and have a good chat with the main character, Roz, about some of the things I thought I could see to do with her choices in life and she couldn't. She was real to me, too real. She was a friend for a while. And like a good friend, I thought I should guide her. Of course I couldn't, as she's not real.
Another benchmark I have is whether I miss the characters when I reach the end of a
book (I can't tell you how aggrieved I was when I read the last Malory Towers book at age 12 - no more Darrel Rivers and Gwendoline Lacey). And, in the case of Stacey's submission, I did miss them! So I knew at that point, as the kindle app reached 100%, that we had to publish this book.
I know there are other people out there like me, who get upset when they finish a book. Perhaps we need a support group?
In the meantime, before I put thoughts to setting up a support network for likeminded empaths, we will welcome the very talented Stacey Murray to the Hobeck Team! We look forward to sharing with everyone the book that kept me reading under the duvet, early in 2024.